Editorial: Why are the French so shocked anyway?

Wednesday, April 24, 2002 | 9:04 a.m.

The French have expressed a mixture of surprise and embarrassment that a right-wing extremist finished second in their nation's presidential vote over the weekend. National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, who once characterized the Holocaust as "a detail" of history, beat out 14 other candidates to face the incumbent, Jacques Chirac, in a runoff election next month. To get an idea of the campaign of intolerance and bigotry that is being waged, consider this: Le Pen would make it illegal to wear yarmulkes and Muslim headscarves in schools.

Despite their dismay over the election results, the French shouldn't be too shocked that Le Pen received 17 percent of the vote, not at a time when Arab immigrant-bashing and anti-Semitism has increased markedly in France and in other European nations. In the past several months there have been 400 incidents of harassment or attacks against Jews in France, according to reports kept by the Anti-Defamation League. To provide an inkling of what's going on, consider a recent three-day period: On April 2 an arsonist burned a pavilion near a Jewish cemetery and then, on April 4, a synagogue in Montpellier was firebombed and Jewish school vehicles were burned in Aubervilliers.

It is a start that supporters of France's losing parties have vowed that they will work to elect Chirac, no matter what their differences are with him. But, more importantly, the French should condemn bigotry and violence at the time it happens. It's not enough to be outraged later just because they're embarrassed internationally by the political success of a fringe candidate.

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