It is now just over two weeks since the famous Paris march to commemorate the death of 17 persons at the hands of terrorists. The popular disgust at these atrocious crimes was evident on the faces of over four million people who went out on the streets of various cities in France to express their support for the right to freedom of speech for anyone who chooses to live in a democratic society.
The values of liberté, fraternité and egalité are indeed popular values, at least for ordinary people who tip toe through life without any urge for narcissist prods to keep them upright.
The same cannot be said for the politicians who led the march in what many of them saw as a photo opportunity that was too good to be missed. As the British journalist Peter Hill wrote, one could almost hear the front line politicians leading this march and shouting: ‘Look, we are with you – so vote for us.’ With countries like the UK, Spain, Israel, possibly Italy, and Finland going to the polls in the coming months, political style has once again become substance in a world characterised by mediocre political leadership.
President Obama was the only one doing the decent thing when he let ordinary French people vent their hurt emotions in the squares of France “without the event being polluted by politics”. But even he was caught up in the media circus when the following week he sent John Kerry to “apologise” for not being with “the great of this world” in the Paris march.
I followed the Paris march on Sky News. An over-enthusiastic journalist asked a middle-aged French lady dressed in her country’s tricolor flag: “Are you impressed with the massive presence of world leaders at the head of this march?! With disarming honesty she said: “No I am not impressed at all. They are all here for their 15 minutes of coverage on this evening’s news bulletins. After this march they will be invited to the Elysee Palace to eat a good meal and drink champagne in crystal flutes.” The rather surprised but diplomatic Sky journalist thanked her for “her interesting perspective” on the Paris march.
The reality that Europe and most western societies today face is that mainstream politicians have lost touch with the life of real people. They are more interested in nurturing their narcissism than taking the tough decisions needed to build better economies and better societies. The EU in particular has failed to come up with a viable immigration policy to integrate and assimilate the substantial non-native European minorities that continue to be marginalised in most countries.
The reality that Europe and most western societies today face is that mainstream politicians have lost touch with the life of real people
Some media reports after the Paris march showed the reality that most minorities in Paris, London and other major European cities are living. Despite being granted citizenships in their adoptive countries, despite having lived in the different EU countries for decades, most immigrants feel like second-class citizens when compared to the locals.
The locals, on the other hand, feel threatened by the influx of immigrants whom they blame for their unemployment and deteriorating social conditions.
EU leaders meet in Brussels and Strasbourg, talk and talk, wine and dine, make flowery eloquent speeches on hope and on how the present economic problems will soon be behind us. But nothing much really happens to improve the fate of millions of unemployed and economically distressed ordinary people.
The demagogues of the right and the left try to fill the credibility gap between ordinary people and mainstream politicians and offer populist visions built of false hope that Europe’s complex economic and social problems can be solved by empty rhetoric and a vacuum of viable strategies.
In Paris there were blacks, whites, Muslims Jews and Catholics walking side by side. The odd people out were the politicians who failed to make the lives of these people safer and more prosperous.
President Holland, who is arguably the least popular French president, may have planned to prop up his presidency by organising the Paris march but ordinary French people remain unconvinced that the choreographed razzmatazz of the Paris event will make their life better any time soon.
I have often argued that in today’s politics dominated by the media in its various forms, style has become substance. Slowly but surely ordinary people are beginning to see through the thin colourful veil of politicalcommunication.
Unfortunately the alternative offered by fringe politicians is just as void of substance.
johncassarwhite@yahoo.com