The Politics of Racism in France

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This wide-ranging and provocative book is at the same time a cry of warning for the threat to democracy posed by the French National Front, an analysis of the factors which have made possible its rise and repeated success, and a ruthless critique of the failures of anti-racism. The authors deploy meticulous scholarship in examining the NF's ideology, structure, antecedents and present activities before concluding that is it much better seen as a species of modernized fascism than as simply another temporary emanation of a vague "national populism." The lack of serious opposition to the NF is attributed to the failure of mainstream anti-racists to link up with and defend the minorities which it targets, a reflection of the complacency bred by the enduring myth that France is and has been since 1789 the natural home of the Rights of Man.