Word: commonality
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What could France's extreme-right leader and notorious xenophobe Jean-Marie Le Pen possibly have in common with a black comic whose leftist convictions and anti-racism activism once propelled him into politics with the objective of defeating a candidate from Le Pen's National Front party...
...support of leftist causes. In 1997, Dieudonné staged a long-shot bid for parliament in the National Front stronghold of Dreux, with an aim to denying victory to Le Pen's candidate - a goal which was attained when mainstream leftist, centrists, and conservative parties united to form a common front. Even after that campaign, Dieudonné continued defending progressive ideals that included anti-racism, socio-economic justice for residents of France's blighted suburban housing projects, and protecting the rights of illegal immigrants in France...
...which in turn seemed to motivate his increasingly controversial comments about Jews in general. By 2007, he was seen getting friendly with his former nemesis Le Pen - at one point turning up as one of the rare minority faces at a National Front party convention. In July 2008, their common interests and outlooks had come close enough together that Le Pen confirmed rumors he'd become the godfather of one of Dieudonné's children...
...about," says Lorrain de Saint-Affrique, a political strategist who advised Le Pen in the 1980s. "Le Pen needs scandal to be elected. Dieudonné is an entertainer using politics to promote his career. Outrage generates headlines - and both men need those." Yet another thing the two have in common...
...progress was much helped by the country's early accession to the European Union, with all the real and symbolic benefits that flow from it. The U.S. is never going to offer Mexico the sort of benefits - the free movement of labor, aid with infrastructure development and a common external trade policy - that E.U. member states enjoy. And Mexico, with an always prickly sense of its sovereignty, would never submit to the supranational supervision of its policies to which E.U. nations agree...