Word: penned
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...from certain how they plan to vote. Some experts feel they'll back the left on promises of programs of suburban renewal, but others suspect they will confound conventional wisdom by backing the politician who mirrors their own outsider status in the French political mainstream: Le Pen...
...think anyone should be surprised to see a large portion of France's banlieue vote going to Le Pen," says a woman giving her name only as Habiba. Many of the younger, newly registered voters in the housing projects around her Toulouse home have told her they'll do just that. Though most people in France view Le Pen as the very embodiment of overt racism, both Habiba and Smahi say minority voters will overlook his reputation in order to keep out the politician most hated by banlieue youths: Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, whose heavy-handed approach and provocative language...
...hear lots of younger people saying they'll vote for Le Pen to deny Sarkozy the presidency - or vote for Le Pen just to throw France's establishment into turmoil," Smahi says, noting the party will gladly accept all ballots, regardless of motive...
...Pen's party also hopes to capitalize on the feelings of betrayal in the banlieue: "We've been waiting for someone to say 'If you're French first and foremost, you're welcome and have a place among us'," says Habiba, contrasting that message with mainstream politicians who she accuses of "telling us we're French, but continue shutting us out as eternal foreigners...
...live disadvantaged lives in segregated ghettoes, where they'll feel the hostility against immigrants every day? Or is it is better to tell them they're better off at home?" The answer may depend on which side of the immigration divide one falls. And it's a divide Le Pen is more than happy to work