Word: penning
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...Farid Smahi is not a comedian, nor is he blind, although he does confound a stereotype: The son of Algerian parents and a longtime victim of anti-immigrant prejudice, Smahi is a candidate in France's forthcoming legislative election - for the anti-immigrant National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen...
...There is no contradiction in being Arab or black or any other minority and voting Le Pen," argues Smahi, who joined the party a decade ago after having initially backed leftist causes and marching for immigrant rights. "French minorities and banlieue [housing project] residents see they've been manipulated and exploited by both the hypocritical left and sham right for years now. Nothing has changed except the racism. So this time around, expect a lot of people to be casting votes for Le Pen in the hopes that, at last, things may change...
...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...