Anti-Semitism in French pre-election campaign

The head of the parliamentary group of France's conservative ruling UMP party, Christian Jacob, has called Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund and potential candidate for the presidential elections in 2012, a "champagne socialist", saying that Strauss-Kahn does not represent the rural France "that we love". Such rhetoric bears a trace of the anti-Semitism prevalent in the country before 1945, writes Jacques Attali in his blog for the weekly L'Express: "One can criticise a politician's actions or plans, but not his origins. Above all not with words that are clearly associated with the Vichy government. In addition such words show no understanding for what France is. France is no longer a rural nation. The country is urbanised today. ... It is the product of a long history in which people from many different areas came together, starting with the Franks who gave their name to the country. And no one, not even Mr Jacob, owns this land."

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