Envied French Muslim Minister
Kayid Al-Kuffar
IslamOnline.net & Newspapers
CAIRO - French Justice Minister Rachida Dati is facing a smear campaign by
right-wing media and "jealous" politicians, who cannot swallow a Muslim
woman of poor ethnic background holding such a prestigious post, Britain's
Times reported on Tuesday, July 17.
"Rachida Dati is paying for being an outsider, because she is young, a woman
and of North African origin," said Dominique Sopo, the Socialist President
of the SOS Racisme organization.
He said Dati, as an "atypical" minister, has sparked "resentment" among the
"republican aristocracy."
Dati, 41, has become in no time one of the most popular politicians in
France with six books on her life and battle against adversity being rushed
into print.
President Nicolas Sarkozy named the daughter of a Moroccan laborer and an
illiterate Algerian mother, who has earned a raft of degrees in law,
economics and business, as justice minister on Friday, May 18.
The appointment broke important new ground in a country where African
immigrants and their children are severely under-represented in public life.
It was the first time that a nonwhite, let alone a woman from poor ethnic
estates, lands such a prestigious cabinet post.
But this has not come with a price.
In her very first weeks in office, Dati found herself in the midst of
pressure and smear campaign.
Her chief of staff and three magistrates resigned collectively last week,
citing personal reasons.
Unnamed officials had complained in the media that they could not handle her
dictatorial character.
Cartoonists have also given Dati the nickname "Sarcosette," a play on
Cosette, the urchin of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.
Right-wing media highlighted reports that one of her brothers was due to be
sentenced for drug-dealing after serving a previous term for dealing heroin
while another is under investigation for dealing cannabis.
Hypocrites
Sopo slammed the hypocrisy of the French elite made up of white men over 55.
"A part of French high society likes to talk a lot about tolerance,
diversity and anti-racism in public debates, but inside their dinner
parties, after three glasses of wine, they make comments of quite a
different nature."
President Sarkozy rushed to Dati's defense three times in the past five
days.
On Friday, July 13, he visited her ministry and expressed absolute
confidence in her in front of employees and senior officials.
"She will succeed. Rachida is a message addressed to all the children of
France."
Sarkozy said the campaign against her was "reminiscent of the darker moments
of our country."
The First Lady, Cecilia, has also described Dati as "a sister" and was moved
by her self-made character.
Dati was born to a poor 12-strong family, raised in Chalon-sur-Saône,
eastern France, and educated at a convent school.
From the age of 14, she started selling makeup, worked in a supermarket and
worked at a hospital to fund her studies.
Dati, a former magistrate, sees herself as living proof that it is possible
in France to overcome poverty and discrimination through hard work.
"We need to stop seeing people of immigrant background as either problems or
victims," she once said.