18
and there had been no convictions.
31
These facts contrast sharply with those surrounding
Britain’s 1998 Crime and Disorder Act, for which the civil service engaged in extensive
preparatory work, the Parliament actively debated the bill’s provisions, and enforcement
officials generated over 4,000 charges for racially aggravated offences in the law’s first
year on the books.
Another example of France’s emphasis on symbolism is its institutionalized inter-
ministerial committee on racism and anti-Semitism formed after a fire at the Merkaz
Hatorah Jewish school in the Paris suburb of Gagny in November 2003. President
Chirac’s immediate response was that “an attack on a Jew is an attack against France,”
which prompted Theo Klein, a former head of the Representative Council of Jewish
Institutions of France (CRIF), to criticize the government for defining the firebombing as
anti-Semitic without conclusive proof.
32
A brief story in Le Monde summarized the
situation: “The President of the Republic wants to show his firmness and the will of the
government to react in response to the growth in France of a racist and anti-Semitic
climate… Statistics indicate, however, a drop in anti-Semitic acts.”
33
Although critics
view them as superficial, such symbolic acts can have tangible and positive implications.
Passing the Lellouche law and forming the inter-ministerial committee reaffirm the
French state’s commitment to equality and fraternity and reassure vulnerable groups in
society.
34
31
Interview at Ministry of Justice, December 2003.
32
New York Times, “Attacks by Arabs on Jews in France Revive Old Fears,” 3 December 2003.
33
Le Monde, “Jacques Chirac Mobilise contre l’Antisémitisme,” 17 November 2003.
34
The creation of a special police unit in Paris to deal with racist and anti-Semitic complaints may also be
primarily a symbolic act. Although it may serve a useful purpose in dealing with cases of racist violence,
the character of the press release—an interview by the police commissioner with a Jewish weekly—
suggests that it is as much for public relations as it is a pragmatic initiative (Agence France Presse, “Une
Equipe de la Police Judiciaire pour les Plaintes à Caractère Antisémite,” 26 March 2003).
Convention