The French newspaper Le Figaro warned that France is slipping from bankruptcy to bankruptcy and described, in an article by the historian and sociologist Nicolas Baverez, France as having become “the sick man of Europe.”
He said: Although most democracies are witnessing protest movements and violent incidents, what is happening in France appears to be an exception due to the wide spread of movements and the loss of state control over public order, as the outbreak of violence represents an undeniable acceleration in the process of disintegrating the French nation.
He pointed out that the outcome of the wave of urban violence that swept France since the tragic death of the young man, Nael, in Nanterre, exceeded the outcome of the riots in 2005 and defies understanding, especially since the violence exceeded all borders, and was not limited to the so-called priority neighborhoods, as it primarily attacks the authority The state through buildings, public servants and symbols of consumption, through the looting of shops, banks and insurance agencies.
In Nicolas’ opinion, since 2015, four movements have succeeded in creating an atmosphere of civil war, and the wave of attacks paved the way for destabilizing the institutions and values of the republic. However, the wave of “yellow vests” showed a decline and a sense of neglect in marginal France, as well as the huge protests against regime reform. Retiring from the concern of the middle class about the beginning of its impoverishment, and finally the uprising of the suburbs highlighted chaos in entire sectors of the country and the population, qualifying it to be in a parallel society that is not governed by the laws of the republic, but rather by the laws of drug trafficking and sectarianism.
And he considered that the diversity of these revolutions and anger proves that their origin cannot be found in systemic racism in society and the state, but rather lies in the acceleration of the fall of France, which has become the sick man of Europe, due to economic bankruptcy with stunted growth, social bankruptcy with a decline in per capita wealth, and bankruptcy. Mali with high public debt, then civil and political bankruptcy, and finally moral bankruptcy fueled by the dynamics of hatred, violence and fear that strengthen citizens’ distrust of democracy and herald the rise of power to the extreme right.
However, what is remarkable, according to the writer, is that the French leaders are still, in the face of the seriousness of this situation, unable to understand the existential crisis that the country is going through, and therefore the more violence escalates, the nation collapses, and the more the nation disintegrates, the stronger the internal and external threats increase.
He concluded that the brutality of society and the spiral of decline in France requires a national shift, which begins with the recognition that the French model of growth through debt is no longer viable, with the priority of production, innovation and investment strongly in education and in the human being with strict regulation of immigration, and called on President Macron to give absolute priority to restoring France.
