Chirac Learns from JJ

          Chirac: Companies Should `Better Reflect' Diversity

French President Jacques Chirac called on companies and political parties to ``better reflect'' the country's diversity and help fight discrimination, one of the issues at the heart of the recent wave of rioting.

``Companies and labor unions must get mobilized on the essential question of diversity,'' Chirac said late yesterday in his first national televised national address since the riots began. ``I ask leaders of political parties to take their share of responsibility.''

     He can be the EU consultant for Jesse's Shakedown Inc.

Chirac Says Companies Should `Better Reflect' French Diversity

by Sandrine Rastello

Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- French President Jacques Chirac called on companies and political parties to ``better reflect'' the country's diversity and help fight discrimination, one of the issues at the heart of the recent wave of rioting.

``Companies and labor unions must get mobilized on the essential question of diversity,'' Chirac said late yesterday in his first national televised national address since the riots began. ``I ask leaders of political parties to take their share of responsibility.''

Almost 8,600 cars have been torched in the riots that began Oct. 27 in a Paris suburb and spread to cities across France. Measures such as curfews in some towns and bans on gatherings in Paris and Lyon have brought calm after more than two weeks of violence. About 2,700 people have been arrested.

The riots partly reflect tensions in neighborhoods where youth unemployment exceeds 30 percent and where sizeable Muslim communities reside in the largely Catholic country. While the provocation for the riots was the accidental death of two youths fleeing a police check, the violence reflects frustration of immigrants and their descendants who say they are discriminated against.

A white man with a French first and last name is five times more likely to be called in for a job interview than a man with a Northern African name with a similar resume, according to a 2004 study by sociologist Jean-Francois Amadieu and Adia, a Paris- based human resources consultant and temporary job company.

Quotas Dismissed

Chirac said France must acknowledge its diversity and fight discrimination, which ``saps the foundation of our republic.'' At the same time, he rejected the idea of introducing a quota system, calling it ``unfair'' for those who aren't able to benefit from it.

National Police Chief Michel Gaudin said yesterday that measures will be taken to change recruitment patterns in the police and hire more people from ethnic minorities, as in countries such as the U.K.

``Our police must mirror the French society as it is in the year 2005,'' Gaudin said. France, with a population of about 62 million, has one of the largest communities of immigrants of Arab origin in Europe, totaling about 5 million people.

Chirac yesterday also said he wants to extend the state of emergency and vowed to act ``firmly'' against those involved in the worst public unrest in the country since 1968.

Bloomberg

Comments

[Phoenix]

He's only 8,600 Peugots and Smart Cars too late. I imagine the major insurance companies flooded his email box with emails that started with 'Hey, Asshole...'

[Steel]

I have heard as many as 50,000 vehicles.

The insurance companies had more than THAT to say I'll bet.

[Obi-Wan]

Yet again the left promotes its irrationally steadfast belief that we can appease anyone who hates us if we just treat them nicely.

Thing is, they don't hate us or the French because we're not treating them nicely. They hate us because we're not them, but dirty infidels threatening to lure their young people into lives of Western decadence.

Instead of having "learned all they needed to know in kindergarten," Islamists learned all they needed to know in the 7th century, and death to all who seek "progress" of any kind.

[Steel]

Yeah, PLUS not only do they want to reclaim all that was theirs then, but everything settled since.

[Phoenix]

What do they need to reclaim? They haven't lost anything. I mean, besides their minds.