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A French-Algerian journalist’s stark critique of her crisis-ridden country—how does France work, how did it get here, and how can it change?
France—the romanticised, revolutionary land of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity for all—is failing. Reform is urgently needed. This book is a powerful indictment of the status quo, and a highly original perspective on the challenges to which the nation must rise.
Nabila Ramdani is not from the establishment elite: she is a marginalised insider, born and raised in a neglected Paris suburb. With unflinching clarity, she probes the fault lines of her struggling country, exposing the Fifth Republic as an archaic system which emerged from Algeria’s cataclysmic War of Independence.
Today, a monarchical President Macron shows little interest in democracy, while a far-right party founded by Nazi collaborators threatens to replace him. Segregation, institutionalised rioting, economic injustice, the debasement of women, a monolithic education system, deep-seated racial and religious discrimination, paramilitary policing, terrorism and extremism, and a duplicitous foreign policy all fuel the growing crisis.
Yet Ramdani offers real hope: the broken French Republic can, and must, be fixed.
Introduction: Rebuilding the Dream
Chapter One: Politics: The King Is Dead, Long Live the President
Chapter Two: Society: Free Falling
Chapter Three: The Far-Right: Back to Africa
Chapter Four: Protest: Fight the Power
Chapter Five: Terrorism: Exemplary Vengeance
Chapter Six: Education: The Kindling of a Flame
Chapter Seven: Identity: The Great Debate
Chapter Eight: Feminism: And God Created Woman
Chapter Nine: Economics: Winners and Laggers
Chapter Ten: Foreign Policy: Post-
Chapter Eleven: Empire State
Conclusion: The Art of Being French
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
Description
A French-Algerian journalist’s stark critique of her crisis-ridden country—how does France work, how did it get here, and how can it change?
France—the romanticised, revolutionary land of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity for all—is failing. Reform is urgently needed. This book is a powerful indictment of the status quo, and a highly original perspective on the challenges to which the nation must rise.
Nabila Ramdani is not from the establishment elite: she is a marginalised insider, born and raised in a neglected Paris suburb. With unflinching clarity, she probes the fault lines of her struggling country, exposing the Fifth Republic as an archaic system which emerged from Algeria’s cataclysmic War of Independence.
Today, a monarchical President Macron shows little interest in democracy, while a far-right party founded by Nazi collaborators threatens to replace him. Segregation, institutionalised rioting, economic injustice, the debasement of women, a monolithic education system, deep-seated racial and religious discrimination, paramilitary policing, terrorism and extremism, and a duplicitous foreign policy all fuel the growing crisis.
Yet Ramdani offers real hope: the broken French Republic can, and must, be fixed.
