'Le Pen is mightier than the sword'

The 2012 French elections will undoubtedly leave some unflattering marks on France's beautiful face. Forty-four million voters will be eligible to visit the ballot boxes on Sunday in 26 voting regions, including some overseas locations, which remind us of the days when France was a colonial power.

It is truly ironic that the main fear of the French is that they will be forced to join Spain and Greece, members of the EU that were also colonial powers once, in their economic demise that began with the 2008 global economic crisis.

"If I was eligible to vote, I would also vote for Marine Le Pen," Antoine, a dark-skinned taxi driver from the Ivory Coast, told me as he drove me back to my hotel on Friday.

"You-" I asked him, "Isn't Le Pen the leader of a racist party-" Antoine responds, "Yes, but unfortunately the way my brothers behave here gives Le Pen every reason to say what she does and get the amount of votes she is getting."

Not far from Paris lies Drancy, known for its dark days during the Nazi regime in Germany. At that time, Drancy served as a deportation camp where Jews, Gypsies and others were held before being shipped to the concentration camps. Today, its 66,000 residents live with the scar those days left on their city.

The city includes Christians, Muslims and Jews, and there is even a synagogue on Boulevard Saint-Simon. Jewish residents of Drancy, like many other Jews in France, would prefer to see incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy win the elections.

The local mosque in Drancy has been in the eye of a small storm ever since the imam there received threats from Muslims because of his close ties to the city's Jewish community.

People in France today who are optimistic about the country's future will point out the virtues of the imam. Those who want to see things in a darker light will point out those who threaten the imam. It's not difficult to guess which side Le Pen is on.

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