France: The Socialists’ New Head, Harlem Désir

France: The Socialists’ New Head, Harlem Désir

The Daily Beast (In Newsweek Magazine)
2012-10-29

Tracy McNicoll, Paris correspondent

The faded star of a French anti-racist icon.

In a country that went tipsy with Obamania four years ago, Harlem Désir’s election to lead France’s ruling Socialist Party might seem an occasion for bubbly. Désir—whose gifts include the coolest name in French politics—is the nation’s first black party leader. But his rise has elicited stunning indifference. In September, 74 percent of French poll respondents said they didn’t care. Only half of card-carrying Socialists bothered to cast their ballots. And the critics have been even less kind…

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