Q: When is it not all right to fail to sing along with La Marseillaise
A: When you're undeniably black or an Arab
That is one way of interpreting the manufactured row over the failure of Christiane Taubira, who rose from poor origins in Cayenne, French Guiana to become France's justice minister, to sing along with the national anthem at a commemoration in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris of the abolition of slavery.
Another way is to dismiss it as a crazed caricature of self-righteous indignation.
Taubira justified her silence at Facebook by pointing out that this was a solo rendition of the anthem: “When the voice of the soloist stands out above the orchestra, I listen, and listen until the end. Then, having acclaimed the orchestra, I congratulate the singer, who slips into conversation that he's of Haitian descent ...
"Some circumstances are more suitable for contemplation than stage karaoke.”
Out from what Richard Littlejohn would call central casting, if - say - lefties were attacking the existence of a proud, exuberant anthem, has come a dim chorus of criticism.
"By comparing La Marseillaise to ‘onstage karaoke’ - [read it again; she didn't - ed] - and refusing to sing it, Christiane Taubira has revealed her true colours, and those of the administration,” said Marine Le Pen, the leader of the Front National, a party whose creator, her father, has had several clashes with the law - and common decency - over the occasionally racist or anti-Semitic character of his burblings.
Le Pen La Fille went on: "This unacceptable gaffe is indeed symbolic proof of the highest order of their contempt for France, for its history and its people, who love to sing their anthem, and are proud of it."
But surely the mainstream right was able to apply a semblance of proportion? Non, monsieur. Step forward Jean-Francois Copé, leader of the UMP: "What is most shocking is that she could justify herself not singing the national anthem by speaking of karaoke. She is a minister. There are certain things one does not say, that one does not have the right to say, and I think I am among millions of French people who are deeply shocked."
Another UMP bigwig called Taubira's actions "disgusting". France 24 noted that in a poll for the right-wing magazine Le Point almost 80 per cent thought it a resigning matter.
For those not quite so hard of thinking, it is worth considering one or two inconvenient details. Declining to join in with La Marseillaise is not confined to black ministers (or indeed to the deliberately disrespectful French Maghrebin football supporters who, in whatever numbers, add genuine insult by whistling in derision when it is played in stadiums).
Le Figaro, to its credit, found footage showing Nicolas Sarkozy, a former president of the right, among others remaining tight-lipped during the anthem on other occasions.
The present education minister, Benoît Hamon, also present at Saturday's ceremony, said that in common with most ministers, he too refrained from singing along because it was being delivered by a soloist in beautiful voice; in stadiums he would sing it lustily along with most others. No one, to my knowledge, added that Taubira did join in the applause once the anthem had been sung.
I am not especially a Taubira admirer. She is part of a government that, so far, has failed to address France's problems in a manner that gives the least confidence of success. The jury may be out on Manuel Valls, the new prime minister, but my own suspicion is that he will come to be associated with continuing failure and lose momentum in his personal quest for even higher office. And Valls, the closest the right currently has to holding power, sang only part of the anthem on Saturday.
The question is posed in the headline, but it is difficult to put this all down to absurd political banter.
Something nastier is going on. It seems, to me, deeply unhealthy for the right and far right to single out the justice minister. She has already been expected to put up with being called a monkey in the street, having a UMP councillor candidate post a racist message about her on Facebook and hearing an FN candidate say she'd prefer to see her swinging from trees than in government office.
It is true that party administrations sometimes respond firmly when individual activists are caught out in all their naked racism. The UMP councillor, for example, was expelled from the party. Le Pen must always remember and act on her policy of dédiabolisation of her party (perhaps she can remind us who it was that caused the diabolisation in the first place).
At a guess, I'd say most people are aware of their national anthem from an early age. Some of us then realise we drew a short straw whereas the French discover theirs is one of rare splendour.
If I were French, I'd ignore those troubled by the bloodcurdling old lyrics and blast it out whenever appropriate; adding my wretched voice to that of an accomplished soloist would not meet the test of appropriateness.
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