The would-be leader of the Socialist Party in France, Ségolène Royal is a well-versed and skilled communicator. Thus her recent performance in Dakar, Sénégal (her birthplace) is neither accidental nor a gaffe.
Former French Socialist presidential candidate Ségolène Royal has sparked a controversy in France during her visit to Senegal, when she issued an apology ... for a 2007 speech by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. [He] had said that African man had never really made his mark in history ... Though well-meant, the speech has been criticized for its paternalistic tone and for reiterating the supremacy of Europe.
“There are some who have come here and said, ‘The African man has not made his mark in history, yet,’” said Ségolène Royal, before a gathering of about 500 people. “Pardon, pardon, pardon, for this humiliating discourse which should never have been uttered and I tell you in full confidence that it does not represent the views of France or the French people.”
Royal has been unfairly compared to Margaret Thatcher; though she is tough minded and does not suffer fools gladly, her personal and public choices stem from a different perspective. For example, when she was 19 years old, she sued her estranged father; even though he had abandoned his family, he refused all divorce proceedings from her mother in order to avoid paying support to finance his children's education. She won the case after many years in court.
During the presidential campaign that opposed Royal to Sarkozy, her political views - particularly with regard to immigration policy - were criticized by La gauche in Europe for their retrograde implications. Nonetheless Ségolène's media-savvy style, which is a blend of the best/worst of macho confrontation and feminine seduction, is a blast of fresh air in the stale environment of male-dominated discourse. Her reputation for throwing spanners in the well-oiled machinery of social and political conventions is well-deserved.
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