French press review 19 November 2013

It's hard to believe that the five French newspapers to hand were all published on the same planet.

Libération, understandably, devotes its stark front page to the attack on its offices yesterday. A man armed with a pump-action shotgun shot and seriously wounded a photographer at the newspaper's headquarters.

The haeadline reads "He took out a gun and he fired, twice." The police are still searching for the perpretrator and have no idea about his motives. He is believed to be the same individual who attempted to attack the BFMTV offices in Paris last Friday and who fired shots outside a Paris bank yesterday. Beyond that, he remains a dangerous mystery.

Communist L'Humanité looks at the frequently forgotten struggle of some sections of the Syrian population against their own rulers. The paper reports from the city of Aleppo, saying everyday life there is like a secular version of Hell, with the population caught between the cruelties of the regime, the rebels and the holy warriors.And it's not likely to end any time soon.

According to L'Humanité's analysis, the Syrian civil war is really a proxy conflict between the Americans and the Russians with control of the eastern Mediterranean as the main prize. Further, says the communist daily, peace in Syria will not be possible without an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the big regional players. And Israel won't encourage that since the current situation in Syria is a welcome distraction from the conflict between the Palestinian people and the Jewish state. Says L'Humanité, "the Palestinians are paying the price for the fact that the major conflict in the region has become a Sunni-Shi'ite or Saudi-Iranian question."

Two million Syrians have had to flee their homeland, according to the UN refugee agency, and at least 115,000 have died so far.

At the other end of the spectrum of human concerns, Catholic La Croix asks how bad things really are here in France.

Unemployment is on the increase, taxation has reached record levels, racism and intolerance are rearing their ugly heads, political leaders have rarely been so unpopular.

But hope is one of the key Catholic virtues, so La Croix is not going to leave the last word to the merchants of doom and gloom.

The part-time sector has started taking on employees again, which is a positive sign, as is the stabilisation of the unemployment rate for those under the age of 25. That rate is currently 25 per cent of an entire age group but at least it's not getting worse. And, more positively, the government has invested huge amounts in 34 industrial plans in such sectors as energy, aerospace and computer technology, with a view to creating more jobs for future generations; jobs based on the French reputation for an intelligent, highly trained workforce.

The tax burden is aimed at putting the economy on a solid footing.

The increase in racist outbreaks is fairly typical of countries in crisis, where the other, the outsider, is held responsible for the fact that "real" French people don't have jobs, feel insecure and pay too much tax. And such discontent is grist to the mill of political organisations like Marine Le Pen's extreme right Front National. But that's the price you have to pay for living in a real democracy where freedom of speech is a fundamental right.

And, to complete the headline spectum, from the serious to something else entirely, tabloid Aujourd'hui en France give pride of place to a football match - tonight's clash between France and Ukraine, with the French needing to win by three goals at least if they are to qualify for next year's World Cup in Brazil. I like the cartoon which shows the French president asking a player for a special effort, and the footballer replies: "If we win, will you abolish the 75 per cent tax rate?"