French press review 15 October 2013

Thirty years on from a milestone protest march in France, some papers reflect on life today for ethnic minorities. Tax and the economy are also widely covered ...

Today sees the launch of a new Paris paper, the International New York Times, formerly known as the International Herald Tribune.

We wish them well, but have to regret the further distance that now separates us from the famous Godard film Breathless in which Jean Seberg famously sells newspapers called The Herald Tribune on the Champs Elysées.

This is the thirthieth anniversary of the Long March. On 15 October, 1983, twenty young people of mostly Arab background left their disadvantaged suburb of Marseille to walk around France, visiting other disadvantaged suburbs, with a view to drawing attention to racism and various forms of discrimination.

Unfortunately, only 19 per cent of French people today have any idea that the march took place at all, perhaps because it was optimistic and peaceful. There were 100,000 marchers for the final stretch in Paris, and the leaders got to meet the French president, François Mitterrand. But, sadly, not much has changed in three decades.

The National Front can still use its racist agenda to beat all-comers in a local election, life in many French suburbs remains dangerous and difficult, discrimination is officially denied but is obviously a powerful means of maintaining the status quo. The children of those who marched in 1983 find themselves faced with the same problems, only worse. Because now, the French North African community has to live under the shadow cast by muslim extremists, at the same time as some fanatical religious leaders use the sense of social exclusion as a lever to radicalise some of their young charges.

Both communist daily L'Humanité and left-wing Libération sadly accept that, thirty years down the road, France still has a long way to go in the direction of real equality.

Le Monde looks at the vexed and vexing question of tax. Yesterday, the banks were complaining that they were being robbed by the fiscal fellows. Today, it's the turn of the ordinary working person, who feels, in general, that he or she pays too much and that the money is misused by the powers-that-be.

CatholicLa Croix says there are promising signs of economic recovery in France, with an increase in investment and in business activity. But the movement is slight and will need to be encouraged if it is to turn into new jobs.

Business daily Les Echos looks back on what their main headline calls, with unusual drama for the normally sobre financial daily, "A murderous summer for French business".

The small print laments the demise of no fewer than 12,790 French businesses in the last quarter, the worst summer for bankruptcies since 1993.