"La France" is a 2001 song by the
French hip hop
French hip hop is the hip hop music style developed in French-speaking countries. France is the second largest hip-hop market in the world after the United States.
History
Beginning of French hip hop: the 70s and 80s
By 1982 and 1983, a numbe ...
band
Sniper
A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...
. It addresses perceived injustices committed against
minorities by the
French political system and the opinion that even though there is a large number of people of
African
African or Africans may refer to:
* Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa:
** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa
*** Ethn ...
and
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
origins in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, they are poorly represented in
politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
. The song's chorus displays the message in a rather strong way:
La France est une garce et on s'est fait trahir
Le système, voilà ce qui nous pousse à les haïr
La haine, c'est ce qui rend nos propos vulgaires
On nique la France sous une tendance de musique populaire
On est d'accord et on se moque des répressions
On se fout de la République et de la liberté d'expression
Faudrait changer les lois et pouvoir voir
Bientôt à l'Elysée des arabes et des noirs au pouvoir
In English:
France is a bitch and we've been betrayed
The system is what makes us hate them
The hatred is what makes our words vulgar
We fuck France over with the pop music
We agree and we don't care about a repression
We don't give a damn about the Republic or the freedom of expression
The laws should be changed and we should see
Arabs and Blacks in power, soon at l'Elysée,
This song was among the ones that according to the
French Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012.
Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...
had 'violent, racist and abusive' lyrics,
[''L'Atlantique multiracial: discours, politiques, dénis'' 2012 -- Page 98 "... et de la Licra (Ligue internationale contre le racisme et l'antisémitisme). Les plaintes faisaient référence à la chanson La France mais aussi à Jeteur de pierre (2001), qui décrit le conflit israélo-palestinien en présentant l'Intifada comme une ..."] particularly as it contains the line ''"Pour mission exterminer les ministres et les fachos"'' ("A mission to exterminate the ministers and fascists"), "Frère, je lance un appel, on est là pour tout niquer, leur laisser des traces et des séquelles, avant de crever" and "Mon seul souhait, désormais, est de nous voir les envahir" (Now, my only wish is to see us invading them).
References
External links
lyrics
{{authority control
2001 songs
Sniper (group) songs