https://arab.news/4kbud
As a crowd celebrated the victory of Bally Bagayoko, the new mayor of the Parisian commune of Saint-Denis, they chanted: “We are all children of Gaza.” The winning candidate from the far-left France Unbowed party considers that Saint-Denis is the capital of the resistance against what he calls imperialism and he considers that its people, like those in Gaza, suffer from injustice. If, in the past, communism used the workers’ condition as a rallying cause, today’s far left is using Gaza as the new rallying symbol.
Despite its real potential linked to its location within the French capital, Saint-Denis is marked by significant social and economic difficulties. It is characterized by a high unemployment rate and structural poverty, with more than half its inhabitants dependent on social benefits. Public services are often under strain and it also witnesses a level of delinquency much higher than the national average. This is fueled by inequality and a parallel economy, even though efforts have been made recently to improve security and the attractiveness of the area, particularly as part of the urban transformations tied to major projects such as the athletes’ village for the Olympic Games of 2024.
