Few Reasons To Cheer

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"We figure about 10 of them will win," says Malek Boutih, the party's national secretary for social questions. "We're trying to find a way to let a new, diverse generation emerge without falling into the trap of thinking only minorities can represent minorities." But isn't expecting residents of the banlieues to put their identity as Socialists or French citizens before their ethnicity a bit naive? Boutih doesn't think so. "It's a bet that will pay off over time," he says.

The Socialists can at least claim more support among minorities than the conservative Union for a Popular Movement (ump). Jeannette Bougrab, 33, is the ump's national secretary, charged with attracting new party members. She has also been accorded a candidacy in Paris' mixed 18th arrondissement — a Socialist sinecure that she calls "unwinnable."

As the descendant of Algerians who fought alongside the French in the Algerian war of independence, she is torn between her political ideologies and her identity as a minority. "I generally find it insulting to be considered a visible minority," she says. "I'm a lot of other things, including a law professor. It's time people see me as a Frenchwoman with black hair." But she thinks the ump has abandoned the banlieues and can only start winning there if she assumes the burden of her origins. "If people like me don't get interested in the situation of minorities, it's hard to expect others in the party to," she says.

Mohamed and Bakary, meanwhile, remain less than enamored of the processes of the French state. The young pair left the city hall in La Corneuve in the same dire financial straits with which they entered it. For them, the promised market stall is a first step to making their way in a complex society. How much more sobering is the larger challenge of helping more than 5 million Arab and black French citizens to see themselves reflected in France's city halls, Parliament — and perhaps even presidential palace?