The issue of race, the issue of colonialism that you mentioned earlier to Constance, remember that large parts of the Arab world were under either French colonialism or British colonialism.

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Moreover, for Mr Jospin, son of left-wing parents, the Trotskyites doubtless seemed an honourable alternative both to the Socialists, tainted by their support for French colonialism, and to the Communists, blind to Russia's brutality at home and abroad.

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Time and again, support for terrorism appears to increase when legitimate political activism is suppressed - from the French anarchists who began bombing campaigns after the defeat of the Paris Commune, to the Algerian National Liberation Front struggling to end French colonialism, to the Weather Underground's "Declaration of a state of war" after state repression of student campaigns against the Vietnam War.

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Countries such as Haiti which, through colonialism, inherited laws from the French legal system are especially prone to red tape.

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And colonialism British, Portuguese and French left a distinct imprint on the kitchen.

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Others in former colonies continue to embrace France, saying the current security situations that have spurred reluctant French interventions on the continent don't amount to neo-colonialism.

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