1) The rumors are flying: Le Monde reports 3 categories of rumor as the nature of the insult: racism (per SOS Racism), insult to his family (per Bernard Tapie and Globo, insult re doping scandal (per the Independent).
Le Monde's front page of today highlights an opinion article by a well known psychoanalyst who philosophizes on the act as a self-destructive act tied to his background.... This evening the French national TV news (Antenne 2, center right) showed someone from Zidane's entourage saying the comment was racism and an insult to his mother & sister. The anchorman via questions emphasized the racist element. Zidane has said he will not speak for a few more days. The other players say he has not spoken and he was visibly depressed and dazed at the Presidential and public ceremonies in Paris. He could barely say 3 words to the President who tried to engage him in conversation. 2) Most media accounts show the French public standing by Zidane, demurring any condemnation. Initially Chirac's entourage seemed to distance themselves from Zidane -- the Sports Minister quickly deploring his act. But Chirac has a famous nose for public opinion and today he publicly refused to criticize the act and gave fulsome praise to Zidane's overall contribution to the country. Sarkozy has refused all comment. He was in direct conflict with some players (notably Thuram) during the suburb riots. His entourage has been trying to associate him with a new young white player (Ribery) who has not been involved with the anti-racism movement. The Socialists have made lavish but transparent efforts to associate themselves with Zidane. Blair-like Royal called his red card an injustice. Others analogized to right wing provocations or even the second round in Presidential voting (?!). The leader of the Greens said "it is just a game". [No, I am not making all this up :-) ] 3) From a Le Monde editorial (after discussing the "high" given hopes for social change as a result of the 1998 World Cup that was ultimately unfullfilled): "....The collective fever of the World Cup confirms another lesson: the country is ready to grab at any occasion to embark on a collective commitment and find everyone "all together" [a union slogan from the '90s]. That is the good news: the French are still ready to believe in something. The bad news: aside from international sports and a few special events expressing solidarity, France no longer knows what to mobilize for and how to use the collective energy that she can readily show." Paul Yoshie writes:
Via Ra Ravishankar offlist, I received this info: World-Zidane apparently called "dirty terrorist" Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:38 PM BST10 <http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldFootballNews&storyID=2006-07-10T163843Z_01_L10406204_RTRIDST_0_SPORT-SOCCER-WORLD-FRANCE-ZIDANE.XML>
