Fadela Amara: Madame Marshall Plan.(The Last Word)(Interview)

Byline: Tracy McNicoll

Folks in the banlieues have to have public services so that we don't have any so-called "lost territories of the republic."

The leftist daughter of Algerian immigrants, Fadela Amara is an unlikely cabinet minister. A high-school dropout, she made her name as head of Neither Whores Nor Submissives, which defends women's rights in the rough Paris suburbs. When President Nicolas Sarkozy launched his "Marshall Plan for the suburbs," he named Amara, 43, its leader. The plan pledges more law enforcement, 100,000 jobs, public transit and better schooling for top students. Critics call it light on details. Amara discussed it with NEWSWEEK's Tracy McNicoll. Excerpts:

McNicoll: You grew up in the projects yourself. What has changed?

Amara: Before, my district was a real working-class neighborhood with a large Algerian immigrant population and some French families. We were all poor, yet it was easier to live then because there was far less violence than today. What's especially changed is the rise of anarchic violence that takes whole neighborhoods hostage. It's the law of the strongest, and its corollary: the law of silence.

Why such drastic change?

Back then, there was far less unemployment. In certain districts today, there's 42 percent youth unemployment. So it's an explosive situation. Now, paradoxically, unemployment in France is decreasing. But it doesn't benefit the districts because there's discrimination. We must bring the supply and demand together, and to effectively, radically fight discrimination.