ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the 8 July 2004 address of French President Jacques Chirac, in which he called upon the French government and people to take decisive action to combat the rising tide of racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and homophobia in France. The analysis identifies the rhetorical strategies by which historical events are organised to create a framework for the presentation of a French national identity that promotes tolerance and diversity and rejects racism and discrimination. The origins of nationalism are associated with the French Revolution and the social and political transformation that it precipitated. National identity is strongly linked to national history. Nationalism seeks to construct the present as a rational continuation of a past that is pure and authentic, a source of greatness. The speech examined here was delivered on the occasion of a national holiday, and thus belongs to the genre of commemorative speeches, the primary purpose of which is 'to retrieve the past for the present.
