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| Europe |
| When France sneezes . . . |
| 2005-06-12 |
| Lengthy analysis of the "Non!" vote and what the author considers the breakdown of the Fifth Republic. Go read it all; here's a taste: Power sits with the executive nationally - the President - or locally in the mayoralty, with big city mayors being key political actors. Parliament does not provide the political platform from which to build a constituency, launch an argument or build a career. As a result, the democratic disconnection in France is even more pronounced than in Britain. There's an understated sense of disaffection and fragmentation; French cafes, for example, no longer seem to bring people together but, rather, they emphasise their separateness. Africans hawk cheap tat in the streets, an unintegrated and unwanted subculture. Brutal new shopping precincts, car parks and roads arbitrarily cut through familiar communities. French youth culture wants to embrace the latest from Britain or America, but also wants to be French and doesn't know how. Four years after university, 40 per cent of graduates are still unemployed. Ariane Chemin, a writer for Le Monde, captured contemporary France perfectly in her piece on Compiegne, a typical commuter town 64 kilometres east of Paris. With the aid of some local estate agents, she plotted the 'no' vote against the price per square metre of property, advancing through the town and its outlying villages quarter by suburban quarter. The correlation between low property prices and readiness to vote no was perfect. The part of town where the Africans were most visible and social housing most evident registered the biggest no vote at 77.24 per cent. But in Saint-Jean-aux-Bois, the gilded village retreat of Compiegne's professional classes and Parisian second home-owners, the yes vote was 65 per cent. In the suburbs in between, even with a socialist mayor calling for a yes, the denizens of small, three-bedroom houses voted no by 64 per cent. This is the France over which President Chirac presides. He and the constitution which confers on him such power is the France of Saint-Jean-aux-Bois, but the rest of Compiegne gazes on in mute disaffection and gathering anger. Its deputy in the National Parliament might as well not exist; its President and the aristocrat Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, speak a language, come from a class and represent a political system that is light years away from their daily experience. . . . I would be very interested in the reactions of our European contingent (JFM--this means you!) to this guy's analysis. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #4 From the article: While corporate France has restructured and raised its productivity to the highest in the industrialised West, easily surpassing the US, the rest of the French economy has been becalmed. I hate it when people just f-ing lie. From the OECD website (scroll to the bottom): French productivity is 26% lower than the US. In fact the only OECD country that comes slose is Norway, which is 2% lower. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2005-06-12 23:14 |
| #3 Sounds to me like they're ripe for a(nother) revolution - or a civil war. |
| Posted by: LC FOTSGreg 2005-06-12 19:06 |
| #2 When France Sneezes.... They blame the U.S. and demand that some other EU country pay for the Kleenex. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-06-12 18:04 |
| #1 but also wants to be French and doesn't know how. Take a cue from Runway Boy a few days ago - sport loud, obnoxious striped clothing and wear your clip-on braces backwards. At least it's a start... |
| Posted by: Raj 2005-06-12 10:30 |