Paul from Paris

L’Etat, c’est moi. Rail lines that converge on Paris. Anyone who studies France encounters, early on, evidence that points to a strong central state. This is often presented as one of the features that make France, France.

A corollary of this proposition would be mistrust of civil society in general, and of citizen initiatives not involving the state, in particular.

Why is this so?

As the days grow longer and the evenings warmer, people in France like to gather for Spring festivals, whether formal or informal.

The informal gatherings have, in the eyes of the press, given Facebook a bad reputation. Informal weekend gatherings have occurred all over France, mostly in cities with universities and big student populations: Lyon, Nantes, Montpellier. The gatherings are promoted via a Facebook group and held in public. They are open to all but orchestrated by no one in particular.

Facebook groups had announced a similar gathering this weekend, in the Champs de Mars (by the Eiffel Tower). The reaction by the public authorities grew steadily over the week: ban the event; ban all such gatherings; arrest and interrogate the organizers (they turned out to be teenage girls; no charges were brought); alcohol having already been forbidden in the park, new ordinances were enacted to prohibit –for the weekend– glass containers and the transport of alcohol around the Champs de Mars; busloads of riot police were called in; and passersby were frisked.

Plenty of people did enjoy the park on a warm summer evening. Malfeasance rivaling Sodom and Gomorrah did not occur. The authorities declared victory.

For this observer, what really troubled the authorities was the lack of state supervision.

I’ve seen other events in Paris, such as the Technoparade or Gay Pride marches, that do have official organizers and state sanction. I wouldn’t dream of banning them, even though I’ve witnessed, in my quiet neighborhood:

• mountains of detritus, including broken glass, after municipal sanitation workers have cleaned up, presenting a risk, especially to dogs and small children;
• participants who are inebriated or drugged to the point where they cannot walk or speak;
• misbehavior best described as riotous: damaging bus shelters, removing review mirrors from cars, vandalism (leading the Vélib rental bike service to encase cycles and equipment near my apartment in a plastic protection).

State-sponsored initiatives are common this time of the year in the south of France. Examples include the Gruissan Festéjades or the Nîmes Féria. These events take place over a long weekend, and call upon significant state resources. There’s even bullfighting, which many consider to be animal torture.

The World Health Organization just condemned binge drinking. Of course, binge drinking –consuming a lot of alcohol in a little time in order to induce drunkenness– has been around for a while. And, of course, WHO adopted a non-binding resolution, so as not to force its members’ hands.

In France, binge drinking has been an oft-cited reason to ban so-called apéros Facebook, informal gatherings in public parks that are announced through social media, such as Facebook pages.

French authorities have no problem with apéros. In fact, the French state pays people abroad to host and hold French-themed cocktail hours. France is full of cafés and bars. In fact, there are citizen groups that petition to “save” cafés from closure (in the sense of going out of business). There are plenty of places in France to buy or to have a drink.

French authorities likewise seem unconcerned by drinking in public, or even public drunkenness.

What seems to generate concern are: young people, especially in groups.

I like to think of myself as young or youthful, but the French authorities certainly aren’t talking about me. They’re talking about teenagers and students. I teach, so I have regular contact with hundreds of people in this age bracket. Admittedly, I don’t teach rabble-rousers. But those whom I get to know seem responsible enough to choose, themselves, whether and how much to drink.

This having been said, I’m prepared to hide my libertarian stripes and concede dangers to public health and safety presented by drinking, especially bridge drinking.

But I would like to know more about changing patterns in alcohol consumption in France: data seem to show a fall in the number of those who drink regularly in smaller quantities (a glass of wine every evening with dinner); and a rise in the number of those who drink episodically in large quantities (binge drinkers who consume cocktails made of vodka and Red Bull).

And I would like to hear more from binge drinkers, especially about their motivations: what is it, precisely, that they find so seductive about drunkenness?

We all hope to return home safely, but accidents sometimes dictate otherwise.

Two accidents made the news in France recently:

• In Nantes, Brice (age 21) fell from the pont de la Rotonde. He unfortunately landed on his head. Despite the efforts of five friends, who were with him at the time and who sought help immediately, Brice died from his injuries.
• In Gruissan, a motorist, driving with three friends in his car, struck a group of cyclists who were traveling on the same road, in the same direction. Two cyclists (age 16 and 18) died on the spot from injuries they sustained; a third cyclist (age 19) suffered injuries that left him in a coma for several days and that will require surgery to mend.

I’m prepared to accept both incidents as unintended, unforeseeable, freak occurrences. But in my mind the second case is more serious than the first. Yet media reports in France dwell considerably more on the first case.

For a few brief months in 2004, Nicolas Sarkozy served as French finance minister. His tenure was as unremarkable as it was brief. Its highlight was probably the 30 August visit, to Sarkozy and his spouse Cécila, by actor Tom Cruise, in Paris to promote “Collateral”, the Michael Mann picture in which he starred.

No one seems to have briefed Sarkozy on “Collateral”. It’s a movie about a hit man (the role played by Cruise), on an all-night murderous rampage through Los Angeles.

Likewise, no one seems to have briefed Sarkozy today on how public opinion is likely to react when the French president talks of increasing taxes.

Sarkozy has been talking a lot about taxes lately. He wants to “find” 100 billion euros in the next three years. He wants to close loopholes (which, in France, are adorably named “niches fiscales“). He wants to increase the duration of retirement contributions, pushing back the retirement age. (This led to a call to strike tomorrow.)

Public opinion got the message, loud and clear. Most French people –a recent poll pegged the percentage at over 70%– think taxes will increase. Most French people –the same poll points to an ever greater share, above 80%– would prefer that any new taxes target “the rich” or banks.

What ever happened to economic growth?

Early in presidency, Sarkozy was known for inciting people “to work more to earn more” (travailler plus pour gagner plus). His slogan may have been demagogic and ambiguous, but it pointed towards growth at the possibility of growth.

Today, the main economic issue seems to be confidence, particularly a perceived lack of confidence. Financial markets, investors, consumers: all are said to lack confidence. Sarkozy and his finance minister multiply trips and talks, but markets and opinion don’t budge: confidence is still lacking.

Memo to Sarkozy: Show some constancy. When you abandon one policy (work more to earn more), you erode credibility on any policy. Talk of increasing taxes –big jumps, all sorts of taxes– only reinforces impressions of disorder in public finances and dark days ahead for the economy generally.

(photo uncredited, probably by French finance ministry staff)

France witnessed two incidents of burka rage last week, both under-reported in French media.

The shoe-store altercation

A mother and her (adult) daughter spent a Saturday afternoon shopping in Trignac, a town in the Loire-Atlantique, in western France. In a shoe store, the pair see a woman wearing a burka (what the French commonly call any body-length garment that entirely covers the face and is worn by certain Muslim women). The mother tells her daughter that she’s eager for the French parliament to ban wearing a burka in public.

This much is undisputed. What happened next has led to criminal complaints for assault, now pending and under investigation.

The burka-wearer apparently engaged the mother-daughter pair in discussion, or argument. The mother may have likened the burka-wearer to Belphegor, a mythological figure who, in French cinema and television productions, haunts the Louvre museum, fully veiled. The mother may have told the burka-wearer to “go back to your country”.

The burka-wearing woman hit the mother, who tore off the burka’s veil. A scuffle ensued. Everyone wound up at the station house.

The burka-wearer subsequently held a press conference. Wearing a burka, and without giving her name, she explained that her first name is Elodie, that she was born in France and reared as a Catholic, and that following her conversion to Islam she decided to wear a burka as a sort of gift to her husband. If the law prohibited her from wearing a burka in public in France, Elodie would consider moving to Saudi Arabia.

The degenerating debate

A Tuesday-evening debate on the burka ban led to a scuffle, broken up by the police around 9:30 pm. Even talking about a burka ban can spark violence in France today.

The particulars need some unpacking.

The debate was called by Ni putes Ni soumises (“Neither whores nor submissives”), a women’s advocacy group launched (among others) by Fadela Amara, now junior minister for urban affairs. Notwithstanding her present participation in a conservative government, no one questions Amara’s left-wing views and positions. Ni putes ni soumises’s position on the burka ban is clear: full-fledged support.

The debate does seem to have had shadings of consciousness-raising or advocacy. It was held in Montreuil, a left-leaning town just outside Paris, at the Diderot Elementary School. High-profile politicians in attendance included Montreuil MP Jean-Pierre Brard and Emmanuel Valls, the mayor of Evry, labor MP, and the first labor party leader to openly declare his candidacy for his party’s nomination in the 2012 presidential race. Brard and Valls both support the burka ban and both are solidly on the left.

From press reports, the debate was interrupted by Abdelhakim Sefrioui and other supporters from the pro-Palestinian Sheikh Yassine collective. They oppose the burka ban and, from press reports, disapprove of debate on the burka ban; it’s reasonable to assume that they went to the Dierot Elementary School with minds less open than the organizers’. For Brard, “they’re in the field of intolerance”, and for Valls “making a law to prohibit the full veil is the best favor we could do for women”.
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