Rue Rude

War Criminal Honored at the Paris Airport

Charles de Gaulle Airport has a photo exhibit on Nobel Peace Prize winners. 

Including Henry Kissinger, whom Spy magazine used to refer to as the "social-climbing war criminal." I have friends who have dined with Kissinger and they say he is charming at dinner parties. I imagine most war criminals are.

Sorry it's a fuzzy photo.  My hands were shaking

Fun and Games

Spending Explosion:  Visit http://www.brainfreez.net/spending_explosion.html (at the moment the link has  been sabotaged and takes you to Microsoft!) to see how much money the "conservative" U.S. President and his cabinet are spending while you play.

Give the President a Brain.  I don't mean President Chirac (whose 72nd birthday it is today).

Who's en colère today?

The kiosquiers. Newstands are on strike today . The kiosquiers say there are too many magazines and newspapers, and that they don't sell enough.

The directeurs des écoles. School principals in France have to teach classes as well as keep up with administrative duties. They want more money and less work. They are on administrative strike for a week.

Defenders of bears.  There was a 1000-person demonstration over the weekend in the Pyrenees to protest the death of the she-bear Cannelle ["Cinnamon"] who was illegally shot by a hunter at the beginning of November, leaving a cub in danger. Cannelle was mourned by all of France.  There are only two or three adult bears left in Pyrenees.

Ivory Coast Update

The Ivory Coast is accusing France before the International Court at the Hague. The Ivoiriens say  that on November 9th, French snipers shot without warning into a protesting, unarmed crowd in front of the Hotel Ivoire, killing 64 people and wounding 1300. For the first time, I heard on the radio this morning that the French Defense Minister has now admitted that the French soldiers "were forced to shoot...There were doubtless some victims."

The French were in the center of the country, deployed in Operation Licorne ["Unicorn"] between the northern, Islamic rebels and the mostly Christian south. After Ivory Coast planes bombed a French position in the center  and killed 9 French soldiers, the French retaliated by destroying the entire Ivory Coast air fleet and took over the Abidjan airport. 

The Evil Empire

There is a new French magazine called l'Empire, devoted to the United States.  "Devoted" is perhaps the wrong word.

[From the editorial of the first issue, after a plea to please please please subscribe] 
"Never in history has a sole power deployed its troops all around the planet. [The French prefer to forget that the British Empire existed.]  Never has a model of civilization spread itself around the world with such force. [The French tried it too but it didn't take.]   The United States of America weighs on the destiny of all the countries of the globe. Such a fact cannot leave anyone indifferent. It well deserves an attentive chronicle. This is what L'Empire proposes. Our judgment is critical. But, whenever possible [sometimes we can't help ourselves!] , free of prejudices and of ideological standpoints. It will be that of a Candide of our time. Curious and open to debate. Of course, we will apply ourselves to indicating the sore points.

"'Anti-américanisme!' some will cry. They are wrong. We love America. Its fascinating spaces, its rich culture, its inexhaustible energy, its spirit of enterprise. As Europeans, we recognize the common values we share with this great people. But we dare to say that this verse is a little short.

"Europe, like Asia, Africa and South America, has also developed in the course of its history distinct values which are not the same as those of the American model. We are attached to this diversity and think it must be defended.

"The difference on the war in Iraq is only an episode. America has a long tradition of using force in external affairs [luckily for France].  For the better and for the worse. This geostrategic fact should incite us all to vigilance. Many Americans are themselves conscious of the dangers of what we must certainly call  imperialism. A simplistic and evangelical vision of the world risks blinding this great nation so much as to bring its decline into view.  That would be as heavy in consequence for everyone as the nation's apogee.

"We must therefore open our eyes wide. We will do it together with you, listening to your questions, your objects, your propositions."

I read the whole magazine standing at the newstand. I refused to pay one sou for this piece of anti-American trash, whose attitude toward my country is summed up by the word used throughout the magazine for "Americans": etasuniens [Unitedstatesians]. This stupid neologism is a favorite of America-haters who buy the mainly Argentinian argument that we are not entitled to call ourselves Americans-- even though we have called ourselves that for nearly four hundred years-- since they, too, are Americans!

I was pleased to see there was no advertising. There had better not be.

Update: Never saw the second issue....Good riddance.

Who's en colère Today?

Today it's

the Scallop Fishermen

The French government has forbidden them to fish in areas where there are toxic algae. They are losing a lot of money because of this and want the government to pay them for their lost income.

The Iron Arm (Bras de Fer)

is a French expression that means a showdown. Today there has been a showdown between the truck drivers who threaten to paralyze Paris tomorrow with a thousand big trucks, and the government which is showing an unaccustomed firmness. The police have an order to suspend on the spot the driver's license of anyone using his truck to impede traffic, and the Transport Minister issued an order forbidding the drivers to demonstrate except on foot.  Prime Minister Raffarin declared, "The right to strike exists, the right of blocking people does not."

"Seven hundred trucks are on their way," said a truckers' representative. "We're surprised the government would  make such a big deal out of this if as few truckers are involved as they say."

My husband just came in from the airport and said the Périphérique [the ring road around Paris] is closed and there are police everywhere.

I do hope they don't block the city. Tomorrow is the day before Thanksgiving and I am preparing dinner for 15 people. There are always some last-minute errands so I really hope the routiers are reasonable.

Who's Angry Today; Ivory Coast Encounter

In France when a group of people  is disgruntled,  goes on strike or protests publicly, it is always described as en colère. In a Paris restaurant I often go to, there used to be a dish called Merlans frits en colère (whiting, fried angrily). Here is who's en colère today.

The routiers (truck drivers). 

They are angry because French social taxes and regulations, as well as the high price of fuel, cause them to be much less competitive than trucking companies from other European countries, like Belgium.

One thousand trucks from all over France will converge on Paris on Wednesday, 24 November (good day to be out of town). "We don't know yet what the consequences of our action will be,"  said the delegate of the truckers organization.  "We do not approve of these methods,"  said the Transport Ministry.

All the same, it is 100% sure the government will keel over and do whatever the truckers want.

The Cauliflower Growers

Recently a cauliflower grower in Brittany was so upset about the Eastern  European competition that he kidnapped two gendarmes. Of course he went to jail, but the cauliflower growers, en colère, demonstrated in his support. "The assembly dispersed peacefully," though.

The Winemakers

"Ladies and gentlemen, you have before you a criminal, a man with blood on his hands," said Bertrand Devillard, a leading representative of the winemakers, yesterday at the famous wine sale of the Hospices de Beaune. The winemakers are angry about the government's new anti-alcoholism campaign, which  includes a poster showing wine as dripping  blood.

A Supporter of Laurent Gbagbo

Today I met a man who is a member of the Bete tribe of the Ivory Coast. He is furious at the French and thinks President Laurent Gbagbo is just trying to wrest control of the country's riches away from the colonial power (France) so that the Ivoiriens benefit from their own oil. "The media here tells nothing but lies about what is going on there."

He also said that the late President Sékou Touré of Guinea was just defending himself from assassins when he threw people into prison and executed them. "These assassins were sent by France. But they never say this. They just say he was throwing people into prison for no reason."

He also said he can tell someone from the Ivory Coast just by looking. Senegalese are much darker, taller, and even the palms of their hands are dark.

La Busherie

Since the defeat of reason John Kerry last week in the U.S. elections, I have been getting a lot of sympathy email from non-American friends ("I promise not to discuss the election!" is the general tenor) and some remarkable emails from the Americans. One of them wrote that she was so upset by Bush's election she had to go to bed for two days. (Her husband had voted for Bush. I would like to see the male-female breakdown of the vote.) Someone else just sent me Adam Felber's concession speech. The Canadians, always ready to help (and as Spy magazine once put it, to apologize to cash machines), have set up a website devoted to arranging marriages for Americans who want to leave their country.

They've Been Wrong Before

Free and Slave States and Territories Before the Civil War

 

States That Went For Kerry (blue) and Bush (red) in November 2004

On the Motards

Last weekend the French were "invited" by their government to drive with their lights on in the daytime, except in towns. ("Invite" in France means "Please do this." Once during a bomb scare at Charles de Gaulle Airport I was invited to leave the terminal immediately.) It is a safety measure that has been proven to lead to fewer accidents. If the experiment is successful in reducing accidents, daytime lights will become obligatory in five months. But nothing is simple in France. There have already been several angry demonstrations against this safety rule by the motards. They fear being lost in the stream of headlights.

Motard means motorcyclist. In France they drive with their headlights on, are missed by speed radars since they have no front license-plates, and go at high speed between lanes. If you drive in the fast lane, they are always coming up on your blind side and will wave you over and even thump on or kick your car if you don't move to the left. Not surprisingly, you see a lot of dead motards in France. I recently learned that it is actually illegal for motorcycles to go between lanes of cars. One of the many French laws that are really "laws."

Polizei

Last night I was going 160 kilometers per hour (100 mph) when I noticed I was passing a police car. But they did nothing. The cops just kept driving along in the right lane. Not at all sure of myself, I slowed down and went back into the right lane myself. Soon two more cars passed me going 180 kph.

Yes, I was on the German autobahn.