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When France sneezes . . .
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 2005-06-12 |
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