May 27, 2005
CITIZENS OF EUROPE VS. CITIZENS OF FRANCE:
Vote splits French on class lines (Henri Astier, 5/27/05, BBC News)
The main parties of the right and left are both urging supporters to vote "Yes" in Sunday's referendum. The main division is social.The Gallic village is divided between those relatively content with their lot and those Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin once called "la France d'en bas" - disaffected people at the lower end of the economic ladder.
Polls suggest that the "Yes" vote is strong among professionals, businessmen and the middle classes.
Workers, junior employees, farmers, and those generally worried about the future by and large intend to vote "No".
A deep sense of dissatisfaction with the elites - of "us versus them" - is palpable when you speak to many ordinary people up and down the country."This constitution has been imposed on us," says Jean-Loup Dechezlepretre, a technician from the central city of Clermont-Ferrand. "We feel like outsiders."
Never underestimate nationalism and its capacity to fire up anger and hatred. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 27, 2005 8:08 AM
Time to bring out the 'red widow'.
Posted by: Mikey at May 27, 2005 10:46 AMWhat is a 'red widow'?
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at May 27, 2005 10:56 AMYes, nationalism is defeating the EU. Apparently, even French nationalism isn't without its good points.
Posted by: David Cohen at May 27, 2005 11:06 AMIt's not nationalism, it's populism, which is basically the ruling philosophy in the US, where the great unwashed are listened to. In Europe, the same great unwashed are neglected and derided, until they decide it's time to hang the elites from the nearest tree. That time has now come in France and judging by Chirac's despicable apeacement of every bloodthirsty tyrant in the world, it hasn't come one moment too soon.
Posted by: Peter at May 27, 2005 11:07 AMPeter has a good point:
Money Quote:
"The campaign underscores another political phenomenon as well: a vast gap between the French elite and ordinary voters. "There is a real division in French society today between France from on high and France from below," said Jean-Paul Fournier, the center-right mayor of Nīmes, who supports the constitution, but whose citizens voted in 1992 against the EU treaty that ushered in the euro."
Our Blue State Elite is just like, and has modeled itself along the lines of, the French Elite. The difference between France and the USA is that we have alternative power bases (Federalist No. 10), which have introduced a right wing dynamic into the political system.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at May 27, 2005 11:21 AMThis is not French nationalism, so much as the sequel to Animal Farm -- a revolt of a Leftist proletariat against a Leftist elite -- of the farm animals outside against the pigs in the mansion.
When the French 'non' voters say they object to the EU because it brings 'unlimited capitalism,' they are only using leftist terminology - the only lexicon they know, and the only acceptable political language in France - to describe their rule by an unaccountable elite interested only in self-aggrandizement. Just as traditional leftism teaches that capitalism is bad because the capitalists have power that is uncontrolled by democratic means and use it for their own self-interest, the French people are seeing that EU elites are uncontrolled by democratic means and corruptly pursue primarily their own self-interest.
I doubt the revolt will lead to freedom. Maybe another 1789.
Posted by: pj at May 27, 2005 1:16 PMMaybe I can get a summer job working the guillotine...
Posted by: oj at May 27, 2005 1:29 PMOJ: Time Zone.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at May 27, 2005 1:36 PMI have a feeling that for this opportunity, there are few rules OJ is unwilling to break.
Posted by: Timothy at May 27, 2005 2:12 PMHeck, for a shot at being France's headsman I'll pretend Eric and Julia are two different people...
Posted by: oj at May 27, 2005 2:18 PMIf I can bring my guillotine...
Posted by: oj at May 27, 2005 11:01 PMOUI, please do.
Posted by: Dave W at May 28, 2005 3:19 PM