My ancestors hailed from Northern France, Huguenots. In the reign of Louis XIV, Louis de Belledame was a Officer of the Garde to the King, obtaining letters of Nobility. Whether that would amount to a hill of haricots is of question for claiming French citizenship. Then of course the fact that I am unilingual does not help.
I have learned quite a bit about current French politics and personalities in your writing.
It is similar there to North America with the far right and the right centre,except the right centre identifies as Liberal. In the end, Covid taught us many things including how easy it is to slide into Authoritarian regimes.
The truth is parsed and dissected so much that one has to subscribe to a number of substack s just to get a hint of what reality is.
I would, for example, love to know more about the banning of Les Soulèvements de la Terre. I heard that it had a lot to do with the powerful lobbying power of the French farmers' union...
Makes sense. An LSF "saccage" of some greenhouses near Nantes June 11 really pissed off agribusiness and those lobbying for them in the assembly (check out Thomas Ménagé of Le Pen's RN party) who accuse them of "agribashing".
Quiet in Paris, though, right? There was some fires up in the 20th the first night, a few fireworks around Belleville and Couronnes, and the Nike shop at Les Halles was looted, but that's about it. I've lived through dozens of riots and aggressive black-bloc demos over the years, and unless you seek them out, if you're more than a block way from their epicentres (in this case the Ile-de-France banlieues), you wouldn't know anything was up.
Thanks for this great piece Chris! A quite perfect start to an old lady’s birthday. Kate is here from Glasgow and we are going to a C’s game this afternoon. Wish you and C were here!
Happy birthday! In Brittany and just sent our Glaswegian off to Piemonte for am art and music residency. Where she’s also cooking. Twice a day. For 25 people! Exhausts me just typing this..,
Really? A blackout? The “foreign press” usually jumps all over these opportunities to take a few swings at the French. CNN is notorious for doing so, as are the yellow Brits.
My ancestors hailed from Northern France, Huguenots. In the reign of Louis XIV, Louis de Belledame was a Officer of the Garde to the King, obtaining letters of Nobility. Whether that would amount to a hill of haricots is of question for claiming French citizenship. Then of course the fact that I am unilingual does not help.
I have learned quite a bit about current French politics and personalities in your writing.
It is similar there to North America with the far right and the right centre,except the right centre identifies as Liberal. In the end, Covid taught us many things including how easy it is to slide into Authoritarian regimes.
The truth is parsed and dissected so much that one has to subscribe to a number of substack s just to get a hint of what reality is.
Citizenship might be a stretch, but wtf do I know? I could ask around for you...
I would, for example, love to know more about the banning of Les Soulèvements de la Terre. I heard that it had a lot to do with the powerful lobbying power of the French farmers' union...
Makes sense. An LSF "saccage" of some greenhouses near Nantes June 11 really pissed off agribusiness and those lobbying for them in the assembly (check out Thomas Ménagé of Le Pen's RN party) who accuse them of "agribashing".
1) https://www.nouvelobs.com/societe/20230612.OBS74402/action-des-soulevement-de-la-terre-pres-de-nantes-que-s-est-il-vraiment-passe.html
2) https://www.publicsenat.fr/actualites/politique/soulevement-de-la-terre-le-rn-thomas-menage-denonce-une-montee-des-violences-alimentee-par-les-elus-de-la-republique#:~:text=de%20la%20R%C3%A9publique%20%C2%BB-,%C2%AB%20Soul%C3%A8vement%20de%20la%20Terre%20%C2%BB%20%3A%20le%20RN%20Thomas%20M%C3%A9nag%C3%A9%20d%C3%A9nonce,juin%20la%20d%C3%A9cision%20du%20gouvernement.
Good work here, Mr. Mooney. I'm counting on you to tell me what's going on in this country!!
Yikes. I have been averting my eyes from the news. I was unaware just how horrendous it is.
Quiet in Paris, though, right? There was some fires up in the 20th the first night, a few fireworks around Belleville and Couronnes, and the Nike shop at Les Halles was looted, but that's about it. I've lived through dozens of riots and aggressive black-bloc demos over the years, and unless you seek them out, if you're more than a block way from their epicentres (in this case the Ile-de-France banlieues), you wouldn't know anything was up.
It's true. Two worlds. So close and yet so far apart.
Thanks Chris. Another good read. Sunday is now off to a good start
Enjoy your C game JF!
Thanks for this great piece Chris! A quite perfect start to an old lady’s birthday. Kate is here from Glasgow and we are going to a C’s game this afternoon. Wish you and C were here!
Happy birthday! In Brittany and just sent our Glaswegian off to Piemonte for am art and music residency. Where she’s also cooking. Twice a day. For 25 people! Exhausts me just typing this..,
Really? A blackout? The “foreign press” usually jumps all over these opportunities to take a few swings at the French. CNN is notorious for doing so, as are the yellow Brits.