Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

France is a paradox and it is becoming a more and more inconsistent day by day. The national maxim, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, is everywhere, the French speak of their country as the inventor of the Declaration of Human rights, and yet.

Since the last presidential election I have discovered how little liberty we have and the learning curve continues. What is surprising is that I am no longer surprised. I have however prepared a small selection for any outsider who might read this.

I shall start with something small and work up.

Apparently, the new President may insult whoever he pleases. There are many examples but the most notorious is his “Casse toi pauvre con” addressed to a farmer who didn’t want to shake his hand.

This is not easy to translate as words used as insults tend to loose their intrinsic meaning but it is about the equivalent of “Piss off” or “Bugger off”, “poor bastard” or “poor cu**”. It might have been appropriate on the building site I worked on many, many years ago but it hardly seems ‘Presidential’ language.

Shortly after, while Sarkozy was visiting one of the French overseas territories, a bystander held up a piece of cardboard with the exact same words. The bystander was hauled before the court and fined for insulting the president. There have been other cases which have confirmed the jurisprudence. Insults are one way only. From the top down. A little thing which has spawned a plethora of complaints for “insulting an official”. The magistrates have never had so many of these cases. From the police to pen pushers the complaints flood in.

What can we civilians do? Bite our tongues. No magistrate is going to accept the word of a simple citizen against that of someone who represents the Republic.

We cannot discuss drugs in public. Even if one is a doctor and taking part in a debate, it is an offence. The law dates from Methuselah but it exists.

Apparently we may not even evoke the criminal past of some of those who govern us. It is considered libellous!

More recently, I discovered that it is illegal to talk about, organize, or participate in a boycott, as did Mme. Sakina Arnaud. She took part in a non-violent collective international action in a Carrefour supermarket. Her crime was to put a sticker which bore the message ‘Boycott, Apartheid, Israel” see above, on two items in the shop. The object was to protest against the ‘apartheid’ created by the Israeli wall. The shop, the biggest supermarket chain in France, accused her of “minor degradation” but the French Justice Minister wrote to the public prosecutor insisting that she be charged with “inciting racial, national, and religious discrimination”. This is direct government interference in the course of Justice. The law used dates from 1881. A circular has been sent to all the courts demanding that all “acts of discrimination be pursued with the utmost rigour.”

Mme. Arnaud was fined 1000 euros with 500 euros costs. With the aid of MRAP, movement against racism and for the friendship between peoples, and the League for Human Rights, she will appeal.

On the 4^th of February The Prime Minister attended a dinner held by the CRIF (Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France) and denounced “the scandalous movements to boycott kosher or Israeli products.” He was, deliberately, creating confusion between ‘Jewish’ and ‘Israeli’. This may go someway to explaining the present Government’s refusal to implement the decree made by the European Court of Justice on the 25^th February, 2010. This decree imposes heavy import duties on articles produced in the colonies i.e.: the occupied territories. Israel has been passing off these goods as “made in Israel” and thereby escaping import duties.

Michèle Alliot-Marie, Garde des Sceaux, minister of Justice and Liberty, also dined with the CRIF on the 19^th of February and also reinforced the amalgam jewish/israeli. She said,”I congratulate the court in the affaire of the individual who called for a boycott of Israeli goods in a commercial center.

The action of the Bordeaux courts illustrates my determination in the fight against anti-Semitism.”

It is becoming difficult to criticize anything done by Israel without being instantly tagged anti-semite.

To finish on a lighter note, I heard on France Inter this morning that the law which prohibits the wearing of trousers by women is still in vigour. Women who wish to wear male apparel should obtain prior permission from the Prefecture.