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France writes itself off as arrogant failure: New books see a country in decline
The Times ^
| September 26, 2003
| Charles Brumner
Posted on 09/29/2003 12:14:26 AM PDT by Timesink
September 26, 2003
France writes itself off as arrogant failure
by charles brumner
New books see a country in decline
FRANCE is a nation in decline, blind to its failings and living beyond its means while strutting with empty arrogance on the world stage. That may sound like the standard Francophobe rant from across the Channel or the Atlantic but it is, surprisingly, a view gaining ground in France.
Doubts about Gallic supremacy have been a periodic feature of France for centuries. They have now returned, fed by economic gloom and amplified by bestselling books. France, according to the thesis, has been overtaken by Britain and others because it atrophied as a centralised welfare state in the 1970s.
Before leaving to lecture the United Nations on the superiority of the French world view this week, President Chirac was forced to respond to the doom-mongers with a morale-boosting speech. France was bursting with health, he insisted to a provincial au- dience. In Paris, the claim was given as much credence as his line that France has no quarrel with the United States.
Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the Prime Minister, hammered home his bosss message this week, saying: I do not believe that France is in decline.
The words of the now unloved Prime Minister were undermined yesterday when he unveiled a 2004 budget that expects minimal growth, takes national debt up to record level and busts a hole in the EUs ceiling for public deficits for a third successive year.
Big corporate bankruptcies and spring strikes by the public sector and entertainment workers preceded a summer of forest fires and a heatwave that was officially blamed yesterday for 14,800 deaths.
The mood is being fanned by three books which argue that there is nothing temporary about Frances troubles. With its chronic unemployment and dinosaur centralised state, France can no longer pose as a universal model of progress and civilisation, they argue. In LArrogance Française, Romain Gubert and Emmanuel Saint-Martin, both journalists, say that France infuriates the rest of the world with its discredited diplomacy.
In Adieu à la France qui sen va (Farewell to a France that is departing) Jean-Marie Rouart, a novelist and member of the august Académie Française, says that France is losing its soul to mediocrity and needs a great leader to restore its grandeur. The biggest splash is being made by La France Qui Tombe (Collapsing France) by Nicolas Baverez, an historian and economist.
Baverez says that, after three postwar decades of progress, France lost its way under the fourteen-year left-wing reign of François Mitterrand and eight years under M Chirac. Hostages to tyrannical state sector unions, farmers, subsidised film-makers and other interest groups, successive governments have squandered national wealth and heritage to maintain a protectionist, Soviet-style state, he says.
He also draws unfavourable comparisons with Britain, the favourite destination for French emigrants in the past decade. British per capita income has overtaken that of France, where taxes are now much higher. Britons pay 45 per cent of their income to the state in taxes, compared with 75 per cent for the French. Baverez says that Britain has taken over the European Union, monopolising its top jobs and imposing a British stamp on the new draft constitution. France, in turn, has alienated its neighbours by playing fast and loose with the EU rules.
Abroad, M Chiracs posturing had made a laughing stock of France. In the Iraq crisis, France has suffered a diplomatic Agincourt, he says.
France faces a choice, Baverez concludes: Shock therapy that will modernise the country through a forced march or the pursuit of decline that will produce social upheaval and feed the far Right of Jean-Marie Le Pen. France, he says, is ripe for a near-revolutionary change such as when it summoned Charles de Gaulle as its saviour in 1958.
The Left is accusing him of declinism, an old right-wing obsession that fed Fascism in the 1930s. Attacks are also coming from the Right. Figaro said: This mood of francopessimism is creating an unhealthy atmosphere which carries the stigma of the 1930s. But, it added: The roots of the evil are in our statist culture, something that the British threw out ages ago.
The bulk of the reaction, holds that Baverez makes good points but neglects Frances qualities, such as the reforms that have opened markets, its place as Europes top recipient of foreign investment, and a quality of life that remains the envy of the world.
A powerful defence of the decline thesis came in Le Monde from Marc Fumaroli, an eminent historian and a professor at the University of Chicago, who said that France, for all its undoubted glories, was suffering from a general irritation, frustration and demoralisation that was more bitter and deep than anywhere else in Europe or in the US.
Deprived of a leader with the vision of Thatcher, Reagan or Blair, it had been left to stagnate, he said.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: bushdoctrineunfold; europelist; france; frencharrogance; frenchfrogs; powellwatch; rumsfeldpinglist
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To: seamole; MJY1288; Calpernia; Grampa Dave; anniegetyourgun; Ernest_at_the_Beach; BOBTHENAILER; ...
Those who accused Rumsfeld of being "unhelpful" will forever eat their remarks.Ping! Thanks, seamole.
Great headline. 'Bout time the anti-Americans learned about the real Old Europe.
If you want on or off my Pro-Coalition ping list, please Freepmail me. Warning: it is a high volume ping list on good days. (Most days are good days).
41
posted on
09/29/2003 7:24:28 AM PDT
by
Ragtime Cowgirl
(*** "You and I did not ask for this war, but we will win it." ~ Sgt. Maj. Jack L. Tilley ~ 9/28 ***)
To: DainBramage
France surrenders to the truth. ---Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the Prime Minister, hammered home his bosss message this week, saying: I do not believe that France is in decline.
It appears not all of them.
42
posted on
09/29/2003 7:29:15 AM PDT
by
Only1choice____Freedom
(If everything you experienced, believed, lived was a lie, would you want to know the truth?)
To: Savage Beast
Wrong! France is ripe for a revolutionary change--and it's going to be much worse than M. Baverez thinks! Unless the French people wake up soon and face reality, the revolutionary change is going to be a Muslim takeover, and it's going to be much worse than the 1789 revolutionary change. This won't be a revolution. It'll be a civil war.
43
posted on
09/29/2003 7:35:40 AM PDT
by
nosofar
To: DustyMoment
France is Europe's California I resent that. The weather is better here.
44
posted on
09/29/2003 7:38:02 AM PDT
by
nosofar
To: Timesink
Lets help make France truly irrelevant in this decade!
French Products to Buycott
Make it a lifestyle to avoid French products or products made by what appear to be a non French company in America. The reality is that many of these companies like Wild Turkey are owned by the French.
Let them fear the American Street---our combined wallets.
"France has burned too many bridges!"
Lets keep burning those bridges that the slimey and worthless frogs keep trying to build post Iraq.
$crew the $limey Frogs with a Boycott and no vacations in Slimey Frog Land!
French Products to Buycott
We can resist their wines which usually come in behind the good Napa Valley Wines and Australian wines in blind tasting without French Judges like in the Winter Olympics.
We can do without French Products and services for the rest of this decade. Here is a list of French companies and their products to avoid for the rest of this decade. Please keep this list and send it to your relatives, friends and fellow conservatives via e and snail mail!
*New additions to the list.
Air France
Air Liquide
Airbus
Alcatel - Based in Paris France, Provider of communications equipment, including ADSL equipment, terrestrial and submarine optical networks, public switching, fixed wireless access and intelligent networks.
Allegra (Allergy Medication) - Produced by Aventis Pharmaceuticals based in Strasbourg, France
Aqualung (Including: Spirotechnique, Technisub, US Divers, and SeaQuest)
AXA Advisors
*Bacou-Dalloz-Makes Industrial protective devices
Bank of the West - Owned by BNP Paribas
Beneteau (boats)
BF Goodrich - Owned by Michelin
BIC (Razors, Pens & Lighters) - Started in 1945 by Marcel Bich. Originally based just outside of Paris. Began trading on the Paris Stock Exchange in 1972. 40.5% Publicly traded. Bich family still owns 33.5%.
Biotherm (Cosmetics)
Black Bush
Bollinger (Champagne)
*Browning Firearms**
Car & Driver Magazine
Cartier
Chanel
Chivas Regal (Scotch)
Christian Dior
Club Med (Vacations) - Owned in part by Paris based CDC (Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations)
Culligan (owned by Vivendi)
Dannon (Yogurt & Dairy Foods)
*Danone -Lea and Perrin, Evian and other food/water
*Decatholon Super Sport Stores or MVP Sport Stores*
* Dassault Systemes-(CATIA design software)*
DKNY - LVMH acquired 100% of Gabrielle Studio Inc., the privately owned licenser of Donna Karan trademarks back in 2001.
*DMC THREADS
Dom Perignon
Durand Crystal
Elle Magazine
*Emile Henry French Cookware
*Enertec makes high speed recorders used in Recon aircraft p>Essilor Optical Products
*Essilon- Varilux Progressive Lenses for eye glasses
Evian
Fina Oil - Billions invested in Iraqi Oil fields -FINA GAS STATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES ARE NOT FRENCH-OWNED AND ARE NOT PART OF TOTAL-ELF-FINA ... FINA GAS STATIONS ARE OWNED BY ALON ISRAEL OIL COMPANY ..
First Hawaiian Bank
George Magazine
Givenchy
*Grey Goose Vodka
*GroupeSEB owns Krups, Moulinex, Roweta and Tefal Cookware
*Groupe Shneider, owner of Modicon and Square D
*Guerlain Fragrances
*Hachette Filipacchi owner publisher of many magazines sold in the USA. See the list below:***
Hennessy
Houghton Mifflin (books) International Herald Tribune - 181 ave Charles-de-Gaulle - F-92521 Neuilly - FRSource:World Business Council for Sustainable Development '00 [Domain Registration], [Corporate Profile]
Jacobs Creek - Owned by Pernod Ricard since 1989
Jameson (whiskey Owned by Pernod Ricard )
Jerry Springer (talk show)
Krups
****Lagardere****
Lancome
*Lea & Perrins a product of Danon
Le Creuset (Cookware)
L'Oreal (Health & Beauty Products)
Louis Vuitton
Marie Claire
Martel Cognac
Maybelline
Méphisto (Footwear & Apparel)
Michelin (Tires & Auto Parts) - Their phone number is: (33) 1 45 66 15 53 in France
Mikasa Crystal and Glass (purchased by ARC int'l in 2001)
Moet (Champagne)
Motel 6 - 33, Avenue du Maine- 75755 Paris Cedex 15 France
Motown Records
MP3.com
Mumms (Champagne)
Nissan (Cars) - Majority owned by Renault
Nivea
Normany Butter
Parents Magazine
*Perrier
Peugeot (Automobiles) - Pronounced "Pooh Joe", must be French
Pierre Cardin
Playstation Magazine
ProScan - Owned by Thomson Electronics, France
Publicis Group (Including: Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising)
RCA (televisions & electronics) - Owned by Thomson Electronics, France
Red Magazine
Red Roof Inns - Owned by the Accor group based in France
Renault (Automobiles) major owner of Nissan
Road & Track Magazine
Roquefort Cheese - All Roquefort cheese is made in France
Rowenta (Toasters, Irons, Coffee makers, etc)
Royal Canadian
Salomon (Skis)
Seagram's Gin
Sierra Software and Computer Games
*Sodexho Alliance* French Food Caterer for the US Marines
Sofitel (Hotels) - Owned by the Accor group based in France
Sparkletts (Water) - Owned by Danone, based in France
Spencer Gifts
Sundance Channel
Taylor Made (Golf)
Technicolor
T-Fal (Kitchenware)
The Glenlivet (Scotch) *Top Tobacco - Dist. by Republic Tobacco L.P., Glenview IL, made in France
UbiSoft (Computer Games)
Uniroyal
Uniroyal Tires - Owned by Michelin
Universal Studios (Music, Movies & Theme Parks) -
Universal Studios is owned by Vivendi-Universal, headquartered in Paris France
USFilter
Veritas Group
Veuve Clicquot Champagne
Vittel
Vivendi - Vivendi Headquarters, Paris France
Wild Turkey (bourbon)
*Winchester Firearms (US Repeating Arms)**
Woman's Day Magazine
Yoplait - France-based Sodiaal owns a 50% stake of Yoplait
Yves Saint Laurent
*Yves Rocher Cosmetics
*ZigZag (tobacco papers and roller products)*
Zodiac Inflatable Boats
*New additions to the list thanks to Freepers. If you have an addition, Freepmail me with the URL showing French ownership.
** Sad news but these two companies are owned by the Belgian Company Herstal, (French Light)
***List of 18 magazines sold in USA by Hachette Filipacchi with an estimated 50 million readers: American Photo, Boating, Car Stereo Review's Mobile Entertainment, Cycle World, ELLE Decor, ELLEgirl, Flying, Home, Metropolitan Home, Popular Photography, Premiere, Sound & Vision, Travel Holiday, Woman's Day Woman's Day Special Interest Publications.
****Lagardere owns the Virgin Megastore group in France, which it bought from Richard Branson three years ago. Its Hachette media division publishes a battery of magazines including Elle , see *** Hachette Filipacchi above. Lagardere also has a stake in the Airbus manufacturing operation. The company is capitalised at over 5bn.
45
posted on
09/29/2003 7:38:03 AM PDT
by
Grampa Dave
(May our brave warriors kill all of the Islamokazis/facists/nazis to prevent future 9/11's.)
To: OrwellWasRight
46
posted on
09/29/2003 7:40:22 AM PDT
by
razorback-bert
(Disclaimer: all typos were committed by my evil twin)
To: seamole; JohnHuang2
BUMP! Quote of the Day nomination.
Prairie
47
posted on
09/29/2003 7:43:41 AM PDT
by
prairiebreeze
(Pat Buchanan. RAT in sheeps clothing.)
To: Timesink
"Chirac's posturing has made France a laughingstock?"Iraq a diplomatic Agincourt?The Dems told me it is Bush that failed !I just loved this article!
48
posted on
09/29/2003 7:44:26 AM PDT
by
MEG33
Comment #49 Removed by Moderator
To: TomHarkinIsNotFromIowa
If things don't go well for Davis in California, there's always France.
Oh come on now. You hate the french that much? Now Belgium...that's a different story.
50
posted on
09/29/2003 8:13:14 AM PDT
by
Valin
(If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?)
To: OrwellWasRight
51
posted on
09/29/2003 8:15:52 AM PDT
by
razorback-bert
(Every day, I break my record for days above ground.)
To: OrwellWasRight
Adding VAT, provincial, and local taxes to those rates, I bet the average middle class French citizen pays 3/4 of their income to government of one form or the other.
52
posted on
09/29/2003 8:21:09 AM PDT
by
razorback-bert
(Every day, I break my record for days above ground.)
To: seamole
Bump
FRANCE is a nation in decline, blind to its failings and living beyond its means while strutting with empty arrogance on the world stage.
53
posted on
09/29/2003 8:24:19 AM PDT
by
GOPJ
Comment #54 Removed by Moderator
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Bump!
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
The french are irrelevant!
56
posted on
09/29/2003 8:58:23 AM PDT
by
blackie
To: OrwellWasRight
My dad was on Omaha Beach, alot of sons, brothers, husbands, fathers were on those beaches. There are Americans in their cemetaries. It would be nice to see that they are at least trying to get it.....but nooooo!
Weeee weelll du eet ur weeee. DoH!
To: OrwellWasRight
Bet as you please. I don't quite understand why it worries Americans so much. Why should non-French people care? Under ordinary circumstances we wouldn't care. The problem though is that we have a media elite and an entire major political party wholly dedicated to the proposition that we should tear our country and culture apart and remodel ourselves after countries like France and Sweden. They never come out and directly state this of course, but we can read between the lines. The behavior of these other countries very much effects us in the modern world.
58
posted on
09/29/2003 9:07:00 AM PDT
by
jpl
Comment #59 Removed by Moderator
To: jpl
Very well stated.
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