The Obama Touch?

I find it interesting that the day after the President-Elect visited our Lame-Duck-in-Chief, the latter resorted to a string of mea culpas for his attitude toward the wars - the first ever sign of any remorse whatsoever throughout his eight-year reign. Coincidence? A strategy to garner sympathy in his final days? Did the Obama campaign's attacks on the W administration's tactics make an impression? Or did Barack put George in a headlock and make him promise to "Take it back, take it all back!"?? We'll never know.

I suppose it's good that W does feel some regret. I heard on Keith Olbermann today that a prominent journalist was informed by contacts at a government agency that once January 20 arrives, he (the journalist) should get in touch because then they could give full disclosure on breaches of justice (read: under the Patriot Act) the Bush administration has yet to be exposed for. Perhaps W and his cronies will be taken to task? In that case, he'll need all the sympathy he can get. Verrrrrrrry interesting times, indeed.

Soixante-et-un, Le Maximum!

I knew there would be a transportation strike yesterday, but what I didn’t realize was that there would also be a huge demonstration protesting the proposed retirement age increase practically right outside my door. I’ve seen a few manifestations over the past few months, but none as big as this one. Tons and tons of civil servant unions from the greater Paris region gathered at Place de la Bastille and marched up the boulevard to Place de la Republique, right past my block, to decry working until the (hardly) “ripe, old” age of 61 – quite a laugh to an American who’s not only accustomed to the standard retirement age of 65, but also knows that even 65 is becoming more and more of a pipe dream what with the Social Security crisis and longer life expectancy. (Plus, isn't 60 the new 40?) Preconceptions aside, I went to check out the action. If attending Burning Man several times taught me anything, it was that being a spectator and not a participant is kind of lame. However, being an expat often makes you a spectator by nature, and sociological observation is a learning experience, after all.

Here are a few things I observed at the manif. Some were hardly surprising, but were a riot to see up close.

- Protests are a raucous affair (duh). San Francisco and New York can put on a mean protest, but this one, in terms of scale and effort, was formidable. Hoards of people of all ages were out for the event, from grade-school age to those who shuffled along with canes. Attendees of course had the standard flags, banners, pins, stickers, and leaflets that shouted out their respective causes, but whipped themselves up into a frenzy chanting at the top of their lungs to the point of becoming red in the face. (I think I can recite at least two of the popular chants now, being that I heard them ad nauseum: one slammed the increase of the retirement age from 60 to 61, while the other vocalized just how much Sarkozy’s disapproval rating has grown.) The unions not only had all the propaganda mentioned above, but also drove vans sporting soundtracks. Pinko parade footage blared from the Parti Communiste Française, the Rolling Stones’ “Emotional Rescue” (WTF?) blasted from the metallurgist union, and in a surprisingly pro twist, a dub-reggae remix of the maximum working years chant sounded from another van.

- Protests are a social affair. People crowded the rears of said vans in order to get down to the day’s real order of business: serious drinking. Yes, the vans sported bars in the back. If you’re going to spend your whole afternoon trudging up the boulevard and shouting your lungs out, you might as well do it with a beer or glass of wine in hand. Some protesters seemed to be taking this a bit too far. Plus, there were even some food vendors serving the crowd! It also seemed that the manif was a reunion of sorts. I saw lots of people spot each other across the crowd, prance over to each other, and perform the ritual double-kiss, proclaiming how long it had been and how good it was to see each other, etc. It all made me wonder, is this demonstration thing a social circuit? I mean, everyone and their mother and their mother’s mailman is out, they’re partying, and they’re running into each other in a manner rivaling a Phish show parking lot.
o “Man, manif tour is such a blur – did I see you last at that crazy waste management union thing, or was it the pharmacists'? Or maybe the teachers' strike – that was off the hook! All I know is, I passed out on the grass at Republique and woke up hours later plastered with Socialist Party flyers.”

- Protests are an ironic affair. People spent hours and hours revolting against reforms that would supposedly make them work harder, and created so much waste in the process – the street looked like an aftermath of a post-war victory parade. The best was when the city street cleaners’ union moved through the crowd. One of their entourage threw his beer can on the ground, crushed it underfoot, and kept on walking. In the end, someone would have to work hard at this anti-work affair - busting ass cleaning it all up.

President Bling-Bling's Latest Stir

To describe French President Nicolas Sarkozy as controversial would be a vast understatement. His narrow victory last spring may have provided evidence that the French are (somewhat) ready to embrace change, but it’s been a slippery slope since his inauguration. People do not care for his professed love of America, his flashy Rolex and extravagant lifestyle (he’s been dubbed “President Bling-Bling”), and (more understandably) his nearly daily spotlight hogging in the media. As many of my students have expressed (regardless of whom they voted for), in France, the President is usually heard but not seen, and this president is all about the latter.

After causing a stir in the fall with reform proposals (you may have heard about the insane 9-day Metro strike – one of the many backlashes against said reforms), Sarko upped the ante with his volatile love life. His ex-wife’s affair came to light during the campaign (some conspiracy theorists say it was all cleverly timed to gain voter sympathy) and only a couple months after he took office, Cecelia Sarkozy abandoned her husband and her short-lived post as France’s First Lady – no big loss for her, as she has been quoted on the record as saying it’s a “stupid job.”

Sarko then squandered the sympathies of female voters everywhere and gained the meat-headed admiration of hetero men worldwide when he, within the span of roughly two months, courted, allegedly impregnated (emphasis on alleged--she isn't preggo), and then quietly married Franco-Italian supermodel-musician-actress Carla Bruni, who has been photographed in the nude and has gone on record saying she prefers the Italians because they’re not negative like the French (see, it’s not just me!). His approval rating is currently hovering around 40% - getting down into Dubya territory.

The Bruni-Sarko media circus has served as a fabulous distraction from the Prez’s political maneuvers. His economic advisor served up a 300-item list of improvements to be made to stimulate France’s economy (including integrating economics instruction into grade-school curriculum, simplifying the administration-heavy local government system, and deregulating various industries). This resulted in a lot of cynical grumbling and a taxi strike or two, and no doubt will incite further protest down the road.

The latest controversy is quite interesting. Sarkozy is now apparently an educator. In short, he has mandated that every 10-year-old student in France will read a biography of a same-aged French Holocaust victim. I understand the intention, as a Jew and an educator who believes in using such historical connections to help foster empathy and compassion in students – logic that can hardly be faulted, unless it’s focused on 10-year-old kids. Is the shock value of the horrendous realities of the Holocaust too traumatic for a child of this age, even in today’s world? There are intelligent arguments on both sides of the issue. But I’m still left scratching my head. This initiative seems to have come out of nowhere. Why the Holocuast? In a country of burgeoning anti-Semitism, it’s clearly beneficial to spread awareness of what some people flat-out deny existed…but why now? And why is this initiative so specific? It's one thing for a high-profile government official to call for mandatory Holocaust curriculum in public schools, and another for the President to outline a particular grade-level project - and without consulting the department of education to conceptualize it. Huh? My students are divided and the cynics/conspirators among them thing it’s another of Sarko’s ploys to cast himself in a good light, to curry public favor. But as well-intentioned as it may be, to the outside observer, it just seems so random.

So what do you think of this latest initiative? Is it appropriate for upper elementary curriculum? Post in the comments.