All the stuff you never knew you needed to know about life in rural France.....and all the stuff the books and magazines won't tell you.

Sunday 22 November 2009

When did you last see your father, and was he French?

A French soldier serving in Afghanistan has just had the pleasure of being told that he is, in fact, French. Having always thought he was, it should have come as no surprise to him, but I imagine he greeted the news with relief all the same, since he had been obliged to defend his right to French nationality in court not once but twice.


All depended on whether his father, a Senegalese, had in fact aquired French nationality when Senegal achieved independence and some bright prosecutor, instructed by the Chancellory, had decided that the father had not demonstrated that he had French nationality and thus that the son had not aquired French nationality by descent from his father. While all this was going on, the soldier was refused leave to bring his fiancee and their children to live with him in France, as he was not regarded as being French, despite no legal judgement having been made against him. Luckily, the court of appeal of Rouen dismissed the affair once and for all, stating that had there been any question to raise, it should have been raised in the thirty years following the nationalisation in question and not dragged up now, over forty years later.

What could possess any prosecutor to bring such a case as this to court? I am fascinated by the indelicacy of attacking a man who is demonstrating his patriotism by his very action, fighting in what he regards as his country's army. Is there some sort of low level ethnic cleansing of the French army going on here?

I think it is rather more likely to be a decision born of the hysteria of the current debate on French nationality and a lick spittle subordinate trying to curry favour with the politicians who, through the Ministry of Justice, control his career prospects. Politicians like Eric Besson and Brice Hortefeux, who are busy trying to push the question of the nature of the French identity in the direction of a debate about immigration, conveniently close to the regional elections and mid term in a Sarkozy presidency which is rapidly losing its' allure.

It is a debate turning sour, but not without its' funny side. Martine Aubry, currently heading the Socialist Party, has condemned the Sarkozy camp for mixing immigration with the question of national identity, but has declared herself to be not only French but also Basque and proud to be both. First most people knew of her dual identity....she is known as the daughter of Jaques Delors, Eurofuhrer extraordinaire, and as a Parisian, so this sudden rise to prominence of her mother's side of the family seems just a little contrived. Might she not have pointed out the contrast betwen the treatment accorded a French soldier and that accorded a young footballer whose application for citizenship was, as he himself sunnily proclaims, assisted by the fact that he was wanted for the French national team despite having been born at sea of an Angolan mother and having no French affiliation whatsoever.

Perhaps I should change course at this point before I stand accused of mingling the question of national identity with that of national football. However, unable as always to read a compass, I shall maintain my speed and bearing and carry on regardless. Just how far does the French football team reflect the nature and aspirations of the French people? Surprisingly well, in my view.

When there is any physical work to be done, the French rely on the underclass to do it, preferably a foreign underclass, so the players qualify on this ground alone. They are reputed to be unable to make any independent decisions on the field of play - like whether to move from the left to the right leg - without the direction of the manager, so there again they reflect the state of affairs of the world of work in France where incompetent ill adapted managers attempt to control even the respiration rate of their staff.

The players, despite their lacklustre performance on the field, perform well with the mouth, thus displaying their inalienable French character, and, if any further proof were required, as we all now know, on the evidence of our own eyes if not those of the referee, they cheat. This has been confirmed by the great headbutter himself, Zidane, whose idea of support to Thierry Henri - the cheat in question - has been to proclaim that deliberately handling the ball goes on all the time, and it was just a shame that Henri had been caught doing it on film.

Since no one else has used the French national football team as an example of just how successful integration can prove to be, I will advance it as my contribution to the debate.

Just don't send them to fight in Afghanistan.

14 comments:

  1. Nationality, lawyers and politicians - a very toxic cocktail.

    And as for the French team ... don't get me started

    Oh how funny - my word verification is Crrapp

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mark, there are more things in heaven and earth....'crrapp' must have cosmic meaning....or it could just refer to the standard of play in the match concerned.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Zidane was merely extending his Scottish heritage to a fellow lover of the beautiful game. Where as the 'Hand of Frog' chappy is merely the shite on the shoe of the decent citizens of France.

    I'm sure there is at least one.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jimmy Bastard, lots of decent people, none of them in power!
    I did wonder about a little Glasgow training in Zidane's past....it was the sheer style of the nutting.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ha! But French Football (both with Caps)is big business, fbtw, and 'that' makes all the difference.
    Sunnies from les Landes,
    Deborah

    ReplyDelete
  6. Deborah Rey, weird world, isn't it, where 'it makes money' excuses every excess....

    ReplyDelete
  7. I don't know about any sports teams, but the comparison sounds like it fits. I hope the French Soldier finds justice.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mary Anne Gruen,
    I think he's achieved that, at last....but this 'national character' debate is getting quite unpleasant...no so much inclusive as exclusive.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I can sympathise with Zidane, who decides, at the end of his last match, in the face of a personal family insult "I don't have to take this any more". And deals with it. I might even argue that the target had it coming.

    Henri on the other hand is different. He cheated, pure and simple and the sight of senior people defending the indefensible brings, or should bring, shame on the French people.

    To be fair, none of the French people I have spoken to about this episode express anything other than shame about it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Cogitator, yes, most people think what Henri did is dreadful..but, as always these days, there is no retribution.

    ReplyDelete
  11. A bit harsh on the French...

    For different reason, Canadian citizenship also has to be proven in Court sometimes, especially for War Brides and for citizens of the former British Empire. I heard similar stories in OZ...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Zhu, do you mean harsh on the politics or on sport or on French society?

    The problem with this case was why it was brought...when even a child in arms knew that there was a thirty year statute of limitation on a case which barred further action.

    Coming from the outside, I see the French justice system as being overly political...as it would be, based on their theories of government, to anyone from a common law background, but the amount of shanannigans that go on, in defiance of their own rules, still manages to astound me.

    If it's sport, then France doesn't have a good football team at the moment, so perhaps it was unkind to pillory them further.

    However, living here, the contrast between the continual trumpeting about how wonderful France is and the reality...overpriced third world comes to mind...makes it irrestistible to point out the way in which the football team reflects the reality of French society.
    Physical work is not for the modern French, so they import labour....the cult of control to the point of mania is strong...there is a firm belief that if you say it often enough it is true despite all the evidence to the contrary...and, as shown in the case of the soldier, no one plays by what rules there are.

    ReplyDelete
  13. As you say, the issue is of course, lack of retribution. Though last I heard, some committee with the power to ban him from the World Cup was looking at the case. Personally I think that banning him from the competition would be just and fitting.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Cogitator, I find it hard to see him pontificating about how sorry he is, how he thinks of giving up his captaincy...just show!

    ReplyDelete