The World Turned Upside Down

Image by saxarocks via Flickr

Produced during the English Civil War in reaction to Parliament's attempts to make the observance of Christmas  a solemn religious event rather than an excuse for bacchanalia, this tune was popularly supposed to have been played by the bands of the English regiments marching out under the eyes of the victorious American colonists after Cornwallis surrendered to them at Yorktown in the American War of Independence.

Unfortunately, thanks to the quota system for playing music on French radio, it is unlikely to be heard in France, but, at the moment, it would encapsulate the French reaction to the news of the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn  in New York.

And it would encapsulate the local reaction to a latecomer being turned away from a concert out in the wilds of La France Profonde, too.

As I have previously noted, local dignitaries have a habit of keeping everyone waiting when they attend an event, strolling in, well fed and watered, to take their free front row seats.
It is one of their inalienable rights.
So the world was indeed turned upside down when Monsieur Lepalfrenier, maire of his village, departmental councillor and president of the local association of communes, arriving at the usual interval of one hour after the advertised start of the theatrical performance in a neighbouring village, found himself and party turned away.
By the maire.

'Du jamais vu!' said Guy over the telephone, imparting the gory details. 'Unthinkable!'

A little background information might help to show the significance of this shattering event.
Since President Mitterand started a process of decentralisation of power in the 1980s, all sorts of bodies have sprung up in France....departmental councils, regional councils, local planning associations and groupings of communes for common supply of services.....in other words, the effect of decentralisation has been to supply an increased number of troughs in which local politicians can employ their snouts to best effect.

Lately, as part of a general shake up of local government, it has been decided - in Paris - that the rural associations of communes should be attached to those surrounding the local towns and, accordingly, it has been decided by the Prefect - Paris' man in the department whose job is to see what local politicians are up to and tell them to stop it - that the association presided over by Monsieur Lepalfrenier should be split between two local towns....Chiottes la Gare and Benitierville.

Monsieur Lepalfrenier waxed wroth.
His reaction could be best expressed by quoting from Sellar and Yeatman's presentation of 'The Witan's Whail', dealing with King Canute's attempts to impose upon his council his views on outfangthief.

'Wroth was Cnut and wrothword spake
Well wold he win at wopentake.
Fain wold he brake frith and crake heads
And than they shold worshippe his redes.'

You get the general idea.
Monsieur Lepalfrenier was not pleased.
His association would be split between two towns with their own ideas on development...and Monsieur Lepalfrenier would lose one source of his emoluments.

Now, one of the success stories of his association had been the installation of a business park just outside the village of St. Boulot which had attracted a number of firms and which had thus created a significant number of jobs in the area.
Under the proposed changes, the commune of St. Boulot would find itself annexed by Benitierville - which had its own, larger, business park - and the maire of St. Boulot reckoned, with some reason, that his pet project would be left to wither on the vine in favour of its bigger neighbour.
Monsieur Lepalfrenier agreed with the maire.

So the long planned inauguration of Zone B of the St. Boulot business park by Monsieur Lepalfrenier in the presence of local politicians and the prefect promised to be interesting.
What would he say?
Would he 'swinge..this illbegotten lot?'

He rose.
He thanked the assembled dignitaries for their presence.
He said that he thought that the disappearance of his association would be, overall, a good thing, harnessing rural communes to the powerful motors of towns like Chiottes la Gare and Benitierville.

In the silence which followed he shook hands all round and left before the vin d'honneur.
'Du jamais vu!'

Once the dignitaries assembled had collected their breath and their thoughts, there was but one question....
No, two questions.

How much had he got..... and from whom....?

It will not surprise you to know, then, that the theatrical presentation from which he was excluded was held in the village hall of St. Boulot.


With all this going on locally it takes something pretty big to attract attention elsewhere, but the policemen of New York have managed it.
They have taken Dominique Strauss-Kahn, boss of the IMF and ex French finance minister, into custody on suspicion of sexually assaulting and imprisoning a chambermaid at his hotel in New York.

There seems to be general stupefaction that he was taken into custody at all.....after all, he wouldn't be in 'garde a vue' in France  -  a few telephone calls would suffice to push the whole thing under the carpet.

And as for being photographed in handcuffs on his transfer to the court...well, Eva Joly, ex investigating magistrate herself and now ecology party bigwig, saw fit to say that it seemed that the American police didn't seem to appreciate the difference between the boss of the IMF and any other suspect.
Well, no, it seems they don't.
Good for them.
'Egalite' before the law and all that.

The American judicial system has had to be explained.
Notably in 'Le Figaro'.
It's a pity that the journalists concerned hadn't  read the relevant post from Maitre Eolas before informing their readers that under the American system, it was up to the accused to prove his innocence.

No one has all the details of the incident and speculation would be improper but there is one thing upon which the French establishment, whether right or left, is united.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn is the victim.

Perhaps they could explain this to the Americans, who persist in thinking that the victim is the woman bringing the complaint.

But for the French establishment to understand that a chambermaid and an ex minister have the same weight in the scales of justice the world would indeed, need to be turned upside down.

Lambs and Wolves

Image by doug88888 via Flickr

Recently there has been an unpleasant case.

An elderly man was found guilty last year of sexually abusing a girl some time ago when she was still in her teens and was sentenced to a spell in prison.

This summer, she was shocked and surprised to find him walking the streets of her town, free as a lark.

Had be been granted early  release?

No, he had never been sent to prison at all.
He had never tasted the French equivalent of porridge.
Nothing had happened to disturb the even tenor of his days.

He was, it appeared, too old to go to prison.
He was, it appeared, too ill to go to prison.
The judge responsible for sentencing had not been able to find time to consider what else to do with him.
So he was free.
He had never received the punishment awarded him.

While she was still trying to cope, not only with what had happened to her but also the dreadful experience of going public with it all, he had been getting on with his life, untouched by the  hand of the law.

It was rather a shock.

She .....rashly...went to see him, together with a friend.
Words were exchanged, words led to blows and some damage done to his garden as they left.

She and friend were, of course, arrested.

She agreed to accept a new sort of court appearance...'.comparution sur reconnaissance prealable de culpabilite' - CRPC - which was introduced a few years ago to get cut and dried cases through the courts quickly.
In appropriate cases, if a person acknowledges their guilt, they are interviewed by a prosecutor who proposes a penalty. A judge then either accepts or refuses the proposition brought before them.

She admitted the facts and was awarded ...given the special circumstances of the case....a one month suspended sentence.
She was told firmly that society could not tolerate individual acts of vengeance.

What is happening to the man who abused her?

Well there will be a later hearing to determine what she must pay him in damages for her outbreak.......and the judge responsible for finding an appropriate punishment in view of the claims about his age and health will try to make time to see if putting a tag on him would be all right.
I'm not holding my breath.

Years ago, there was an unpleasant case.

A gang of farmers were demonstrating about the price they were receiving for their meat at the abattoir.
As part of their demonstration they set fire to a lorry.
The lorry was full of lambs from England, all of whom were burnt alive while the farmers cheered.

The farmers were interviewed by the gendarmerie.
The dossiers were sent to the local court where, mysteriously, they disappeared from view.
No one seems to have made any enquiry as to why this case never came to court, although the farmers involved boasted openly of the power of their judicial connections.

Of course society cannot tolerate individual acts of vengeance.
That is why we have law and judicial institutions, to keep the wolves from the throats of the lambs.

But when the wolves are welcomed into the fold of  the judicial system....where are the lambs to turn?