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.

Friday 20 April 2012

As France goes to the polls....

Bingo Card SampleBingo Card Sample (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The rate of abstention is predicted to be high in the first round of the Presidential election, and the two candidates to go through are predicted to be Sarkozy and Hollande...representatives of the main stream right and left parties respectively.

With a choice like that you begin to understand the reluctance of people to turn out on Sunday - neither Mr. Bling nor Mr. Blobby will even start to crack the mould that has made France a dispirited, morose country where the radiance of the Siecle des Lumieres has waned to a nightlight in the financial morass that is the Eurozone.

If the France d'en bas'....the little people.....are to recover their enthusiasm, their faith in their society, then things have to change.

An example, involving charitable effort, shows what is wrong.

Since Mme. Pompidou at least, the wives of  French presidents take on a charitable cause and Carla Bruni has been no exception.

She accepted a role as ambassador for a charity - the Swiss based  and U.N. backed Global Fund - aiming to fight killer diseases in developing countries and, in particular, she accepted a role heading the Global Fund's Born HIV Free campaign, set up to help mothers and children whose lives have been devastated by AIDS.

Money from the Global Fund was directed at the request of Carla Bruni to companies owned by a musician friend of hers to provide publicity for the charity.
We are not talking peanuts here...but millions of euros.
Very little has been done to improve the lives of the women and children supposedly targeted by the campaign.
The Global Fund is supported by public monies contributed by the countries belonging to the U.N. - including France.

It's not only the wives of French presidents who undertake charitable work....the network of charitable associations in France is impressive....and particularly the local efforts.
I remember the campaigns to get a proper wheelchair for a paralysed child - where was the famed medical system  when it was needed....to fund medical treatment unobtainable in France...any number of local efforts over the years.
No public money here.

Two grannies in the north of France have organised bingo sessions in aid of charity for years.
Neither they nor their friends have ever touched a penny of the proceeds.
People in their area trust them implicitly.

They have been hauled into court for not observing the regulations on games of chance - effectively, not jumping through hoops at the Prefecture.

In three years, they raised over 450,000 Euros for charity...nowhere near the sums directed to the friend of Carla Bruni......and the court has condemned them to pay just under 50,000 Euros representing the tax due on the money raised, a further 20,000 odd Euros in Customs penalties, not to speak of assorted fines.

Clearly, the grannies cannot pay. All the money they raised, from private purses, went to the charity it was aimed at.

The contrast between the two charitable efforts exemplifies the malaise of French society...and, I suspect, many others...virtue reprimanded, vice rewarded.

In all the clamour of the rival election campaigns I see no mention of the factor vital to the resurrection of France....that the decency of the majority of ordinary people is reflected in those who lead the country.

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30 comments:

  1. I'd say it was incredible, Fly, except that I know it's not! I see lots of reports in our local French paper on just those kind of small charitable efforts and on the other hand you get this kind of cronyism. There is something rotten in the state of France and I'm increasingly glad I don't live there.

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    1. It's not what you think of when thinking about France, is it?
      It's all Liberte Egalite Fraternite with a few chateaux and croissants thrown in...until you start talking to people and reading the papers.
      I know a lot of people don't want to know about this side of France - but it's just as real as the chateaux and croissants.

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  2. It seems charity really is a dirty word...!

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    1. One sight of the phrase...'and he/she has a charitable foundation' and I think 'tax fiddle'.
      How sad is that!

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  3. Hello:
    We are appalled at what we read here. But we fear that this scenario most likely can be multiplied, on similar scales, throughout Europe where greed and bureaucracy go hand in hand to the disadvantage of everyone with the exception of the rich and powerful. It is all too dreadful and seems set to continue.

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    1. I entirely agree.
      I am convinced that standards of public life fell drastically in the U.K. after joining the E.U., once the extent of the gravy train was made evident.

      And I live in what is referred to as a Banana Republic!

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  4. Wow the more i learn about power and politics and law the less I like each one individually and as a whole I am beginning to despise the combination.

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    1. The dispiriting reality seems to be that all three puppets dance on the strings operated by multinational business.

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  5. Apparently lack of common sense is an international problem...

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    1. As is lack of common decency among those who run the thing...

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  6. This is so depressing isn't it. As a newcomer to being in France for anything more than a few weeks at a time, I am just starting to scratch the surface of some of this ....not liking what I find much ! J.

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    1. Modern politics is depressing isn't it!
      I always thought it a great pity that the nice, sensible people i knew weren't running the place...but then, that was because they were nice and sensible, not pelf crazed control freaks.

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  7. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. What makes me laugh is the indignation when a UK prince points out that Frence is corrupt. But I also agree with you regarding the the EU gravy train and the decline in respect for UK politics.

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    1. Emperor's clothes, really, isn't it?

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    2. I don't think we should put any credence in any thing that prince says about foreign politics. His country has enough scandals to rank in the top three through Europe.

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    3. O.K. gentlemen, we are not going to start the Hundred Years War all over again.

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  8. And there I was, just reading the Sunday papers (I know it's Tuesday, but I've been busy) all about how Hollande isn't going to live in the Elysee if elected, but in a flat..and before even having read your blog, I was thinking "I wonder if he'll pocket the difference?" because, cynic that I am, I can't believe there isn't something MORE in it for him, whilst he projects his Robin Hood persona. I've never managed to look at any politician (or their wife/husband/partner) and think "Maybe I'm misjudging them". Au contraire, I think I'm STILL guilty of thinking too highly of the majority!!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Hollande is a fraud in my opinion...cosy little arrangements with the Chirac clan in the Correze and his declared income just under the level for the ISF to kick in.
      This isn't a Delors who, nomatter what one's opinion of him,lived simply....this is just another French mainstream politician - who knew all about Strauss-Kahn's behaviour in respect of women and did nothing to bring it to light.
      No wonder the FN vote was so strong...people have simply had enough of the dishonesty of it all.

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  9. I've resorted to staying in a little bubble here in France! It's IS depressing!
    Thank God the wine is good :)

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    1. The bubble doesn't work for me...too many prickles!

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  10. I take a keen interest in French politics, even though I can't vote in them. There does seem to be a lot of murky stuff going on. Most politicians tend to lose touch with the people very quickly as their own wealth accumulates.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. And amazing how their own wealth accumulates once they are in office...

      I couldn't vote in national elections either and I remember moaning about this in the post office queue - on the lines of I have to pay tax and can't vote for which goon is going to waste my money - and the postmaster said
      'Oh, it's not fair that you can't vote, Madame, but it's to stop these immigrants taking over France...'

      The number of assumptions in that remark astounded me!

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  11. I have to say that I have not paid too much attention to the detail of the elections in France. We have enough scandals being reported in the UK to occupy me. Politics is a murky game whatever the nationality.

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    1. Oh yes, Murdochgate, etc.
      And just how is it that the system we have doesn't allow us to be rid of these crooks?

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  12. http://ultimasnoticiasnew.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/tornado-en-francia-29-de-abril-2012.html

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    1. This was a physical one...is th election result a political tornado?

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  13. So what is your take on the eventual outcome this weekend - I wait with bated breath.

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    1. Well..we have political life in France returned to normal after Sarkozy.

      With Hollande everyone knows what they are getting - the traditional French politician...graduate of ENA,
      possessor of money dropping from Heaven, coverer up of nasty things in the woodshed...DSK and the people to whom he lent his villa in Morocco and - of course - Anglophobe.

      A very nasty piece of work indeed.
      I held no brief for Sarkozy...but I hold a great deal less for Hollande.

      Interesting to see if the UMP breaks up in the National Assembly elections..whether the Front National can overcome the handicap of the voting system...whether it will be Hollande and a PS majority or Hollande with a shifting cohabitation scenario...

      All good fun if you don't weaken.

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  14. Oh, don't hold back, Fly. Go on, tell us what you really think of Hollande! :-)

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  15. The temptation is almost overwhelming!
    Hearing that operator mouthing off about justice is more than I can bear...

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