France is in the news for the most horrible of reasons. I have just returned from a walking trip in Provence. I discussed with my wife how France had changed over the years (she lived there years ago amd speaks good French). Our impressions are as follows:
– rather good English is now spoken by a very large part of the population. A visit to Paris with sub-par French used to elicit contempt. Now everyone you meet is friendly, helpful, and chatty (in the tourist areas at least).
– the worldwide adoption of scruffy, boring clothing has hit France, where the women used to be chic, and proud of it. Now you can’t tell who is French and who is a back-packer.
– the food has always been excellent; now the service too has improved. But the serving portions have become Americanized, that is, huge. Fortunately, the wine remainexcellent.
– The number of Chinese tourists is already striking. Apparently, France is a favourite destination, and they are going there, not necessarily in large groups, but in pairs and foursomes, showing greater confidence, maybe.
– we were struck by French current affairs programmes, where everyone talks over everyone else, and the men shout down any woman with the temerity to open her mouth. But st lesst they have women in the news studio.
– Lunchtimes are now about 45 minutes, and businessmen in Paris no longer linger. Paris is feeling more like an American city, hurried, restless and more diverse.
In other words, globalization has reached France, which, I suppose, was, inevitable. What hasn’t changed are the strikes and the fact that the banks don’t work (it seems rate to find an ATM that works).
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We returned from Marseilles airport on the day that taxi drivers were striking against Uber. Our own taxi, working surreptiously because we had booked it days before, couldn’t get closer than 4 kilometers from the terminal, so we had to get out and walk alongside the clogged and frustrated traffic, toting our luggage, a hot and smelly experience. Then, miracle!, two young ladies offered us a lift. They worked for a helicopter company and knew the geography and ins and outs of the airport no one else stuck in traffic knew. We zoomed here and there through the maze and eventually reached terminal 1, checking in with 2 minutes before boarding. If you are reading this blog, ladies, a big thank you!
I’m all in favour of having a bit of foreign influence and multiculturalism- it can make places more interesting. However, the French are beginning to feel that enough is enough, hence the rise in support for the Front National (FN). Although I can’t abide the FN’s anti-Semitism, its understandable why they are becoming more popular. Politicians across Europe, who despite the nation-state, have favoured policies that have diminished national cultures and traditions. The latest example of this is the TTIP trade agreement, but its only a small part of our former way of life being sacrificed at the altar of globalised capitalism- of which the FN are very much opposed to. Anyone who supports preserving a nation’s cultural homogeneity is labelled a racist, and anyone who supports preserving a nation’s traditional industries is labelled a protectionist. The European establishment’s consensus in favour of internationalism must be critiqued, but from the perspective of the traditional social-democratic left, not the populist right. It was the nation-state that built the welfare state, and it is what the Greeks call the Troika- the EU, the IMF and the multinational banks and corporations- that seeks to dismantle it.