French Presidential Elections v.2

 

Must get this done quickly as I am about to leave home for two weeks. I have to get the tomatoes, beans, lettuce in, the grass cut, see a couple of people, make a few phone calls and pack. Some of you could do all this “catching up” and “getting ahead” in one day, not me. Things take longer. I don’t try to move very fast, and if I did, it would not work out that well.

So Second Round, two possibilities. The result was altogether predictable, although “margin of error” in the polls was explained many times. Le Pen’s National Front vote, the “Bleue Marine” got the biggest headlines. She got +3 % or so more than some of the polls predicted. Melanchon got three or four points fewer than he might have. Bayrou (soft boring centre) got less than he hoped, but about what was predicted. People go on about Le Pen and her “best ever result” for her Daddy’s party. She actually got one percent more than her daddy got in 2002. I say she is no big deal. But it is more interesting to see what the 45% did, the ones who did not vote for either Sarko or Hollande. So for me the interesting question is where did Melanchon “lose votes” when the polls said he should maybe beat the NF. I have no answer, nor do the local partisans when I asked Margin of error seems a lame rsponse. Melanchon was meant to get maybe 15% in the polls and only actually got 11%. What was clear is that “the extremes” got some serious attention. But the second round is always a more or less familiar “race” in Rich Democracies. One bad guy and one who is worse. You pick your not so bad guy and vote for him or abstain. Not really very interesting. Especially since everyone seems to say Hollande will win, and have said that for months. A surprise? I doubt it.

On Sunday, the day before I leave home for my trip, we will vote. Unless something happens, the French will “vote the rascals out”. This, of course, is a frequent choice when things are not going well anywhere. They vote for Hollande, for example, because he is not “the other guy” and we think he could not be as bad. I strongly feel that I am much like “the French People” in that regard. I expect there to be a dip in Hollande’s vote closer to the time, but basically it looks like 55-45. Or 53-47. Or 52-48.

The complex results of the first round were quite fun to look at in Bedarieux. I know there are places more important, but for me the results of Bédarieux have more meaning. In the Gazette of Montpellier, they compared the “villes” of Hérault, our department. I don’t know the criteria for a “ville” in this data display, but I know that Clermont L’Hérault, Lodève and Bédarieux are about the same size, 7,000 plus or minus 500. Bedarieux is bigger than at least seven of the 21 towns/cities listed. Places like Agde, Ganges, Mèze, Sète, Beziers, and of course massive Montpellier, are also considered villes. I find this could be an intriguing detailed discussion, as “ville” is a word in French which could be either a town or a city in English. There are also “grands villes”, unmistakably “big cities”. Montpellier is the only proper big city in the list of 21 in Hérault.

What distinguished Bedarieux voting results from run of the mill, more or less average ones? We ranked first in the percentage voting for the following choices. Abstention. Arthaud (the old fashioned left communist or something). Cheminade (the slightly odd left guy with no party). Melanchon (the Front de Gauche who did really well, “left united”). We also won the contest for FEWEST Sarkozy voters. We were fourth for Hollande (next President, banal Socialist) and Joly (Green-Eco), third for the Trotskyist Poutou, and second LEAST le Pen voters. I don’t really count the Le Pen voters, as in our part of the world, they are common, means nothing much. Except they are well annoyed with the current lot and the other potential winners. There are many people who vote for the National Front for reasons far more diverse than the standard leftist line which emphasises fear, fascism, racism, xenophobia and nationalism. But nevertheless, we are the lowest, even if we are backwoods.

One striking fact was the tendency for local voters to abstain at a rate quite a bit higher than most towns. Only six of the 21 towns in Hérault had more than 20% who abstained, we had 26%. The French love their elections and vote at a much higher rate than English or American people. Therefore (although many other explanations could exist) such a high percentage of abstentions (national rate was 20%) means we have a few more people who have pretty much given up on orthodox elections/voting, although their reasons could be quite complex. A serious chunk of people just stopped bothering.

Normally, the French are still quite keen to vote. Due to their system, they get a chance to vote for someone they might actually like in the first round, so they love it. But much hand wringing amongst people of a critical leftish persuasion when they get the same old choices in the end. Nearly ALL of them will vote for Hollande, and grimace a lot. Like nearly everywhere in a typical “democracy”. I still remember how some Euro-leftists were genuinely excited when Mitterand won. And how some good pals of mine in the USA were excited when Clinton won. Same for Blair. In the end, no radical proposals, so real impetus for serious change came from these elected guys. The pressure, the real politics, was always from the grass roots movements, what are now called “civil society”, unless I am out of date with terminology.

I also noted the large number of people who expressed something vaguely resembling an urge to be part of the (losing) leftist/green/alternative. Roughly, that means to keep social support institutions which have little to do with profit in the public sphere, hire a decent number of teachers, keep hospitals going for all, not invade too many places … the usual slightly soft, kind, co-operative view that society must look after all people, cripples, old, sick, abnormal, young and middle aged. No matter what. That’s the point of a society. It looks after its people. I think Melanchon best represented that during this election, although the Greens, and even some of the Trots are more or less attached to that line of thinking. Whatever kind of vote those soft caring people made, we had a greater proportion of them than anywhere in Hérault, 27.24 percent. So if you add the abstainers to the lefty soft green types, you get a comfortable majority of local voters who more or less don’t like Hollande, Sarkozy, Bayrou or Le Pen, the mainstream.

So I thought to myself, while elections don’t change much, they do change something and something is reflected in the results. While the left softies are sometimes quite authoritarian and not very different (I have been to many meetings and know many of them), they are still, essentially, left softies. We can do things together in a particular locality. Although it would have been fun (as Melanchon wanted) to be here when they discussed the next Constitution, the one that MUST come after the de Gaulle Dictatorship Constitution. What a gas the debates in cafes would be. But for me the results reflect that I live in a place where, if I want to, if I could, there are many people with whom something lefty softish can be organised. That’s a good tendency.

Not that many people are excited about Round Two. It would be a deeply surprising result if Sarkozy won again. It turns out that the Big Debate was not that great. Those who know say the results will not be changed, neither guy made big mistakes. I tried watching it, but got bored and changed channels several times. They are two very aggressive, nasty little power grabbing men. Sarkozy is a nasty piece of work anyway, and Hollande had to be equally nasty, so no one would think he was a kind of blancmange, a milk toast, fat little school boy guy. You can imagine the interruptions, calls of liar and stuff like that. Tedious.

One can understand the attraction of elections. During the lead-up to the big show, where the two big fellows go head to head, it was incredible. I can just see them walking down a dusty Wild Western main street. Or having a duel with pistols. They simply represent a world of politics that would like to see die before I do, but most likely I will die first. I will write something again when it is over. Or maybe not.

The French Presidential Election

A word about the French Presidential election. Something of an educational item, as most of you will know very little about French elections. You might not even understand them at all. First, they are like all elections (spectacles), not terribly significant in themselves. A bit like the World Cup or the Olympic Games. As in any elections, one cannot be sure that any of the contestants to do what they say they will do, and they are all saying what they will do to win the election. In any case, in most nation-states, those who are “elected” are not the most powerful actors anyway. However, I am seeing it on TV all the time, people are handing out leaflets and you must share my suffering.

The things I like most about the French elections is that they are over pretty quickly, they have this wildly extreme view of equality and they are not totally based on being rich or raising money. The little guy gets something that appears to be “fair treatment”. There is, as everywhere, the “informal” election campaigning. This has been going on for a few months. The “formal” election campaign, which has recently begun, is the embodiment of French-style “equality”. Each candidate, and there TEN, gets to make a few videos for the TV, at the state’s expense, different lengths, free choice of background, subjects, camera angles and so forth. Then during “the official campaign” they play these videos at certain prime times. Everyone gets equal time. In the TV stations, as well as in a government bureau, there are people who are monitoring, to the exact second, the time each candidate is on the box. They are legally obligated to give the possible winners and the certain losers, the big and the tiny, precisely equal time. The last two nights, during prime time, each candidate has been questioned by a panel of four journalists, each candidate getting the same talk time. I find that amazing, even now after ten years here and three Presidentials.

So you vote in the first round for the presidential candidate you wish. There is no other election, just the presidential. In June there are elections for legislative posts, supposedly not influenced by the results of the election at the very beginning of May. During the first round you have the option of voting for someone you really like, not the worst of two bad alternatives.

There is the far right National Front, who might finish third. They get loads of votes and in 2002 they even made it to the final duel. They are at about 15%. they are fighting the Front de Gauche for third place. There are also the Europe Ecologie-Les Verts, a kind of temporary marriage of the more or less eco-parties or groups. They aim for double figures, but often get single. This year they have chosen a very good candidate, but she is totally wrong for a presidential election. They are currently hovering around two percent. They will apparently beat all the other “obvious losers”. They picked an older Norwegian immigrant, already a Euro-deputy, famous for fighting against Elf (huge oil company)in a very public corruption case. She is honest, sincere, says mostly the right things. However, she also is a foreign woman with an accent who wears those thick plastic round brightly coloured glasses. And she changes the colour often. There is no way French people, even radical eco ones are ready to vote for such a foreign woman with silly glasses. Shame really. The ecos made a naïve blunder in choosing a loser for a candidate.

There are also some other obvious losers, none of which will get much more than one percent. This also means they won’t get their expenses back, whereas if you get above five or may ten percent you get lots of money from the state. There is a young woman from the Lutte Ouvriere, another variety of workers’ party. They always start speeches with “Travailleurs, Travailleuses”. She rather impressed me in person tonight. There is also Jacques, who is a follower of Lyndon LaRouche, the eccentric maybe leftist American guy, but you will have to Google him. Actually says a few good things, wants to correct the financial sector, nationalise banks, create real banks and speculative banks, not so bad. He also has some quirky policies, for which he is cruelly mocked by the smart- ass, Parisian, orthodox, small minded, nit pickers. There is guy with a double-barrelled name who just slips past me every time, some kind of right wing nationalist. The most important other guy is Francois Bayrou, who claims to be in “the centre”. He is the guy you are supposed to trust when the rascals of right and left wind you up too much. I can’t figure out why he keeps going, he always loses, but then he gets on TV a lot, and he has a group who support him. His major fault is he is utterly boring. Or as a pal of mine put it, the guy just does not know when to die. He is at about 10%, but will end up in single figures I figure, as he really is boring.

My wife and I have the habit of going out together on the Sunday, walking to the polling place and voting. As a semi-anarchist, I see no real point, but I do it anyway. Once I voted blanc, which means they throw it away, just to see if I could do it. But mostly I like the ceremony. They (I know some of them) check my voting card. Then, behind a curtain in a wee booth, I get to put my paper ballot in a sealed envelope, and put it into a clear plastic box. They check the data in the voting book, say it is OK, I slip in the envelope, and the person behind says out loud “A voté”, (has voted). I then sign the register next to my name, and nip off.

I will most likely vote for the Front de Gauche. This is a coalition of groups from “the left”, and the alternative left. The Communists are in it, which challenges me deeply since I am firmly anti-Communist Party and have been all my life. But there are some altermondialistes too, another left fragment party and some others. The NPA is NOT in the Front de Gauche. The New Anti-Capitalist Party, a well organised Trotskyist party (4500 members they say), used to be LCR, Communist Revolutionary League, for those who follow such things. The LCR always likes to do elections on their own, so they can maintain a tight ship and have a clear party line. Overall, the French don’t seem to care much for continuity of Party Name, they change all the time and make coalitions with new names. Anyway, the Left Front seems to be running at a sharply rising 15%, just ahead of the Front National, or maybe just behind. In any case at half the score of the big two parties. I would really like the left front to beat the right front. Like I would like Montpellier to win the Football League championship rather than Paris. The fifth place should go to the centre guy. The success of the Left Front is a big surprise, probably the biggest news of the election. The candidate, Jean-Luc Melanchon, says things that are quite lefty, although sometimes very boringly French. He says that he would do all kinds of pretty radical things if elected, nationalise banks, control salaries of the rich (he reckons 30,000 euros a month is enough for anybody), tax the rich, fight globalisation, all sorts of more or less good things. And if he finishes third, it will be the most upsetting result possible for the French ruling elite. When the National Front (far right) got to the second round in 2002, people were well freaked out. So I vote for the result that will upset loads of conservative French and orthodox leftists, as well as give a degree of legitimacy to left ideas, which I sometimes agree with.

I really do like how it is not totally obvious that money buys votes in France, you can vote for someone you like instead of the best of the worst in the first round. I like going with my wife on Sunday and doing the “a voté” thing. You can only do that on election day.

Speaking of spectacles, Montpellier Football Club is still on top, they could win the League, which is very surprising. I like surprises. As a last note, the result for the first round is meant to be almost even for the two big winners, and the second round is supposed to be 55-45 for the “Socialist” Francois Hollande (as Tony Blair was a Socialist), who will beat the incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy. In the week of the second round, first week of May, the run-off between the two of them, I will write something else.

Late Spring Rides

Something light, plus a few photos from recent short rides. I am getting out on the bike, but my form is not improving much. I still feel tired all the time, or rather a bit weak. Small hills are not a big problem, just the speed up the hills. I have no options but slow, ocassionally I stop. But since I started writing this I popped into the lab and got some blood results. The blast of iron I took a few weeks ago did not really solve the problem, I am still anaemic. Haemoglobin is 10.8 and it should be in the range 13-17. My haemocrit is 35.7 and the range is 42-52. I am missing strength, but can keep going slowly for a short time. A big relief. Now the toubib (Arab derived word for doctor) and I will have to make a stab at why. Maybe some more iron. Epo?

So, for obvious reasons, I have been limited to short rides (less than 50k). On the other hand, I found a couple new roads to check out for the first time ever. They are close enough to home, but are always bypassed when riding with fit, 23mm riders. We take “the normal road”, the fastest best surfaced road. Very recently, I was told about a way to ride a few k off the main valley road west and rejoin it a bit further along. A kind of alternative road or bypass. Admittedly, it takes much longer, involves a bit of climbing, and the road surface is very dangerous. What this means for a cyclist is that there are steep little bits, up and down, with holes in the road and gravel everywhere. Going down a gravelly road, around tight blind corners, is not casual. I went slowly. I only did half the distance of the detour. The end of that short detour is the beginning of the already finished section of the new cyclepath in the valley. The next section, connecting us to the existing 30k, is now under construction. Now that is an exploration I am really keen to ride the length of the valley without traffic! And utterly flat.

 The photo below is typical of the old “bypass” road. However with my 28mm tyres, I had no worries at all. I should be able to comfortably ride the cycle path (piste cyclable, voie verte) with the same tyres I use for the road. I am minded to find out a bit more about this little road. Why? The obvious route is in the valley, and always will be anywhere there is a valley and hills. This road does connect some hamlets. I suppose it might be easier for a walker or a donkey than going down the hill and back up again.

 

A photo of the other “old road” I ride on is below. In that case it is an obvious “old main road”, in the valley. The club almost always takes this “old road bypass” going out, quiet lull for chatting before the big hills start. They take the main road descent going home. A little go-fast hill, good surface, good visibility, a very gradual curve. There are a couple of what seem like squats on this old main road, hard to believe they have all the permits. One day I am going to stop and chat with the guy, as we always wave and say hello. Total “French redneck house and land”, no idea about the guy. Do I have a proclivity, a genuine liking for pictures of a road that could be anywhere, but isn’t? Maybe I sense a theme here. Moments like this make me want to know more about how to make my camera take better shots.

 Another ride I frequently take when I am not that fit goes up a wee climb as well. A kind of steady 12-14 minute climb when I am fit, but which takes me 16-18 minutes when I am not. Over the top and on the descent is one of my favourite bridges. I often stop here if I am going slowly and sit on the bridge, looking. I study the house, which is not occupied all the year around. I don’t covet the house, as it is too shaded most of the year. But it fits in. If I were fit, I would never stop at this bridge, I would have hardly begun my ride.

 

Just beyond that bridge is a sign I like a lot. I go to Camplong several times a year, to attend discussions on various subjects in the funky cafe. The cafe is famous, in a small world, for being unspoilt. I think it might have won a prize. http://cafecamplong.com/ The guy who runs that café is some kind of quirky altermondialiste. Very much backwoods French eccentric version, and strong with it. He allows another fellow, a newly arrived person, ex-chemical industry, totally strong militant leftist of some kind to run a kind of Citizens Forum, a discussion or film about some current topic. I just missed one on “the elections”, which would have been great. There is a rather varied and eccentric collection of people who are populate the sessions. On the one hand, they are some part of the political culture I have belonged to for decades, and on the other hand, they are born and raised and live in a way that is far from my own path. Sometimes I realise I will NEVER see the world as some of them do. I listen in Camplong, I don’t talk much. Still, it’s the sign I wanted to show you all. No other little village has a sign remotely like this.

That’s it really. I continued up to Graissessac (pop 700), the mining town one reaches by a road about fifty metres past that sign. It began raining. Harder and harder. It has been many months, or even years, since I have ridden in the rain. Around here, we don’t usually do it. If it is raining we don’t set out. If it has rained and might rain again, we don’t set out. But I headed back (a bit damp) from Graissessac, down the Mare River Valley, flat and slightly downhill. I found out when I got back that there had not been a drop in the more southerly valleys. My kiné is from there, and he says it is like that all the time. Rain there and nothing here. It might be hard to believe, but I rather liked riding in the rain. All the more reason to go slow and steady. Except for missing shoe covers, I was dressed well enough. I doubt I would have been so bold if the ride home had been 40k instead of 20k.

 

That’s my thousand words. I really did have a period of a couple of weeks when I was a bit off balance, not enough riding, not enough writing. I am better now. This morning I had to fit in the short ride before noon, as it was the Saturday semi-market, and I do like to pop in, see who is about.

Toulouse and the Front de Gauche

I wrote most of this yesterday morning, before the killer was killed. I am trying to say something that is difficult to say about these murders. So far, I have not done very well, maybe what I want to say can’t be said. Nevertheless I am going to post it, maybe as a record of my failure.

A couple of days ago I got an email from my Attac list. Attac is an altermondialiste, French origin (1998), political education/action group that had 30,000 members in France nine years ago, now has 10,000. The local group has recently re-blossomed, and it is almost a pleasure to go to meetings and hang out at the weekly Citizen’s Market Stand. As requested by the email I toddled along to a meeting called by “someone”, at Le Local, the newish café in town. There were only four of us, and I think the fourth was there by accident. In the end, nothing “happened”, nothing was “decided”. I managed to enjoy the chat, even contribute a bit. The coffee was good too.

The subject was twofold. What should Attac do about the Front de Gauche? And what should we do or say about the murders in Toulouse? It was one of the newer, younger guys who called the “meeting”, and my long-term comrade, the militant, solid, quite bright, retired railway worker, union guy was there. The Front de Gauche part of the conversation was fairly short. Attac is not really meant to take part in elections and parties. http://www.attac.org/en/overview, although a bit of street action is fine. We more or less agreed that “Attac des Hauts Cantons” could not really join up with the Front de Gauche, as such. The Front de Gauche seems to be rising in the polls, and might play some kind of semi-important role in the Presidential Spectacle. It’s a “radical left” coalition, the common candidate is Jean-Luc Melanchon. You can google “Front de Gauche” to see which political groups are in it if you need to know the exact details.

Toulouse. This was more interesting. For once, my cheminot pal (cheminot is a railway worker) and I were more or less in agreement. The younger guy was really upset about this event, it was terrorism, murder and utterly awful. Especially the kids being killed. The matter was simple. A trained up but independent terrorist operative, French and Muslim, also a bit of a sleazebag, “known to the police”, had got some illegal arms, and gunned down, in cold blood, three kids and a teacher (all Jewish/Israeli/French), and three soldiers (brown or black, two Muslims one Catholic) wandering the streets, plus a motorcycle vendor. Apparently he wanted to “bring France to its knees”. He should be arrested, tried and put away forever. No one will really care if he gets killed by the military police. We need to find out why he was loose with arms in his car boot. As best I can make it, that is the essence of the obvious and oft repeated understanding of events. The young guy felt the same about elections. One votes, obviously. He felt sorry for me that I didn’t think like that, that I might NOT vote.

A word I knew, but didn’t quite understand, was the key to the longest discussion. “Faits divers” was the notion. It means a news item, an everyday event, “a news short”, with an overall feel that the item is not that important, even trivial. The cheminot was trying to say Toulouse was a not very important, everyday kind of event, like war, bombs, other killings, car “accidents”, floods and all the other everyday, unexpected tragedies. He immediately agreed that hardly anyone thinks this, the news is making a huge story out of it, the presidential candidates talk about it and the election may hinge on this event, and that the vast majority is upset and ill at ease. They are upset about anti-Semitism, kids getting killed, soldiers “from the diversity” (brown or black) getting killed “at home”, cops letting a known guy like this roam the streets with guns and some are very upset the killer was Muslim for various reasons. So what my pal was trying to do, and I joined him, was to think that although it was and still is, a HUGE media event, it was somehow “everyday”. The kind of everyday that grabs people very hard, the news creators know that and they create lots of TV about it. So how can this astoundingly important event be anything remotely like a faits divers? A hard argument to create.

I freely admit I shed a few tears myself during the reportage over the last few days. I always do when sad events happen on TV, in movies or my real life. But very quickly I remembered my persistent disquiet about the coverage of certain individual tragedies of other kinds. As one of my interests, I often read about Chernobyl radiation damage, tens of thousands of drink-related highway deaths a year, systematic pillage of cultures in the name of civilisation, family tragedies everywhere caused by utterly callous financial criminals, kids and families being blown away by munitions proudly sold by various countries to any combatant who has the money, or about the hundreds of thousands of poor people dead or handicapped by diseases that could be pretty much “cured” by the income tax payments of three rich people. I think that there is something way unbalanced about the news. Think Gaza, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq as context. This is the notion I just can’t quite pull into print. Making a big deal out of this killer is taking an everyday event and robbing it of global context. Why is the guy doing it? Global context (as well as individual sleazebag). Although the emotional upset caused to families and friends of murdered people is quite real and genuine. Too many people are using, caressing and profiteering from this event. One thing we agreed on in The Local was that even trying to make a case even slightly outside this dominant discourse is impossible now, during the National Freakout. I said it was like I felt during the Falklands War in Britain. They lied about it so much and it was so far away, that almost no one dared to utter a peep. OK, not quite the same, but maybe you get a drift.

Is this a truly important event, or is it a normal event, which has been made into a spectacle because of the manipulated use of the word terrorism, and the need for business and government to build fear and insecurity into our lives. Shock Doctrine? Happens all the time somewhere these days. It is perhaps naive to think that France will be isolated from this common event in modern life. Risk, danger, death, injury, in all forms, at any time. We live in a world wracked with insecurity and fear at many levels, created by real people, some of whom then sell us a solution to give us security and peace of mind.

Voila, that is what we chatted about. And more.

Personal 1.0

Don’t read this one unless you know me, it really is just about me. The “sad” extreme of the blogger.

 

I have been quite slack lately. No writing. I have missed doing it. Lack of discipline. Inability to find and use the regular time a “real blogger” needs. I know at least three people on earth who have made negative comments about my missing writing. So why no time?

 

Actually life got a little messy a few weeks ago. For some time, the future has been simple. The usual things that occupy anyone who has a house, shops, rides a bit, watches sports, goes to meetings, fixes, orders, get obsessed, is unwell and being … In my case, two things that have arisen recently are to do with travel and Occupy. However much I love reading about Occupy and travelling to see my pals, it messes up normal life.

 

Occupy first. I promised (foolishly?) our Montpellier group that I could and would put on a good show for our annual event related to Martin Luther King. It takes place (nearly) every year at the Martin Luther King Centre in Montpellier. We invite “everyone”. I am talking about the slightly slack, rather weak, mixed liberalish small group tied together by friendship and the common experience(s) of being “political Americans in France”. Our type of group is very rare in France.

 

Anyway, a few weeks ago, we were in a bit of a bind. We had a duff film and no speaker for our annual MLK event, one of the very few things we actually do. The woman who has “managed” the evening for years has stopped doing it. So Occupy, as a topic, came up as an alternative to the badly organised Palestinian evening. I gladly volunteered to do the organising and maybe even the animating on the day. I said I would give a rap in French on Occupy and field or divert some questions during the debate. I am the right person in many ways. Another guy and I know the most about Occupy. I have more time to read and maybe more oddball political experience than most of the group. But animating, facilitating, is a thankless job. Even in English I would not want to do it. I lose my cool too quickly, and cannot possibly understand young people who all speak too fast and use words I don’t know (in French). I also have a low tolerance of people who will talk abstractly with no Occupy experience or ONE ancient experience they think everything should resemble. I worry about this event.

 

Sometimes it annoys me that I live in country where everything has to be in French. Without the help of one guy, unbidden, we still would not have a good short “film” to show. There might not yet be a good short or even medium film about Occupy, even in English.

 

In any case, I have to come up with a ten minute rap in French to introduce the discussion. I think I will find out what my partner organiser wants to talk about. Then I can fill in gaps, maybe use a question and answer format, so I don’t have to be too organised. Will I read a translated script or wing it with notes? My sophisticated analytic French is not that great and never will be. So I am going to try the “keep it simple” kind of theory. No footnotes. In fact, not very many complex sentences, since I forget which linking up words take the subjunctive and my tenses are still a bit ropy. I might get a bit of help from someone to make sure I don’t use a really wrong word.

 

As for much of real work, I must delegate soon.

 

Then there is a bit of travelling. Suddenly. I live a quiet life. I don’t travel much. Causes me deep regrets, but my overall bad health is a big constraint. Any trip could be cancelled at the last minute. Still, if you don’t make a plan then you never go anywhere. I should be going to Lancaster (two weeks) for my little joblet. I have to talk to my boss, although the recent reorganisation means I am not even sure who that is. Maybe I won’t carry on with this job. Lancaster is a relatively easy two week trip. I have done it twice. I know how to do it. My old pals are very welcoming. I do some work, eat lots of food “out”, hardly ever cook a meal. Not much washing up for two weeks. I buy flowers sometimes. Maybe even get a new passport and some new glasses. It is a trip “home”.

 

One old friend is visiting another old friend in the Pyrenees, sometime in June. I am utterly certain that will be a pleasurable trip for a few days. I have never really explored the Pyrenees as much as I would like to. That has to happen before the Tour.

 

Then, The Tour, when I have my annual holiday from many things. This year, if we are both lucky (shoulder problems should be healed by then), we can go swimming nearly every day at the pool five minutes walk from our house, I can ride often, and watch and write about the Tour. Three weeks. It is sometimes a “good life”.

 

In August I am going to host a three or four day visit from my American niece and my almost nephew-in-law. The lad and I will meet when they arrive. My niece I know a bit, but as a kid. She is grown now, working as a teacher, getting married, maybe kids. My wife and I (in our ways) will work hard to make their visit a pleasure, one they won’t forget for many years. I might even spring for a cheap hotel in the big city and hang with them there. Be a tourist for a few days. It might be the only time they visit here. It should be good. But not a quiet life. I wonder if they have ever eaten classy French food. Or if they even like it. We shall see.

 

Two weeks ago, I got a note about my fiftieth high school reunion. It quickly became obvious that I wanted to go. I have wanted to visit my American home town for years. Last visit 1972. I have a pal runs a bed and breakfast in Ann Arbor, where we both went to University, after sharing junior high and high school together. He has been to visit me in England, twice. Although it is not deeply important, I imagine that this is the last time I might see so many Americans of my age, from my town, whom I vaguely know, at the same time. I am excited, but its a big trip and I have to arrange it all, not something I do well. And be gone from my home again, where life is slightly simpler.

 

And although just that is a quite exciting but difficult short term future, for a often ill and laid back country boy, all that before the middle of October is a lot to ask. Might not happen.

 

Conflict in Local Political Groups

A thousand words to introduce you to one of my personally important political groups. What would you want to know? Other than that group is on my mind currently.

I joined this group 8 or 9 years ago. All members are American citizens, which means USA in practice, not ALL of the Americas. It had been going for a year or two when I heard about them from another list and joined. Several members have moved cities, left France, died, or in some cases, just drifted off. One co-founder quit in deep and passionate disagreement with the group two or three years ago. The group has probably shrunk slightly in the last ten years, or so it seems. The nine core organisers of the group are very much occupied with other activities, work, parenting, illness and death, grandparenting, new lovers and old partners, and other demanding political or social activities. We don’t have any enthusiasts for whom our group is “the most important thing in their life”, or even second most important.

Fact: With the exception of our most recent member, everyone’s partner, should they have one, is NOT a citizen of the USA.

The overall complexion of the group is liberal/left, in the American sense. Some members, including the late co-founder, are quite clearly identified as “revolutionaries” or radicals of some kind, maybe not even on a left right political spectrum. I sometimes think I am some kind of anarchist. One of our very active members calls himself a Dadaist. Several of our group are pretty sophisticated reflective types, “theorists” you might say. When we have organised discussions, the quality is often quite high, and people can easily ask for more explanation. Our “Cafe APJ” events take place infrequently, even though we enjoy them. But we also have members who “want to DO something” about the awful things in our world. Very sincere and passionate people. But not people who claim to be political analysts or theorists. The weight of our understanding is a slightly intuitive, critical, liberal view of the world and of political action.

It has to be said that one reason the group exists is so that USA immigrants can “talk (and do) politics” in their native language, with other immigrants. Although of course many of us, ”talk politics” or act politically with French people, in French. Never quite the same as “your own people!” Many thousands of USA immigrants in France resist ANY organised political involvement of any sort.

Most people in our group go through a bit of trouble to vote in the USA elections. Some vote in French ones. Most are aware it won’t really change much. They vote with the inner ironic smile, or with semi-false hope. The group itself has never been connected to any political party. Many, individuals vote for the Democratic Party in a “home state”. One or two people have bumper stickers for American elections (always Democrats), when in fact they live, work and have kids in France. Maybe somebody does belong to the Democratic Party, but all this is a kind of personal action, not a group action. Members generally would rather be in the group doing a little bit, than not be in the group doing nothing.

The group has members who are very much turned toward the USA, in family or other ways. There are also those who are less turned toward the USA, or turned slightly toward England, Germany or Italy. We all say we are American citizens. But that clearly has different meanings in political thought and action. About half are passport carrying “Europeans”, some are “just American”. The average number of years in France for each active member must be around twenty years, including those us who have been here for less than ten years. Some have spent nearly their entire adult life here. So although we have never talked about our “political identity” within the group, some people care more about political activity in the USA, especially around election times.

Everyone (I think) agrees with out rather well-constructed missions statement.

We are an association of Americans dedicated to global peace and justice.

We oppose the settlement of conflicts by force, while recognizing the right of people to defend themselves against infringement of their human and civil liberties.

Our objectives are:
1) To promote peace by opposing war and all forms of oppression
2) To promote justice by identifying and denouncing the political and economic sources of injustice.

Along with others who share our objectives, we take public action to achieve these aims.

At this exact moment, we don’t “do” much. We have NEVER done that much, just what we could manage. Which was not “enough”, and never will be enough. There is only one other group like us in France, naturally in Paris. It is very unusual, that we exist. The co-founders might never have met. It was Afghanistan invasion (not Iraq) that “forced” our CF to do the action that led to the group. We have some relations with the Paris group, and a bit less with the Rome Group, the only other ones we know in Europe. The links are tenuous, and very uneven. Overall, it is pretty clear that everyone in our group has two or three way more important activities. So we tend to support things other groups organise. We are not very strong or creative, but vaguely present.

This “slackness” has been present for a long time, although we continue to attend or participate in activities organised by others. This lack of action was one of the reasons the co-founder left the group, years ago. Critics, internal and external, say we don’t do anything much and we might not even be doing “the right thing”, even when we try. In my view, not too far off the mark. Anyway we have had good potlucks during our entire existence, sometimes just to hang out, more often a cultural or political event potluck. In the summer we are often around one member’s pool, maybe we have a potluck to say hello to some old member visiting town, to save them time and travel. There are always loads of non-members at potlucks. Friendships have grown through our activities, although each individual has lots of other pals and family who are more important than our small group. We sign letters and petitions. But we keep wondering, especially for the last two or three years, “do we do enough”?

Very recently, the co-founder has made an energetic come back on the email list. He is a practiced and keen email writer. He thinks he has a more “radical” and structured political view than most of us. He is openly quite critical of those whose views are wrong or sloppy. Corrections for casually put or wrong views are quickly forthcoming. He has been writing what several consider unnecessarily aggressive, maybe hurtful, emails to people he actually knows, by writing to “the list” that all nine to fifteen of us use. Apparently, he does not think he is doing this troublesome behaviour, merely being honest and direct, writing the truth, helping us find our way. We are being accused of being workers for the Democratic Party, because we don’t publicly condemn Obama, when we did condemn Bush. He is quite forcefully or insistently urging us to denounce Obama for his imperialist actions and wants us to actively promote the notion that Obama is a war criminal, to the French people. We should recognize that the USA is fascist and if we don’t condemn Obama, then we are collaborators with fascism.

So a small, weak, not very significant-for-the-world, (but somewhat important to the members) socio-political group is being buffeted by words on an email list. The latent conflict lines are no longer latent, they are being made manifest. Some members are upset. I am one. I am upset. But being a wise and experienced dude, I thought describing the situation to some of you might help me work out how I thought and felt. And it did. Took more than a thousand words. Sorry. On the other hand, the outcome of the current conflict is very uncertain. You will hear more as it happens.

Notre Dame de Nizes and Back

I seem to be in a mood of wild experimentation. For months, when I rode, I rode in the late afternoon after my nap. This is nearly impossible between November and January if I don’t get to sleep fast. Seemed too much effort in the morning, too cold and too short, but then I get up a bit late. But today, even though I got up at the same lazy time, I manage to ride for almost two hours. Not all of it downhill, I have to say (250 metres of climbing). It was a pleasure. Very slow and feeling rather weak all over, but I got where I wanted to go and came back. I rode to Lunas on the other side of the river, not the main road, a rather nice view of an old local mining town. A declining mining town, even if supported by central government plus a few new immigrants, is a declining mining town. But it looks good from a distance. Coal. All shut now. The town in the photo is the home of the current female cycling champion of France. I got passed by her once on her time trial bike. I don’t know her at all.

By the way, I was told everyone like photos, so posts with photos might be good. Later more writing, unless I keep riding every other day or so. That would be nice. The weather has showed us what is coming, even if I am not convinced it is Spring.

Lunas is not that far from my house, 16k maybe. One is well warmed up by then. It has a chateau and is pretty. The photos below are of a local work of art. A serious and committed person has built a mock Occitan village at the edge of the real village. On the hill. You can see if you look closely, a lot of work. There are no live people in the shot. By clicking on the names of shops or activities under the photo at the URL, or on any area of the photo, you get closeups of the village. Judy and Don, definitely take a look on the site, you’d like it. http://www.lunas.org/village_de_lunas/village_curiosites_villageoccitan2.htm

But I had a goal for this morning. So I rode another few k up this little road which goes nowhere really, but does form part of various roads that go to various hamlets I know nothing about. You have to climb to reach them. I got to my destination, a church. Notre Dame de Nizes. On the little map here http://www.lunas.org/village_de_lunas/village_hameaux.htm You can see the road, but the church is not marked. Actually you can hook up with another road and go over the hill and descend to Lunas or turn right and go up toward Lodeve. The pass is 602 metres. But that connection is not on the little map. I don’t think the light was great for a shot of the church, but there is my photo. I turned around and semi-freewheeled back to Lunas. No traffic at all, except one car. Very quiet. Of course the shots on the site are better, they waited for the light to be right.There is a story.  http://www.lunas.org/histoire_de_lunas/histoire_ndnize.htm  A few metres away is the miraculous fountain that cures eyes. I must check that out next time. http://www.lunas.org/folklore_traditions_populaires/fontaine-des_yeux.htm

I stopped in Lunas partly because the idea of sitting by the river for a bit was appealing. I took the shots of Lunas from that spot. Very tidy village, only 600 people in full summer. A few immigrants, mostly white ones. The chateau is lovely, and does serve food. It looks better if the sun shines on it and the river is fuller with ducks on it, but I was not there at the right time. I have never heard any report about the food that makes me want to eat there, although I would like to try it one day. I only takes 20 minutes to drive there. I guess they have regular slightly fatty French food with great surroundings. Dutch guy cooks, I heard. Just below is a kind of virtual Tour of Lunas I found while looking for an explanation of the fake village on the hill. http://www.streetviewandmaps.com/en/map/fr/62043-Lunas-Hérault/#/point/43.707382/3.193326/117.21/3.74/2/

Then I took the main road home. Never felt very strong on this ride. Able to do it, kept going, had a good time stopping to take photos, but I was not feeling strong. Be patient, although it may never happen. On the other hand, I felt quite good about the ride. Perhaps if I learn a bit more about taking photos I could get together a little series, send them off to the CTC mag if they still do it. I really am a cyclo-tourist at heart. Although I would like to further and explore more territory around here. It’s not bad around here for riding a bike, not bad at all.