Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité?

The French like to think of themselves as defenders of human rights, dignity and liberty. After all, they led the opposition to the Iraq war. In the spring of 2002, President Jacques Chirac simply warned W. that he risked destabilizing Iraq, could get bogged down in a protracted occupation, and at worst, military action could unleash sectarian violence and civil war. The result of that lecture was a sharp anti-French backlash that saw the emptying of bottles of red wine from American shelves, and the renaming of a national staple “Freedom Fries”. Interestingly, much of what Chirac warned about back then has come to pass, and the American public has lately become increasingly French in its thinking. But the French have little to crow about. Their own country is facing the worst social upheaval seen since the 1960s. For all the hot air about equality and fraternity, there are really two Frances. One belongs to the ruling class – officials who have gone to all the right schools, have the right social connections and enjoy bountiful tax loop holes. The other France is that off kids who can’t get ahead because they weren’t the right color to get into the good schools, entrepreneurs who can’t cut through all the red tape to make a business work, and the increasing numbers of everyday people who simply can’t make it.

On my recent visit to Paris for the spring collections, I happened to notice the growing encampment of homeless people, pushed onto a narrow ledge just above the Seine. Their tent city lies just feet below the Musée d’Orsay, where countless priceless works of art are on display for tourists and art connoisseurs. Perhaps it’s time for America to lecture France (as LBJ once did Americans) – “you can do better.”

– Timothy Hagy