Conghaileach
14th July 2005, 20:47
The Guardian
Thursday July 14, 2005
French ready for a new revolution
Chirac the focus of discontent in a country riddled with self-doubt and not in the mood to party on Bastille Day
Kim Willsher in Paris
Today should be Jacques Chirac's big moment. As the standard bearer of France's republican tradition he oversees an impressive parade on Bastille Day. Horseguards, soldiers, pilots, police officers and firemen will march down the Champs Elysées accompanied by as much hardware - tanks, rocket launchers and fighter jets - as France's military might can muster.
But, even in his Bastille Day best, Mr Chirac cannot ignore the fact that France is deeply fed up, and with him above all.
The latest poll shows that only 32% of French people have confidence in the president, while the Parisien newspaper said this year's July 14 celebrations "smell like the end of Chirac's reign". That France is not in the mood to party is clear. But this is more than a nation in economic and political depression. It is a crisis that some analysts believe could turn violent.
Commentators evoke May 1968, when students rioted through the streets of Paris setting up barricades and tearing up paving stones to hurl at the police. Everyone got angry, went on strike and then went back to work or study. It did not change much, but it remains a seminal moment of that generation.
Full Article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1527921,00.html)
Thursday July 14, 2005
French ready for a new revolution
Chirac the focus of discontent in a country riddled with self-doubt and not in the mood to party on Bastille Day
Kim Willsher in Paris
Today should be Jacques Chirac's big moment. As the standard bearer of France's republican tradition he oversees an impressive parade on Bastille Day. Horseguards, soldiers, pilots, police officers and firemen will march down the Champs Elysées accompanied by as much hardware - tanks, rocket launchers and fighter jets - as France's military might can muster.
But, even in his Bastille Day best, Mr Chirac cannot ignore the fact that France is deeply fed up, and with him above all.
The latest poll shows that only 32% of French people have confidence in the president, while the Parisien newspaper said this year's July 14 celebrations "smell like the end of Chirac's reign". That France is not in the mood to party is clear. But this is more than a nation in economic and political depression. It is a crisis that some analysts believe could turn violent.
Commentators evoke May 1968, when students rioted through the streets of Paris setting up barricades and tearing up paving stones to hurl at the police. Everyone got angry, went on strike and then went back to work or study. It did not change much, but it remains a seminal moment of that generation.
Full Article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1527921,00.html)