France General Discussion IV: Yellow Fever

[Estrella]

And on a somewhat related note, Didier Raoult is now alongside Nicolas Hulot and Édouard Philippe as one of the most popular "political" figures in the country.

I can't see this ending badly at all 

A man can dream, if he likes nightmares.

[Estrella]

Can someone please tell me the difference between Macron and The Republicans at this point?

This is why I was down on the 2017 election, even while most left-wing people on the internet were celebrating. It is great that Le Pen was defeated, don't get me wrong, but nearly all that Macron has brought to France has been a deep erosion of workers' rights. Little else. It doesn't cheer me up.

Tbh, on economic stuff I tend to side more with Le Pen than with Macron. It was the authoritarianism from her that made Macron a much preferable choice but if he’s going directly into the bigot route now, I would actually be very fine with Le Pen winning against Macron next time.

That is, if a Mélenchon or left-wing surge doesn’t happen because in that case, I would definitely prefer the left over both of them.

Marine Le Pen is many things, but she isn't any more leftist than Macron. The economic platform of a typical European "right-wing populist party with left-wing economic policies" consists of throwing large amounts of money in the general direction of pensioners, limiting welfare to those on the correct end of Fitzpatrick scale, complaints about globalism... and that's pretty much it. You could very well argue that Macron is, in a certain sense, less right-wing on economics than Le Pen: as flawed as his policies are, he doesn't want to stick his head in the sand and continue with a model that fails anyone who isn't in a public sector union or a pensioner (or, if we're comparing him to Sarkozy or Fillon, anyone who isn't a millionaire).

[Estrella]

[Estrella]

Something I stumbled across and that I'm sure some of you know: AJRElectionMaps, a DeviantArt account that makes some really, really good, er, election maps from all over the world, together with great writeups that explain what the hell actually happened.

Anyway, recently they made some maps for French elections right after WW2 that include results from African colonies, something I haven't seen before. 

French legislative election, November 1946

French legislative election, 1951

French legislative election, 1956

[Estrella]

It is unwise to write off Macron too soon. He is the first person in almost a hundred years to take on major parties in a large Western democracy and throw them out of office - his electoral capabilities have far outpaced his governing capabilities, ironically similar to Trump.

De Gaulle and Berlusconi would like to have a word.

[Estrella]

cher-e-s lecteur-rice-s, professeur-e-s et écolier-ère-s

The government has now decided to ban écriture inclusive (gender neutral writing) at schools.

Honestly, nothing makes me support it more than the way it triggers conservatives and reactionaries.

Ah yes, Emmanuel "liberté d'expression" Macron.

[Estrella]

Elisabeth Moreno claims France still has a problem with patriarchy.

Elisabeth Moreno, France’s minister for gender equality, diversity and equal opportunities, told CNBC Friday that the country still has a problem with “patriarchal attitudes.”

Moreno, who was speaking to CNBC’s Karen Tso at the Women’s Forum in Paris on Friday, said that French President Emmanuel Macron had made gender equality the “great cause of his term.”

She said that there had been particular focus on violence against women. For instance, last year the French Parliament approved a bill giving more power to doctors to help protect victims of domestic violence. However, France reportedly still has one of the highest rates of femicide in Europe.

Moreno said the French government was also focusing on improving gender equality in the workplace. In May, the French Parliament voted unanimously to introduce gender quotas at an executive level.

Nevertheless, Moreno said that France still suffered from “a lot of stereotypes, a lot of patriarchal attitudes.”

A huge "no sh*t" moment, but France being France the reaction will be similarly predictable as with the above. Of course, sexism is only a problem among Muslim men - like that time when a minister was catcalled by the haven of radical Islamism that is the LR National Assembly caucus.

The Petit-Robert dictionary included the neologism that is the gender neutral third peson pronoun "iel" in its online edition.

The reactions have been... predictable

FF move, but... I'm sorry, when I read that, I could only think of this.