France General Discussion II: Living under Marxism

[Antonio the Sixth]

French male teens appear to be a progressive bunch. At least in Nantes.

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http://www.thelocal.fr/20140516/in-pictures-french-schoolboys-wear-skirts-to-class

First time in a long while French people have made me proud. Unsurprisingly, it's young people, who 90% of the time are far better human beings than their elders.

[Hash]

It's also in Naoned, which is one of the best cities in France and the capital of the best region.

[swl]

Sounds like it's almost over for Copé. And more trouble is coming for Sarkozy.

On the long term it's a good news for the UMP (at least the moderate wing), in 2017 they will need a candidate who will be able to get some votes from the center and the left for the run-off against Le Pen, it's better to get rid of Copé and Sarko now...

[Icehand Gino]

Copé resigned this morning.

Maybe we will have a sane president in 2017

[Antonio the Sixth]

Oh. My. God.

[windjammer]

And seriously, when are scheduled the next regional elections?
Because I have just realized that with these results, Panzergirl could be the next president of my region

[Hash]

They were supposed to be in 2015, along with the new-old departmental/cantonal elections, and unless something's changed, the law says the terms expire in 2015, but now Flanby has said that they might be pushed back to 2016 (officially to coincide with the destruction of regional government). Also the departmental elections are now supposed to be abolished by Fuhrer Valls even if Fuhrer Valls himself was the one who recreated them. Whenever they are, it will be a fascist onslaught.

Hopefully Merkel invades us first and we do away with democracy.

(oh, and hopefully Cope croaks over soon)

[windjammer]

Well, I would prefer Germany to invade us and to transform France into a german colony than giving anything to this far right, islamophobic, racist, homophobic party.

[Hifly]

I await the reunification of Alsace-Lorraine with the Fatherland.

[windjammer]

Well,
Just to say I found the FN results in NPDC and Picardie.

-NPDC: 35.13%
-Picardie: 38%

To be honest, for the next regional elections, they have a good chance to pick up these 2 regions.


And IT WOULD BE A DISASTER. This isn't only few towns this time, but basically a REGION!!!!
For people who can speak and read French, read this article:
 http://www.vie-publique.fr/decouverte-institutions/institutions/collectivites-territoriales/competences-collectivites-territoriales/quelles-sont-competences-exercees-par-regions.html

[You kip if you want to...]

Poll showing more PSer want even Ségo in 2017. Aha.

http://main.omanobserver.om/?p=84805

[RogueBeaver]

Flanby's regional "reform" package includes mergers to reduce them to 14.

[Hash]

What a focking disgusting joke. He could have done one basic thing which people actually wanted, but he didn't do it. Lowlife scum.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

...but why?

[Hash]

...but why?

The PSFIO has fallen victim to the right's discourse on 'efficiency' (one in which, like in Spain, devolved government is seen as the culprit and 'inefficient') and it argues that France needs fewer, bigger regions (and they often say that Germany, Italy and Spain have fewer regions, ergo we need to be like them) which would reduce costs, save money, somehow make regional government more efficient and 'competitive'. The new reform says that the roots of grassroots local democracy ('close to the people') would be the intercommunalités, but that's problematic since their democratic credibility remains terribly weak despite the fact that most are (indirectly) elected now and they'll further lose in their 'proximity' to the people because the government wants to increase their average population from 5,000 to 20,000 (meaning that their whole song and dance about 'close to the people' devolved government is horsesh**t).

It betrays a traditional Jacobin and ultra-centralist way of thinking about local government and makes a farce out of 'decentralization', because once again, regions remain artificial creations imposed by official diktats from the Parisian gnomes. Flanby in his great wisdom didn't want to touch existing regional borders, and just merged existing ones, so he didn't correct injustices like the existence of the division of Brittany. Basically, the government treats regional government (and the intercommunalités, which are nearly just as much the product of diktats) as the equivalent of Wal-Mart stores which can just be merged, dissolved and managed from above. This government is destroying local government and making an even bigger joke out of 'decentralization' (a word which no French politician seems to understand, obviously) than Poison Dwarf's government.

The number isn't the problem; it's a lie invented by the centralists to download the costs and burden of the austerity horsesh**t on them, and just having 14 instead of 22 will do absolutely nothing for the people or the bigger budgetary picture (how about they start by abolishing the Senate, drastically cutting into the gravy train for the Parisian political elite and all the wasteful binge spending on useless pet projects and that kind of bullcrap?* A man can dream...). Instead of taking the burden of the "efforts" themselves, the government is just coming up with scapegoats to pretend that they're actually 'reforming' something.

Regions could and should be reformed, with different borders to make them closer to people and reflective of realities, with a key role to play in economic development, small business promotion, job creation, research, training and service delivery (as is the case in other countries, which need not be federations, naturally). To do that, they need more powers and resources - not less (the government is also planning to re-abolish the very important general competency clause, which Sarko axed before Flanby/Valls [as interior minister] re-created it); they need to be democratic and treated as regions rather economic planning divisions imposed by diktat. Everybody who knows how regional government works in France knows that cutting their number will not save costs (see this interview with Alain Rousset, the PS president of Aquitaine and a good regionalist thinker: http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2014/06/02/regions-hollande-est-face-a-un-obstacle-difficilement-franchissable_4430650_823448.html).

I know this trend isn't unique to France, and that I'm the only one out here who feels strongly about this, but... it's terribly depressing and horrible. France is going to the dogs.

* As I remember, France paid half the bill for my year in grade 1 at the lycée français in Munich (and Bavaria paid some of it, iirc); needless to say, France's return on investment in my case will be zilch since I have no intention of working/living in France atm. Anecdotal, yes, but one example of the binge spending on stuff which could be cut drastically. Besides all the 'cultural missions' to promote 'the grandeur of la France éternelle' crap.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

What's happening to the departments under the new reforms? I was under the apprehension they were perpetually under the chop.

[Swedish Rainbow Capitalist Cheese]

I know this trend isn't unique to France, and that I'm the only one out here who feels strongly about this, but... it's terribly depressing and horrible.

Actually similar tendencies in Sweden (mostly fruitless so far) to restructure and merge regional and local government and remove powers from them the national government doesn't deem them to use properly is one of my greatest political annoyances. So I can sympathies with your pain.   

[RogueBeaver]

Totally agree with Hash.

[Hash]

What's happening to the departments under the new reforms? I was under the apprehension they were perpetually under the chop.

It's complicated:
-In 2010, Poison Dwarf's reform merged the regional and general (departments) council into a single 'territorial council', a move which was very unpopular and which Flanby promised to repeal

-In 2012-3, Flanby, by way of Valls, who was then interior minister, passed a law which repealed the 2010 reform and re-created general councils, renamed as departmental councils. They redraw the maps of the cantons so that each canton would now elect two members, one man and one woman (the 'binome'), although you won't vote for two candidates separately but rather for two-people lists put up by parties/alliances and the same two-round system applies. This implied cutting the number of cantons down by half, to about 2000; this isn't bad per se because except in large urban areas, they hadn't touched cantonal boundaries since 1801, but once again it wasn't an independent redistricting. These elections will go ahead in 2015.

-In his speech detailing his agenda, Oberstgruppenführer Valls said that he'd abolish departmental councils by 2020 or 2022 (can't remember which date) and Flanby reiterated that today. So, basically, in their infinite wisdom, this government of sh**t re-created something which Poison Dwarf had abolished, only to later decide that they'd abolish it themselves. A+++ guys.

[RogueBeaver]

It's batcrap insane, plus creating financial & bureaucratic nightmares.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Yeah, that's pathetic.

[windjammer]

http://www.europe1.fr/Politique/Les-derapages-de-Le-Pen-mettent-le-FN-dans-l-embarras-2145669/

I'm sure it was anticipated by JMLP.

[Hash]

If anyone has seen the latest Le Pen controversy, here's a backgrounder:

Panzerdaddy, in his online weekly 'show' (the deluded rants of a crazy old fascist on the FN website), was commenting on some left-wing artists refusing to put on shows in FN municipalities (which, btw, are turning up to be the racist and fascist disasters they were predicted to be) and particularly by the anti-FN comments of Patrick Bruel, a Jewish (Algerian-born) singer/poker player. Panzerdaddy, in yet another case of the inner racist and anti-Semite coming out, commented that "we'll include him in the next batch" (fournée - batch of bread to be baked). Obviously, such a vile anti-Semitic comment contradicts Panzergirl's smokescreen strategy and myth/lie of 'dediabolisation', so the Panzergirl clan got pissed.

The Prince Consort - Louis Aliot, a high-ranking FN cadre and Panzergirl's bf (but whom Panzerdaddy hates) - said that Panzerdaddy's comment was dismaying and stupid politically. Florian Philippot, the teacher's pet and very clean/polished 'technocrat' (whose 'far-right' and fascist credentials are quasi-nonexistent, which makes him suspect to the fascists), said that Panzerdaddy should have known what he was saying (but also said that they had no lessons to take from a rich guy like Bruel, and denied Panzerdaddy's comment was anti-Semitic). Gilbert Collard, who is not from the FN and is a bit more FN-lite and doesn't seem to be a vile racist and fascist turd (he's mostly a colourful and unpleasant crazy dolt) said that Panzerdaddy should retire and was obviously pissed. And finally Panzergirl said that Daddy had made a political mistake and it's obvious she's pissed off at Panzerdaddy.

Now Panzerdaddy is pissed that he's not allowed to mouth off his anti-Semitic and racist garbage, which for him speaks to his wider annoyance with the 'clean' image that Panzergirl has given 'his' party. So he said that those who 'misinterpreted' his comments (=Aliot) were 'imbeciles', disingenuously claimed that he didn't know Bruel was Jewish (but admitted that he would have said what he said even if he 'knew'), suggested that Panzergirl was being influenced by her young clique, that she was losing sight of the party's history/specificity by cleaning it up and insinuated that Collard was just a random loser who should fyck off.

Again, this speaks to a wider factional clash in the FN between Panzergirl/her young clique (the 'moderates' - the polished ones, who aren't openly racist, hide racism behind a smokescreen or who disguise their racism well; with a particular attention to keep the image clean, kick the Nazi loonies out, not associating with foreign Nazis, pretend as if this is a 'new' FN; a focus shift towards economic issues/social stuff, while still hating immigrants and bitching about security; following a ni droite-ni gauche strategy) and Panzerdaddy/Panzermiss/the old guard (the 'old radicals' - the less polished ones, who are often openly racist or don't mind being blatantly racist; don't care about the image as much, may not mind the presence of a few Nazi cranks/skinheads - or even hang out with them, like Panzermiss did once; emphasizing the founding 'values' of the 'original' FN; a traditional heavy focus on immigration and security, while edging closer to the original 1980s right-wing views on economics; may define as openly right-wing or represent the dogmatic/ideological far-right faction of the FN electorate in the south).

Also Panzermiss is pregnant apparently, so we'll soon have a Panzertoddler/lilpanzer

[windjammer]

Are you sure she's pregnant Hashemite? I haven't found any article speaking about that.

[Hash]

Are you sure she's pregnant Hashemite? I haven't found any article speaking about that.

http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2014/04/30/marion-marechal-le-pen-enceinte-plainte-minute_n_5237593.html