LETTER FROM PARIS #12

When I write about the French being “conflicted” I think what I am really trying to say is that they seem to have more national “angst” than most people. There always seems to be some dramatic or critical issue in their lives – something that not only animates them, but divides them into warring factions.

I am here during one of the most profound: the threat to French culture and to French identity and to the French idea of “egalite” – the issue over “La voile entiere” – the total veil. Is the Muslim choice for a woman to be completely veiled a threat to France? On what grounds do the French believe it is a threat to the constitution? On and on and on. Now they are proposing g a series of fines which can grow very large and include one year in jail! Wow.

There is another threat to the French identity, and this should sound familiar to all Canadians: the threat to the culture as the value of the language diminishes. Sarkozy has already complained about “monolingualism” in his reference to the French who are choosing English as their language of “convenience.” The story got more exposure in a New York Times piece: “Pardon My French.”

French is now spoken mostly by people who aren’t French. More than 60 percent of them are African. French speakers are more likely to be Haitians and Canadians, Algerians and Senegalese, immigrants from Africa and Southeast Asia and the Caribbean who have settled in France, bringing their native cultures with them.
Only 65 million of the 200 million who speak French are actually French.

So what, I say. There are far more people speaking Portuguese than the small number of people who are Portuguese. Brazil speaks the language (although someone told me it was not “pure” Portuguese but a mixture which included some Spanish) Angolese and Mozambiquans and Goans speak Portuguese. Why do the French feel so singled out? For heavens’ sake – more than 200 million Americans speak English and many of them are conflicted because of the rising tide of Latinos who insist on speaking Spanish. We are not immune. Quebec continues to fight for language rights. That’s fine. But, like the French, some want an exclusive society, which separates the newcomers to Quebec from those who are “pur laine.”

Here I am in the middle of it all and trying to become fluent in French. Is there someone in Canada right now saying” “He’s a traitor to English because he wants to learn French?”

I guess the only answer is that I love the French and their feisty disapproval of most things not French. We are off today for our first visit (unforgivable) to Parc Monceau. Some people say it is the most beautiful park in Paris. I can hardly wait. I only wish Rachel were still here to enjoy it with us.