Fabulous roundup, David, this one is out of the park.
Memories, too. As a student in France, and falling gravely ill (an infection), I was whisked into a hospital promptly, although the hospital had no guarantee of what coverage I had. Superbly cared for, I was released without a bill and they never charged me for the long distance phone calls I had to make (in those day, a huge expense).
I'll try to curb my usual prolixity. One comment on the Popper citation. 'Tolerance' vs 'Intolerance' is a bogeyman on campus. It's when you preach in favor of a real 'genocide' that you cross the line. But campus scholarly language covers that prohibition already. So, saying Hamas is a 'resistance' movement is partly right; however, Hamas is also a fundamentalist and jihadi sect. Jihad is holy war against the Infidel, not 'national liberation'. So the protest must distinguish between the two carefully. And detect terrorism where it exists. The rest (e.g. the stupid college presidents taking Stefanik's bait) is obvious.
One other thing. The European far-right is different from the American one in a particular way. America was/is the pre-eminent world empire for commerce and even culture. That's a huge stake in the current rise of Trumpism. Europe no longer is. Ironically, unified Europe had created the 2nd-largest economic powerhouse + durable peace. Trump's flippant anti-Europe stances are, yes, Putin, but also, economic competition.
The current Euro reaction is ethno-chauvinism and post-colonial resentment, exacerbated by the migrant crisis, which France has managed poorly; it was always a time bomb in France because France lost a chunk of its empire to Arab nationalist movements, rightwing French colonials were re-patriated, Algerians were imported as cheap labor and the integration was basically halted after the 1990s. LePen's party is strong in metro France for that reason, but it has outsized strength in the European Parliament. Why? Because sending a delegation of White-nationalists to Brussels or Francfort is not like sending them into the 2 chambers of the French Republic.
We’ve got OUR room already !!
🙄👀
I am just so delighted to have such an attentive and informed reader ... that in itself is truly inspiring!
I am sharing this as a note in hopes that more will discover your thoughts!
Thanks for that, David. Some day, perhaps over lunch in the Marais (a daydream) we can trade stories about French bureaucrats. OMG, good luck.
It would be a privilege !!
Lives of grievance (real or imagined) beget deaths of aggrievers. If only there was some alternative (besides stop aggrieving – nobody's THAT naive!)
Also, that Newcastle U camp looks suspiciously like a scouting overnighter – next thing you know, cops'll be crackin' heads in chow line!
That’s pretty good, Bern … great observation!!
Save room for exiles moving to Paris….
Fabulous roundup, David, this one is out of the park.
Memories, too. As a student in France, and falling gravely ill (an infection), I was whisked into a hospital promptly, although the hospital had no guarantee of what coverage I had. Superbly cared for, I was released without a bill and they never charged me for the long distance phone calls I had to make (in those day, a huge expense).
I'll try to curb my usual prolixity. One comment on the Popper citation. 'Tolerance' vs 'Intolerance' is a bogeyman on campus. It's when you preach in favor of a real 'genocide' that you cross the line. But campus scholarly language covers that prohibition already. So, saying Hamas is a 'resistance' movement is partly right; however, Hamas is also a fundamentalist and jihadi sect. Jihad is holy war against the Infidel, not 'national liberation'. So the protest must distinguish between the two carefully. And detect terrorism where it exists. The rest (e.g. the stupid college presidents taking Stefanik's bait) is obvious.
One other thing. The European far-right is different from the American one in a particular way. America was/is the pre-eminent world empire for commerce and even culture. That's a huge stake in the current rise of Trumpism. Europe no longer is. Ironically, unified Europe had created the 2nd-largest economic powerhouse + durable peace. Trump's flippant anti-Europe stances are, yes, Putin, but also, economic competition.
The current Euro reaction is ethno-chauvinism and post-colonial resentment, exacerbated by the migrant crisis, which France has managed poorly; it was always a time bomb in France because France lost a chunk of its empire to Arab nationalist movements, rightwing French colonials were re-patriated, Algerians were imported as cheap labor and the integration was basically halted after the 1990s. LePen's party is strong in metro France for that reason, but it has outsized strength in the European Parliament. Why? Because sending a delegation of White-nationalists to Brussels or Francfort is not like sending them into the 2 chambers of the French Republic.