We Live In a Political World
02.18.2012 
Although this is an election year in France, our Dylan-inspired headline doesn't just refer to electoral politics.
Everywhere we turn in Paris, someone's making a statement about something, on sidewalks, walls, fence posts, Metro stations, parked and moving cars, etc.
We've collected some of the socio-political comments we've seen in the last year, which we present below without much comment, only simple translations. Given the fact that it would be rude and presumptuous for us, as immigrants to a new county, to pretend we're au courant on all the nuances, and capable of trenchant commentary, we'll let you simply see what we see.
We see that Parisians live and breathe in a climate where rights--of women, immigrants, minorities, corporations, animals, babies, etc.--are constantly being discussed, debated and argued.
France is reeling, as is the world, from the current economic crisis, and European radicalism being what it is, there's more anti-American and anti-capitalist sentiment on display. And, as we know from American politics, when the economy is bad, demagogues turn against immigrants and against internationalism. Environmental safeguards also take a turn for the worse.
Dechets: waste (toxic, nuclear). OMG: agribusiness, Monsanto. Marées noires: oil spills.
We can report a few facts about French electoral politics: Center-right incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy is running for a second five-year term as president, but he is running behind the Socialist challenger, François Hollande, by as much as fifteen points in some opinion polls. The first round of elections is April 22, with the second round on May 6, if no candidate gets a majority. No candidate ever has. The far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, whose father led the National Front party for years, ranks third in the polls with around seventeen percent, but she does not yet have the required number of signatures from local mayors around the country (yes, that's how you qualify) to get on the national ballot.
Please remove your brain before entering.
Notre corps nous appartient: Our body belongs to us. Autonomy, abortion and contraception, free and without charge.
Couples, parenthood, stays, change of civil state. Lesbians, gays, bis, transexual and intersexes want equal rights.
Abas, Nazis, Zionists, fascists, racists! Palestine will live! Will conquer!
Progress in the USA. (An electric chair)
Profits are big in order to pay for your health.
Advertising two days of anti-capitalism demonstrations.
To preserve our health and the future of the planet, leave behind nuclear power.
Get involved. Kick him out.
Do something for liberty at Place Stalingrad on May 28th.
You have to get tough, but without losing your tenderness.
No on the government's proposed austerity plan.
Solidarity with the revolt of immigrants against the borders.
"Banlieues" are the suburbs just outside Paris, many of which are heavily immigrant, and in which major protests and riots occurred in the last decade.
The financial sector is killing us.
Reader Comments (2)
Dear Kaaren & Richard,
Fascinating! Thanks for the tour of Parisian political messages/street art. I've especially wondered how stable/unstable the situation is with the immigrant populations and French attitudes toward immigrants. With the economy hurting, I assume it's even more difficult than ever for immigrants to assimilate via employment (beyond menial or low-paid service work) as a stepping stone. (I admit I'm utterly ignorant about the class/race situation in France, other than reading about the riots.)
Also, do you find that the French you encounter harbor strong anti-American sentiments? Just curious... And have you seen much in the way of Occupy Wall Street protests there?
Thanks, again, for this look at another side of Paris! Hope you are both well!
Love,
dawna
Dear Dawna,
Our sense is that it IS harder for immigrants to get jobs here now in a difficult economy. Some time ago, I heard an interview with a black American female lawyer who lived in Paris, and her experience was that when Parisians heard her American accent and realized she was educated, there was no prejudice whatsoever. But she witnessed prejudice against working class, uneducated Africans. Her conclusion was that class bias was strong in France, but not race bias.
In all the shops there are shopkeepers from Africa, Asia, the U.S. (fewer) and other European countries, and everyone seems to get along fine.
The only anit-American sentiment I've run across is from our next-door neighbor, but she seems to be in a constant snit about something, so I chalk it up to small-mindedness.
I was slow to answer you here, and I apologize. Sometimes Richard okays a comment and I don't see it, or vice versa. That's always the only reason you don't hear a response from us!
Much love,
Kaaren (and Richard)