Hi Joe Bageant,
I just spent a quiet weekend here in Madrid with my eyeballs strapped to a broadband connection catching up with your musing on the state of empire and your escape from America (congratulation on the latter) and I was hit square in the puss by a nasty irony. You alluded to a true leftist tradition in Europe (OK, so those weren't your exact words, you know what I'm talking about). The irony of course is that as I was reading that, my still somewhat newish neighbors (I'm in my third year here) to the north in the Fifth Republic (France) were flocking to the polls in record numbers to elect a feisty little right-winger to run things for the next seven years.
Now the thing is we're seeing a pattern here that's not much better than in the US. We have a cocky little horse-riding, scum-fighter trying to look compassionate (living down some nasty, brutish remarks) who polished off a non-socialist member of the socialist party whose incompetent campaign and seeming moderation stank of a better situated Skull and Bones man whose lack of policy alternatives and incompetence blessed the world with another four years of Lord Cheney and his fellow inductees into the darkside hall of fame. And ole Sarko did it all while proclaiming to save France from its leftist, 1968 errant self. Never mind that Mitterrand was the only socialist who could get himself elected in the 49 year history of the Fifth Republic, even a token left holed up in a couple of universities producing unreadable texts provides a whipping boy that'll get you to the top.
Of course, as the fear fanning Le Pen noted, our new French fuehrer doesn't even have deep roots. Then again, neither did another short French commander, as I recall and -- in another irony -- the warmongering of and resistance to that previous altitudinally challenged bugger here in Spain is still commemorated on 2 May in Madrid.
I know you're right about the left here. There're some tougher labor contracts and national health care systems (although both are threatened by empire's neo-liberal lackeys). There were also fellows like Huxley and Orwell and Benjamin . . . not to mention that unmentionable bearded German dude who set Hegel on his dialectical head. The problem is that when I look around all I see is an iron-fisted little righwinger next door, a neo-liberal believer in Berlin, and the sorriest excuse for supposedly leftish dudes in lap-dog Larry's disuniting kingdom to the north.
Here in Spain we actually got us some socialists. Hell, they got "socialist" and "workers" BOTH in the party's name. How much better could it get? Of course there's an economic me-tooism that smells like a healthy helping of neoliberal snake oil mixed in. Hey, but at least they are a stop-gap buffer against the seemingly Karl Rove inspired Popular/People's Party -- you know, the one still dominated by the ghost of José María (I wanna invade a terrormongering country that has been devastated by unconscionable embargoes too) Aznar.
All in all, ya done good hustling off to Bell-ease. I love it here, but the circus acts ain't any funnier than in the US of A.
All the best,
Roy
Madrid, Spain
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Hi Roy,
Oh how well I know!
I am back here to sell my house and work on the book promotion, and so once again reading the Virginia area newspapers. This morning red state editorial page editors everywhere are having a field day with the French elections.
I am going to paste one here to give you an example. Like Harold Pinter said, "America has done an amazing sell job on the rest of the world. It is almost an act of hypnosis."
In art and labor,
Joe
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Here is that editorial I mentioned above, from the Winchester Star.
'New' France
Can Sarkozy turn tide?
The term "New France," born of the 18th century, commonly referred to the French monarchy's possessions in the still New World, colonies or colonial outposts here in North America that sprawled from Canada to the Gulf. But such imperial dreams died with the Marquis de Montcalm one day in 1759 on the Plains of Abraham outside Quebec. And the term lost all meaning and purpose.
But, in the wake of this past weekend's presidential election, perhaps the name needs reviving, as a "New" France may have been born -- not in the far-flung corners of the world, but right there at home, in traditional Gaul. It's too early to tell, of course -- as the man has not even been inaugurated -- but Nicolas Sarkozy's elevation to the presidency may be precisely what's needed for France to reverse the effects of decades-long socialist ennui. At least he seems poised to give it a try.
At least in embryo, France has not seen a leader like this since Charles de Gaulle. The son of Hungarian immigrants and therefore not born to his country's stifling and stuffy elite class, the dynamic and driven Mr. Sarkozy seeks to stem the enveloping sense of pessimism and decline that has stricken so many in France. To do so, he has taken aim at the sclerotic staples of French life -- cradle-to-grave socialism, a bloated and haughty bureaucracy that only knows how to respond to basic needs by touting standard statist shibboleths, and the sainted 35-hour work week, centerpiece of a stagnant economy. Mr. Sarkozy wants to shake things up.
The new president, for starters, envisions a new France of renewed opportunity, where overtime -- and a desire to get ahead -- are not anathema. He has assumed a hard line on crime, a holdover from his days as Interior minister. But he has demonstrated a penchant for protectionism and a willingness to bail out failing French companies, which hardly makes him a philosophical heir of more enlightened European leaders such as Margaret Thatcher.
Still, Nicolas Sarkozy is his own man -- neither Jacques Chirac, on the one hand, nor Jean-Marie le Pen. And, best of all, for us in the United States, he is a strong supporter of Israel and eager to smooth over differences while highlighting his nation's deeply rooted relationship with America. All in all, a new day for a "New" France.
