What Deming Has To Say About...

And we're off!

2009-03-07T17:15:00.003+01:00

Almost as regular and dependable as the semi-annual sales in France is the annual university strike. It's a bit late this year (the last one started in November 2007), but here we are. I seem to have plenty of free time to work on my sadly out-of-date blog. This time it's against the government's "Masterisation" of the universities and proposals to give the university presidents more power over hiring, research allocations, etc., which is now partially decided at a national council level. Until now, many Master degrees have been awarded by specialized training schools, but it will now be up to universities to ensure this aspect of teacher training. Without teachers' committees to review research and performance, most academics feel that university presidents will have too much autonomy and fear (with good reason, because it has been announced) that teaching and research will be separated and that teachers will have heavier workloads. Funding will be privatized (the "American" model), which will likely lead to a small number of high-quality universities, with the rest falling behind.

The teachers were the first to go on strike, but individually. The students, who protested alone last year, got on board rather late this year but have been the ones to barricade classrooms and prevent classes from taking place. The next general assembly and vote will take place Tuesday; whether classes will resume this semester is anyone's guess.

Fortunately for me, the campus is still accessible and my thesis director can get to his office and I can get in to see him. With my doctoral defense coming up in a month, the last thing I need is to be locked out of the campus.

Revolving credit

2008-11-23T11:41:00.002+01:00

A worrisome new trend in France during this economic crisis: the arrival and increase in popularity of store-based credit cards. In the past, it was rare for French people to have more than the one credit card issued by their bank. Now, as in the U.S., you can buy groceries or clothes on a store-specific card with revolving credit-- and yes, those interest rates do go up to 20%. You might think that recent financial news would discourage people from buying on credit, especially in a society that does not have a particularly high rate of personal and household debt, but apparently buying Christmas goodies on credit is an attractive option to many. According to French news outlets, 80% of French families with a crippling amount of debt are overwhelmed by their revolving credit bills.

("OECD data shows the debt of French households was only 89.1 percent of income in 2006. In Britain and the United States that ratio stands at 168.5 percent and 139.7 percent respectively.")

alcohol and advertising

2008-10-22T20:34:00.002+02:00

Big news items flying around in France: a new law will ban sales of alcohol to minors (anyone under 18) and as of January 5th, there will be no more ads on the public TV stations in the evening.

As of now, those aged 16 to 18 can buy beer and cider legally, but the reality is that kids under 16 have been buying those, and even hard liquor, without much difficulty. There seems to be a national squeamishness about asking for ID. No word on whether or not "carding" will be encouraged under the new law.

And in a few months, a large percentage of the French television landscape (channels 2, 3, 4, 5...) will be ad-free after 8 p.m. In 2011, these same channels will be 100% uncluttered by advertising. The idea is to recoup the lost revenue by taxing telecommunications companies and private TV stations. Skepticism is rampant. Stay tuned.

Sock hop: the update

2008-10-08T20:57:00.004+02:00

As you may remember, I was amused (or was it bemused?) by the municipal elections in Perpignan, France some months ago; the conservative-party mayor was elected by less than 600 votes despite the fact that one of his overly-ardent supporters was caught hiding false ballots in his pockets and socks. While it is highly improbable that this man was able to secrete more than 600 ballots on his person, and thus throw the election, the results are sufficiently in doubt to warrant a do-over. So the good residents of Perpignan are headed back to the polls and democracy can rest easy.

In more serious news, the French financial wunderkind are all over the TV these days, trying to reassure the Gauls that their savings and deposits are in no danger. France has no investment banks per se; everything around here is a commercial bank with only a certain percentage tied up in things like toxic financial waste. We are told that there is "no chance" a French bank will go belly-up and that, by the way, if it does, we are all guaranteed up to 70,000€ in reimbursement. Since my bank balance is usually about 1/70 of that, I'm not in a hurry to withdraw my wealth from the Crédit Lyonnais. We're also told that all of that toxic debt in French banks "only" amounts to 20 billion (euros, I think), so we're all supposed to be able to "sleep on our two ears", as the French say. Speaking for myself, my ears are grateful, but dubitative.

Ascendency of the Know Nothings

2008-09-22T08:21:00.002+02:00

My father grumbled on the phone yesterday that the Know Nothing party certainly seems to have a hold on the U.S. electorate. How true. Although perhaps they should be renamed the Don't Know, Don't Care, Keep Lying to Me party.

Created in the mid-19th century as the American Republican Party, Native American Party (nothing to do with American Indians), or the American party, the party gained its nickname because members were supposed to "know nothing" about its dealings. So much for 19th-century transparency. The group opposed immigration, especially Irish Catholics (see "Gangs of New York" for a graphic rendition). "America for white, Protestant European-Americans" would seem to have been their slogan. The party didn't last long, and most of its members went on to join the Republican party.

Fast forward to our sound bite era, and not much has changed. With few exceptions, white Protestants still run America. Polls show that Obama could lose 6 percentage points in November because of the color of his skin. A woman whose foreign-policy experience has been expressed as "I can see Russia from here" can claim that she always opposed a certain "bridge to nowhere" when incontrovertible evidence proves otherwise, and the fact that the media brings the discrepancy to the attention of the public is seen as harassment. The truth is just too much of a nuisance for some people, many of whom are so caught up in the anti-intellectual backlash sweeping the country that inexperience is seen as a qualifying attribute in political candidates. Wars are fought on less evidence than it takes to condemn someone to life in prison. More people care about who wins "American Idol" than the presidential race. And maybe they're right, since the outcome of the November elections won't lessen the hold of the Know Nothing party on the country.

"It's just common sense"

2008-08-16T22:04:00.003+02:00

A Texas school district's reaction to the increase in gun violence in schools: let the teachers bring guns to school. "It's just common sense," says the school superintendent.

Oh really?

I suppose it's much easier to arm teachers than to decrease the gun traffic and limit (or eliminate) easy access to weapons. In the U.S., the homicide rate is 5.7 per population of 100,000; in France, where guns aren't sold on every street corner and the news isn't filled with stories of school shootings, the rate is 1.64. (This according to a 2006 United Nations survey of crime trends.)

Some pundits opine that if there were fewer guns, then knife attacks would increase dramatically. I certainly can't prove that theory wrong, but come on: when was the last time someone sprayed a classroom or a McDonald's with an automatic...knife thrower? (Machine knife? I can't even find an expression to fit.)

Appalling.

News round-up

2008-07-29T04:17:00.004+02:00

It's been awhile since I posted a message, although I have nearly managed to post one several times about various things, everything from doping in the Tour de France to gun control (or the notable lack thereof) in the United States. Today, though, I'm moved to write after reading this little gem about worms doing calculus to find food:

http://www.livescience.com/animals/080723-what-to-eat.html

I mean, I think I'm hot stuff if I can mentally calculate the total cost of my groceries while I'm standing in line to pay. The only across-the-board testing done in the U.S. (that is to say, in all states), the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress), showed that 31% of American 13-year-olds performed at a proficient level in math in 2007. The levels attributed are apparently below basic, basic, proficient, and advanced.

And the lowly worm, that which gets eaten by early-rising avian types, can do calculus. Plus, most are hermaphrodites, and most of the rest reproduce asexually--which means they really do have things figured out down there. Who are we to consider ourselves a superior species?

In other news, the various French ministers went on holiday yesterday, well-deserved or not, but not without first receiving a complimentary copy of Carla Bruni's latest album, Comme si de rien n'était (As if Nothing Happened), on which she sings dreamily and breathily of, amongst other things, her love for her husband. The fact that her husband is the diminutive French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, turns the unusual gift into a shameless publicity stunt, especially since the story was relayed by countless French news outlets.

Finally, the mayor of Paris is considering the development of a fleet of 4,000 electric cars for the purposes of short-term car-sharing. Which means that one will be able to enjoy those Parisian embouteillages without the nuisance of knowing that one is polluting the environment at the same time.

Cherry-picking activists

2008-04-24T17:35:00.005+02:00

Oppression of an indigenous population through military means and occupation, suppression of freedom of speech and of the press, the imposition of the oppressor's language, police brutality, plundering of natural resources, denial of the people's right to identify with their homeland, massive displacements, summary executions, large-scale imprisonment, torture...

South Africa? The Americas? Australia? Somewhere in the Middle East? In this case, I'm talking about Tibet. Yet many activists who champion invaded populations elsewhere in the world are turning a blind eye to the situation in Tibet or, worse, questioning their right to independence and thus at least tacitly supporting the Chinese government (which, most of us can agree, does not have an excellent human rights record when it comes to its minority and dissident populations).

Why this seeming hypocrisy? Could it be that some left-wing activists are leery of criticizing a government who once operated on Marxist ideals? Do they feel squeamish about the strong religious overtones to the struggle? Is it the 20-year funding (early 50s to early 70s) of Tibetan resistance fighters by the CIA before the U.S. government decided to send Kissinger to China? (I'll grant you, that one should set off alarm bells. I mean, we know that the boys and girls of the CIA don't have a record of playing fair in the sandboxes of the world.) It would appear to come down to this: guerrilla warfare and resistance funded by the left are good--funded by the right, automatically bad.

But doesn't concern for human rights transcend party lines? It should, anyway. Monks and nuns being stripped and tortured should make people condemn the oppressors without asking where on the political spectrum they fall or who is funding the resistance. Children being forced to abandon their own language and learn the language of the occupying government -- doesn't that make anyone think twice? Why are the same people who condemned apartheid and who devote their time and energy to fighting for human rights in Gaza / Afghanistan / Iraq / Nicaragua / fill in the blank--why are these same people so reluctant to recognize the atrocities that have taken place and are still taking place in Tibet?

As for the the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet and a figure of some controversy: I read his autobiography, Freedom in Exile, when it came out almost twenty years ago. In it, he acknowledges CIA support for Tibetan exiles. For years, he has been accused of many things, chief among them being too conciliatory with the Chinese (pushing for autonomy instead of independence and, more recently, not calling for a boycott of this summer's Olympic Games). I have heard people say that he was a religious monarch before going into exile in 1959 and that China actually did Tibet a favor by forcing him out. Other people, of course, revere him as an articulate spokesperson for Tibet-in-exile, and the Nobel Committee awarded them their highest honor, the Peace Prize. I don't know him personally, and so can't vouch for his integrity, but it seems to me that he has been a consistent voice for nonviolence, most recently in his statement that he will step down as Tibet's spiritual leader if Tibetan resistance becomes violent and spirals out of control.

So I'm disappointed by the reaction of some people around me and certain activists who either ignore Tibet or criticize their struggle for one reason or another. I don't think the Olympic Committee should have ever given the games to China in the hope that they would suddenly release jailed dissidents and improve their human rights record. The fact that American and European countries are doing huge business in China turns my stomach. The thinking that increased trade with an oppressive regime would make them see the error of their ways and treat their minority populations with respect, seems naive at best and is probably ingenuous. We should all continue to fight for human rights wherever they are trampled, which is to say, just about everywhere in the world, especially in our own backyards. We certainly can't count on the support of the UN, whose own Human Rights Council cut off discussion of Tibet at their meeting last month after pressure from Chinese officials.

From Amnesty International's website, http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/tibet-oral-statement-un-human-rights-council:

"Amnesty International has previously documented a pattern of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees in Tibet by China’s security forces, especially those accused by the Chinese authorities of “separatist” activities. Moreover, China has long banned independent human rights monitors from Tibet, and the region is now virtually sealed. For these reasons AI fears for the safety of those recently detained."

I'll end by pointing out, though it should be obvious, that I have nothing against the Chinese people. I respect my Chinese friends and their ancient culture. I especially respect Chinese citizens who dare to protest the policies of their government, knowing full well that they risk prison or worse.

Le Café

2008-04-06T09:27:00.001+02:00

Whether or not you are a coffee addict, this is a great video (in French).

Anti-war protest in Montpellier

2008-03-20T08:48:00.012+01:00

To mark the 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by U.S. and coalition forces, Americans for Peace and Justice demonstrated on the Place de la Comédie in Montpellier last Saturday. Not having enough people for a worthwhile march through the streets, we set up a table to distribute information and put up some eye-catching banners. Despite the chilly, breezy, and occasionally drizzly weather, we were able to talk to a lot of people and attracted a fair amount of attention. The key to the whole thing is Jack's Spin Machine, a contraption that has to be seen to be believed. Bells clank and balloons wave as a hand crank turns the machine, effectively "spinning" the information fed to us by the government. There's a link to a short YouTube video below, with Lawrence playing the role of the anti-war "carny" (I'm the one in the red coat off to the left). Even the Midi Libre gave us a mention the next day. Despite the fact that we are "preaching to the choir" (the French were massively against the invasion, their government was not part of the Coalition, etc.), most of us find it important to make ourselves heard and show people that there are Americans willing to speak out against our government's actions and not just say, well, it's been 5 years, the next president will get us out of there. And that view seems justified when French people come over to thank us for our efforts and views and Americans in the area who didn't know about us come over to express interest in joining the group.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeClGj7JLNQ

Our lives begin to end the day we remain silent about things that matter.- Martin Luther King Jr.

Municipal elections in France: a "pink wave" and sock-related shenanigans

2008-03-17T06:14:00.004+01:00

The French went to the polls again yesterday, this time for the second round of municipal elections. There are close to 37,000 communes in France and its overseas territories, which means there are a lot of happy new or returning mayors and a lot more disappointed would-bes. (Montpellier, for the record, remains the pink bastion that it has been since 1977; Socialist mayor Hélène Mandroux, having struck a deal with the MoDem centrist party, easily won re-election. The Green Party earned a noteworthy 18-19% of the vote.) The mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, was also re-elected and is well positioned to run for the top spot in the national Socialist Party.

All over France, the pink wave swept over formerly blue towns as the left replaced the right; cities such as Toulouse, Strasbourg, Caen, Quimper and Reims were all won by Socialists, some for the first time in a generation. Mende, the capital of the Lozère ( a département north of Montpellier), will have a Socialist mayor for the first time since the end of WWII. While the talking heads hastened to point out that it is just a wave and not a tsunami (Sarkozy's party, the UMP, managed to hang on to Marseille, for example), the results were typical of a mild midterm election backlash against the governing party. Here and there in the pink wave, red spots appeared as the Communist Party and other parties of the "diverse" or "radical" left made inroads. Le Pen's party, the right-wing Front National, did not do particularly well, and his daughter wound up in third place in her race. There are so many political parties, large and small, in France that it can be difficult to make sense of the labels. Many mayors are not affiliated with a national party and so are elected based on their platform and local popularity.

The best story came out of Perpignan, the capital of French Catalonian culture situated near the Spanish border: the man in charge of one of the 66 voting precincts was caught with a couple of ballots in his socks before he could slip them into the ballot box. A supporter of Sarkozy and the ruling UMP party, he was apparently trying to boost the results of the incumbent mayor, Jean-Paul Alduy, but instead spent the night being questioned by the police and prosecutors. The Socialist and MoDem parties are, predictably enough, calling for the results to be nullified; as it happens, Precinct #4 has 1200 voters and the mayor appears to have won re-election by only 500 votes, so stay tuned.

The fact that only an estimated 65% of France's citizens voted yesterday has politicians and pundits in an uproar and would be the lowest turnout since 1959. 65% would be, of course, a record high turnout for most elections in the U.S...

Note2be.com is not to be

2008-03-04T09:25:00.003+01:00

A Paris tribunal has ordered the French website note2be.com to shut down. This French equivalent of ratemyteachers.com hasn't caught on to the same extent as its foreign equivalents, but the courts are sufficiently worried about its impact on the national education system to issue a "cease and desist" order effective Wednesday the 5th at 4:32 p.m. The creator of the site is vowing to appeal in the interest of "fair and open" evaluations of teachers (which, for the most part, are positive). The large majority of teachers are breathing a collective sigh of relief that giving a student a failing grade will not land them on an internet Wall of Shame. (In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that I went to the site and did not find my name on there!!)

Smoking ban: first status reports

2008-02-25T11:19:00.002+01:00

For almost two months now, customers in French restaurants and cafés have been able to enjoy their cassoulet, crème brûlée, and what-have-you without blinking through a fog of smoke. Who would have thought that the citizens of a nation often characterized by a certain "up yours" attitude toward all things imposed by law, would docilely submit to going outside to puff on a Gauloise? But this is what has come to pass. And, naturally, studies have already been conducted to determine the impact on public health and the financial repercussions felt by café and restaurant owners.

According to a study headed up by Dr. Bertrand Dautzenberg, lung specialist at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, the rate of heart attacks and strokes has fallen by about 15% in 2008, especially in patients under 65. This figure correponds to data in Italy and the UK, where smoking in restaurants and other public places was previously outlawed.

At the same time, café and restaurant owners report an overall drop of about 5% in business. Tobacco shops with a coffee/sandwich counter are complaining of an 18-20% decrease in customers. Their union representatives are currently negotiating with the government to try to find a compromise that would allow a separate room for smokers without having to install one of the costly "goldfish bowl" indoor smoking booths.

Stay tuned.

No comment

2008-02-04T08:47:00.000+01:00

No, I'm not here to comment on the recent marriage of President "Bling-Bling" Sarkozy to Carla "I look just like Cecilia, but ten years younger" Bruni. France doesn't seem to care as much as the international press would suggest. Nor do I have anything to say about the sluggish (at best) economy, the Super Tuesday primaries, or the latest in the Britney Spears hospitalization saga. I do read the news, but I'm also wading through hundreds of essay exams from two weeks ago and preparing for the new semester starting this week. When the exams are graded and out of the way, my thesis will still be there waiting for me. So for now, no comment!

Nader on Billary

2008-01-28T08:45:00.000+01:00

Ralph Nader's excellent summary of why we don't need Eight More Years of Billary:

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/26/6641/

Countdown to "Lost" Season 4!

2008-01-20T15:40:00.000+01:00

Quick weekend round-up

2008-01-12T17:13:00.000+01:00

Just a few follow-up comments on recent posts. I see that I wasn't the only one steamed by the media's sexism in regard to Hillary Clinton; unless someone turns up evidence of tampering in the NH voting machines, it would appear that she got a huge boost from women voters at the last minute. I wonder how many of them, like me, are not really fans of Candidate Clinton but were really pissed off by seeing her portrayed as weak and incapable just because she allowed her eyes to well up. Even the French TV news shows found this event newsworthy enough to rebroadcast (her "weepy" comments dubbed into French, naturellement).

All public indoor areas continue to be smoke-free in France, with very few exceptions. The anticipated wave of law-breaking by the "scofflaw" French has not materialized. On the contrary; every bar now has a small group of smokers huddled outside, hurrying through a cigarette in the cold. Restaurants and bars who have the sidewalk capacity for a sheltered terrace are doing particularly well. (The law stipulates that such terraces are legal as long as one side is completely open.)

And José Bové ended his hunger strike earlier today after the decision by the French government to invoke the "safeguard clause", thereby banning the cultivation of genetically modified corn (MON810, Monsanto) unless and until scientific studies by the European Union show that GMOs are harmless. He celebrated by eating a bowl of soup.

Photo copyright © 2008 AFP

Hillary to voters: Unbreak my heart?

2008-01-08T07:35:00.000+01:00

Although I decided long ago not to comment on the American presidential primaries/elections until the November election date is more than a speck on the horizon, I can't help myself. And I promise to keep this short and not speculate wildly about the prospects of this or that candidate; we have the American media for that. The pundits are always wrong, sometimes notoriously so, especially so far in advance. Those who wouldn't have bet a dime on Obama's chances two weeks ago are now crowning him president...but I digress.

Let me state outright that I am not a fan of Hillary Clinton. I liked her well enough back in 1992, when she was a First Lady with chutzpah, someone many people thought would make a better and more decisive president than her husband. But her support for the war in Iraq, and her inability to defend with any coherence her continued votes to maintain and fund the occupation, as well as a general drift to the right, have long since eroded any warm fuzzy capital she may have had in my heart. I realize that as a woman candidate, she has to take a firm stand so as not to appear "weak and womanly." We all know that women candidates are subjected to ridiculous rigors that their male counterparts are not. We saw this in France with Ségolène Royal. The sniper fire started from within her own party, when a double-Y-chromosome rival for the party nomination wondered aloud who would stay home and mind the children if she were president. Her clothes, hair, and teeth were mercilessly scrutinized and commented upon. And now Hillary is receiving the "woman treatment" from the press after a meeting with supporters Monday during which her eyes welled up with emotion. Within hours all (and I mean ALL) of the mainstream press outlets were using words like "emotional," "teary," "cry," "cracking," "strained" and "voice breaking". Not-so-subliminal message: Hillary's campaign lost its sure footing in Iowa and, unable to bear the strain, she has broken down and cried like a typical woman.

Not a fan of the candidate herself, but a strong supporter of women candidates in general and steaming over the media's inability to resist seizing the opportunity to portray a woman candidate as hysterical (that word has particularly been appropriated by the conservative press in relation to HC).

No strikes on the horizon at Paul-Valéry

2008-01-07T21:38:00.000+01:00

It seems that we may finish the first semester, albeit belatedly; the pro-blockade blog indicates that this is the time for general assemblies and re-evaluation, but not necessarily strikes. The two-week holiday would appear to have filled stomachs and calmed frayed nerves on all sides. The second semester is set to begin on Monday the 4th of February, not today as originally programmed, but students should be able to take their exams in several weeks and receive credit for the semester. That's good news for just about everyone, including those of us who are only paid for the classes we actually teach. The President of the university is still enduring heavy criticism for his eagerness to call in the Forces of Order, but for the moment, classes are proceeding as normal.

José Bové's New Year's resolution

2008-01-04T11:30:00.000+01:00

Four days into January, and many of us have either forgotten our New Year's resolutions, are trying desperately to live up to them, or are in the process of developing creative justifications for having fallen off whichever wagon we may have boarded less than a week ago. Not so José Bové. The thorn in the side of GMO producers (Monsanto comes to mind) has declared an "open-ended" hunger strike to protest genetic modifications to the food supply. As you may be aware, the anti-GMO (OGM in French) movement is more vocal and visible in France and Europe than in most other parts of the world. And José Bové is the movement's rock star of a leader, an erstwhile presidential candidate best known for dismantling a McDonald's restaurant under construction in Millau, France in August 1999.

That's right, dismantling. As in, taking a half-constructed building apart board by board. The McDonald's has long since been rebuilt and is furiously serving up its well-known spécialités, and Bové has moved on to "dismantling" fields of GMO corn. Although Millau is situated in the Aveyron département, itself in the Midi-Pyrénées and not in Languedoc-Roussillon like Montpellier, cases go to the Montpellier Court of Appeals. So whenever you see Mr. Bové leaving a courtroom and headed for a prison stint, it's likely in Montpellier (cf. photo of JB in front of the Arc de Triomphe de Montpellier).

Bové and about fifteen supporters started their hunger strike yesterday. Will the hunger strike work? It's certainly possible: The hunger strikers, who include the mayor of a town in the Charente département, are demanding that the Sarkozy government follow through on its promise to enact a "safeguard clause" banning the use of GMO products for one year to allow for more studies to be conducted. Until now, the only action taken by the government has been to announce a suspension of the use of genetically-altered maize seeds until early February, at which time most observers expect a new French law governing the use of GMO products. Bové and Co. would prefer that a letter be sent to Brussels enacting the "safeguard clause" and thus ensuring at least a one-year total ban on GMO use.

Photo credits: AFP France, Time magazine, Le Monde blog

Anti-smoking videos

2007-12-30T10:13:00.000+01:00

Below you will find two anti-smoking spots from French TV, followed by my comments on the road to a smoking-free public environment in France three days from now.

Maison2

2007-12-30T10:09:00.001+01:00

Maison2
Video sent by benramsvt76

This one is from the Health Ministry. It enumerates the number of cigarettes that "Marie" has smoked since living in this house, room by room, and concludes that she has smoked over 83,000. We then meet "Marie" at the end of the ad. This is part of the secondhand-smoking campaign.

Le tabagisme passif

2007-12-30T10:00:00.001+01:00

Le tabagisme passif
Video sent by Genzouille

The ad campaign intensified in late 2006 with this one (basically, for those who don't understand French, it says that although we didn't know back in the 1970s that smoking increases the rate of heart and lung disease for non-smokers around us, we do now).

Counting down to smoke-free dining

2007-12-30T09:26:00.000+01:00

In a few days, Illinois and France will have something in common beyond a history of French explorers and place names of French origin: a total ban on smoking in public places. That's right: as early as last year, arriving Americans were no longer shocked by a cloud of smoke in the airport, since a ban on smoking in public places went into effect in February. But as of next week, one will be able to enjoy such French delicacies as foie gras and a truffle omelet without a pall of smoke hanging overhead--all restaurants, cafés, discothèques, and bars will be cigarette-free. No, not even a "smoking section" that encroaches on the rest of the place. Only the grumbling of smokers deprived of their at-the-table cancer sticks may intrude on the meal. No exceptions for bars that don't serve food, as their owners had hoped, nor for tobacco shops that sell the stuff but where you can no longer light one up with a cup of the coffee they generally sell in the same establishment.

With this measure, France goes leap-frogging ahead of many American states (such as my own, North Carolina), where you are still asked "smoking or non-smoking?" in restaurants. The French have a well-deserved reputation for smoky cafés, but in fact, only about a quarter of the population here smokes. Even that 25% was largely in favor of the ban. So there is reason to hope that France will go quietly down the path already trod by Italy (!), Ireland, Britain, Spain, Portugal and Belgium into an era where the only refuge for smokers is outdoor cafés, homes, certain hotel rooms, and automobiles.

To incite smokers to quit, the French health system has even agreed to pay a hefty portion (at least one-third, I believe) of methods such as the nicotine patch. Advertising campaigns have been emphasizing the dangers of secondhand or passive smoke, which garners a lot of support for the new reforms.

We shall see how it all unfolds.

Happy day off work...

2007-12-25T08:00:00.001+01:00

Here's wishing you all sunshine and cuddles and visits from whomever you consider to be Santa Claus.

Drive safely during the holiday season!

2007-12-22T14:36:00.001+01:00

More shake-ups ahead at Paul-Valéry?

2007-12-19T10:58:00.000+01:00

Classes have returned to nearly-normal this week despite the threat of a blockade from the 300+ who voted at the most recent General Assembly, mostly because the president called on a small force of security guards to cover the entrance and a handful of buildings. The vice president of the university, Marie-Paule Masson, resigned yesterday in protest over the president's handling of the crisis, notably his unilateral decision to halt the dialogue with students and staff and instead call in the CRS. Students have posted signs everywhere calling on the president to resign. There is a growing sense that the blockade may resume after the two-week holiday. Four students at the science university across the street, Montpellier 2, have gone on a hunger strike to protest the laws coming out of Paris and the local handling of the situation. They say they are ready to die to protect "access for all" to the university and prevent privatization (for the record, I am not willing to die for my university). This two-week break will be a welcome relief for all before the crises which are surely yet to come.

Photo credit: http://lru-montp3.blogspot.com/

The never-ending blockade headache

2007-12-17T19:42:00.001+01:00

We voted last Thursday. It was pretty democratic as far as a vote goes. Every person was counted once and couldn't come back through the voting area. Yet today, as soon as the gates to the university opened, the pro-blockade group held a general assembly and voted to resume the blockade tomorrow morning. According to their website, only their votes are democratic and legitimate, because they take place after a discussion. Yet there are far fewer people at the general assemblies, the vote is by a show of hands, and guess who counts the hands? Those in favor of continuing the blockade. I hardly see how that is more fair or democratic. So tomorrow we shall see what happens.

In the meantime, I was able to meet with my group of video-game creators, assess their final presentations, and give them their marks. We were all pretty relieved to get through the day (almost five hours of class, including a lunch break, to be able to finish), but it was a nice semester. Here they are (minus a few who had to leave to work on other projects). Don't they look happy to be finishing the term? I met with an afternoon class I hadn't seen in five weeks and was able to tell them to expect an exam in January, but we may not be able to finish the week if the blockaders have their way. It makes every day a little more adventuresome, not knowing if you will be able to go to work or not.

Snowing in Montpellier

2007-12-15T12:18:00.000+01:00

It hasn't snowed in Montpellier for years; unless I was out of town and missed something, I'd say it's been at least five. I'm not talking about the surrounding countryside or villages, or nearby towns, but Montpellier itself. We seem to be in a microclimate where it doesn't snow even when the entire Mediterranean coast is being blanketed. I've been in my current apartment for four years, and this is the first snowy photo I've been able to take from my desk looking out into the courtyard. And the first snow my cats have seen; they keep signalling that they'd like to go out on the balcony to see what's going on, but they turn tail and run the minute I open the window and a gust of wind blows a few flakes in. The reason that we don't get much snow in this area, despite the fact that we're at the same latitude as Toronto (check it out if you don't believe me) is that western Europe is bathed by the Gulf Stream (for the moment. Global climate changes may change that). We're in gardening zone 9, if you care about such things, as is the west coast of the British Isles--palm trees in Cornwall and even further up (not what you'd expect at 50° north). I smelled this coming when I got up this morning, so I went out for groceries and turned on the heat so I can settle in for a nice quiet weekend with my thesis.

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's back to work we go! Even on Sundays.

2007-12-14T13:13:00.001+01:00

Only 20% of the student body ended up voting (3,003 students), but the result was overwhelmingly for reopening: 79%. At the same time, the local courts ruled in favor of two students who last week filed to have the university reopened. So theoretically at least, the university will reopen next Monday as usual.

Another very interesting judicial decision today, one that will change the French economic and cultural landscape: the ban on Sunday shopping has been partially overturned. As anyone who has tried to go to the supermarket or spend their hard-earned euros at the mall on any given Sunday in France knows, things don't work that way here. It all goes back to worker protection and allowing families to be together on Sunday. The thinking goes that Sunday retail business forces workers to work on a day that should be a rest day (this country does have strong Catholic origins, after all). "Mom and Pop" mini-marts in each neighborhood are exempt, as are bakeries, butcher shops, and everyone else who provides the fixings for a good Sunday meal (except the aforementioned supermarkets). But all of those businesses close for lunch and don't reopen in the afternoon. About the only thing to do on a Sunday afternoon around here is head to the cinema or the art museum (or, in Montpellier, the brand-new, world-class aquarium!). Some large shopping centers have been breaking the law by opening on Sundays, willing to pay the fines because they do up to 30% of their business on that day alone. Today it was announced that furniture and home-decorating stores will be allowed to open on Sunday (but not supermarkets, clothing stores, DIY suppliers, etc.--yet). Work is on a strictly volunteer basis for double pay. Those who want to work on Sundays to earn extra are thrilled, as are Sunday shoppers and the retailers themselves, who won't have to pay those fines. Some workers unions are protesting the slippery slope of "Americanization" (that ever-present threat) while others seem to be waiting to see what this will do to consumer confidence.

Voting at Paul-Valéry

2007-12-13T12:14:00.001+01:00

The vote opened at 10:00 on this chilly morning in front of the university. The French being naturally inclined to vote, the turnout was already quite high. A line of CRS officers took up positions facing the pro-blockade group, since the latter were trying to prevent people from going in to vote. Fortunately, when I arrived at 10:30, I ran into one of my students, Sylvain, who led me through the barricades. There were quite a lot of curious onlookers, many of them administrative or teaching personnel (only students could vote). After many years, my student card finally came in handy for something other than an occasional discount in a cinema or museum! I got in line behind two more of my students, Pauline and Magali. We inched forward as the pro-blockaders tried to dissuade us from voting. Their claims that this vote was anti-democratic because of the police presence did not sway us and we continued our progress toward the voting booths. Then it all went rather quickly as we took the two slips of paper (one for and one against the blockade), entered the voting booth to choose a slip to put in the envelope, and took the envelope to the urns where our student cards were punched so we couldn't vote again. All very straightforward. Pauline stayed behind to be interviewed by the TV cameras and I made my way back through the barricades, relieved that the palpable tension had not yet given way to widespread violence. On the noon news, I saw that there were some scuffles between the CRS and the blockaders; students tried to shove past the officers and were basically punched in the head. Stay tuned for the results of the vote.

Vote by secret ballot Thursday

2007-12-11T21:11:00.001+01:00

Potentially good news on the university front: The president has decided to hold a vote by secret ballot on Thursday. One must show up between 10 and 2 with a Paul-Valéry student ID to vote "yes" or "no" to the blockade. I am delighted to say that I have just received my student card (for my last year of doctoral studies) in the mail and will be able to participate in this (violins please) historic moment. So the final decision has not been made as to whether or not to cancel the semester and even, in a worst-case scenario, the entire school year.

Until now, those in favor of maintaining the blockade had always insisted on a public, hands-in-the-air vote after an interminable general assembly. The perception afterwards seemed to be that those in favor of continuing just held out longer and that they jeered those in favor of going back to class. The argument for the public vote was that outsiders could infiltrate and vote to resume classes. Having to show the student ID should put paid to that rumor.

News video of CRS intervention

2007-12-11T09:02:00.000+01:00

To the right, under "useful/interesting links," click on France 3 to see the December 10th edition of the evening news (on the France 3 page, make sure the right date is playing). The top story (after the advertisement for cheese) shows the CRS officers in stormtrooper gear tossing students off the campus. You get a sense of the frustration on the part of we the professors who want to teach the courses we were hired to teach. There's a student calling for the resignation of the president of the university, which is a sentiment shared by many (but certainly not all). He's been criticized for trying to force a reopening of the university even when it was clear that discussions were in order, then when he called upon the CRS to evacuate demonstrators by force, he turned opinion against himself even further. On the other hand, there are many who applaud him for doing everything necessary to put the university back on track by any means. We're still hoping for an outcome other than a cancelled semester, a punitive blow that would mean no credit for students.

At the same time, most people in Montpellier seem oblivious to the campus drama. The Christmas market is in full swing on the Place de la Comédie, and I'd be willing to bet that most people sipping their mulled wine or hot chocolate whilst searching for just the right gift are largely unconcerned by what is happening a couple of kms to the north at Paul-Valéry.

Photo credits: 1) ville de Montpellier; 2) Cityvox

Université Paul-Valéry closed until further notice

2007-12-10T13:46:00.000+01:00

As of noon today, our university is closed indefinitely. I was there at 11:00 for a class with my group of video gamers (who belong to the continuing ed section and are therefore spared many aspects of the strikes) and was witness to the confrontation between the riot police and students. The CRS (Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité) arrested several demonstrators and were roundly booed and harassed by many present. Access to administrative buildings and classrooms had been blocked since earlier in the morning with piles of tables and chairs and chains on doors that weren't already locked. So, unlike the last couple of weeks where one could do business in university offices and "only" students were prevented from going to class, today even the president couldn't get into his office. I took these pictures with my mobile phone, which is why they are of such poor quality, but it gives you an idea of the assembled students and their face-off with the CRS (in blue helmets and visors in the second photo). My students and I met safely in the café across the street, which is becoming familiar to us since this was our third class there. When I got home, I saw on the university website that the president has made the decision to close until further notice, which is just one step away from announcing the cancellation of the semester. E-mails continue to flood in from my students asking when and how we will have exams, as if I know anything more than they do. Foreign students, such as American exchange students and European students with the Erasmus program, are supposed to be exempt from the consequences of a strike (meaning they have class throughout), but with the campus closed, the administration will have to find other venues for their classes and exams. (They'll have great stories to tell about their French Experience!) Whatever your position on the strikers' opinions, no one can accuse these students of being apathetic!

4 weeks and counting...

2007-12-07T08:40:00.001+01:00

If I have calculated correctly, we are at the end of the fourth week of the strike that started on the 12th of November. The strike ended briefly but the university was closed for administrative purposes; when it reopened, the strike promptly went back into effect. There's a general assembly once a week or so to vote on whether or not to continue; here's a photo of yesterday's, where the vote was 859 for, 786 against, and 28 abstentions. So I was able to sleep in once again today. The strikers are gaining sympathy because of the administration's apparent refusal to take them seriously. There are stories going around (I tend to believe that some or many are true) of administration officials pressuring students by, for example, refusing to sign their dissertation approval if they support the strike. The president is threatening to cancel the whole semester--no exams, credits, etc. It's called a "semestre blanc" in French-- a white or blank semester. This happens so rarely in France that no one believes in will happen now; in 2006, students were on strike for 6 weeks and were able to complete the semester. There are 84 state universities in France and 40 of them are partially or entirely blocked, so it is indeed hard to believe that only ours will declare a blank semester. Meanwhile, thousands of high school students took to the streets again in Montpellier and all over France yesterday, snarling traffic whilst trying to make themselves heard. These fledgling strikers are worried about an eventual privatization of the national education system. As you can see from these photos, they're not interested in violence and even the police officers look pretty relaxed behind their visors. If you've never seen the French demonstrating in the streets, I highly recommend it as a cultural experience. (You could book your tickets for January and make it over for the semi-annual mega-sales!)

Photo credits : Photo 1 courtesy of the strikers' blog : http://lru-montp3.blogspot.com/
Photos 2, 3, 4 : ©Clément Debeir / Milan Presse

Univ Montpellier 3: General Assembly of 29 Nov.

2007-12-03T13:54:00.001+01:00

Ag du 29 novembre Univ Montpellier 3
Video sent by khazack

There's no sound, but this clip from the evening news will give you an idea of what our university looks like these days. We've progressed to the point where administrative and teaching personnel can get onto the campus, but the students are still locked out by other students and thus prevented from going to class. This last is the result of a 7-hour General Assembly (and good old-fashioned French debate!) last Thursday in which the majority present voted to continue the blockade for at least another week. The same thing is happening in various high schools as lycéens block access to their schools and take to the streets in protest of the proposed legislative reforms. Despotism by a minority or true democracy in action? You decide!

More on strikes

2007-12-01T07:37:00.000+01:00

It's the national preoccupation here at the moment; you can't turn on the radio or leave the house without being confronted with some aspect of someone on strike. The other day the law courts were out in the street: magistrates, lawyers, bailiffs, everyone protesting the closing of local tribunals which will mean sending cases long distances to larger towns. Many of the lawyers were in street clothes, but it was quite something to see groups of them in their black robes and white jabots, quietly assembling to protest. These are lawyers, after all, not rioters.

Speaking of riots, there was a worrisome flare-up the other day after two teenagers were killed in an accidental collision between their scooter and a police car (an investigation is under way to ascertain who was at fault). What was particularly troubling was the use of pellet guns on the part of the rioters. In 2005, the November riots got a lot of attention (and rightly so), but what most people, especially Americans, don't realize is that there were no guns involved. Burning cars, bricks thrown at police, but no guns. Imagine that. No Second Amendment right to bear arms, and so no one was killed on either side. But this time pellets were fired (what? no automatic-weapons fire?) and a large number of police were injured, yet not a single shot was fired by the police. (Some of the local police don't carry much more than a nightstick. Others are armed to the teeth.) So the question of Americanization has come up again: is France going to become an armed nation where people shoot at the police with impunity? While that remains to be seen, there are conflicting sentiments of "it's not too late" and "nothing is going to change". The Big Brothers (local guys in their 20s) are doing their best to calm their neighborhoods and start a dialogue. Government officials tour the area, promise change and quick fixes, and disappear. But until immigrant families feel fully welcome and given equal opportunities, and a certain number of their children realize that progress is not to be made by burning cars in frustration, it remains what the French call a dialogue of the deaf.

Back to the strikes. Our university is half-open, half not: not exactly on strike, but students have voted another couple of days of "blockage" in order to examine further proposed changes in legislation that would (according to many) limit the universities' autonomy. I was able to meet with my students on Thursday morning, but not Thursday afternoon. The campus will be open Monday, but as for classes being held, that's up in the air.

Rail workers have gone back to work, civil servants have grudgingly ended their strike despite unresolved differences with the government, and consumer confidence is dropping as the holidays approach and purchasing power weakens. There is a definite feeling of unease in the air along with the first frosts.

Maybe Thursday...

2007-11-27T11:56:00.000+01:00

Just in case you're wondering, the university is still closed. But not by the strike; the administration has been dragging its heels about reopening. Wednesday will be the first day in several weeks that the campus will be fully open and the administrative offices will be filled, but still no class. If all goes really well, we'll have class on Thursday. But since exams start next week in some classes, a lot of things are still up in the air.

Gamers: same @!&#% different week!

2007-11-24T14:37:00.000+01:00

It looks as though the university will remain closed on Monday for administrative reasons. So once again we will have to meet at the café Fournil St Nicolas--sorry! The coffee is on me.

Gobble, purr!

2007-11-22T09:06:00.000+01:00

I won't bore anyone with my list of things for which I'm thankful this year, but I just wanted to mention that it doesn't hurt once in awhile to sit down and think about such things. There are so many things for which I am NOT thankful, many of them having to do with the government in my country of origin (and, to a much lesser extent, the country in which I reside), that it is nice to wake up on Thanksgiving morning with two purring cats who give thanks simply when their food bowls are full.

The university is closed through the end of the week, as it turns out.

And it's a striiiiiike!

2007-11-21T16:53:00.001+01:00

It's Wednesday afternoon, and we still don't know if the university will reopen tomorrow on schedule. I have an 8 a.m. class, so I'm pretty eager to know if I should set my alarm or not. The strike is over, but there was then an "administrative closing" of several days to put things back in order. The universities are not the only ones on strike in this grève-happy country; the train strikes have made the international news circuit, but just about everyone else has been on strike at one point or another in the last couple of weeks. The lawyers are demonstrating against the announcement to close a significant number of tribunals, and yesterday saw the start of a strike by civil servants. If you think about it, that hits just about every sector: public schools, the postal system, administrations everywhere... just about the only thing not on strike is Montpellier's public transportation network, for which I am grateful. We see daily news feeds from Paris, where people are cramming into metro cars running at 25% their normal frequency. 1 in 4 service at rush hour? No thanks.

I'd better go prepare my classes tomorrow in the hopes that I can go back to work.

I'm an entrepreneur!

2007-11-19T20:53:00.001+01:00

As some of you know, I went freelance in September, hiring myself out as a teacher and occasional translator. Those who live in France will understand what it is to be a "travailleur indépendant" or, as it says on my visa, a member of a "profession libérale". Basically, instead of having a nice, cushy full-time contract with paid holidays, I'm an hourly worker and have to pay my own social charges. While these seem quite heavy at times, I remind myself that I am entitled to excellent health care that is essentially free, and for years as a student I received a nice little subsidy from the French government that helped cover my rent. Add to that practically tuition-free education (a few hundred a year!), and I'm not going to complain.

So as of today, I have my own business name and logo and, while I could theoretically hire people, I have just one proud employee: myself!

Video gamers class: cold, wet Monday!

2007-11-19T13:30:00.000+01:00

Many thanks to Thomas and David for their excellent presentations. (Lucas also wished to thank those who didn't come, which meant that the seven of us who were there fit comfortably around the table!) The president of our university has announced that it will re-open on Thursday, so next week we should be back in our cozy computer room!

For those who don't understand why the university is on strike, you're not alone. In fact, this time it was a minority of students who blocked the entrance to the buildings despite the majority vote to continue with classes. Unlike in 2006, when the U was closed for almost 2 months due to protests against the "contrat premier embauche" (first-time job contract which would have allowed for much more precariousness than the rather labor-friendly French market is used to), this one didn't gain much momentum. To understand this strike, you have to understand the truly public nature of French universities--no private holdings or interests--and the feelings of panic that can ensue when that very public identity is threatened by even the suggestion of semi-privatization.

In any case, it's cold and damp today for the first time this season, so I'm happy to stay home and drink tea instead of venturing out for my 5:00 class!

English class for video gamers

2007-11-16T12:33:00.000+01:00

Yes, the university is on strike. No, we can't get past the gates of the campus. But that won't stop us from having our weekly meeting next Monday morning (19 November) at 11:15 over coffee at the Fournil St Nicolas across from the campus. Charly and Mathilde will present "Violence in video games", Thomas will tell us all about Neverwinter Nights, and hopefully there will be time for Jonathan to talk about Resident Evil. Bring your laptops and some change for coffee!

Welcome and bienvenue!

2007-11-16T12:20:00.000+01:00

Thanks for checking out my blog! If you've come to learn all sorts of gossip about my private life, you'll likely be disappointed; on the other hand, you'll find information about the classes I'm teaching and other random things.