Trip Update #1

July 4

I walked around Père-Lachaise Cemetery today. I felt so tacky, so unworldly, unrefined, stalking around the multi-acre cemetery in search of tombs to takes pictures of and prove that I’d been there. As if a photo of Honoré de Balzac’s final resting place is really going to improve me as a person, or make my trip any cooler to you, dear reader, or even to me. If someone thinks that I am cooler because I saw Oscar Wilde’s grave, it’s only because that person thinks I know something about him. And really, I don’t. Fail. But in fact none of the tombs really did anything for me. For that reason, I really respect the French culture. The French could have decked out each “noted” headstone with all kinds of arrows and biographies in multiple languages… but, they didn’t. Bizet’s, Piaf’s, even Molière’s were largely hidden—and it was only the large crowds around them that I even noticed their existences. That shows a real respect for privacy. If these were in America, I think we would really point it out. And headstones should never be whores, at least without the dead’s permission.

Père-Lachaise

Honore de Balzac, the man with the most unfortunate French-to-English translation name in history

George Bizet, operatic composer of "Carmen"

Fan at Jim Morrison's tomb

Paris in summer is beautiful, in its liveliness and warmth and classicness that just hit you at every corner. It can be overwhelming, actually. Paris is one of those cities that make you feel like you are somewhere.

Art and beauty are just sewn into the very fabric of this city. You get the feeling that everyone here is glad they are here, and nowhere else. It is not a city to “settle” for, but to embrace eternally. I like how, contrary to normal activity in America, the French need nothing more than to sit at a petit café with a cup of coffee and a cigarette, and chat with friends if they are there, although this isn’t a requirement. I imagine its been this way for a century or more… No wonder Picasso, Hemingway, Sartre and numerous painters, poets, writers, and poets spent much of their life here… creativity is everywhere and difficult not to find! The people here are happy; perhaps not outwardly- but ask them a question and they light up. Just make sure you ask it in French :)

I just read “France and its Muslims,” a Foreign Affairs article on Muslim life in the “Hexagon.” One of the interesting things the author noted was that there are two battles being fought between the Muslim community and contemporary France.

One of the struggles of the Muslim community is to advance out of its current socioeconomic situation. High poverty, high cost of living, crap homes, etc. These battles are being fought on the streets, between les flics et les ados, for example. Many times this struggle is being framed as a contentious struggle between Islam and its neocolonial oppressors the French government/way of life, most notably when Sarkozy called the (religious leaders) imams to quell violence after the 2005 riots in the banlieues. But these frames are out of touch with reality. In fact, religion has little to do with it. Religiosity is not terribly high among French Muslims. Like Karl Marx queried, the socioeconomic factors are bigger causes for urban unrest than any other, including religious motivations. This was demonstrated excellently by Matthew Kassowitz’s film “La Haine.”

Delivery man w/ truck at Chateau-Rouge, a predominantly immigrant neighborhood north of Paris

Women selling wares on the street at Chateau-Rouge

The second battle, similar but distinct, is the veil and its assorted brothers and sisters. Attacking the veil is one of the biggest mistakes the French government is making. This makes the situation a Muslim question, framing the battle once again as a East v. West, France v. the rest of the world scenario, when in fact, as previously demonstrated, the problem lies in the socioeconomic. What aspects of a Muslim person are really upsetting to a French person? I suppose that depends on the person, so let’s instead talk about what aspects upset social order and the preservation of the French way of life? To the first, nothing. To the second, again, this depends on the perception. So the question goes to: whose perception are we operating under? This is a complex question and be be answered by analyzing how power and policy are handed down in the country. As Giry (author of the FA article) wrote and I agree, power and policy are being handed down by a small percentage of elites.

French députés coming out for lunch break

National Assembly, the highest house of the French legislature

A pretty good rest of the day. The Arab Institute was enormous- didn’t think the “vie arabe” would get such coverage, but there you go. Probably paid for by the Saudis. I would bet the construction of the building, which is right in the center of the city, was a play at being more inclusive, multicultural. I wonder if it got any controversy… I should ask.

Institut du Monde Arabe

Happy Indépendence Day @USofA !