5-element

[quote user="5-element"][quote user="pachapapa"][You can watch it on pluzz.fr for the next week, here is the link. http://www.pluzz.fr/raymond-aubrac-les-annees-de-guerre.html [/quote] Great, thank you for that, ppp. [/quote] I am really glad I watched that programme (1h40min). Apart from anything else, it is such a source of inspiration to see such a brilliant, eloquent, articulate 95-year old who lived such a rich, courageous life (whatever omissions or embellishments there may or may not be in the narration). The fact is that he, like a lot of others, risked his life many times, and there are many references to his many "camarades" who were caught, tortured, and killed. He never gave up his values and his ideals, and at that ripe old age, was still going around schools to tell young people about the French Resistance and WW2. The programme also gave a good historical background to those troubled, disturbing times. I grew up with adults who were continually telling stories of the French resistance, the STO camps, the exodus, their personal experience of the Gestapo, the Miliciens, the German occupation, so it is doubly fascinating for me to watch that sort of programme, or any Resistance-themed movie.  

[quote user="pachapapa"][You can watch it on pluzz.fr for the next week, here is the link. http://www.pluzz.fr/raymond-aubrac-les-annees-de-guerre.html [/quote] Great, thank you for that, ppp.

[quote user="pachapapa"] While most french people will have heard of Moulin, I have yet to meet one who knew of Aubrac before his death. Today it would be unheard of to mention that communists were communists first and resistants second. There is a hommage to Aubrac starting NOW on France 2 so I 'll sign out for now. http://www.programme.tv/raymond-aubrac-les-annees-de-guerre-4325099.php [/quote] If you'd ever met me PPP, that would be at least one French person you know who is familiar with the name Aubrac (and not because of the beef). Most French cinephiles will know of Aubrac, since the 1996 movie "Lucie Aubrac" (his wife, also a resistant). I am sorry to have missed the Fr.2 programme.

Stéphane Courtois, who wrote the article in Marianne, is well known for his pathological, paranoid anti-communist views. Maybe he should be described as a "nasty anti-communist" - just read the comments at the end of the article. But as RH points out,  being an active communist then, meant fighting nazi ideology. Which was as "bad" as being a Jew, a homosexual, or a gipsy - it led straight to concentration camps if caught. 

[quote user="Clair"] Today, I received 13 letters from the RSI. WTF??? [blink] [/quote] WHAT??? If only it was due to somebody's warped sense of humour over there. Then it could be OK. Just. It is so beyond outrageous. I think this is getting to the point where you need your own TV show, Clair, nothing less. It's got so ridiculous that somebody somewhere, a human, HAS to notice something is amiss. I really don't even know what to say anymore - unfortunately, sympathy might not be helping you much at this stage.[:'(][kiss]  

I share Mrs R51's unease. Interestingly, the latest wave of arrests came to nothing: http://www.francetv.fr/info/coup-de-filet-anti-islamiste-toutes-les-gardes-a-vue-levees_81175.html?google_editors_picks=true which might give more credence to the posturing: "France will not tolerate any hint of terrorism on its soil". It is all a big show, and conceivably, very few of us know what is really going on, beyond the obvious muscle-flexing demo designed to impress the electorate.

Hoddy, you could try this: "J'ai toujours eu un petit faible à son égard, car il y avait en elle quelque chose qui me rappelait ma propre mère"

[quote user="Frederick"][quote user="just john "] ''those who make remarks contrary to the values of the Republic will be instantly put outside the territory of the French Republic, there will no exception, there will be no leniency''  .bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe- Unlike Britain, where UK's safety is compromised by rights of appeal that can drag on for years . . . [Www] [/quote] So is  he is doing away with the EU Civil Rights Legislation then ? ..... The Legislation the UK is continually being forced by the EU to stick with . [/quote] It was suggested that the above is not just against EU Civil Rights Legislation, but also unconstitutional for France... no matter, words are cheap, but they can move the masses, something very useful during certain political times.... 

PPP - thank you for this very interesting, damning article. It makes one want to spit. But who can we spit at? Who is responsible? Some haut-fonctionnaire, or the lower ones, or both? How to sort the good from the bad, since it ends up as "the facelessness of bureaucracy". Could we ever have a head of state who changes all that?

This is such an interesting issue. It brings up the fact that the French are number one users of prescribed tranquillisers, anti-depressants and sedatives. Also something about high number of work-related suicides. I wonder if there is any relation to the state of semi-permanent tension and apprehensiveness that "something awful is about to happen". Personally I feel very insecure in France in very specific ways - look at what just happened to Clair with the ridiculous 28,000 the RSI are suddenly demanding of her. Twice now I was at the receiving end of something as awful, with a French state agency blocking my bank accounts without any warning in a case of mistaken identity. The knowledge that they can do that sort of thing any time, and with impunity, is something that keeps me on my guard all the time - I know it can happen again, and when it does it is kafkaesque. Since then, I never, ever open my letterbox without a little frisson of apprehension - just in case. So, OK, we don't live in a banana republic (sorry Wooly), not quite, but one can never ignore the possible bureaucratic messes that can occur and make one's life a misery for a while. This is only one of the aspects of life in France which may account for French pessimism, but it does contribute to feeling insecure, you just never know when THEY will come knocking at the door.[:'(]

Clair - I am suitably, totally appalled... I would have thought that out of all people, you were one of the last it could happen to as you are so sharp, so well-informed, so articulate, so resourceful. Other than that, having looked at the fora where people try to rally together to make their case stronger against that awful RSI,  I am not really surprised. Yours is one of so many similar stories - it is so awful how powerless and frustrated and murderous is can make you feel.  How can the country function with that sort of backdrop??? How come the whistle-blowing has not been very effective so far??? WHO is keeping their head in the sand, resisting reform and blocking progress?? Also, I didn't see the programme Chancer is referring to, but have seen many others of that kind. Another national disgrace, to treat human beings in that way. A country which takes so much pride in  its "republican values".....

I'll go with Betty for the closest translation.

[quote user="5-element"]b[/quote] Not exactly astard. The "b" (for blablabla)  was meant as a test to see if I could post again, having been unable to do so since the changeover. Then I tried to edit my post, wrote a fairly long one, relevant to this thread, but it all disappeared(!!!) and the "b" remained. [:(]

I had given up the struggle to be able to log on ever again, and was resigned to being locked out since the change. But today,   lo and behold, I am totally reinstated, this is MAGIC!!! OK, I have missed the first 35 pages of this thread, and probably many of the technical hitches - but now, the forum looks absolutely fine to me, great for legibility, right format, it all seems to work well. Chapeau to all those who have made it possible.[:D]

b

Tragically, it might be only when the next massacre happens, that a coherent pattern emerges - I can imagine there are many brains, sharper and better trained than mine, who are trying to double-guess the killer - is the next target going to be Moslems near or in a mosque, or gays leaving a club, a Roms encampment,  a communist political meeting, or even Catholics in front of their church??? One can't help wondering when and how it might happen again unless the killer is stopped really quickly.[:(] Quite terrifying.

I hope it will get better; at the moment, it all keeps jumping up and down!!![:'(]

As the man who did the shooting was on a scooter, it sounds probable that it might be the same killer as before - it was noted that the 3 paratroopers killed in Montauban and the officer killed in Toulouse were all "issus de la diversité", and now a Jewish school was targeted, is the killer bent on ethnic cleansing???

I'm wondering if perhaps my post was misunderstood. The writing of it came after watching a French TV programme this week about a French family where "Melanie", 10, was sexually abused by her 64-year old paternal grandfather. Prior to that single abuse episode, Melanie was very close to both her grandfather and grandmother. Up to the episode of a forced fellation, which she reported to her mother (very upsetting times for both of them) who then went to notify the police. The grandfather was arrested, and we see him in the interview room, not saying much for himself (!), and then, with her consent, they also have "Melanie" in the room for a confrontation. Melanie chooses to turn her back to the grandfather so she doesn't have to look at him. She is a mature 10-year old, who got a lot of support from adults about the incident, including the police - whose special role in the circumstances consists in making sure the victim knows that she is being believed, and that the perp will be punished. The only very forceful thing she is keen to tell her grandfather is that through his own fault, she will now be deprived of her grandmother (his wife) and why did he do this to her. There is no doubt that what we see is a family torn to shreds now (Melanie's father, i.e. the perp's son, has told his father "From now on, for me you are dead.") It is all very poignant, a tragedy for Melanie, but also for the rest of the family - it will never leave them. I don't give a monkey about what will happen to the grandfather, whether he spends 20 years in jail, whether he is chemically or manually castrated - he might as well have dropped a bomb in the middle of the family's living-room. Whatever happens to him, he will be out of action for the rest of his days. I was much more interested in the devastation for the young victim, and all the ripples all around her: a family destroyed.

Perhaps we should also remember that sexual abuse cases of children occur mostly within the family (8 out of 10 is the last I heard - during a programme showing a 10-year old girl who had been abused by her 64 -year old grandfather. There was a very poignant confrontation in the police station between him and his grand-daughter who kept asking "why did you do that?" and she stated that the worst for her was "because of you, now I can't see mamie anymore". How would any of us react at the thought of having our own father or grandfather chemically castrated, whatever they may have done? (I don't know the answer to that, and am horrified by the question itself, just as I am horrified at the fact that most abuse occurs within the family, something that is easily overlooked as soon as someone utters the word pedophilia ...)[:(]

Exactly my thoughts, NormanH. ZE  ahrrteeste, ad infinitum.... and unashamedly.[:'(] You would have thought that some of these people might just be a little more self-conscious about their atrocious pronunciation of English...[geek] Now they will think they are just being cute.[blink]

According to a recent TV feature, Germany is a choice destination. For those who stay in Greece, there is a drive to returning to the land... http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/09/world/europe/amid-economic-strife-greeks-look-to-farming-past.html?pagewanted=all

[quote user="NormanH"]Exactly [:)] Fabien Laurent and Patrick Olry (Patrick le discret as he is called in that link..[:)]) [/quote] I can think of at least one person (probably several) who would probably like to sample either of the above. Hello, Sweet 17!

[quote user="NormanH"] I had coffee this morning at the counter of the café where I am a regular with the two Michelin starred chefs of our town who had come to the Marché Paysan to get provisions as they do most weeks. [/quote] Would one be from l'Octopus, and the other l'Ambassadeur by any chance Norman?

I hate to tell you Chancer, but all soya products are usually banned in a residue-free diet. I don't quite understand why, especially since there shouldn't be any fibre in anything as liquid as milk. It is probably OK if it is the only entorse to the diet for such a short time.