Brits go home??? Is anti British sentiment growing now even in the far sw of France.

[nickinorthez]

I was wondering  whether anyone has heard of the following organisation the Comite de defense  des campagnes Francaises who have an obsession with sticking a flyer stuck on my car window! This has happened twice in the last week, once in Salies De Bearn and now also at the supermarket car park in Orthez. The flier reads as following:

Please stop! You are too many now.

You are buying our roots,

You are buying our soul .

Signed the above mentioned organisation.

Having only been in the area just over month I havent re-registered the car yet but it looks like the good old GB sticker seems to be a magnate for these rather unwelcome flyers.What the person sticking this flier on doesnt seem to realize is that I could well just be on holiday and so I'm sure the local tourist office and the businesses in the area will be pleased to know that some bigot is plastering all the uk cars! What a lovely welcome! And a great way to encourage people to visit the area!. I understand that Salies De Bearn does have an increasing number of expats not just from the UK but also other areas in europe but I really didn't think there was that much animosity here, its a shame really as all the people have been so friendly. So my question is has anyone else heard of this organisation, I've done a google check but nothing comes up  and also has anyone else had the unwanted flier!

 

[Chief]

[quote user="nickinorthez"]

I was wondering  whether anyone has heard of the following organisation the Comite de defense  des campagnes Francaises who have an obsession with sticking a flyer stuck on my car window! This has happened twice in the last week, once in Salies De Bearn and now also at the supermarket car park in Orthez. The flier reads as following:

Please stop! You are too many now.

You are buying our roots,

You are buying our soul .

Signed the above mentioned organisation.

Having only been in the area just over month I havent re-registered the car yet but it looks like the good old GB sticker seems to be a magnate for these rather unwelcome flyers.What the person sticking this flier on doesnt seem to realize is that I could well just be on holiday and so I'm sure the local tourist office and the businesses in the area will be pleased to know that some bigot is plastering all the uk cars! What a lovely welcome! And a great way to encourage people to visit the area!. I understand that Salies De Bearn does have an increasing number of expats not just from the UK but also other areas in europe but I really didn't think there was that much animosity here, its a shame really as all the people have been so friendly. So my question is has anyone else heard of this organisation, I've done a google check but nothing comes up  and also has anyone else had the unwanted flier![/quote]

Welcome to the world of racial prejudice.  Now have a think about all those immigrants in the UK who are subject to the same and worse.  They are the people expats in France/Spain/etc etc often quote as being one of the reasons they left (to become immigrants in another country and create a problem there)  :-))  Just be grateful that it seems peaceful at the moment, hey its just a sticker.  wait until it starts getting a bit nastier :-(  Who knows, 20 years from now when we have all suffered from such behaviour, we might learn to live together in peace.....don't hold your breathe :-))

[andyh4]

Never come across this in other parts of France - and we might well be considered far less welcome to the unknowing, given that we have German registered cars.

In fact we are in an enlightened commune where the maire goes out of his way to welcome "foreigners" since he recognises that this will be the future lifeblood of the commune in an area that has little in terms of employment opportunities for the locals except to provide trades and services for the outsiders.   Indeed the only group that seem to be subject to any negative reactions at all is the Parisians - and that's just mumbling under the breath usually.

Your situation sounds a bit like a one man and his dog organisation, but Chief is quite right, we are the immigrants and some people won't like it.

[urko]

I've only ever been on the end of direct anti-British (or English) comments in Cornwall, Wales, and California.

I'd rather spend time in rural France than any of these places, altough I live in a lovely part of England (I won't sat where or everyone will find it - but it's not in the South :-)

[Val_2]

Here in Brittany I have only ever seen one Brits Out sentiment painted on a public wall and that was back in the 80's and was more to do with the Irish troubles than anything else. There have been outbursts here recently in brit ghetto areas by a small breton seperatist movement but no one took any notice.

[WJT]

I know this is a minor incident to give as an example but it made me feel awful. Sunday my husband and I went to a Brocant/Vide-grenier and afterwards looked  for a place open for lunch. We had trouble finding a place in the area. So in Beaumont in Dordogne I went into a bar/café around 1pm lunch time in the square that was the only place open and asked if they served food or sandwiches, he said no. When leaving with my back turned, he shouted in English "No bread and No English". My French is not very good so didn't think on my feet and just stupidly and sheepishly walked out. [:(]

I also heard something on the radio while in the car a few weeks ago that I found quite shocking. I only caught the tale end of it but it was a local broadcast with a few people speaking in front of a group of people. One man was a real comedian and people were howling with laughter at him. He was speaking very fast so couldn't make out all he said but mentioned the English with their gites. Then suddenly in English he says " Go F*****g Back Home!". The group of people present just broke out in laughter.[blink]

I don't know what that was about but can't get it out of my mind and I would be interested to hear if anyone else heard this program. I was in the Bergerac area at the time.

[Framboise]

I cannot say we have experienced any of this, even though our place is in Normandie - the bastion of ex-pat Brits.

We have been treated with nothing but kindness by lovely helpful, generous people, indeed we count many of them as friends now rather than acquaintances or those who have done various jobs for us.   Indeed, I like to think that the lady who found our house for us is more of a friend than anything else who has helped us immeasureably over the past two years.

Maybe its different for us being as we are very much off the beaten track rather than in a Brit Pack community because we are apparently the only Anglaises within a 5k radius, so possibly we have a novelty value to the locals. However I had thought I was getting strange looks from people when out alone in our Mitsubushi pick-up truck until I was told it was because French women won't drive such vehicles.  Only the odd Anglaise do such things it seems!  [kiss]

[Logan]

Here in the SW of France the locals have two irritations about the British. The first is not speaking French. It really does upset French people when British immigrants whom they know and have lived in the area for years, still cannot or will not speak their language. The second irritation is Brits working openly on the black and whizzing around in old bangers, usually white vans and bearing UK plates. I personally also dislike such behaviour and shudder when we all inevitably become tarred with the same brush.

[Framboise]

We fully intend to learn French - properly! - but it takes time of course.  Meanwhile we can but try, by marmalising the lingo and causing a few smiles along the way it all helps.  A bit of effort goes a very long way.

Example :  Hubby asked for "un kilo de mince....." in Intermarche.  It caused a lot of guffaws out the back of the deli, but it broke the ice as it were and they are all ready for a bit of banter when we go into the shop.  We also ate a lot of mince that week having got a kilo of the stuff!

Of course it does work both ways in that I resent those that come here and make no effort to learn English nor fit into the community, instead expecting everyone to kow-tow to Their way of life and beliefs.    I would not expect to move to France and continue an English way of life - in fact thats precisely why I am leaving here.  There is too much bending and adapting to everyone else's demands that our own heritage is quickly vanishing.

[Patf]

I wonder if it's something to do with ETA, the Basque separatist movement. I think the Bearne, where you are, is part of their "heritage". But I agree with others, why should the french love us? A few bad apples make the barrel rotten.We should behave discreetly, try to speak their language then they might tolerate us.

[mint]

Got to agree, Framboise.  This week there was an article in the Times about Muslim medical students refusing to examine a patient of the opposite sex and not wanting to treat sexually-transmitted diseases or alcoholism.  Where will all this "bending and adapting" end?

My husband and I have started French classes (we've been here since April) and I must say I am appalled at the people in the class who have been here quite a few years and can barely give their names, addresses and telephone numbers in French. 

[Framboise]

Its sheer madness isn't it?  Sainsbury's have also sanctioned muslim checkout staff being able to refuse to serve alcohol because even handling it offends them............. serving winos copious amounts of cheap plonk would also offend my sensibilities,  but if the likes of myself were to refuse to serve them we would soon see where the land lies.   I am sure there is a quango somewhere dedicated to the promotion of the Rights of Alcoholics to get blutered on a daily basis  [;-)]    

[Benjamin]

There was an article in one of the Sundays when we were back in the UK a few weeks ago written by someone who claimed to live in, I think, the Lot.

It reported on attacks on Brit vehicles in the South West and strongly gave the impression that foreigners were not welcome. It was only buried towards the end of the article that any vehilcle without a 64 plate was being targetted.

I suppose BRIT VEHICLES ATTACKED draws more attention than NON 64 PLATE VEHICLES ATTACKED.

[Just Katie]

When I first moved down to Wales from London as I child, I used to get upset at the sight of Max Boyce.  He would have his own show on local TV and would rant anti English sentiments, usually around rugby.  He would mimic their accents with OTT "pluminess" and imply they were all a load of limp wristed numpties.  Next day at school, the lads would take him off and tease me over it.  As an adult, I can see it as being intended as innocent fun but however innocent some things are intended, some people are affected by these actions.

I must agree with another poster in that this "movement" sounds like a one man band to me. 

[Frederick]

In the part of the Venndee I have my place just inland from La Tranche sur Mer  GB plates during the summer months are everywhere .....The locals have a short summer season in which to make their pile and the tourist is their bread and butter ... I imagine if any stickers were put on GB  plated cars round there ....the locals would be looking for the guy who printed them with a knotted rope !  

[Ian]

Nicknorthez,

this is a sad incident (or 2).  And of course the vast majority of French people (like Brits) are tolerant, helpful and welcoming ... they just don't take the trouble to pop a "Bienvenue" note on your car.

Any acts of small-mindedness and racism are predicated on fear and ignorance - "coming over here to change our way of life" - when in reality the reason so many foreigners choose to make France their home is precisely because we love the French way of life.

In my experience the incoming foreigners (who stay) are as passionate about preserving a (rose-tinted / imagined?) French idyll as any native Frenchman.

[dolly daydream]

While having aperos with our french neighbours another neighbour told us we were not welcome there and should go home.  The fact that he was Belgian made me ignore his comments.  However, we were told by our French friends that they hate the way the English travel around in packs talking very loudly.  Mainly ladies of a certain type (dolled up to the nine in pearls and twin sets).

[Gemonimo]

Pearls and twin sets Dolly?  I haven't seen any of these since the early sixties!  Perhaps I'm stuck in a buccolic time warp. Jen

[Frederick]

Strange neighbours......invite you round to be told to go home by their friends.... and then be rude about your countrymen ....! 

[suein56]

[quote user="dolly daydream"] Mainly ladies of a certain type (dolled up to the nine in pearls and twin sets).[/quote]

I don't mind so much the twinset and pearls brigade - though they do talk so very  loudly it makes me wince. But we sometimes get the very short skirt, cowgirl type boots (in summer!), very skimpy top and loads of bling type female and her hirsute, beer-belly-led, almost bare-chested companion and ... I really cannot imagine why they come to this very-back-to-nature area - the females in question couldn't possibly walk along the sentiers côtiers in those heels!

Sue [8-)]

[woolybanana]

Never seen the pearls and twinsets but loads in packs, the men with their heads shaved and following their taller and fatter women, screaming instructions across the aisles at each other. Or older, hair too long, squeezed into jeans, getting out of stupidly large 4x4's.......... We can all go on about ourselves. Years ago the hate figures were the Germans. In Dorset the grockles used to get pretty short shrift.

By and large these kind of negative reactions are a sign that the utterers are pretty unhappy with themselves, bored, underpaid, underskilled, trapped in dead and alive holes at the end of the track. They need something to rant about. 

Imagine if you were French born and of North African descent. Then you would really get it.

[cooperlola]

Tu as raison, mon brave.

The "racism", if such it is, which we may suffer from in some areas, from some people, and in little ways, is so minor compared with what many people have to take as a fact of everyday life, because of their skin colour.

[woolybanana]

Thanks Coops. Now women on the other hand.......[6]

[raindog]

[quote user="Frederick"]Strange neighbours......invite you round to be told to go home by their friends.... and then be rude about your countrymen ....! [/quote]

I thought the same thing.

[Deby]

Strange neighbours......invite you round to be told to go home by their friends.... and then be rude about your countrymen ....! 

I thought that too!

We have some lovely french neighbours and I am sure they even come out with the odd comment regarding english(irish too in our case) heritage but no more so than we regarding them being French.. We often say that is so French, but then they are! And we are so English/Irish!

I will still be supporting England on Saturday, alas husband will be supporting the French....

Culture is nurtured over years.  Racism is learned.  It does make me nervous when banter gets distorted as we now live in politically correct times (which annoys me alot) but there is only a fine line between banter and insult and it doesnt take long to manifest itself, sadly.