July 14th is Bastille Day. It is hard to name another national holiday that truly commemorates the fight for human rights.
Bastille Day, also called "French National Day" in English speaking countries, is known in its native France as La Féte Nationale, or "The National Celebration". The holiday not only commemorates the French Revolution, but more specifically, the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. The Bastille was a fortress prison that held people jailed on the whims of the king, as well as political prisoners whose writings offended the royal government. Even though only seven prisoners inhabited the Bastille at that time, the prison was a symbol of everything wrong with the French monarchy--autocracy, censorship, terror, and unquestioned power based on class. The revolutionaries, with the held of the crowd and household troops of the French Army, took over the Bastille and freed the prisoners.
In 1790, La Féte Nationale was celebrated for the first time. For four days, Parisians of all classes feasted, drank fine wine, and ran naked in the streets together to celebrate their freedom, equality, and common humanity. In 1880, the French Republic voted to have Bastille Day as a one day national holiday that would include a military parade. To this day, the French military parade is the oldest and largest military parade in Europe.
For a short time, the President used Bastille Day to pardon criminals who commit minor offenses; in 2007 President Sarkozy abandoned the practice. This break with tradition may be one reason why Sarkozy lost the recent election.
Today Bastille Day is celebrated in Belgium, Hungary, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and 50 cities in the United States...including the Twin Cities.
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Friday, July 13, 2012
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Not Free to Say Stupid Things in France
The National Assembly in Paris is backing a bill to make it illegal to deny that the mass killing of Armenians by the Turks was genocide. If someone is caught saying it, they could be fined up to 48,000 Euros (approximately $58,000). According to the French, they are not punishing the Turks in their country, or making a statement of any kind other than to comply with European law, which states that people who deny the existence of genocides should be sanctioned.
In the United States, the First Amendment of the Constitution protects speech that other countries would classify as hate speech. At the same time, while Americans will not be sent to jail for saying ignorant things, they will be stigmatized socially and sometimes professionally. Newt Gingrich, in the eyes of many people (including Republicans), will never regain his professional reputation after calling Michelle Obama "uppity" and calling the Palestinians "an invented people". Comedians who go too far in their shtick are often forced into apologize for their words, or face lawsuits from anti-defamation groups. Teachers who voice negative opinions about LGBT people or other protected classes when their school administrators are trying to stop bullying in the schools are often forced to resign.
Is it possible that, in France and in other countries, the common people actually agree on some level with certain perspectives on genocide and minorities, and this is why those governments have to outlaw it outright?
That is one thing about people in the United States. Americans have the freedom and the right to state whatever half baked opinion they have on any subject, and make Americans look like fools in front of the whole world...but just because public figures show their ignorance does not mean that all Americans believe it or support it. In fact, the deeper a public figure puts his foot in his or her mouth, the higher a social, professional, and political price they will have to pay in their own country as well as abroad.
In the United States, the First Amendment of the Constitution protects speech that other countries would classify as hate speech. At the same time, while Americans will not be sent to jail for saying ignorant things, they will be stigmatized socially and sometimes professionally. Newt Gingrich, in the eyes of many people (including Republicans), will never regain his professional reputation after calling Michelle Obama "uppity" and calling the Palestinians "an invented people". Comedians who go too far in their shtick are often forced into apologize for their words, or face lawsuits from anti-defamation groups. Teachers who voice negative opinions about LGBT people or other protected classes when their school administrators are trying to stop bullying in the schools are often forced to resign.
Is it possible that, in France and in other countries, the common people actually agree on some level with certain perspectives on genocide and minorities, and this is why those governments have to outlaw it outright?
That is one thing about people in the United States. Americans have the freedom and the right to state whatever half baked opinion they have on any subject, and make Americans look like fools in front of the whole world...but just because public figures show their ignorance does not mean that all Americans believe it or support it. In fact, the deeper a public figure puts his foot in his or her mouth, the higher a social, professional, and political price they will have to pay in their own country as well as abroad.
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