Mopsos

So France finally voted against the European constitution, which is a sad day for our country. We are entering a period of deep political crisis, which will not make our country stronger.

Political commentators will put the blame on Chirac, who indeed has such an impressive track record of political blunders, that it can be said that the ruling class of this country is living on another planet. But they will be wrong to scapegoat Chirac. Though Chirac will undoubtedly bear a historical responsibility for isolating himself and his close advisors from the people, all populists from the far right, the far left, the socialist party, and the press bear the historical responsibility of deluding the French into thinking that the welfare state could still protect them from the global economical war. They bear the historical responsibility of populist slogans to mask the absence of any real project for France. It's 1936 and the Ligne Maginot again.

The crisis in this country is a crisis of values. There will always be a part of the population still believing in the egalitarian dream of communism because it's easy to think that there's plenty of money to grab out there. it's like teenagers asking for their monthly allowance. There will always be wealthy people investing their money where it makes most sense to them: real estate, stock markets, start-ups and even charities. And there will always be tensions between the two. Happens everywhere. The trouble today with French society, as well as other Western European societies, is that this has gone brutally way too far, to the extent that wealthy people are better off investing their money out of Europe, or in European companies investing outside Europe, which comes to the same. Productivity gains, which used to be shared among various players in French society, are now exclusively reaped by wealthy investors.

Political debate has been consistently downplayed for the past 20 years in favor of slogans. Youngsters have been consistently told by the media that social success depends primarily on social relationships and luck. Bookstores in the Quartier Latin have disappeared and been replaced by lingerie shops. Repeated holidays away from the city and into little family cocoons have become the main source of conversation in French families. Etc. etc.

It all boils down to one thing: The social capital of French society has been depleted to an all-time low, and French people living in France are now probably among the most individualistic and selfish people on Earth. As some American commentator tragically put it the other day on the radio, France is a country where nobody trusts anybody anymore. Sinc twenty years now, French people have almost systematically voted against the power in place. "You never vote for. You vote against" De Gaulle said.

So in the end, I think this negative vote on the European Constitution has a very clear meaning. Saying "No" is just the easiest way to claim my existence as an individual. Saying "Yes" on the other hand always conveys a sense of belonging to a community, because it is about giving away something first. Think about a wedding.

No-one has commented on this entry (yet).

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)