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2023 French Summer of Love


An Appeaser Is One Who Feeds a Crocodile, Hoping It Will Eat Him Last.

It's already happening: White "progressive" leftists are actually more vocal in the political/media/charity spheres in defending the interests of ethnic minorities against "systemic racism" and "discrimination" than ethnic minority activists themselves. Until s#it hits the fan and a nationwide controversy sets in, in which case pink unicorn-minded leftists ultimately realize they haven't been seen as friends or allies all along (on average, not generalizing) other than for opportunistic reasons, and are just as likely to be targeted by the minority elements who happen to be thugs, whether in the street, at building entrances, in late night trains, or even at such rioting scenes, simply for being white French "b#tches" and "wh#res" and "f#ck France".

Even though 100+ billion euros have been poured into the urban planning of these neighborhoods over the past few decades to eliminate anything that may have resembled a slimy ghetto: new buildings, green areas, playground areas, gyms, businesses, preferential rent pricing, abundant transportation linking to the city centers, publicly funded associations managing social life and helping out with professional integration, diversity hiring incentives to businesses, etc. Until of course all of the above is being burnt down to the ground, which it is regularly.

But these mostly white woke left-wing activists are just a bunch of brainwashed useful idiots living in la-la land after all. They'd literally rather risk dying than be called anything remotely close to racist or intolerant, whether rightly or wrongly. Conversely, anyone who has lived in or has been in close contact with folk from given neighborhoods, let alone elite politicians, lobbyists, investors, legal and law enforcement professionals who have an accurate assessment of what's going on in the field, in fact anyone with eyes, a little bit of brain power and intellectual honesty, can tell that people of very different cultures oftentimes don't just wake up looking to mingle and live together, even if offered cheap rent and other incentives, and if given the choice, would rather stay within or return to their community -- which has been demonstrated by the gradual ethnic partition that's been growing within these neighborhoods, in fact the gradual decline of diversity because native people feel forced to leave. All of this doesn't necessarily imply "hatred" and "discrimination"; mixing up into extreme cultural diversity has simply caused increased friction throughout all of recorded history and there is virtually no past or present counterexample. Of course individual friendships, relationships, solidarity can be organically built from the ground up, but it cannot be forced from the top down and it still hasn't become the dominant trend despite a 60-year-old narrative pushing for the opposite.

This is the great lie of the French "republican universalism" or "republican pact" (not as in the French Republican Party, but as in the republican form of government as it's been conceptualized since the 1789 Revolution): There are no communities (ethnic, religious, gender, sexual, social class...), there are only atomized individuals selflessly adhering to the abstract republican principles (the motto "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity", the tricolor flag, the principle of government of the people, by the people and for the people, the separation of State and Church...), there are no privileges, all citizens love each other a priori because they share given common values which prevents any divisiveness from settling in... In reality nothing is further from the truth: Ethnic parting and local community interests taking precedence over national interests; Government tolerating active religious groups preaching hatred and division; law enforcement being ordered to stay away from the suburbs so as to not disturb "social peace"; foreign flags being gleefully flown at demonstrations, or at weddings ironically celebrated in the name of the Republic; gigantic welfare fraud; class privileges; French celebs fiscally based abroad in order to avoid paying some of the highest taxes in the world, or actually leaving as the country gradually turns into a s#ithole; public education system heavily teaching the objectionable elements of recent history (colonization and collaboration) and actively suppressing beautiful and glorious segments of the past, etc.

This doesn't mean there can never be any ideals to aim for. But when reality doesn't just return a few disparate error signals but is actually full of evidence of the opposite, it is legitimate to at least question this model of society. And yet those who are questioning it in the name of the preservation of peace, well-being, health, safety and heritage -- also protected by the Constitution -- are being politically persecuted for being "enemies of the Republic" by the same Government institutions which are spreading the lie in the first place; i.e. a political apparatus selectively enforcing those articles of the Constitution which are the most hypocritical (and which also happen to reinforce its own dominance by shutting down any dissenting opinion that may point out its hypocrisy and challenge its legitimacy), instead of submitting itself to a balanced interpretation of the entirety of the Constitution, and most importantly, allowing fact-based free criticism, since democratic legitimacy is supposedly the entire foundation of the Republic. Or is it? Article 3 of the Constitution seems to guarantee that "The national sovereignty belongs to the people, who exercise it through their representatives and by means of the referendum. [...]"; except that it's a bunch of newspeak, since once elected, the representatives aren't bound to any of their campaign promises as they get carte blanche to pass any law they want*, and cannot be subjected to a recall for having misrepresented the people's will; while no constitutional provision allows for a nationwide popular referendum initiative to emanate from the people themselves.

(*The French Constitutional council, which is supposed to make sure that laws which are submitted to it comply with the Constitution, in fact isn't a constitutional court per se, since it is mainly composed of past prominent personalities from the political realm in general, appointed by current political leaders for a 9 year term, oftentimes with barely any legal background or if so only loosely, plus former Presidents who are ex-officio members for life -- i.e. not in the least actual magistrates; unlike for example neighboring Germany which is endowed with an exemplary Federal Constitutional Court, composed of real high-level justices with rock-solid expertise and legitimacy.)

The same could be said about other Western countries, but the French republican model is particularly striking in its deceptiveness because, unlike the British or the American models for instance, it denies the very existence of communities, when in fact any nation hosting a high level of diversity necessarily hosts a mosaic of communities. Now if the goal really were to make people of very diverse origins, cultures, religions, customs, ways of life, peacefully coexist and cooperate under one common banner despite their differences and to have them negate their communities on top of that, then an incredibly heavy emphasis should be placed on ensuring adhesion to given republican principles and French way of life in general, above any adhesion to community interests and specificities. Which implies that there be a French culture and way of life in the first place since you can't adhere to something nonexistent (but according to then candidate Macron "There is no such thing as French culture"), and which also implies stripping individuals of foreign origin of part of their identity -- good luck with that, and thoroughly enforcing given principles on the path to citizenship and subsequently as a part of public policy -- good luck with the backlash there too.

But in fact quite the opposite is being done: It is not uncommon to be called racist for raising for example the question of having to speak French in the case of family reunification from abroad (even though it has nothing to do with race, and even though social cohesion depends on this); or the question of double citizenship and one's preferred loyalty to their country of origin (even though the republican rights and duties apply to "citizens" to begin with; e.g. K. Benzema famously stated in 2006 that his dear country was Algeria and that he had chosen to play for France "for the sporting aspect", i.e. for opportunistic reasons -- the French Federation eventually stopped selecting him years later but for different reasons); or the question of certain cultural or religious customs which simply do not comply with the universalist model. Everything and more, by the Government itself or through publicly funded entities, is done to kowtow to those elements of the nation that are violating the very principles of the republican pact, while anyone pointing out this untenable inconsistency faces political persecution plus media and cultural demonization, for actually defending the law, the Constitution and ultimately the "living together" that lies at the very core of that republican pact to begin with. This schizophrenia cannot last forever, and eventually breaks apart under the weight of its inner contradictions whenever a s#itstorm like this sweeps the nation.
 
"The national sovereignty belongs to the people, who exercise it through their representatives and by means of the referendum. [...]"; except that it's a bunch of newspeak, since once elected, the representatives aren't bound to any of their campaign promises as they get carte blanche to pass any law they want*, and cannot be subjected to a recall for having misrepresented the people's will; while no constitutional provision allows for a nationwide popular referendum initiative to emanate from the people themselves.

(*The French Constitutional council, which is supposed to make sure that laws which are submitted to it comply with the Constitution, in fact isn't a constitutional court per se, since it is mainly composed of past prominent personalities from the political realm in general, appointed by current political leaders for a 9 year term, oftentimes with barely any legal background or if so only loosely, plus former Presidents who are ex-officio members for life -- i.e. not in the least actual magistrates; unlike for example neighboring Germany which is endowed with an exemplary Federal Constitutional Court, composed of real high-level justices with rock-solid expertise and legitimacy.)

If your constitutional council had to answer to a supreme court what do you think would change?
 
If your constitutional council had to answer to a supreme court what do you think would change?

Advocates of the current French system of government would argue that adding an extra layer of control would just relocate the problem to the next level, quoting Roman poet Juvenal: "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?", i.e. "Who will guard the guards themselves?" (originally referring to the male guards ancient Roman citizens tasked with watching over their homes and wives while they were away). But that's a fallacious argument, since there is still no legal decision-making that doesn't involve humans at some point (Yuval Noah Harari will have to wait some more), and humans unfortunately do not come with a bulletproof guarantee against bias, greed or spite. At least a supreme court composed of actual high court experienced judges would be the most competent in unwinding legal entanglements with constitutional review (i.e. reviewing the conformity of laws to the Constitution); certainly more so than a body comprising some figures who have bathed in the political cesspool throughout their career with their share of scandals, or do have a legal background but aren't necessarily high court judges, and who before rendering a key decision definitely communicate behind closed doors with their buddies who are still operating within the actual branches of government (questionable independence).

The thing is, the French Constitutional Council isn't just an obscure informal committee: It has actually already become the country's de facto "supreme court", sitting above the two actual supreme courts as you'd imagine them, i.e. the two highest courts of the two separate French judicial orders (the "judiciary" order with its own laws and court system, which enforces criminal law and civil law between private citizens, and the "administrative" order with its own laws and court system, which enforces up-down executive law and disputes between private citizens and Government). So, while for instance the US Supreme Court can operate either as a high court settling disputes between citizens, between citizens and the federal Government, or between federate States, or it can operate as the ultimate arbiter of the conformity of a legislative or executive act to the Constitution ("judicial review"), in France these two tasks are performed distinctly: the two high courts settle legal disputes, and by doing so also to some degree control the conformity of the lgislative and executive acts they are enforcing to the Constitution above; but it's really the Constitutional Council who is the ultimate interpreter of the Constitution, most symbolically when a law that's been referred to it for review deals with some hot societal topic where conflicting rights and liberties collide with each other.

(The Constitutional Council can be seized: by 60 members of either of the two chambers of Parliament, by the president of either of the two chambers, or by the President of the Republic himself -- during a short period where a law has been voted but hasn't yet been definitively promulgated; or it can be seized by either of the two high courts when in doubt over how to interpret the Constitution in a particular case, in which occurrence the case is put on pause pending the Constitutional Council's answer; or it can also be indirectly seized by any lower court sending such request to its high court, if the high court deems the request relevant and refers it to the Constitutional Council.)

The glaring deficiency here is that, unlike the two high courts and all of the lower courts in their wakes, which are actual courts of law mainly composed of actual magistrates, the Constitutional Council, while being sat higher up the ladder since it dictates the official interpretation of the Constitution to every court in the nation, ticks few criteria of an actual court of law itself. Let alone the criteria for the highest court in supposedly one of the world's most prominent democracies. Which is why it's still called a "council" and not a "court". In fact it was indeed conceived as just a council able to provide non-binding opinions to top political officials, certainly not as the main arbiter of the constitutionality of laws and the guardian of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution, which the country's entire legal system would then have to bow down to; it gained those capacities over time. But that is, I guess, a relic of the French absolute monarchy: an allergy to judges as a counterweight force, which is why the ultimate calls are made by an institution which is only partially judicial.

Now that wouldn't necessarily be troublesome per se if politicians at large actually correctly guaranteed the rights the Constitution grants to the citizens, as they should. This doesn't mean we should revert to the Middle Ages where the King himself grabbed his sword and went out on the battlefield, but at least at that end of the spectrum there was an utter sense of responsibility and sacrifice to the people justifying the authority; while today's political leaders are obviously quite at the other end of the spectrum and are mainly in it for serving themselves rather than serving the public.

So back to the original question: Would anything change if an actual supreme court, instead of today's Constitutional Council, was in charge of interpreting and guaranteeing the fundamental rights granted by the Constitution? Not automatically, as long as the Constitution's text itself remains unchanged, i.e. cleverly reserves ample leeway to the top governing officials' actions and secures them from repercussions (I don't mean mob vengeance, but for instance a mid-term recall for having betrayed their campaign promises), shields the top spots from the regular judicial system during their terms, ultimately allows elected officials to evade actual responsibility towards the people other than the risk of not being reelected.

In fact few politicians are even convicted with serious sentences, oftentimes only at a later stage of their careers when they've already had plenty of time to play the game, and even then, the judicial system which is already slow in France to begin with is oftentimes dragging its feet. E.g. former President Sarkozy has been out of office for already 11 years and has since been riddled with multiple charges for crimes committed during his presidential term (cheating campaign law with fake invoices, corruption by influence peddling...), and yet only recently has been sentenced to 3 years of jail time; but 2 of those are conditional therefore null (since he'll never be seeking public office anymore anyway), and 1 is not even actual jail time but home arrest with an electronic bracelet at certain hours of the day -- a laughable sentence, plus he's already made an appeal to the judiciary high court which should push the deadline even further, and who knows, he may even not serve any time at all.

And yet, only members of the legislative or executive branches, i.e. political figures, can even trigger a revision of the Constitution in the first place (not the people) -- which they never will for those articles which grant them quasi aristocratic privileges. So again, ideally, judges shouldn't even have to review the laws the nation's legislative body is passing, because after all, MPs are supposed to be the most legitimate relays of the nation's will. But since we know that is largely BS, yes, the next best thing seems to be an actual constitutional court worthy of that name, like the one in Germany -- reviewing laws in light of all the rights and liberties the Constitution grants to the citizens, not those which are power motivated, trendy, or about protecting the political caste itself. But that would require a radical revision of the Constitution itself in the first place, maybe even an entire regime change, and it won't happen because the current Constitution from 1958 contains its own protection clause at its final article 89, final paragraph: "The republican form of the Government cannot be the object of a revision" -- what "republican" actually refers to here is this entire puppet show masquerading as a model democracy with checks and balances, and all of these walls of protection shielding the governing from the governed.

Objectively speaking, as is, we're in quite a constitutional deadlock. Other than offering basic human rights and decent living standards on a global scale, the governing style isn't too far from a third-world country in terms of broken promises, tax misallocation and evasion, welfare fraud, elite power retention, political persecution of dissidents, and a climate of impunity for the thugs below and those above -- just wrapped in sophisticated golden curtains and legalese jargon. As is, the only peaceful solution seems to be electing a completely new breed of leaders, who would either retain the current rules and put them to better use or launch a referendum to try and change the rules altogether. But that prospect has been fought against ferociously for the past couple of decades, by colluding political, media and NGO powers with increasingly transnational interests and financing who are feeding at the same troughs -- the targets of these smear campaigns being called "extremists" and "conspiracy theorists" to this day, even though they had predicted the current events for the past 40 years with a high degree of accuracy since the cities are literally on fire (where is the mea culpa from the entire establishment?). What has changed now is that reporters can't seriously say "mostly peaceful protests" anymore, like CNN famously did during the 2020 George Floyd riots in front of burning buildings.

This has probably been a mouthful, but I thought I'd for once share with the folk abroad what's happening in a country that was once called "the beacon of the world", "the Church's eldest daughter", "the homeland of human rights" and other superlatives, and which for one and a half millenia has been pretty much at the forefront of history in terms of political innovation and influence, scientific breakthroughs, philosophy, literature, art and culture at large, along with its close geographical neighbors. But I keep getting ahead of myself and forgetting that our current leader thinks "there is no such thing as French culture" and that the electorate still voted him in twice.
 
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Happy 14 July 🇨🇵
 
Air show in French starting at 41'32" including overhead footage

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In English starting at 42'30" but shitty editing, no zooming and no overhead footage

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