Jeem's visit to the French Senate

Within Jardin du Luxembourg rests the old Palais du Luxembourg, a majestic edifice to be sure, almost palace-like. It is here that one of Canada's newest senators recently attempted to visit.

The truth is, after a lengthy career attacking and vilifying the Canadian Senate as unrepresentative, unelected and certainly ineffective in every possible way, Jeem now finds himself a member of that august body, and ready to ring up all kinds of expenses as is the appropriate custom of senators in Canada.

To be clear, possibly more honest and certainly less deceptive, Jeem has been elected to the University Senate of Kwantlen Polytechnic University, his term beginning in September. And to further clarify the previous statement, which might be slightly misleading, though not in any way by intention, Jeem wasn't actually elected, instead he was declared "elected by acclamation." Jeem would argue that acclamation is a higher, purer form of democracy. The bothersome spectacle of campaigning for votes is, somehow, an ugly side of democracy and unworthy of true democrats. Like Jeem. Better to be appointed. By acclamation if at all possible. According to Jeem.

Having wasted no time getting on the gravy train, Jeem has journeyed to Paris, and in the true spirit of international goodwill, made his way to le Sénat. His goal, and the reason for the expense to KPU and to the taxpayers of British Columbia, is to research ways the Senate at KPU might benefit from improved relations with le Sénat of France. And of course Jeem hopes to confer with like-minded members of the Senate accustomed to even larger expense accounts than those of any senator in Canada.





All of this might have seemed a good idea in the morning when Jeem et Sherry caught the 95 bus from the 18e arrondissement.  Now, in the afternoon, the enterprise is complicated by the fact that the Palais du Luxembourg is guarded by large, burly men carrying sub-machine guns. They aren't all that keen on letting some guy with an ID badge from some unknown École polytechnique in Canada into the halls of serious second thought, or whatever the hell they do in there.

Maybe raising his voice didn't help either. Claiming diplomatic immunity when the guard asked for proper identification might not have been the right choice to make at the time. In the end, much later that night in fact, Jeem was released. He has promised never to return to le Sénat.

His claim for expenses, including legal costs, and a personal trainer while in custody, will be submitted. Of course. It's the Canadian way.

Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2015. 

First published at www.sojourninparis.com

Trudeau's tax cuts as seen by John Ibbitson

The Liberals have released a major policy announcement around taxes. The Globe and Mail's John Ibbitson reviewed the election-platform plank and here are some of his observations:

The Liberal Leader is dedicating himself, his party and his electoral prospects to making life easier for people earning between $44,700 and $89,401 a year. 

But...

If you make less than that, especially if you’re childless, Monday’s announcement offers you less.

And there's more:

It punishes the wealthy, and focuses laser-like on the middle of the middle. It is as important for what it leaves out as for what it includes.

If you believe that Canada has dug itself an infrastructure hole, and that Ottawa should be spending more to repair it, then be warned: Mr. Trudeau’s middle-class tax cut sucks up so much money that there will be little for trains and airports and sewers and highways.

If you believe that fighting global warming should be the first priority, then be warned: There will be few dollars available for converting from mean to green.

Many activists who are sick to death of years of Conservative hostility to their cause, whatever that cause might be, and who have poured their aspirations into the empty vessel known as Justin Trudeau, may only now be realizing that their hopes were misplaced.

And this, about Trudeau and the NDP:

... Mr. Trudeau has clearly decided to ignore the NDP. If they want to tailor policies for lower-income workers, if they want to guarantee subsidized daycare spaces, if they want to fight climate change, the Liberals are happy to let them... It can be exceedingly dangerous to turn your back on Thomas Mulcair.

Five months until the election, and:

Mr. Trudeau’s biggest challenge is to persuade those middle-income voters that he gets them and is willing to fight for them. It may be a hard sell... 

Five months can be a long time in politics. The NDP are going up in the polls while the Liberals and Conservatives are done slightly. Will tomorrow's provincial election results in Alberta boost the NDP federally? 

As citizens concerned about the least fortunate in our society, about climate change and about the terrible state of our nation's infrastructure, we need to be very careful about Mr Trudeau and the Liberal Party. Very careful indeed.

John Ibbitson's column appeared in Monday's Globe and Mail, 04 May 2015.

Floyd Mayweather & Manny Pacquiao and the celebration of violence against women

Apparently, there was some sort of mult-million dollar sporting event broadcast to the world just the other day. It was a boxing match, a sport where men try to injure each other with their fists. I don't follow boxing, nor do I consider it a sport. The disturbing details surrounding the two boxers, Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao, do interest me, and should to all of us who are concerned about violence against women.

Mayweather is a man with a history of misogynistic behaviour towards women. This man has been arrested or cited for at least seven assaults against five different women, including an attack against the mother of his children, witnessed by one of them.

Despite the nature of his crimes, he has served only two months of a measly 90-day jail sentence and been fined the amazing sum of $4000. Some say he has paid for his crime and, in the words of some commentators, "moved on." In fact he has done no such thing. His lack of an apology and remorse extends so far that his team banned two female journalists from receiving media accreditation ahead of the grand fight because they had, in the past, been critical of Mayweather's history of violence.

Then there is Pacquiao. Some fans, critical of Mayweather, have supported Pacquiao hoping he can work some suitable revenge. Apparently to some humans, violence can only be punished by more violence. Pacquiao's trainer described the fight as one of "good against evil."

Pacquiao is no friend to women either. Nor to gays. As an elected representative to the Philippine Congress, Pacquiao opposed a bill that would mandate government support for family planning services and contraception. He also cites his faith in God, and the Roman Catholic Church, for opposing same sex marriage. He has described the use of condoms and abortion as "sinful." Denying family planning services to women is a known risk factor for women and family violence. Not allowing women to protect themselves from forced reproductive labour is violence against women.

But back to the glorious match and all that it celebrates. Justin Bieber was there, as were Beyonce, Jay Z, Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore and Denzel Washington, to name but a few. Violence was celebrated that day. Reportedly, Pacquiao was to receive $120 million for his part, and Mayweather an even more impressive $180 million.

At the end, people cheered as Mayweather raised his fist in triumph. This is the same man who hospitalized a woman after stomping on her and punching her with the very same fist he used to beat four others.

What does this disgusting spectacle of money and violence say about our civilisation? Why would anyone cheer while one man who beats women fought another man who denies them their reproductive rights?

And what are we to do? What can we do?

By Jim Murray. Copyright 2015.

May Day! May Day!

Since 1947, the Fête du Travail, on 1 May, has been a paid public holiday in France. It is a legal requirement that on this day, all employees are entitled to a paid holiday. Traditionally a day on which trade unions protest across the country, it is also la fête du muguet, or the Lily of the Valley Day, on which it is customary to exchange lily-of-the-valley flowers for good luck.


May Day has its origins in 1886, when on that day, 200,000 American workers won the right to work an eight-hour day. The battle for an eight-hour day was not won by all workers, and riots broke out in Chicago. The Haymarket Square event was a turning point for the labour movement of the time. Three years later, the International Socialist Congress, meeting in Paris, adopted 1 May as International Workers Day and began an international campaign for the eight-hour working day. On 23 April 1919, the French senate sanctioned the eight-hour day and remarkably made 1 May a public holiday.

After having been officially named the Fête du Travail et de la Concorde sociale (day to celebrate work and social harmony) on 27 April 1941, the post-liberation government of 1947 legislated to make 1 May a paid public holiday, without actually officially naming it the Fête du Travail.

Members of the Socialist Party sometimes distribute their symbol, a red rose, on this day. Most public offices and buildings are closed on May 1st in France, as are many smaller businesses. Many, if not most restaurants and cafes, remain open as usual. While in years past, the day was often a day for protest, today union members and citizens gather, listen to music and speeches, and probably more speeches, and then march through the streets in a family-friendly festive atmosphere.

It's been a difficult year for workers in France. The Charlie Hebdo and HyperCacher attacks have created a national concern for security. The pressure to implement measures that will ultimately curtail free expression and movement, is significant. As well, the French economy continues to struggle, and nearly 10 percent of the workforce is without employment. Unemployment numbers among young males is much higher of course, especially in the usual ethnic communities. This adds pressure to the impressive social structure that makes France enviable in the eyes of many.




Since our last visit to Paris five years ago, there appears to be a significant increase in the number of homeless people and of beggars. They appear on street corners, at transit stations, and in churchyards. As they do in Canada.

May Day is a celebration to be sure. In France, and elsewhere too, it is a day to consider all that needs to be done to create the society described in their national motto. Liberté, égalité, fraternité.  In France, in Canada, we're all in this together.

Copyright 2015 by Jim Murray.

Charlie Hebdo & the HyperCacher

Going to the scenes of terrorist attacks is not a tourist-thing to do. Yet, where were these places that figured so prominently in our news of only a few months ago?

We know the story about Charlie Hebdo. 

At 11:30 on Wednesday morning, 7 January 2015, a black Citroen drove up to the building housing the offices of  Charlie Hebdo in rue Nicolas-Appert. Two masked gunmen, dressed in black and armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles got out and approached the offices.

They burst into number 6, Rue Nicolas-Appert, before realising they had the wrong address. The two then moved down the street to number 10 where Charlie Hebdo is located on the second floor.





The gunmen killed 11 people and injured 11 others in the building. After leaving, they killed a French National Police officer outside the building. Several related attacks followed outside Paris, where another 5 people were killed and 11 wounded.










It was easy to come to the neighbourhood by Metro, and the area appears to be an extension of China Town with new clothing stores and the Mandarin language heard more often than anywhere else I've been in Paris. It's also on the limits of the Marais, with its fashionable merchants, cool coffee shops and artsy bistros. The church yard near the Metro appeared to be filled with homeless people. It's an interesting neighbourhood.



Rue Nicolas-Appert appears on maps, and it seems simple enough to navigate, but it's a short little back street of sorts, and found only by meandering through another dead-end street to a lane-way, that finally leads to Nicolas-Appert.  Or so it appeared to me... it took a while to find.













At the address, there is little to identify the building in any way with the magazine, though there are now several prints on the concrete walls, and heavily armed National Police patrolling the street every day and all day. They are not keen on photos being taken of the building nor of themselves. There are barricades on both sides of the narrow street.

While I lingered at Charlie Hebdo a man appeared with a little boy. The man held the hand of his son and when they came to the front of number 10 rue Nicolas-Appert the man acknowledged me by nodding and asking what I think was "Is this the place?" I answered softly. The man knelt down and talked quietly to his son about what had happened and why it was important to have come today. Then, the two joined hands and walked away, both looking back with tears in their eyes as they turned the corner.





The HyperCacher story is well known too. HyperCacher is a small supermarket chain that features Kosher products. The chain operates in France and Italy.

On Friday, 9 January 2015, a man, armed with a submachine gun, an assault rifle, and two handguns, entered the HyperCacher supermarket at Porte de Vincennes in the 20e arrondisement of Paris. He killed 4 people, all Jews, then took several hostages. A day earlier the same man had killed a Municipal Police officer.

The HyperCacher was much easier to find than Charlie Hebdo. In fact it's down the street from a Metro stop. It's a bit on the outside of central Paris and the buildings are slightly newer, and generally less iconic than what we see in other parts of the city. The grocery store is found just on the other side of the Boulevard Périphérique, a major highway that literally rings the city. One of the busiest roads in Europe, the Périphérique is often considered the boundary between the city of Paris proper and its suburbs.





Like the street at Charlie Hebdo, this is a depressing place. The barricades are here too, and must be a deterrent to business. There are many candles littering the sidewalk in front of the store, and many more bunches of dried up and rotting flowers left long ago, and I wonder why the mess hasn't been cleared.

The police presence is slightly more subdued here than at Charlie Hebdo. Instead of machine guns toted by National Police, the two officers here are from a municipal force and they carry only side arms. They watch me as I walk back and forth in front of the store, but we acknowledge each other politely when I walk past them to enter the HyperCacher.






Inside, the store is subdued. There isn't the usual supermarket music playing and there aren't many staff and certainly not many customers. Perhaps it gets busier at other times though I assume the attack has not been good for business. I wander the aisles of the smallish store, and linger for some time in the wine department. There are many wines from Israel, France and Italy, and I am impressed to see a number of recognisable-even-to-me French wines that are Kosher. I didn't know.

As I walked through the store I imagined the horrific events of that day in January. And I thought about the route to the basement of the store, to the cold locker, where an employee of the supermarket, and a Muslim, Lassana Bathily, helped hide 15 hostages. He then managed to escape in an attempt to get help for the people in the basement, whereupon he was immediately arrested and only released after ninety minutes. Perhaps he is working here today.

Staff at the store paid me no interest, except to say hello. Several customers, both older citizens, were wary of my presence and uncomfortable. I am an outsider.

The two places are not on any tourist agenda, nor should they be. What happened here in January and how it shook this modern European state, will always be important to remember. Today in Paris armed police or military can be seen at virtually all synagogues and Jewish memorials. They are seen patrolling the streets around the Grande Mosquée de Paris and at Sacré-Cœur. Something terrible happened here in January, and no one is going to forget anytime soon.

Photos by Jeem. Copyright 2015 by Jim Murray.