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Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Matt Treacy ✒ On Tuesday, France became the latest country to scrap its television licence.


Following on an election promise from President Macron, the Senate approved the proposal to scrap the tax by 170 votes to 57. This means that it will also be certain to pass through the National Assembly.

Macron had basically stolen the idea from Marine Le Pen’s National Rally manifesto, and it proved to be a popular one, and comes as part of a series of measures designed to address the cost of living crisis that is impacting on households across all of Europe.

The French fee was €138 per year, a revenue of €3.2 billion in 2022. The state now proposes to fund public service broadcasting through VAT. Not surprisingly our own state broadcaster RTÉ seems to have missed this story.

Irish contributors to RTÉ will also probably not realise that the legal requirement to have a TV licensc is in very much the exception among the nations of the world. A mere 15 Europe states have such a thing, and beyond that only seven other countries on the planet require that you have a piece of paper in order to own a television.

Not only that, but the trend has been for countries that did force its citizens on pain of fines and imprisonment to have a TV licence to scrap it. Since 2000, that has included Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Romania and Sweden.

Poland, where evasion rates are around 65%, is currently considering doing away with it, as are the British where the current Minister for Culture Nadine Dorries supports a two-year freeze, with possible abolition in 2027.

The political divide on TV licences is interesting. The British Tories clearly have an issue with the BBC which is regarded as biased towards the left. Likewise in France, where National Rally and the more conservative Republicans support not only scrapping the license but privatisation. In Le Pen’s case this is clearly not anything to do with opposition to public services whose protection is a key part of National Rally policies, but a dislike of the fact that public broadcasting has clearly constituted another battle decisively won by the French left in its “march through the institutions.” Indeed, Mélenchon’s far left alliance NUPES and the Communist Party are the most vociferous opponents of abolition.

The main opposition party here, Sinn Féin, has had its own issues with RTÉ having been banned in the past under Section 31 and is still claiming a certain bias when it comes to coverage. It has never, however, made abolition an election promise and in general it’s overall left liberal stance on issues such as abortion which they share with the other establishment parties are clearly favoured by RTÉ.

This was evident in RTÉ’s coverage of the referendum on the 8th amendment and is reflected in its daily content on a whole range of issues. The public broadcasting service claim – as in providing any sort of meaningful cultural content – is moot when you look at their schedule which is pretty much wall to wall imported soap operas and American talk shows. There is certainly an argument for supporting Irish language media but TG4, apart from a few exceptions, differs little from the two RTÉs in its overall standard of content.

The fact that the Irish state was considering broadening their take from what people watch was signalled by the Fine Gael/Labour proposal to introduce a charge that would allow them to basically tax people for watching stuff online on their phones and laptops. That seems not to be completely dead in the water and would be a true return to the days when the state taxed people for having windows and fireplaces.

The current evasion rate here was estimated at 12.8% in 2018. I, for one, am not apologising for being one of that band. I do admit to having some lingering reservations with regard to what I believe is an onus on the state to set some sort of cultural level, but that is perhaps nothing more than intellectual snobbery on my part and a quick glance at the TV and even radio schedules indicate that that ship has by and large sailed.

In any event, my willingness to pay a few euro for TG4 is outweighed by the knowledge that it is mostly going to support ideologically motivated overpaid broadcasters who represent most of the things I disagree with, and broadcast content that I would not watch nor listen to unless you were to tie me to a chair and staple my eyelids to my forehead.

Matt Treacy has published a number of books including histories of 
the Republican Movement and of the Communist Party of Ireland. 

France Latest Country To Scrap TV Licence

Following PM Boris Johnston’s ‘car crash’ CBI speech, its not a visit to Peppa Pig World which will save his premiership, but Boris leading British troops on the sands of Calais in a war against the people traffickers, according to contentious political commentator, Dr John Coulter.

Who is really running the country, Labour voters (and even a few Tory backbenchers from the powerful Conservative 1922 Committee) might be asking following PM Boris Johnston’s recent debacle during his CBI speech.

If ever there was a ‘car crash’ delivery of a keynote industrial speech, this was it! Labour’s Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, the MP for Leeds West, branded it a “bumbling” address which saw ‘Bumbling Boris’ lose his place in his notes, impersonate a car, and talk about a visit to Peppa Pig World!

Given the seriousness of the Covid pandemic, the ongoing looming crisis in Northern Ireland over the Protocol, the general bad feeling between the EU and the UK over Brexit, not to mention the unfolding tragedy of the Channel migrant catastrophe, folk may be wondering if Mr Johnston is actually in full control, not just of the Tory Party, but of his Cabinet and even the country itself?

Even the so-called Iron Lady of Conservatism, the late former PM Maggie Thatcher, faced a coup in her own ranks which eventually forced her out of office. At what point do rumblings within the 1922 Committee become an open revolt against the PM?

At what point do the Tory backbenchers during the Christmas recess from Parliament, instead of discussing Brussels sprouts, rather discuss ‘Boris Out’?

Ironically, Boris needs to take a leaf out of the Thatcher manual for handling rebel Tories. In 1981, it was perceived that Thatcher had caved in to the demands of the IRA and INLA hunger strikes in the Maze prison.

She had created 10 new martyrs for the republican cause when in reality she could have given in to the demands after the deaths of the first two hunger strikers - Bobby Sands MP and Francis Hughes. Then again, did the other eight prisoners who died on that death fast actually need to die or were the leaderships of the Provisional republican movement and republican socialist movement merely sacrificing their prisoners for propaganda purposes - but that’s a debate for another day.

Thatcher desperately needed to save face in 1982 after the 1981 hunger strike debacle for her premiership. Then Argentina invaded the Falklands.

Thatcher’s reaction was to send a full-blown British task force to the islands in the far away south Atlantic to liberate the islands. The net result of scenes of Thatcher in full-blown combat gear secured her a landslide election victory the following year in the 1983 Westminster General Election.

What Boris needs in 2022 to face down any perceived Tory revolt that Downing Street is totally disconnected from not just the Conservative party, but the entire UK, is a major propaganda boost.

It is said a good general picks his battle fields carefully. Boris will need to pick a fight on a topic on which he can clearly win, not just score a few brownie points. It has to be an outright crushing victory - and it has to be very, very public.

Its no use making another speech from behind the comfort of the lectern in 10 Downing Street as if it was the daily Covid briefing; nor is touring a successful factory bedecked in a high-vis jacket and hard hat any use. It has to be a PR coup which clearly gives the strong impression of a PM that is firmly in control of the leadership of his nation.

In today’s media-driven world of politics, perception can be as persuasive as reality.

So who can the target be that can guarantee this outright PR victory? The pandemic with all its variants is so unpredictable in direction and impact, it would be foolhardy to claim that the various deviants have been medically defeated.

Unless Boris can stand up in the House of Commons in the New Year and claim the Northern Ireland Protocol has been entirely axed, any threats about what the UK Government will do will come across as empty rhetoric.

So with Brexit, the Protocol and the pandemic ruled out, that leaves only one avenue - declare war on the people traffickers forcing migrants to cross the English Channel. The brutal solution against the traffickers - British boots once again on French soil!

Imagine the propaganda coup for Boris - prancing along Calais beach in full combat gear, accompanied by armed British bobbies and squaddies, giving a Churchillian-style speech about fighting the human traffickers on the beaches? It would show Boris in control of the situation in which people are currently losing their lives trying to reach the safety of British waters and shores.

And Boris can score a double whammy in any retort to French President Emmanuel Macron if the latter issues a flat ‘Non’ to British boots on French soil - well, you were glad of British boots in 1914 and 1944 when your country was occupied by the Germans, firstly under Kaiser Bill and then by Nazi tyrant Hitler.

The latter sentence may come across as patriotic sabre-rattling, especially as the French are mighty angry at the UK leaving the EU, but it will give Boris the unique perception that he is actually in charge of the UK - ‘Bumbling Boris’ becomes ‘Beachhead Boris’.

The real serious political danger which Boris faces is that he is relying too much on his Commons majority. He does not find himself - as yet - in the same precarious situation as his predecessor as PM, Theresa May, who needed a ‘confidence and supply’ arrangement with the DUP MPs to prop up her Tory Government.

But Boris should remember the fate of the Iron Lady. That 1983 General Election returned Thatcher to Downing Street with a massive majority, something similar to Boris’s current majority. But within the decade, the political wolves in the Tory party had savaged her and she was gone.

If there is one bitter pill which every Tory PM needs to swallow, its don’t take the blessing of the backbench 1922 Committee for granted. Now get that ticket to Calais beach booked ASAP, Boris!

Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
Listen to commentator Dr John Coulter’s programme, Call In Coulter, every Saturday morning around 10.15 am on Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. Listen online. 

British Boots On French Soil ➖The Only Way To Save ‘Bumbling Boris’

National Secular Society ✒ Keith Porteous Wood says France's deference to the Catholic Church has obstructed justice for hundreds of thousands of abuse victims.

An inquiry commissioned by the Catholic Church into clerical abuse in France has just concluded that victims of both clerics and laity (teachers, for example) totalled around a third of a million since 1950.

In no country in the world has such a high figure been included in an official report. Nearly all victims were minors or vulnerable adults.

The commission, to its credit, held exhaustive hearings in every major town in France. But listening to so many harrowing testimonies took its toll. The president of the commission was not alone in needing psychological assistance.

At the public launch of the inquiry report, abuse survivor François Devaux told Church officials:

You are a disgrace to our humanity. In this hell there have been abominable mass crimes...betrayal of morality, [and] betrayal of children.

The report concluded: "The Catholic Church is, after the circle of family and friends, the environment that has the highest prevalence of sexual violence." Its president accused the Church of "sometimes knowingly putting children in touch with predators."

Continue reading @ National Secular Society.

Only Secular Law Can Bring Justice To Victims Of Mass Clerical Abuse In France

UnHerd ✒ The political ideology that feeds terrorist violence cannot be explained away by religion or colonial history.

Liam Duffy 

President Macron’s hate affair with the American media continues, if a recent New York Times article is anything to go by. The president is not happy, and thinks the Anglo-Saxon press fails to understand French laïcité and the universalist model, as opposed to the Anglosphere model of multiculturalism, with its distinct roots in the British Empire. While this is undoubtedly true, the more pressing issue might be the gulf in understanding of Islamism, the target of Macron’s campaign.

France’s introduction of new measures to combat so-called “Islamist separatism” and the decisions to raid Islamist organisations and dissolve others in the aftermath of Samuel Paty’s murder have caused consternation among Western elites. Over the weekend, Twitter was awash with comparisons between France’s policies and the plight of Jews in 1930s Germany. 

These conspiratorial takes not only demonstrate a deep moral and intellectual confusion, but at this point they are actively endangering French citizens — almost 300 of whom have been slaughtered in the streets by Islamist murderers in the last few years. 

Continue reading @ UnHerd.

Macron Is Right About Islamism

Kenan Malik ✒ The French president’s response to Islam is shot through with hypocrisy and illiberalism.
 
Letters complaining about newspaper articles are unexceptional. Not so letters from the Élysée Palace. Last week, the Financial Times published, after the killing of teacher Samuel Paty in Paris and of churchgoers in Nice, an article by its Europe correspondent, Mehreen Khan, critical of French president Emmanuel Macron’s policies towards Islam. Macron’s desire to “use the state to prescribe a ‘correct’ religion”, she wrote, has “more in common with authoritarian Muslim leaders than enlightenment values of separating church and state”.

Macron responded with a letter-cum-article defending himself and his policies and accusing Khan of “misquoting” him – he insisted he had never talked of “Islamic separatism”, as Khan suggested, only of “Islamist separatism”. By the time the FT published Macron’s letter, however, it had removed Khan’s article for “factual inaccuracies”. One could read the criticism but not what was being criticised.

Newspapers do sometimes excise articles – I’m sure the Observer has done so. But they should do so only in truly exceptional circumstances, and then give a full account as to why. The removal of offending articles after criticism is, however, becoming a more acceptable part of our culture.

 Continue reading @ The Guardian.

Fanatics Have No Right To Censor Critics ➖ But Neither Does Emmanuel Macron

France 24 ✒ ‘Islam is being hyper-politicised in France, but Muslims are not in the debate'.

Benjamin Dodman

The resurgence in attacks by radical Islamists on French soil has rekindled fierce debates on Islam, secularism and discrimination in France, home to Europe’s largest Muslim population. But Muslim voices are largely kept out of the conversation. 

On October 2, the day President Emmanuel Macron unveiled his plan to fight “Islamist separatism” in France, the mayor of the Paris suburb of Trappes, 35-year-old Ali Rabeh, was invited by French broadcaster CNews to discuss Macron’s proposed measures to root out radical Islam from France’s most stricken banlieues.

Rabeh began by calling for more police officers and public services in his town of 32,000 inhabitants, a working-class and ethnically diverse municipality with the unwanted distinction of having seen more homegrown jihadists travel to Syria, per capita, than any other in France.

The conversation soon veered into acrimony when one of the channel’s regular commentators quizzed the mayor about the prevalence of political Islam in Trappes, “a territory lost to the Republic”. He asked Rabeh whether he was even aware that Sharia law was applied there.

“There is no Sharia law in Trappes, nor anywhere in France,” a flustered Rabeh hit back. 

Continue reading @ France 24.

Islam Is Being Hyper-Politicised In France

UnHerd ✒ Targeted by fundamentalists, the French are shocked by the lack of support from their American and British friends.

Liam Duffy 

When Charlie Hebdo was struck in 2015, France was defiant. When blood soaked the floors of the Bataclan later that year, France despaired. Now, after seeing a schoolteacher assassinated for simply doing his job, for doing what the Republic asked of him, France is furious.

For France, the time of hashtag solidarity and “Don’t Look Back in Anger” has passed. After years of terrible bloodshed on its streets, the usual lines and excuses are well worn out among French audiences. Now, France is clearly staking out its position: that the jihadist terror they’ve endured — more than any country in Europe — is a product of the growth of Islamist ideology inside its own borders, and the cultural chasm it creates.

In a speech to honour the slain schoolteacher, the French President himself could barely hold back his emotions, while in private he is said to be ready for a “fight to the death” with Islamists. His interior minister has denounced “Islamist barbarism” and said it’s time for Islamists to feel the fear and shock of France’s actions, not the other way around. The public, too, wants real action.

Continue reading @ UnHerd.

Why Is The Anglo Media Portraying France As The Villain?

UnHerd ✈ Samuel Paty, slaughtered for a lesson in tolerance, has become a martyr for the Republic.
 
John Lichfield

Samuel Paty’s lesson for 13 and-14 year-old pupils on tolerance and freedom of speech is a lesson for the whole of France. It’s a lesson for all of us.

The facts are appalling. They are grindingly familiar and disturbingly novel – a collision between the murderous certainties of fundamentalist Islam; a well-meaning school lecture; and the mendacious, conflagratory power of the internet. On October 6, Mr Paty, 47, a much-liked history and geography teacher in a dull Paris suburb, produced for his middle school civics class a pair of the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed which provoked the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine five years ago.

How can publishing such cartoons be justified, he asked the teenagers, if they offend people of the Islamic faith? Where does the freedom of expression end and respect for others’ feelings begin?

These questions are not easy, Mr Paty explained. That is why fundamental principles exist in democratic states such as France to help people of different faiths and opinions to get along without murdering one another (as they have in not-so-distant parts of French history). The complexities are the lesson. But this lesson cost Mr Paty his life. Ten days later he was dead – decapitated by a 19-year-old Chechen refugee to France as he walked home from school.

Continue reading @ UnHerd. 

Is France’s Secularism Worth Dying For?

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