Royal and the Roots | 20 comments (20 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

By the way, the slogan up there in the photo is

Progress for all, respect for each.

I think it's a good one. And you?

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Thu Feb 8th, 2007 at 11:52:38 AM EST

I like the slogan - but I do hope it is not just that a slogan, but something that will be a guideline if/when she gets elected.

and thanks for a very interesting story.

by Fran on Thu Feb 8th, 2007 at 12:06:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Royal and the Roots (4.00 / 4)

I am personally quite impressed with the attempt to generate ideas for policy in much more participative manner. We all know the left everywhere has lost some cohesion due to historical/cultural shifts.

A process like this not only is valuable for being democratic but could really galvanise the movement.

I like the slogan.

I think the question is, unfortunately, how can she disrupt this broad media support for Sarko?

Or, to put it another way, as someone out of touch with France at this level, how much influence do the media have?

Also, what is your judgement, presuming we get to a Sarko-Sego second round? Is it a naturally close race? That's been my feeling, that this will really go to the wire.

In that case, we're almost pitting "participative politics" against "media-spin politics." Of course, there is a dynamic in certain classes of France that feels they are falling behind their colleagues in other countries when it comes to accumulating loot. They are a powerful constituency for Sarko. Articulate and prominent. Which leads me to ponder... any chance of an article on the state of the French political blogosphere?

I promise I will write one about the UK blogosphere within the next 6 months or so in return... ;-)

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Thu Feb 8th, 2007 at 12:17:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Royal and the Roots (4.00 / 3)

I think you sum up a good part of my feelings and questions. This is certainly an impressive harnessing of the grass/net-roots. But the MSM still count for a huge heap.

However, they can be challenged. This isn't the States 3-4 years ago. Royal has attacked the big media for belonging to big money and being against her (correct). François Bayrou makes a lot of noise fighting TF1, which he's quite right to do. It's being more widely said that the owners of the publishing, press, and TV world in France are all close buddies of Sarkozy -- who also owns a piece of the State's hold on public broadcasting.

I believe it's possible to force the media on to the back foot. The main thing is to introduce some doubt into as many minds as possible as to what the pundits are telling them is the truth. I also believe Royal is working with themes that are genuinely closer to people's concerns. "Progress" and "respect" are immensely well-chosen words. OK, slogans matter for less than twenty-five years ago, but big words still make their way...

On the French political blogos, I don't know enough about it yet. I spend all my time on this funny Scoop blog called ET... ;)

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Thu Feb 8th, 2007 at 12:29:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Royal and the Roots (4.00 / 2)

I'm glad that she's fighting back. I was very worried after the rpevious diary that Sarkozy was walking this and Royal was failing to make any headway.

I am personally quite impressed with the attempt to generate ideas for policy in much more participative manner. We all know the left everywhere has lost some cohesion due to historical/cultural shifts.

I like this a lot, intersting how this mirrors the "Energise america" netroot led initiative that seems to be gaining traction in significant circles.

However, knowing the left and its masochistic ability to demand purity before influence, I worry that this may generate hopes of influence unlikely to gain fruition, leading to disenchantment on the part of those who need to be energised.

Still, that's a worry for the future. Go Segeolene

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Thu Feb 8th, 2007 at 02:58:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Royal and the Roots (4.00 / 5)

I have been invited as a blogger to Sunday's big meeting. There was a previous invitation last week-end to present the people that did the moderation and the summaries of the debate (many of which were meeting on that occasion for the first time), but i could not make it.

You feel a real sense of pride coming from the people that have participated in that process. I really hope that something powerful will come out of this. It is essentially the same "netroots based" logic as EA. We'll see how this goes, but I'm well placed to know that you should not underestimate it.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Thu Feb 8th, 2007 at 04:09:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Royal and the Roots (4.00 / 2)

Yay, this is something significant that's happening right under the noses of of the msm. Is her initiative being noticed much at all bythem ? Do they understand it ?

God, it's amazing isn't it ? kos went to scoop in 2003 and transformed voter interaction in US politics. Just over 3 years later democratic policy formulation is really becoming "we the people, for the people, by the people". The corporations won't know what hit 'em.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Thu Feb 8th, 2007 at 04:58:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Royal and the Roots (4.00 / 2)

Oh, and great diary, thankyou for creating it!

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Thu Feb 8th, 2007 at 12:18:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Royal and the Roots (4.00 / 2)

Good slogan. Very good in fact.

Can't wait to see what comes next. Some of this is predictable (the Bushiste stuff, and eventually we-ll start seeing more of the photo of Sarko and Bush), some maybe not. We'll see. I personally like the talk about the media and the financial elites and hope it's not only rhetorical.

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill

by r------ on Thu Feb 8th, 2007 at 01:12:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Royal and the Roots (4.00 / 2)

It's predictable and fair enough, de bonne guerre : Sarko's positioning is in fact contradictory, even incoherent, and it's fine to smack into it by breezing him off the "workers" and reminding him he chose the photo ops with Bush and Blair.

I like the language too. The speechwriter (though I somehow think she had a lot to do with it herself) went to town. Some rhetoric there. Some real feeling too, I think.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Thu Feb 8th, 2007 at 01:26:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Royal and the Roots (4.00 / 2)

A couple of things I just picked up on TV while cooking:

a clip of SR at that meeting saying that there might be money to be made by "finance and the media" if NS won, but there would certainly be money to be lost if the left won. She said that very levelly with a steady glint in her eye. Looked like a genuine declaration of war to me.
Sarko has ping-ponged back to the right: support for Mohammed cartoonists, speech where he promises to make life uncomfortable for (Muslims unspecified) those who force their family to abide by religious rules, speech to "rapatriés" (former French inhabitants of North Africa) saying if France had to apologise to anyone over Algeria, it was to them (there he is straight picking a fight with Algeria).
Le Pen's response? (Roughly): he's ploughing the field where I shall sow and reap. Dead right.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Thu Feb 8th, 2007 at 02:16:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Royal and the Roots (4.00 / 2)

Sarko has ping-ponged back to the right: support for Mohammed cartoonists
François Bayrou (center) and François Hollande (left, secretary general of socialist party and SR's companion), most anyone that counts went in support of Le Canard Enchaîné in this cartoons trial.

by balbuz on Thu Feb 8th, 2007 at 03:41:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I'll second that specific bit (4.00 / 2)

Supporting the Mohamed cartoonist is definitely not a rightwing thing, it is a republicain thing, and a good chunk (thre majority) of these are on the left.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Thu Feb 8th, 2007 at 04:02:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Royal and the Roots (4.00 / 2)

Sarko is Interior Minister and ministre des cultes. This casts a quite different light on his open support for Charlie Hebdo (for which he'd hardly otherwise be suspected of sympathy... ;)). He must have known he'd create a fuss, being accused of stepping out of the neutral line his "stewardship" of religious bodies implies. (I flagged this on the Salon the other day, knowing there would be protests, and they quickly followed).

But it also has to be seen in conjunction with his aggressive talk (I heard it on the radio, nothing like the soft talk he's been coming up with since mid-January) about making life in France uncomfortable for religious heads of family (and being rapturously applauded for it), and above all his defence of colonialism. Le Pen wasn't making any mistake about it. This is Sarko back fishing in his lake. Not that Le Pen cares...

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Thu Feb 8th, 2007 at 05:08:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Royal and the Roots (none / 1)

We all know Sarkozy and his motives, the problem being of course he is at the same time candidate and Minister of the Interior, etc.

But I'm still not sure if you argue that supporting the cartoonists means belonging to the right ?

by balbuz on Fri Feb 9th, 2007 at 03:40:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Royal and the Roots (none / 1)

Sarko has ping-ponged back to the right: support for Mohammed cartoonists

Interesting piece in Le Monde yesterday about this.

Nicholas Sarkozy's support for the weekly sows confusion in Muslim organizations		Le soutien de Nicolas Sarkozy à l'hebdomadaire sème la confusion dans les institutions musulmanes
He [a member of the French Council of the Muslim Faith] looks at the bright side by citing certain results of a poll published February 8 by the weekly Le Pèlerin. According to this survey, three quarters of French people consider it "unacceptable" to publicly mock a religion, or the representatives, believers, or founder of a religion. On the other hand, 48% (as opposed to 45%) find it unacceptable that representatives of a religion should be able to sue those who criticize them in court.		Il [un membre du bureau du CFCM] se console en évoquant certains des résultats d'un sondage publié, jeudi 8 février, par l'hebdomadaire Le Pèlerin. Selon cette enquête, trois quarts des Français estiment "inacceptable" de se moquer publiquement d'une religion, des représentants, des croyants ou du fondateur d'une religion. Ils sont en revanche 48 % (contre 45 %) à trouver inacceptable que les représentants des religions aient recours aux tribunaux pour poursuivre ceux qui les critiquent.

Interestingly, 55% of regularly practicing Catholics do think it's okay to sue people for criticizing a religion and/or its represenatives, founders, etc., while only 36% do not think it's okay.

Wonder what the number would be for Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, and Moonies.

Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.

by marco on Thu Feb 8th, 2007 at 10:57:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Royal and the Roots | 20 comments (20 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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