Laurel Zuckerman's Paris Weblog

French Socialist ROYAL calls on children to join demonstrations, then denies it even as high school students receive text messages encouraging them to block schools

Fewer workers to pay the pensions of more old people. That's the flip side of people living longer and having less children.

The big losers? Young people onto whom feckless, irresponsible, greedy elders have shifted the burden.

Unfunded pension obligations is theft against future generations, and according to calculations by Laurence Boone, an economist at Barclays Capital in Paris, "the pension-fund deficit will widen to €24.5 billion by 2030." (source: The Economist). 

So why are students marching in the streets to defend a system which forces them to work longer so that their parents can work less?

Scrambling for ammunition to fight the government, the Unions, the Socialist Party, UNEF and UNL (the national university and high school students unions) have called for reinforcements among the young. It is a Children's Crusade. And like most Children's Crusades, it has little to do with benefiting children.

Already SNCF, RATP and numerous other beneficiaries of REGIMES SPECIAUX who are (sadly) untouched by this reform are planning transportation havoc for the private sector people who will have no choice but to work longer, reform or no reform.

And now, the youngest and most exposed victims of the current system have been manipulated into joining in as well.

Radicals hope for "débordements"--perhaps some media friendly violence. 

Meanwhile, unfunded pension debt continues to rise.

Poor France...

Here is former Socialist presidential candidate calling on  15 and 16 years olds to demonstrate in the streets, apparently oblivious that some parents might object to her encouraging their children to cut classes.

Ms Royal issued a statement saying she never said what she said the next day.

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If you have any doubt about whether high school students are being manipuated, check out the websites of  the Socialist Party and UNEF, the union of university students and UNL the union of high school students.

 (Why, by the way, is the Union National Lycéenne calling on the government to withdraw its pension reform? See their manifesto here).

 

Paris Writers News Flash: fun events Saturday October 9th !

This Saturday in Paris!

 

 

• PAN Closing Art Party this Saturday Oct. 9th from 16:00 - 20:00 au Bon Coin Gallery. - Annex 2 - Métros : Guy Moquet / Jules Joffrin 29 rue Montcalm, 75018 Paris, France   details on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=133530563361993)

 

• 17-19h Other Writers' Group. La Machine à Ecrire  80 rue du Charonne 75011 Métro Charonne (line 9) or Ledru Rollin (line 8) or Bastille and walk 10 min (lines 1,5,8)    To use the room we have to buy a drink each.  Cost: 5 euros 

 

• 21h30 Worldwide launch of My Bitchy Witchy Paris Vacation!  On the internet, or, for those of us in Paris, 9:30  Cafe Martini 11, rue du Pas de la Mule Paris 75004  Metros: Bastille, Chemin Vert, Breguet Sabin

 

 

French justice: old man still in jail for shooting robbers INSIDE his home

On August 5, 2010, seventy-three year old René Galinier awoke from his nap to find two thieves rummaging through his things. He called the Emergency Services, got his shotgun and shot them.

Since then he's been in jail. The appeals court of Montpeller rejected for the third time a request to liberate him.

Shortly before breaking into Mr. Galinier's house, the thieves had just been arrested and released for another burglary. They are both female, minors and, according to earlier reports, Roms. (This information no longer appears.) They were seriously injured and hospitalized.

The appeals court justified its decision to keep Mr. Galinier in jail with two arguments: first, that it was the only way to end a persistent and serious threat and  second, that his release could be misunderstood by certain ethnic minorities. (please see original French* below--you have to read it to believe it.)

It is currently fashionable to slam France for its obsession with security. But the hotly emotional debate in France --about security, politically motivated judges and the Rom-- is influenced by real life cases such as Mr. Galinier's. 

 

*Pour la cour d'appel, « le maintien en détention est l'unique moyen de mettre fin au trouble exceptionnel et persistant de l'ordre public, provoqué par la gravité de l'infraction, les circonstances de sa commission et l'importance du préjudice ». Autre argument invoqué par les magistrats : «Une mise en liberté pourrait aussi susciter l'incompréhension dans l'ethnie d'origine des victimes (pays de l'Est, ndlr) et faire craindre des représailles à l'égard du mis en examen». -- Le Figaro

 

 

FLASH: French taxpayers pay Société Générale 1.6 BILLION euros in tax deduction for Kerviel rogue trading losses!

French justice has spoken!

Jerome Kerviel, the young trader who managed to cause Société Générale 5 billion euros in losses has been declared guilty.

The charges:  '"abus de confiance", "faux et usage de faux" et "introduction frauduleuse de données dans un système informatique"-- breach of trust, forgery and fraudulent data entry.

Kerviel's defense tried unsuccessfully to prove that his bosses at Société Générale knew about his trades, but this was rejected by the court. (Ignorance really is bliss. Especially since "Kerviel had been placing bets outside his trading limit for more than two years. The bank has said it booked 1.4 billion euros in profit in the fourth quarter of 2007 from his unauthorized dealings."- NYT)

The Tribunal stated that Kerviel's acts had "hurt the world economic order" and condemned him to three years in prison and the repayment of 4.9 billion euros.

According to Le Monde, Kerviel sat "pale in his dark suit" when the verdict was announced. 

You'd be pale too if you had calculated, as Le Monde did,  that at at 2300 monthly salary, payment would take 170,000 years !

Mr. Kerviel's lawyer called the ruling "unreasonable" and said he planned to appeal.

The court's decision should feed speculation in a multitude of areas. Financial regulation. The culture of excessive risk. The importance of having bosses with some idea of what they're doing.  French justice (Kerviel was really the ONLY person charged?) And, of course, for HR directors, the risks of hiring from outside the grandes écoles.

 FLASH: French taxpayers pay Société Générale 1.6 BILLION euros in tax deduction for extraordinary losses !

Paris Writers News October 2010 Update !

This month, news from Jennifer Butler, Edith Kunz, Heather Reyes, Janice Barnett, Alyssa Landry, Stephen Clarke, Anne Korkeakivi, Jonathan Fenbey, Frances Gendlin, Peter Gumbel, Donald Morrison, Margo Berdeshevsky, Jen Dick, Festival America, Banned Book Week, Bilingual Acting Workshop, Writers’ Meetup, PWN Paris Short Story Contest !

 

New books !

 

Jennifer Butler's new book, James Jennifer Georgina, will be published by Irma Boom, the acclaimed book designer. A remarkable and innovative memoir of a personal and family odyssey through 1,000+ postcards that Jennifer sent to daughter Georgina during ten years of globe-trotting, in an effort to wrest husband James from his alcoholism.

“Designer Irma Boom invented a revolutionary articulated spine especially for this book, meaning that, despite its thickness, the book will lie open at any page.”

“In an internet age where “publishing” is now a virtual, impermanent, rescindable act, and bound volumes have given way to amorphous “content”, James Jennifer Georgina relishes its material existence. This is entirely appropriate for a book celebrating physical ephemera that were almost accidentally preserved, giving the family a stolen perspective on its past.”

Post cards are joined by 21 conversations, “three articulate characters sound like a mix between a Woody Allen film and a Harold Pinter play.'"

Donald Morrison, author of the incendiary Time cover article, “The Death of French Culture” now has a book by the same name! With Antoine Compagnon. (Watch for our upcoming interview)

Margo Berdeshevky’s *"Letter from Paris", including her *ranslations 
of 2 poems by José Saramago*, a Paris photo portfolio is on the front 
page of *"Poetry International's Weblog." 

 

Peter Gumbel’s essay On Achève Bien Les Ecoliers has hit the best seller lists and received positive press coverage in all major French and international reviews. Given my longstanding interest in the French education system and the excellence of his book, I am exceptionally running three detailed interviews with Peter (click to read parts one, two, and three).

 

Anne Korkeakivi’s short story, Ilunga, has been published in the Yale Review to critical acclaim (Anne is one of the 12 finalist judges for the Paris Short Story Contest : deadline November 30)

 

Stephen Clarke, author of the bestselling Merde series, has written the introduction to City Lit Paris’s Perfect Gems to City Writing, edited by Heather Reyes. Sylvia Whitman of the famous Shakespeare & Company Bookstore called it: “A great and eclectic set of writings and an original book on Paris”

 

 

 

Edith Kunz, author of Fatale How French Women Do It,  has broken uncharted waters with her humorous new book, The Merits of Middle Aged Men—and Where to Find Them.

 

Frances Gendlin’s  new 2011 editions of my guides "Culture Shock! Paris" and "Culture Shock! San Francisco"-- are coming to bookshops soon.

 

Other news briefs: singer, playwrite Alyssa Landry appears with French star Kad Merad in musical comedy Rendez-Vous (now playing); Janet Skeslien Charles, author of Moonlight in Odessa, has been named Program Director at the American Library in Paris; Nicola Keegan's acclaimed debut Swimming has just come out in French and HEBREW! (Janet and Nicola are both Paris Short Story Contest judges) ; Amanda Walsh, PWN video journalist, is editing a series of shorts about Festival America (including interview with Jake Lamar!)

 

Selected Literary Events, readings, meet-ups

(for complete listing see http://parisreadingsmonthlylisting.blogspot.com/ or links to book events on sidebar)

 2 October 10:00 A.M. American Library in Paris Used Book Sale. Starts at 10h00. Support the Library and find something wonderful to read! AT: The American Library in Paris. 10 Rue du Général Camou 75007 Paris, France Métro: Alma-Marceau

Also: banned book week!!!* And BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED ! And PAN ART SHOW  (1-10 OCT)! 

 3 October 4:00 P.M.: Leigh Hobbs will give a special signing of his wonderful books for children including the latest Mr Chicken Goes to Paris – Mr Chicken loves to travel and so when his French friend Yvette invites him to visit, he studies his maps, grabs his cambera and catches a taxi to the airport. Bring your kids along! (Signing only not reading) AT: Shakespeare & Co. 37 Rue de la Bûcherie 75005 Paris

 4 October 9:00 P.M. SpokenWord Open Mic at Cabaret Populaire/Culture Rapide. The format: 1. Sign up on the night. 2. Spoken word (poetry, prose, stand up, anything): you get 5 minutes, with a warning bell at 4.45 to let you know you have 15 seconds to finish 3. Acoustic songs: you get to do one whole song, 5 mins or even a bit longer. 4. We do 2 rounds and if there's space you can often have a go in both. AT: Cabaret Populaire/Culture Rapide 103 rue Julien Lacroix Métro: Belleville or Pyrénées

6 October 6:30 P.M. Famed writer Michael Moorcock, author of Mother London, the Jerry Cornelius novels and the epic fantasy Elric cycle, will be reading, talking and signing his books. AT: At the BNF (Bibliotheque National Francaise), Quai Francois Mauriac 13eme. Métro: Bibliothèque François Mitterand

6 October 7:30 P.M. Journalist and biographer Jonathan Fenby presents The General: Charles de Gaulle and the France He Saved.  AT: The American Library in Paris. 10 Rue du Général Camou 75007 Paris, France Métro: Alma-Marceau

7 October Writers’ discussion Meet-up  Lieu St. Victor 11 rue Monge 75005 Paris Comment nous retrouver"call my mobile: 06.35.21.80.86"

 8 October The Department of Global Communications cordially invites you to a talk by Peter Gumbel, the author of “On achève bien les écoliers,” who will be speaking on the culture of French schools.   (See Paris Writers News Interviews with Peter Gumbel here) Pease confirm by return email, places will be limited:  [email protected] or 01 40 62 08 23.AUP Grand salon  31 avenue Bosquet, 75007 Paris 

10 October 12 P.M. to 4 P.M. SOS Help Fall Booksale. AT: Orrick Law Offices 31 ave Perre Ier de Serbie 75016 Paris M° Alma Marceau or Etoile/ Bus 32,92

 11 October 9:00 P.M. SpokenWord Open Mic at Cabaret Populaire/Culture Rapide.  AT: Cabaret Populaire/Culture Rapide 103 rue Julien Lacroix Métro: Belleville or Pyrénée

 11 October 7:00 P.M.: Discussion at Shakespeare and Co. about Haifa, the subject of the latest issue of Mediterraneans, with the founding editor of the review, Kenneth Brown and journalist and political activist Dominique Vidal. AT: Shakespeare & Co 37 Rue de la Bûcherie 75005 Paris Métro: Saint Michel

13 October 7:30 P.M. Evenings with an Author: Melinda Blau   AT: The American Library in Paris. 10 Rue du Général Camou 75007 Paris, France Métro: Alma-Marceau

 

14 October 7:00 P.M.: The Village Voice Bookshop invites you to hear C. K. Williams read from and discuss his collection of poetry,  AT: Village Voice Bookshop 6, rue Princesse 75006 Métro: Mabillon

17 October Terrance Gelenter's PARIS in NY Lit Fest  Renowned authors gather to discuss Paris and their work-Judith Jones, Pete Hamill, Joan Nathan, Raymond Sokolov and Robert O Paxton-for more info and reservations, contact http://www.paris-expat.com/contact.html

15 October 7:00 P.M Susan Vreeland reads from and discusses her latest novel, Luncheon of the Boating Party. AT: Village Voice Bookshop 6, rue Princesse 75006 Métro: Mabillon

18 October 7:00 P.M.: British journalists Ed Howker and Shiv Malik will be discussing The Jilted Generation at Shakespeare and Co

18 October 9:00 P.M. SpokenWord Open Mic at Cabaret Populaire/Culture Rapide. 

19 October 7:30 P.M. IVY Writers Paris presented by Michelle Noteboom & Jennifer K Dick invite you to come out for a spectacular bilingual reading with French poet, art critic and translator Jacques Demarcq, American poet and hybrid text author Laura Mullen and American poet and founding publisher of Futurepoem Books Dan Machlin. AT: Le Next 17 rue Tiquetonne, 75002 Paris (M° Etienne Marcel /RER Les Halles) Pour plus d'infos, voir http://ivywritersparis.blogspot.com

 20 October 7:30 P.M. Thomas Kennedy discusses his new novel, In the Company of Angels a luminous love story about a Chilean torture survivor . AT:The American Library in Paris. 10 Rue du Général Camou 75007 Paris, France Métro: Alma-Marceau 

 25 October 7:00 P.M. Thomas E. Kennedy will read from In the Company of Angels,. AT: Shakespeare & Co 37 Rue de la Bûcherie 75005 Paris Métro: Saint Michel

 25 October 7:00 P.M. Kazim Ali at the Red Wheelbarrow AT: 22 rue Saint Paul 75004. Métro: Saint Paul

 25 October 9:00 P.M. SpokenWord Open Mic at Cabaret Populaire/Culture Rapide. 

 26 October 7:00 P.M. Jerome Rothenberg with Kazim Ali. AT: The Highlander, 8 rue de Nevers, Metro Pont Neuf or Odéon

 29 October 8:30 P.M. WORD the first open mic/slam/improvisation night upstairs in the library at Shakespeare and Company. Everyone welcome to watch or participate! Chaired by Adam Biles, Paris poets Heather Hartley and Rufo Quintavalle will kick of the evening.  AT: Shakespeare & Co 37 Rue de la Bûcherie 75005 Paris Métro: Saint Michel

 

Contests

Don’t miss!

 Paris Writers News Short Story Contest About Paris: deadline November 30 !

Download, print and post our new flyer Download Paris_ShortStory-R1!   

( many thanks to designer Peggy Ford-Fyffe King!)

Shakespeare & Co Novella Contest : deadline December 31 !

 

Workshops and retreats

 8 October 10:00 A.M. : Shakespeare and Company welcomes the Faber & Faber Academy back for a new writing workshop from 8-10 October – Adventures in Non-Fiction led by acclaimed writers Jon Ronson (Them: Adventures with Extremists, The Men who Stare at Goats) and Francis Wheen (How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World). There are only a few places left so if you are interested in participating please see http://www.faber.co.uk/article/2010/3/adventures-in-non-fiction-investigations-and-manif/

 

9 October 2:00 P.M. Atelier d'écriture avec Pierre Ménard. AT: Centre d'animation Château Landon, 22 rue du Château Landon, 75010. http://www.liminaire.fr

 Atelier de théâtre en anglais de 2h JEUNES de 7 à 11 ans – les samedis de 17h à 19h.  L’atelier requiert un niveau intermédiaire-débutant d’anglais parlé.Lieu / Address 35, rue St. Roch 75001 Paris, 6è étage Salle Ghesquière. Métro Pyramides, Opéra, Tuileries

 Creative arts center in Burgundy offerings writing events and a space ( 5 bedroom house s that sleeps up to twelve and a large studio/ workspace) for retreats/ group space to writers and writing groups. Full, half board or self catering available (excellent kitchen facilities). For more information, contact Janice  Barnett http://thereallybigburgundydream.blogspot.com 0345 47 95 02

 

 Paris: Casting for Varian Fry Project

Casting Native and Non-Native English Speakers for the Varian Fry Project
 All actors must speak English, although for some parts, as indicated by nationality, accents are appropriate. We are looking for:  
- 2 American men, ages 30-45 (Varian Fry and American Consul/Harry Bingham/Charlie Fawcett)
- 1 American woman, 25-35 (Mary Jayne Gold)
- 1 German man, 25 or so (Beamish)
- 2 French men, ages 25-40
- 1 Polish woman, Lena Fishman, 25-35
Auditions will be held in the afternoon on Friday, October 8th, and Saturday, October 9th by appointment.  Please send your CV and headshot to [email protected] to schedule an audition.

 

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