Laurel Zuckerman's Paris Weblog

France's Dangerously Seductive State of Emergency

State of Emergency Special

The last time a French president declared "l'Etat d'urgence" it was because the banlieues were erupting in violence, with rioters burning  public buildings and thousands of vehicles. That was in 2005, exactly ten years ago, under president Sarkozy.

The rioting had already gone on for nearly two weeks before the State of Emergency and curfew were declared. The specific intent at the time was to put a stop to the violence which was literally out of control.

Today? 

Today we have a State of Emergency declared by President Hollande and signed by Prime Minister Valls, Interior Minister Cazeneuve, and Justice Minister Taubira. It's purpose? Someone should probably ask that question.

Paris Dream vs Reality: A Discussion?

Paris bloggers, travel writers and authors, in the wake of the Paris Attacks, is it not time to revisit the tacit agreement not to say ALL we know about what's happening in France?

After the massacre at the Bataclan, the assault on restaurant goers and football fans, the beheading in the south, the executions of hostages at the Kosher grocery in Vincennes, the massacre at Charlie Hebdo in the heart of Paris, the targeting and torturing to death of a Jewish telephone saleman, the extermination of little Jewish schoolchildren in Toulouse, the killing of young solders and much more, isn't it time we shook off the shackles of self-imposed censorship and just told Paris lovers and visitors what we actually see, and know and feel?

About EVERYTHING.

How does it help our readers who dream of Paris to conceal from them problems we know about in France?

A while back there was a discussion about not wanting to ruin people's dreams of Paris by telling them too much.

After the grief, the devastation, the mourning, is it not time for a new honesty among Paris writers?

For the benefit of readers - and writers - alike?

(Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images/JTA "People place flowers and candles on the pavement near the scene of the November 13, 2015 Bataclan Theater terrorist attack, on November 14, 2015 in Paris, France. ")

France: French ghettos - like Saint Denis - ten years after the riots: video

To be fifteen in France's ghettos (banlieues).

Excellent discussion of the state of the "banlieues" in France, ten years after the riots that caused France's previous State of Emergency in the winter of 2005.

Calvi's TV show, "C dans l'air" is probably the best discussion forum on French TV. Notice what is said about denial of reality (what's called "angélisme"). About recidivism (it is false that prison causes recividism: "prisons do not cause recidivism; recidivists eventually end up in prison"). About impunity (minors know that they risk nothing "je suis mineur, on ne peut rien contre moi"). About the billions wasted (according to the very official Cour de Comptes). About the drug trade. About the changing population. About increasing violence. And more...(in French). If you blog about France or teach students about France, this is a good video to watch and discuss. 

Broadcast on October 28, 2015 - two weeks before the Paris Attacks,  "Avoir 15 ans dans les banlieues" was watched on TV by 1.7 million people in France.

France: State of Emergency

 

Today France mourns. Tomorrow: questions. 

 

New books, readings, writers workshops and English theatre in Paris

This November, news from Paris writers Peter Gumbel, Chantal Bizzini, Tom Parker, Samantha Chang, David Siefkin, David Downie, Kaaren Kitchell, Jane Augustine, Megan Fernandes, Michael Heller, Nina Zivancevic,  Roger Goldsmith, Marilyn Kallet, Jeanette Winterson, Marilyne Hacker, Paris Lit Up, Moving Parts, Shakespeare and Company, Berkeley Books, the American Library in Paris, Culture Rapide, Spoken Word, WICE, the Irish Cultural Center, Maison de la Poésie, Dear Conjuctions, and more (update ongoing...)

 

 

NEWS:

 

Shakespeare and Company café opens! With tasty pastries and giant glass windows facing the Notre Dame Cathedral, this is the best new coffee place in Paris! And it's right next to the venerable bookstore - bravo!

France announces top literary prizes! Goncourt to Mathias Enard for Boussole! Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française to two books, Les Prépondérants by Héddi Kadour and 2084 by Boualem Sansal!

NANOWRIMO started on Nov 1st. Good luck to all you participating writers! (Curious about what it's like: see Coffee to Float a Book: a Writer Reflects on National Novel Writing Month by Mary Ellen Gallagher)

New PWN author interview of David Downie, author of A Passion for Paris,  by Kaaren Kitchell !

JAILED: Stephan Templ, the Austrian author of the groundbreaking expose "Our Vienna: Aryanization Austrian Style" is still in jail on charges that appear to have been invented just for him by the Austrian authorities. German language newspapers report that the writer was punched in the face and subjected to invasive physical exams in Simmerling, the Austrian prison where he is incarcerated.  Austria has had a lot of trouble digesting its Nazi past - and was even boycotted by the EU for including Jorg Haider's far far right FPO in its government in 2000 -  but this is the first time since 1945 that it's jailed a journalist and Holocaust claimant.Writers, bloggers, journalists, help free Stephan Templ. Contact me for more information.

for news from the Paris literary scene, follow @pariswriters on Twitter

 

LITERARY EVENTS IN PARIS

David Downie On His Passions for Paris

 David Downie, author of A Passion for Paris; Romanticism and Romance in the City of Light, talks with Kaaren Kitchell for Paris Writers News (photos of Paris by Richard Beban)

 

For years, I had been hearing wonderful things about David Downie's books on Paris which have consistently earned high praise from readers and critics alike, and Paris Writers News is most grateful to writer Kaaren Kitchell for this wonderful interview with him for our interview series: Authors on Authors.

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Kaaren Kitchell: David, I loved this book. But then, I knew I would, since I share your passion for Paris. It is such a skillful interweaving of the last few centuries of Paris history, Romanticism, great stories about writers and artists, and the places where they lived. I just passed Baudelaire’s 1842-43 residence on the Quai de Bethune, and remembered your stories about him.