French secularism: Anti-religious or safeguarding freedoms?

This week we take a closer look at France’s cherished state secularism. Laïcité [secularism], a product of French history and philosophy, is central to how France defines itself. But critics say it is anti-religious and increasingly used to stigmatise Muslims. Is laïcité compatible with a multicultural society?

We spoke to Jean-Louis Bianco, the President of the National Observatory on Secularism, to find out more. […]

Full Story: French secularism: Anti-religious or safeguarding freedoms? – France 24

 

Charotte Gainsbourg and Degas

Charlotte_Degas.jpg

“I loved this exhibition. It was Degas’s monotypes – a very interesting process of printing – mostly of women, prostitutes, who were willing to pose for him. But it could become very abstract, with the repetition; he was interested not in the drawing as a result but in the accumulation in his work of the same subject. It was very modern for his time. Then you have the other part – it’s very hard when you know that someone was such a horrible person in real life, and such an antisemite. It’s hard to avoid thinking about it and focus on the art. It’s the same with so many other people, like Céline. But it was really worth going.”
– Charlotte Gainsborg / A Strange New Beauty at MoMA.

Photograph: Andrew Toth/Getty

Ballet Scene (1879) pastel | moredegas_balletscene

Charlotte Gainsbourgcharlotte

How to Plan a Tour de France Trip



Since summer is a busy season for travel to France, expect to pay a premium for tickets; Hopper has identified a “good deal price” as being roughly $915, if you’re leaving from U.S. East Coast airports (New York’s JFK, Washington’s Dulles, Boston’s Logan) and $1175 if you’re leaving from San Francisco or Los Angeles. […]

Read Full Story: How to Plan a Tour de France Trip – Bloomberg

Who can stand up to France’s National Front? – Al Jazeera

Republicans in France choose their candidate for the presidential election next May.

French voters are due to head to the polls to elect their next president in less than six months.

The chances of Francois Hollande being re-elected are not looking good.

Opinion polls say the socialist leader is the most unpopular president in recent history.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen is currently doing very well in the polls.

Add to that Donald Trump’s victory in the United States, as well as Britons voting for Brexit, and more shockwaves wouldn’t be a surprise. […]

Source: Who can stand up to France’s National Front? – Al Jazeera English

Chanson Du Jour: Viens Sur la Montagne

Chanson Du Jour 11/21/2014: Marie Laforêt “Viens sur la montagne”

Marie Laforêt  was very popular entertainer in France during the 1960s  and 1970s. Like many European actresses of her day, she also recorded music. As a singer, Laforêt broke somewhat from the whispery style of Hardy and Birkin, and although she had hardly a great voice, it was one well suited to the folk and traditional songs she recorded in her early career.

Laforêt also had pretty good taste in music, recording the beautiful Peruvian traditional song El Condor Pasa four years before Simon & Garfunkel’s version.

The spiritual/protest song “Go Tell it On the Mountain” (“Viens Sur la Montagne) is the first track of this 1964 album by the same name.

Laforêt was not a recorder-playing, clog-dancing folkie. She recorded a nice version of the Stone’s “Paint It Black” in 1966, and acted in over 25 films, including Fucking Fernard in 1987.

She may be the only performer to record “El Condor Pasa” and appear in Fucking Fernard, but I will check with Paul Simon to confirm.