Paris bulletin 1 2009

                                                     

My first venture out into town at the start of this new year took me down the rue du Faubourg St Denis, alongside the gare du Nord. Out on the street in orderly ranks that afternoon I ran into hundreds of Tamil, mostly men, young and old but a few vocal women as well. The placards said it all: Tamil Eelam, (independent Tamil), 'mettre fin à la génocide en Sri Lanka', 'Toute ma famille tuée' ('all my family killed'). Most people were holding something in their hands: a placard, a leaflet, flags - lots of yellow tigers on a red background as well as the red, white and blue national flag - photos of children, fathers, brothers, uncles who have died in this under-reported civil war. They were being managed by stewards who were doing their best to stop the throng from completely blocking the traffic heading for the cross-roads at la Chapelle. It looked like they were having a fair degree of success and there was no sign of the police when I wriggled my way through going towards the town centre. But the white vans full of uniforms were there by the time I came back and as I exited from the main melee I heard whistles and shouts, car doors slamming and then more sirens. It sounded as though the police had ditched the softly-softly approach for the 'come on boys, let's clear this lot out!'

Demonstrating out on the street with processions and rallies has a long and glorious history in France. But demonstrating if you're a French national and demonstrating if you're a Tamil or a Turk or any other non EU-resident whose papers aren't in order, carry penalties of different orders of magnitude. How many of those who chose to line up along the street that afternoon took the risk of being manhandled into a van by police, taken to a commissariat and asked to produce papers to justify their presence in France? How many of them are even now as I type this, sitting in a holding centre somewhere on the outskirts of the city en route to an airport for rapid transfer back to where they came from? Maybe not so many but the numbers of those summarily deported from French territory rises inexorably by the week. You can see little yellow stickers on lamp-posts and railings: '30,000 expulsés déjà - une honte à la république'. Does the ordinary British citizen have any notion how many 'non-compliant foreigners' have been booted out of GB by now? Probably not. Talking of which I came back from the UK with a book of sample tests for those seeking to remain indefinitely in the UK, a government publication. You fail if you get more than 6 responses wrong (out of 24). I got 4 wrong the first test I tried.

question no.14 sample test no. 8

European law is legally binding in the UK. Is this statement true or false?

question no. 16 sample test no. 4

How are local government services paid for? Select two options from below

A) grants from central government
B) council tax
C) charitable donations
D) insurance premiums

question no. 21 sample test no. 2

What type of discrimination can the Equal Opportunities Commission help with?

A) discrimination related to disability
B) racial discrimination
C) religious discrimination
D) sex discrimination

.... How are you doing so far?

There'll be another big withdrawing of labour by the workforce at large here on Thursday. Rallies are planned by the unions in all the key centres, to protest at the current policies 'face à la crise'. France's car industry is on its knees as one plant after another is put on temporary shut-down and people are told to go home and wait for better times.

Considering everything, in the UK or here, and feeling the heat beneath your feet as the volcano stirs and rumbles, the earth begins to crack a little with the strain, it's extraordinary how calmly and efficiently people are getting on with life.