France Today - The View From Moscow

Here is an article posted in the comment section of François Desouche. To the best of my knowledge it is not online, but it appeared in the French magazine Rivarol, according to another comment at FDS. Written in 2005 by a Russian - Mikhaïl Zygar of the weekly Kommersant-Vlast, it is comparison between the France of today and another, authentic France that is rapidly becoming just a memory. But the tone is mocking, and as a Russian well-versed in the evils of propaganda, he might have, at least, admitted that what we see today in France is the result of a long period of denationalization, de-Christianization, dehumanization and self-flagellation orchestrated by the forces of the media and the educational institutions, both of which are instruments of a State willing and eager to surrender its sovereignty to a cruel and cold-blooded central authority: Brussels. As a Russian, Mr. Zygar should have pointed this out. Moreover, the stereotypes he describes are just that - stereotypes that often border on the ridiculous. The France that we are losing was more than just frogs' legs and pretty women and tourist traps. It was an ancient and complex Christian culture, composed of multiple layers of artistic, scientific, and humanistic accomplishments, that is now being systematically and systemically destroyed by the individuals who govern the country. The French must know this but so far have been powerless to change the suicidal course they have been deliberately set on.

The reasons why they have been so passive in the face of this mutation of their civilization need to be addressed. This, the Russian does not do. Nor does he point the finger at the long series of disastrous regimes that constitute the French Fifth Republic, that began in the bloodshed of a French president murdering his own people, and seems to be ending in the same way:

We are accustomed to thinking that France is frogs' legs, cheese, fashion, wine, Renault, Peugeot and elegant Parisian women. But reality gives the lie to these stereotypes. The France of the 21st century is kebabs, beer, Mercedes, sales and veiled women.

The first preconceived idea is that the Frenchman loves frogs' legs. As you might expect, the French do not eat frogs' legs. In Paris it is rather difficult to locate a restaurant that offers this specialty, and it is even harder to find a Frenchman who has ever tasted them. French gourmets prefer to satisfy their hunger with kebabs. On every street corner, you can find stands where a piece of meat is roasting on a spit...

Let's move on. The gallant Frenchman needs a gallant Frenchwoman by his side in his French car in order to exchange a "French kiss" with her. However, today the Frenchwoman will not necessarily be elegant. Fashion is no longer dictated by the boutiques, but by gigantic clearance sales in malls...

To have a hair-do that falls freely, long nails and high heels is looked down upon by elegant Frenchwomen, because these are the styles of prostitutes and Eastern European women, they assure us. One of the reasons for this severity is probably that a growing number of these Frenchwomen wear the head-scarf.

Paris arouses an avalanche of clichés. The Eiffel Tower where couples in love stroll. The banks of the Seine, a favorite spot for the evening promenades of respectable grandmothers and their little dogs. The Champs-Elysées where veterans wearing the Legion of Honor medal proudly file by beneath the tricolor. The Louvre, so refined, attracts lovers of antiquities and architecture as well as adolescents nourished on Alexander Dumas, dreaming of duels and musketeers. Seductive Montmartre, world-wide center of "la vie de bohème", with its painters and its lingering scent of absinth. Finally, Pigalle and the wild cancan at the famous Moulin Rouge.

In the Paris of today these familiar images now have a different aspect. At the foot of the Eiffel Tower, dark-skinned young people play soccer. They all wear tee shirts illustrated with today's heros of France. They most likely know nothing of the existence of Joan of Arc or Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Their history, their legends are Zidane, Henry, Thurman, Dessailly.

In the evening, couples exchange kisses on the benches along the Seine. For the most part, they are gay couples. They, too, like to stroll with their lapdogs along the riverside. The Champs-Elysées, fortunately for the tourists, presents parades of proud native-born citizens. They are often joyous Asians in bright-colored national costumes, playing the drums or flutes. They may be celebrating the Chinese New Year, or the Vietnamese, or some other.

The venerable Louvre greets you with an enormous glass pyramid. The French love the contrast between fancy baroque and postmodern masterpieces. Next to every gothic church, or almost every one, there is a metal sculpture of unintelligible geometry.

In Montmartre they no longer drink absinth, but the neighborhood has preserved its shady reputation. It is there that low-income immigrant families settle. Drug-trafficking is common and in the evening, young hoodlums fight in the streets. There are no more Bohemian artists, but Arabs sell souvenirs made in China. Even if they are still centers of night life, the pleasure places such as Clichy and Pigalle have replaced the traditional cancan with peep-shows and private parties and belly dancers.

In a word, France surprises the cultivated visitor at every step of of the way. Fortunately, in Moscow, you can still find a nice quiet little French restaurant and drink a bottle of vintage wine, with a piece of Camembert while you exchange a "French kiss" with an elegant lady.

All in all I found this article unsatisfying. The Russian, with no small degree of schaudenfreude, seems to be gloating while France struggles to survive. His contention that you can still find "France" in Moscow because of wine and cheese is ludicrous. That is simply an echo of France, not the culture, not the civilization, and certainly not the people and their land.

If the Russian is so concerned about the nation-destroying consequences of massive immigration/invasions sponsored by corrupt Socialist governments, if he feels these Third World countries with their alien ideologies and their violent proclivities should never have been allowed into the West, if he perceives that the inherent virtue of the West, i.e., its tolerance, is also the vice that will ultimately bring about its total collapse, then WHY DOESN'T HE SAY SO?

To close on a better note, in 2003, there was an exhibit, sponsored by a company called Interros, of French and Russian art from 1800 -1830, entitled When Russia Spoke French. Here is its short introduction:

May 21 at the Hôtel National des Invalides (Paris) saw the opening of an exhibition from the collections of a French and Russian museums dedicated to the Tercentenary of Saint Petersburg.

For the first time in many years a project of such large-scale is not government-run. The Russian-French cultural event has been initiated, organized and sponsored by the Interros Company.

To coincide with the opening, Moscow Publishing House Slovo with the support of the Interros Company produced a French-Russian Dictionary of Art Terms.

The exhibition Paris — Saint Petersburg. 1800—1830. When Russia Spoke French… shall remain open at the Hôtel National des Invalides till August 31, then it will be moved to Saint Petersburg, to the premises of the State Hermitage.

Here is a page of general information.

Below are a few of the items featured in the exhibition.

First, Napoleon by Ingres. Read more here.



A Eucharist set made of silver by Martin-Guillaume Biennais. Read more here.



A tapestry of Empress Elizaveta executed by the Gobelins factory. Read more here.



The porcelain service Olympia, made by the Sèvres workshop. Read about its interesting destiny here.



The gorgeous scene at the top is of course Napoleon's tomb, made of Russian red porphyry. (Possibly our Russian writer is gloating over Sarkozy's wretched failure to revive the glory of Napoleon, or over the pomposity of Sarkozy's even imagining he was a new-age Napoleon, or... over still another French defeat, not in the waters of the Berezina, but in the ghettoes of Seine-Saint-Denis.)

See more here.