Happy Mother's Day In France: One
of Napoleon's famous quotes is - "The future of a child is the work of
his mother". The tradition of honoring mothers was made official in 1950
and had been inaugurated by Napoleon.
L'amour
de ma mere etait si grand que j'ai travaille dur pour le justifier - The
love of my mother was so great that I had to work hard to justify it. -
Marc Chagall, Russian painter.
Le
coeur d'une mere est un abime au fond duquel se trouve toujours le
pardon. - The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you
will always find forgiveness.-Honore de Balzac, a 19th century French
novelist and playwright.
Dieu ne pouvait etre partout, alors il a cree la mere - God couldn't be everywhere, so He created mothers. (Jewish proverb)
To our mothers, grandmothers, mothers of our grandchildren, to all of them everywhere -
Mary-Catherine writes: In
discussing the strikes and uproar around "Loi Travail", I realized that
I'm not alone in not knowing much about it. I happened upon this NY
Times Opinion piece that explains IN ENGLISH.
Editor: Pamela Druckerman writes regularly on life in France.
Paris
— A FELLOW I know arrived at work recently to find that his company had
hired someone new, and given the woman his exact job title. Soon
afterward, he said, higher-ups cut his department’s budget and stopped
replying to his emails.
The
man suspects he’s headed for that infamous place in French companies
known as “le placard,” or the closet. Many workers here have permanent
contracts that make it very hard to fire them. So some companies resort
to an illegal strategy: They try to make someone so miserable, he’ll
quit. “What happens next is, I’ll lose my team and my staff, and
therefore I’ll have nothing to do,” the man predicted. “You still have
to come to work every day, but you have no idea why.”
Labor
laws are the main topic of conversation here. The government has
battled unions and other groups for months over a bill that would, among
other things, make it easier to fire people when a company is losing
money. This week, short of votes, it forced the bill through the lower
house by decree (if a measure on Thursday to block this move fails, the
bill will go on to the Senate).
It’s
obvious that the current system isn’t working. The bill’s supporters
argue that business owners are reluctant to hire employees, because it’s
so complicated and expensive to fire them when times are bad. And times
are pretty bad: France
has 10 percent unemployment, roughly twice the levels in Germany and
Britain. For young people, it’s around 24 percent. President François
Hollande has said he’ll run for re-election next year only if he
succeeds in reducing unemployment.
While
many other European countries have revamped their workplace rules,
France has barely budged. The new labor bill — weakened after long
negotiations — wouldn’t alter the bifurcated system, in which workers
either get a permanent contract called a “contrat à durée indéterminée,”
known as a C.D.I., or a short-term contract that can be renewed only
once or twice. Almost all new jobs have the latter.
And
yet it isn’t just unions that oppose the bill. So do more than 60
percent of the population, who fear the bill would strip workers of
protections without fixing the problem. Young people took to the streets
to oppose it, demanding C.D.I.s, too.
Why are the French so wedded to a failing system?
For
starters, they believe that a job is a basic right — guaranteed in the
preamble to their Constitution — and that making it easier to fire
people is an affront to that. Without a C.D.I., you’re considered naked
before the indifferent forces of capitalism.
Photo
People opposed to the French government’s labor reform law protested in Paris on Tuesday.Credit
Yoan Valat/European Pressphoto Agency
At
one demonstration in Paris, young protesters held a banner warning that
they were the “génération précaire.” They were agitating for the right
to grow up. As Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow point out in their
new book, “The Bonjour Effect,” getting a permanent work contract is a
rite of adulthood. Without one, it’s hard to get a mortgage or car loan,
or rent an apartment.
Mainstream
economic arguments can’t compete. “Basic facts of economic science are
completely dismissed,” said Étienne Wasmer, a labor economist at
Sciences Po. “People don’t see that if you let employers take risks,
they’ll hire more people.” Instead, many French people view the
workplace as a zero-sum battle between workers and bosses.
Economic
debates are also framed as political showdowns. It’s hard to separate
opposition to the labor bill from dislike of President Hollande, whose
approval rating has sunk to 14 percent. It doesn’t help that Mr.
Hollande was elected on a skewer-the-rich platform (remember the 75
percent income tax?). By backing the bill, he now appears to be siding
with C.E.O.s.
France’s
rising political star, the economy minister Emmanuel Macron, is a labor
reformer, too, but at least he presents a coherent worldview: He said
France needs young people who want to become billionaires.
Like my friend in the placard, even those lucky enough to have C.D.I.s can struggle at work. In one study,
workers with C.D.I.s reported more stress than those with short-term
contracts, in part because they felt trapped in their jobs. After all,
where else would they get another permanent contract?
In
a forthcoming European Working Conditions Survey, 12 percent of French
respondents said they’d been bullied or harassed at work in the past
month, far more than in any other European country. C.D.I.s alone don’t
cause harassment, but they make it harder to escape. This problem is at
least being aired. The vice president of France’s national assembly
resigned this week, following accusations that he’d sexually harassed
women as far back as 1998 (he denies it). In response, hundreds of
politicians and activists published a letter decrying a culture of
“omerta” in which victims are told to just carry on.
No
matter what the government does, the workplace is becoming less secure.
If French taxi drivers are outraged by competition from Uber, what will
they do when self-driving cars arrive? “It is not going to get better,”
warned Jean Tirole, a Frenchman who won the 2014 Nobel in economic
science. “The digital society increases uncertainty about the nature of
jobs, so in the future firms will be even more reluctant to make
permanent job offers.”
I
don’t want to confront capitalism while naked either. But there’s got
to be a middle ground between the streets and the closet.
The
Writers’ Bloc was very fortunate to have an afternoon with
writer-publisher Lynn Michell, author of several books (including White Lies,
which we read and discussed with the Book Group), and owner of Linen
Press, which publishes books by women authors. We submitted 18 of the
pieces we had written over the past three years and Lynn made truthful
comments about them. She shared the general comments with us during the
meeting, and then sent back our pieces, with detailed editing, saying
she had read some of them as if they were actual submissions for
publication. She even said she was impressed with our efforts, and that
it made her miss having a writing group. I think we can all be fairly
proud of ourselves. And we’ll look forward to inviting Lynn back
sometime in the future, with the hope of showing her how we have
progressed, thanks to her comments and suggestions.
Anne, Katharine J, Rosie, Maggie, Lynn, Pam. Photographer: Jan
AWG threw a wonderful party at Chateau de Flaugergues on a balmy friday evening in May, in the
courtyard of the Chateau de Flaugergues.
AWG President Mary-Catherine and Vice-President Cerise
Mary-Catherine wrote:
What a wonderful evening it
was, with lots of smiling faces enjoying good food and fellowship! The
perfect Spring weather was the cherry on top!
Pierre's
music was perfect for the occasion and many people commented on how
nice that was. What a talented young man! Big thanks to Jill for
finding him, and to Jill and Frederic for getting Pierre and his
equipment there and set-up. From the look on Pierre's face, he seemed
to enjoy performing! And I got a kick out of the waiter leaving the
kitchen with another full tray and heading straight to Pierre each time
to see if he wanted anything. The servers were excellent, very
friendly and attentive.
Dora
was delighted with her book. Thanks to Cerese for thinking of this and
to Jan for making it happen. Leslie's song was lovely and even more
special being her birthday.
Thanks
to Cerese for the typed program--a nice touch
Thanks
to Maggie for her fabulous slideshow! We plan to save it to Dropbox so
that we can enjoy it for years to come. Thanks to Mariannick for receiving and keeping track of all payments.
Michel, Gerard, Elisabeth and Leslie
Sheila and Kevin
Mariannick, Jill and Marie
Latif, Mary-Catherine and Peggy
Gerard and Michel
Dalene, Mireille and Philip
Linda, Orla and Anne (as the sun sets)
AWG Founder Dora T with Linda
Leslie, Jean-Didier and Petra
Caroline and Michel
Denise, Sue, Jan and Gerard
John and Robin
Guests Susan and Tim - friends of Maggie
Michel, Susan Rey, Corinne, Joyce, Pierre, Kim
Maquita and Ron
Luc and Hannah
Caroline and Dalene
Frederic and Jill
As Pierre our pianist began to play "Isn't she Lovely", the Stevie Wonder song, Rachel arrived. Very fitting.
Linda, Rachel and Jill
Mary and Guilhem
Jill, Daniel and Sue Rich, and Kathy B
Dennelle and Alexandre
Serge and Maggie
Cocktails in the courtyard
Jan, Susan and Kathy
Kelly and Philippe
Mary-Catherine with Janna, our champion at the Nelson Mandela MRI
Dora, Janna and Mary-Catherine chat
Dora speaks to the group about AWG.......
.... and Mary-Catherine presents Dora with a memory book and a rose
Dora asked to have a photo of prior Presidents of AWG. Maggie's slideshow is showing a recent Cook&Eat at Orla's. l to r: Jan, Leslie, Jessica, Linda, Peggy F, Susan, Mary-Catherine, Dora, Denise, Katharine, Kim
Gianluca and Jessica
Dennelle with Mary's husband Guilhem
Leslie singing a composition by Violeta Parra:
Gracias a la vida (no translation necesary!)
.... and the assembled group listens
.... and applauds
Cerese gives a shout-out for Leslie's performance, and Leslie gave thanks for her life, her husband & family and grandchildren.
I think it was Linda who initiated the Rockettes routine ....... that's Pierre, our pianist, in the background
Gerard and Leslie: Happy Birthday, Leslie and thank you for your song
Mr. Lew may have reneged on a commitment he made last year to make a woman the face of the $10 bill, opting instead to keep Alexander Hamilton, to the delight of a fan base swollen with enthusiasm over a Broadway rap musical based on the life of the first Treasury secretary.
But the broader remaking of the nation’s paper currency,
which President Obama welcomed on Wednesday, may well have captured a
historical moment for a multicultural, multiethnic and multiracial
nation moving contentiously through the early years of a new century.
Photo
From left, Sojourner Truth,
Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
will be featured on the back of the new $10 bill.Credit
From left: Hulton Archive, via Getty Images; via Library of
Congress: via Library of Congress; Hulton Archive, via Getty Images;
Associated Press
Tubman,
an African-American and a Union spy during the Civil War, would bump
Jackson — a white man known as much for his persecution of Native
Americans as for his war heroics and advocacy for the common man — to
the back of the $20, in some reduced image along with the White House.
Tubman would be the first woman so honored on paper currency since
Martha Washington’s portrait briefly graced the $1 silver certificate in
the late 19th century.
While
Hamilton would remain on the $10, and Abraham Lincoln on the $5, images
of women would be added to the back of both — in keeping with Mr. Lew’s
intent “to bring to life” the national monuments depicted there.
The
picture of the Treasury building on the back of the $10 bill would be
replaced with a depiction of a 1913 march in support of women’s right to
vote that ended at the building, along with portraits of five suffrage
leaders: Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice
Paul and Susan B. Anthony, who in more recent years was on an unpopular
$1 coin until minting ceased.
On
the flip side of the $5 bill, the Lincoln Memorial would remain, but as
the backdrop for the 1939 performance there of Marian Anderson, the
African-American classical singer, after she was barred from singing at
the segregated Constitution Hall nearby. Sharing space on the rear would
be images of Eleanor Roosevelt, who arranged Anderson’s Lincoln
Memorial performance, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who in
1963 delivered his “I have a dream” speech from its steps.
The
final redesigns will be unveiled in 2020, the centennial of the 19th
Amendment establishing women’s suffrage, and will not go into wide
circulation until later in the decade, starting with the new $10 note.
The unexpectedly ambitious proposals reflect Mr. Lew’s tortuous attempt
to expedite the process and win over critics who have lodged conflicting
demands, pitting mainly women’s advocates against Hamiltonians newly
empowered by the unlikely success of their hero’s story on Broadway.
Mr.
Lew’s design proposals are the culmination of 10 months of often-heated
public commentary that began almost immediately after he invited
Americans last June to help him decide which woman from history to honor
on the $10 bill. That feel-good initiative proved to be hardly as
simple as he first imagined.
Photo
Eleanor Roosevelt, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Marian Anderson will be depicted on the back of the new $5 bill.Credit
From left: Keystone, via Getty Images; Allyn Baum/The New York Times; London Express, via Getty Images
Immediately an online group called Women on 20s
insisted that the woman to be honored — Tubman was its choice — had to
go on the more common $20 note, displacing not the popular Hamilton but
Jackson, whose place in history has suffered lately with attention to
his record of forcibly relocating Native Americans, supporting slavery
and — despite his prominence on currency — opposing a national banking
system and paper money. But the $10 was next in line for redesign, based
on federal officials’ assessment of counterfeiting threats.
Yet other women mobilized by the Girls’ Lounge,
a networking organization for female corporate leaders, demanded that a
woman go on the $10 note, as Mr. Lew first proposed, because they did
not want to wait years for a new $20 bill. Within the administration,
Rosie Rios, who as treasurer of the United States oversees the Bureau of
Engraving and Printing, was also pushing for a woman on the $10 bill.
But nothing so roiled the debate as the phenomenon of the musical “Hamilton.”
Weighing
in for his place on the $10 bill were well-to-do theater patrons and
teenagers rapping to the soundtrack, as well as the show’s creator and
star, Lin-Manuel Miranda. When Mr. Lew and his wife caught a performance
last August, the Treasury secretary hinted to Mr. Miranda that Hamilton
would stay. Just this week, the show won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
U.S. & PoliticsBy A.J. CHAVAR and NICOLE FINEMAN1:22
Social Chatter: Tubman on the 20
By
July, in fact, Mr. Lew already had decided to keep his long-ago
predecessor on the $10 note, and put a vignette of suffragists on the
back, with Tubman scheduled for the $20 bill and changes to the $5 note
as well.
“I had a kind of ‘aha’ moment where I said we’re thinking too small,” Mr. Lew said on Wednesday.
He
decided to redesign all three notes to accommodate the various views,
and sooner. As for the choice of Tubman, he said that in the public
comments he reviewed each night, “the pattern became clear that Harriet Tubman struck a chord with people in all parts of the country, of all ages.”
Photo
Harriet Tubman’s death announcement in the The New York Times in 1913.
“This
is a good solution,” said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine,
who wrote to the secretary “strongly suggesting he not remove Hamilton”
from the bill.
Mr.
Lew directed the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to hasten the
redesign of the $20 and $5 notes at the same time. Subsequent production
of the $10 bill would take precedence, though Mr. Lew said all three
notes could be in wallets before 2030. The final decision on release is
up to the Fed.
One
wild card is that Mr. Lew and President Obama have just months left in
office. But Mr. Lew expressed confidence that his successors would not
veto the currency makeovers.
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“I
don’t think somebody’s going to probably want to do that — to take the
image of Harriet Tubman off of our money? To take the image of the
suffragists off?” he said.
Not
since 1929 has American currency undergone such a far-reaching change.
That year all paper money changed, with more standard designs and
smaller size to save costs.
In advance of Mr. Lew’s decision, the emotion that the Treasury initiative had prompted was reflected in a letter
to the Treasury secretary on Tuesday evening. More than three dozen
women including actors, feminists, corporate executives and journalists
objected to preliminary news reports that he was planning to renege on
putting a woman on the $10 face, calling it, if true, “a major blow to
the advancement of women.”
They
admonished the Treasury secretary, saying: “ Could there be a better
metaphor for second-class status that continues to limit our girls?”
The
signers included the actresses Ellen DeGeneres, Geena Davis and Jane
Lynch; the former soccer star Abby Wambach; former Representative
Gabrielle Giffords; the news media figures Katie Couric and Arianna
Huffington; the feminist leader Gloria Steinem; and the photographer
Annie Leibovitz.
Mr.
Lew’s compromise did not satisfy the letter writers since the new note,
the $10 bill, will picture women on the back. But Women on 20s released
a statement “celebrating” the decision, despite Mr. Lew’s inability to
say how quickly the government can accelerate a new $20 note given
technological and production complexities.
Yet, as Mr. Lew said Wednesday: “I said we were going to listen. We really did listen.”
Correction: April 20, 2016
Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this
article misstated the number of slaves escorted to freedom by Harriet
Tubman. It was hundreds, not thousands. The error was repeated in a
capsule summary.
