THE SWINE FLU.
Yeah, I was sick for about a week with the most terrible flu I've ever had, ever. Fever, chills, coughing, runny nose, etc, etc.
IN OTHER NEWS, I went to Amsterdam, as I said, and it was great. I also went to London this last weekend, also great.
To be honest, I wish I lived in London. Paris isn't as cool. There, I said it.
latin chrome
- M
- in⋅vo⋅ca⋅tion: (n) the magic formula used to conjure up a spirit; incantation.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
le Parti socialiste: from l'Internationale to Mitterrand
A couple of weeks ago, at around 7 pm in the afternoon (or should I say, 19H a la francaise?) I was walking out of a class with my french friend, Laura. We walked down the stairs and into the main Sciences Po hall. There is a large, wooden bench in the middle of the hall - much like those benches you see in churches, pretty rustic (I only recently find out that is called a "peniche". This really explained why so many Sciences Po things are called Peniche, I think there's like a newspaper by the same name but anyway). As we reached the large hall, I saw a mass of students, congregated around the massive bench. There were many Sciences Po guards, confused students, and others flashing their Sciences Po IDs and I realized it was probably a protest.
During orientation, our french teachers explained to us that the best way to guarantee access to university facilities during demonstrations was with a Sciences Po ID.
I stood in front of the mass of students and my friend, Laura, found a way through the crowd and got us out of there. The students who were protesting were singing and my friend Laura looked at me and said "They're singing the International!".
The Inter
national is one of the best-known revolutionary hymns of the world. Although Belgian by origin, it was the national anthem of the USSR until 1944 and it has always been associated with workers, anarchists, marxists, and socialists. My political science teacher has told us that the Socialist party usually sings it after every meeting or at least, they used to.
The students that were assembled in the main hall belonged to Sciences Po's Socialist party, a collegiate branch of France's Socialist party. It's exciting to know that at a school where the elites play, the Socialist party also has its say.
The raison d'etre of their peaceful protest was the Minister of Immigration's new crusade: national identity.
After a couple of disastrous weeks for Sarkozy's political party, the government has decided to draw everyone's attention to a bigger problem: the french republican identity.
Regional elections are less than five months away and Sarkozy's party, the UMP, has been losing conservative votes due to political scandals (from sex tourism to nepotism), what better way to bring back the right-wing electorate than with a well-orchestrated (and possibly, racist) appeal to french identity and values?
The Socialist party has rightly denounced the government's new "debate" as a political maneuver to bring back its extreme-right electorate which has been defecting to the Front National, France's extreme-right party led by Jean Marie Le Pen. The debate on national identity is not sincere, in their opinion, and it is politically-motivated to mobilize their electorate.
All french politics aside, what really impressed me of the whole affair was seeing the presence of a leftist political party amongst the elite. In Nicaragua, the elite is usually right-wing. At my school, being leftist wasn't something popular or something you could share openly. Of course, there's no way I could draw an effective example between Nicaragua, a country that experienced a "marxist-leninist" revolution in 1979 and suffered the consequences of it all through the 1980's (and still today), and France, a developed country with a completely different political tradition. However, I do think the difference between the two is interesting. Here, at one of the best schools in the country, socialists proudly chant the International at their protests. For a long time, I felt being leftist, among my milieu at least, was taboo.
I've also been doing quite a bit of research on the presidents of the Fifth Republic (basically, France after the Constitution of 1958, which is their most recent constitution) and I've gained a lot of respect for the Socialist party and for Francois Mitterrand. I recently read his biography and I, kid you not, cried at the end of it. There's
something very compelling about someone who runs for President and loses 5 times, and finally wins at some point. I think this is the case with my country's president, Ortega, and with Brazil's president, too. It was the case with Mitterrand as well.
I think I'm going to work on another presentation on socialists in France now. For some reason, I am always interested in socialists. I remember when I took AP Euro and my favorite part of the whole class was the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution (remember the NEP?). Oh, socialism...
During orientation, our french teachers explained to us that the best way to guarantee access to university facilities during demonstrations was with a Sciences Po ID.
I stood in front of the mass of students and my friend, Laura, found a way through the crowd and got us out of there. The students who were protesting were singing and my friend Laura looked at me and said "They're singing the International!".
The Inter
national is one of the best-known revolutionary hymns of the world. Although Belgian by origin, it was the national anthem of the USSR until 1944 and it has always been associated with workers, anarchists, marxists, and socialists. My political science teacher has told us that the Socialist party usually sings it after every meeting or at least, they used to.The students that were assembled in the main hall belonged to Sciences Po's Socialist party, a collegiate branch of France's Socialist party. It's exciting to know that at a school where the elites play, the Socialist party also has its say.
The raison d'etre of their peaceful protest was the Minister of Immigration's new crusade: national identity.
After a couple of disastrous weeks for Sarkozy's political party, the government has decided to draw everyone's attention to a bigger problem: the french republican identity.
Regional elections are less than five months away and Sarkozy's party, the UMP, has been losing conservative votes due to political scandals (from sex tourism to nepotism), what better way to bring back the right-wing electorate than with a well-orchestrated (and possibly, racist) appeal to french identity and values?
The Socialist party has rightly denounced the government's new "debate" as a political maneuver to bring back its extreme-right electorate which has been defecting to the Front National, France's extreme-right party led by Jean Marie Le Pen. The debate on national identity is not sincere, in their opinion, and it is politically-motivated to mobilize their electorate.
All french politics aside, what really impressed me of the whole affair was seeing the presence of a leftist political party amongst the elite. In Nicaragua, the elite is usually right-wing. At my school, being leftist wasn't something popular or something you could share openly. Of course, there's no way I could draw an effective example between Nicaragua, a country that experienced a "marxist-leninist" revolution in 1979 and suffered the consequences of it all through the 1980's (and still today), and France, a developed country with a completely different political tradition. However, I do think the difference between the two is interesting. Here, at one of the best schools in the country, socialists proudly chant the International at their protests. For a long time, I felt being leftist, among my milieu at least, was taboo.
I've also been doing quite a bit of research on the presidents of the Fifth Republic (basically, France after the Constitution of 1958, which is their most recent constitution) and I've gained a lot of respect for the Socialist party and for Francois Mitterrand. I recently read his biography and I, kid you not, cried at the end of it. There's
something very compelling about someone who runs for President and loses 5 times, and finally wins at some point. I think this is the case with my country's president, Ortega, and with Brazil's president, too. It was the case with Mitterrand as well.I think I'm going to work on another presentation on socialists in France now. For some reason, I am always interested in socialists. I remember when I took AP Euro and my favorite part of the whole class was the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution (remember the NEP?). Oh, socialism...
on remembering that I actually have a blog...
Not having internet gets to you, mostly when you want to BLOG AWAY in the quiet and lonely 6th floor of my building.
Impressions of the last couple of weeks to come.
Impressions of the last couple of weeks to come.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
focus, focus really part 2
I have to make a COVENANT with my brain. If my frontal lobe stops this madness, and gets on with the role of controlling attention, behavior, abstract thinking, problem solving, creative thought, emotion, intellect, etc, etc, then maybe I'll get shit done and guess what, frontal lobe? Give me attention today and I'll give you intellectual stimulation and creative thought this weekend...
in AMSTERDAM!
in AMSTERDAM!
focus, focus really
SO REMEMBER THAT TIME YOU HAD LOTS OF WORK AND COULDNT GET ANY OF IT DONE FOR SOME UNFATHOMABLE REASON THAT ESCAPES YOU LIKE EVERY SINGLE SECOND THAT YOU TRY TO THINK OF WHY WHY WHY WHY YOU CANT START WORKING ON SOMETHING THAT ISN'T EVEN THAT HARD OR THAT LONG?
I have a fiche de synthese on Huntington's Clash of Civilizations tomorrow and then I have a commentary due friday and a fiche de lecture due on friday as well.
I've been at the library for 3 hours and I've managed to write, (write, I really mean RE-WORD) four sentences. I read three pages and spent the rest of the time doing who knows what.
I need to focus!
I sometimes regret choosing a study abroad location where I actually am being forced to work hard. GOD, WHY MUST I CHOOSE CHALLENGES AND THEN HATE THEM WHILE I ATTEMPT TO OVERCOME THEM?
I have a fiche de synthese on Huntington's Clash of Civilizations tomorrow and then I have a commentary due friday and a fiche de lecture due on friday as well.
I've been at the library for 3 hours and I've managed to write, (write, I really mean RE-WORD) four sentences. I read three pages and spent the rest of the time doing who knows what.
I need to focus!
I sometimes regret choosing a study abroad location where I actually am being forced to work hard. GOD, WHY MUST I CHOOSE CHALLENGES AND THEN HATE THEM WHILE I ATTEMPT TO OVERCOME THEM?
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