Yesterday in France, Ségolène Royal (b. September 22, 1953, Dakar, Senegal) won the Socialist Party nomination for the 2007 presidential election. I hope she wins the election.
Ever since seeing Costa Gavras' Z (1969) on the small screen, I've had a great fondness for Socialists. I tend to romanticize them as cosmopolitan, suave, chic, and usually correct in their views. The public library, community colleges, the eight hour work day, health care -- they're all socialist concepts.
If there's a negative, it's that Socialists tend to be too rational, to expect too much from other people. In a sense, Socialists are to politics what Unitarians are to religion. Since most people prefer irrationality in their daily lives, this can result in a dangerous emotional chasm between visionaries and myopics.
Ségolène Royal is exactly what my romanticized version of a Socialist should be, though. In Z, there's Yves Montand, and Royal is even better. She supports all sorts of social protections. She is a seasoned veteran of government and politics. She is an attractive woman, which is a practical bonus and no more sexist an observation than to observe that Bill Clinton and JFK attracted women voters because of their looks and charm.Royal and fellow Socialist François Hollande have four children and a pacte civil de solidarité (PACS, or civil union) together, which is unconventionally cool in its own right, and provides another pragmatic alternative to marriage.
"In terms of socialism, I think there is a lot to be learned from Scandinavia and from some of the work, very good work that people have done in Europe." Bernie Sanders, Senator Elect from Vermont, USA.
Given the major socio-political changes in process, the next two years will be particularly interesting times for people living in France, Britain, the USA -- and everywhere else.
Today's Rune: Signals.
Bon voyage!
5 comments:
the public library and the community colleges are great ideas. the eight hour work day... hmmm... not so much. How about 5 hours? yeah that seems good to me. ;o)
Sadly, socialism's become such a dirty word around here. It's hard to get around that.
You are absolutely correct Erik--she is an attractive woman.
I tend to agree with you, Erik, very interesting post.
PARIS (Reuters) - Segolene Royal's chief attraction for French voters is that she is a woman, according to a poll conducted after she was selected as the Socialist Party's presidential candidate.
Thirty seven percent of those surveyed cited Royal's gender as her most positive factor ahead of the 2007 election, according to the Ipsos poll released on Saturday.
The figure was even higher, at 41 percent, among sympathizers of the opposition Socialists. Royal won more than 60 percent of the vote in Thursday's Socialist primary.
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