Left Bank Turns Right

   Ideas have always been a grave matter in France. The wrong ones took many a penseur to the grave via the revolutionary guillotine, the Commune of 1871 or the 1940s Nazi occupation. Thinking life has become less lethal since then, but France's professional penseurs are still taken seriously -- especially by themselves. France has been riveted this week by news from the thinking front: famous intellectuals are shunning Ségolène Royal, the Socialist candidate for the presidency.

Some are even supporting Nicolas Sarkozy, the candidate of the right. These include André Glucksmann, the philosopher [second left], Pascal Bruckner, a writer, and Max Gallo, a novelist [fourth right] who once served as President Mittererand's spokesman. A group called "La Diagonale" has gathered 1,000 leftists who plan to vote for Sarkozy. Bernard Henri-Lévy, the star philospher,[centre, with the scarf] caused a stir in Saint-Germain-des-Près by criticising Royal. But she invited him to dinner and he decided that she was all right after all and he is is staying on the left.

The rightward shift of the thinkers has prompted agonising by Le Nouvel Observateur, the Left Bank weekly bible [cover above]. On Tuesday, France Inter, the main public service radio, decamped to the Café de Flore on the Boulevard Saint Germain to devote its two-hour breakfast show to les intellos and the campaign. Imagine the BBC's Today programme or Good Morning America doing that.

For traditionalists on the Left Bank, the defection of les intellos is another sign of France going soft. With a few exceptions such as Raymond Aron, for most of the past 150 years the Left has been the natural habitat of self-respecting French thinkers.

A decade after the 1968 revolt and the supremacy of Jean-Paul Sartre, New Philosophers such as Henri-Lévy, rejected the totalitarian, pro-Soviet, ideas of their peers. They put human rights ahead of dogma about the proletariat but they still saw themselves part of la gauche. The Right, with the odd rare exception, has been viewed as anathema, philistine and infréquentable. Gauche is good and droite is bad, as Orwell might have said. This concept is still implanted in young minds by a teaching profession which is heavily on the left.

Listen to Royal stirring the crowd as she attacks the inhumanity of capitalism. She spits out the word La Droite and the crowd goes wild. All of French life is skewed in this direction. President Chirac, supposedly of the right, talks like an engagé Socialist. The ultimate in evil is the "extreme right", as represented by Jean-Marie Le Pen of the Front National. The popular revolutionary far left is just as extreme but it is treated with respect and never described as extrême gauche. Instead; it is called "la gauche anti-libérale". That is a friendly description given that the French are more hostile to le libéralisme (free market) than any other nation, according to polls.

All that is to explain why it is so shocking that intellectuals should find Sarkozy respectable and source of a more coherent vision than Royal. Bruckner calls him brilliant and brave. Alain Finkielkraut, a big nouveau philosophe [first left in picture] praised Sarkozy as the only candidate who was facing up to the "disasters" afflicting France in education, the environment and anti-social behaviour. Glucksmann, another star from the 1970s, is backing Sarko because the new thinking is coming from the right. The left is "stewing in narcissism," he said.

There are still plenty of intellos backing Royal. For them, Sarko still rhymes with facho (fascist) and Glucksmann and Finkielkraut are just completing long personal journeys to the dark side of the force. Finkielkraut says that  "the official left is convinced that it embodies the Party of Good in the face of the party of Pétain" -- the leader of the wartime collaboration state.

But the support for Ségo is more out of duty than enthusiasm. Socialism is no longer a utopia and the party's candidate has no big idea, simply a list of promises to raise spending on the welfare state. Michel Wievorka, an influential philosopher of the left, told us that he often wrestled with doubts that the thinking class had much to contribute any more. "In the past, the word of the intellectual was important. Today the support of a footballer or a singer is more important," he said.   

The latest polls suggest that the lack of intellectual enthusiasm for Royal is being matched by the people at large. A week since Royal attempted to relaunch her campaign, her ratings have shown none of the expected bounce. A CSA survey today shows Sarkozy holding steady at 33 percent of first round voting intentions, with Royal at 27 percent. Sarkozy would win a run-off with 55 percent against Royal's 45. It's still early, though. Up to half of voters say they have not decided or might change their minds.   

In another sign of the dwindling power of les intellos, far more media time has been devoted this month to the wife of Henri-Lévy than to the philosopher himself. Arielle Dombasle, 51, a singer-actress-dancer, is appearing as guest star at the Crazy Horse Saloon cabaret and she posed for the cover of Paris Match magazine.

[The Philosopher's wife, below] 

 

Comments

[Dominique]

Arielle is delightfull. She does not sing well at all, is often completly out of what is going on (décalée i would say), is often ridiculous on a stage, and that feels just good. She is a very smart woman who anderstood that life is just bonus. She does something out of anything that happen to her, good or bad. She makes fun of herself with delight and allows us to do the same and does not complain neither plays the victim. More, she respects the public. Thank god such people still exist! Arielle president!

[Maggie G]

Wow, Mr Bremner!! I'm struck dumb! I said you should try to find something to say about Arielle Dombasle or her husband so you could use that picture of her on the cover of Paris Match, and you DID!!

So look at THAT, you other bloggers!!
Who's going to try and critisize me NOW!! Eh??

[Frank Schnittger]

I wonder how Arielle felt about her husband, Bernard Henri-Lévy, going to dinner with Segolene Royal and being persuaded to stay loyal. Is that what Chirac has been doing all these years, canoodling for votes?

The reality is that the left ceased to be fashionable the world over quite some time ago and France is only beginning to catch up. When Gorbachev reformed the Soviet Communist Party he moved it considerably to the right of the French Communist party and only in France has the state bureaucracy retained an almost omnipotent aura.

The ideas of equality, human rights, and social intervention in support of the poor have retained their potency, but have been absorbed into the mainstream. It is no longer particularly left wing to support such concepts. But having implemented much of their agenda the left is now lost for ideas, particularly of how to generate the wealth required to support such interventions.

Innovation and entrepreneurship aren’t inherently right wing concepts either, but somehow the left has become enmeshed in such a hyper-conformist bureaucratic mindset, that those who want innovation, entrepreneurship and change have nowhere to go but to the Right.

[Julio]

Does anybody seriously think that Glucksmann and Finkielkraut are left wing ?
How the legendary thinker that is Doc Gyneco did not make the cover of "Le Nouvel Obs" is beyond me.

[christopher muir]

Right wing governments have their faults, too. It's difficult to imagine Sarkozy taking the US administration's stratospheric debt levels as a guide to future French prosperity. And just look at the condition of New Orleans - it's a disgrace after all these months. The city is no longer an attractive advertisement for the USA. The French philosophes would do well to acquaint themselves with the way New Orleans rehabilitation has failed. They should ponder how Sarkozy would handle the planet's revenge if a French city were similarly struck. And look at the way Russia and Ukraine handled Chernobyl. I wish that there were a genuine third way.

[Rudy]

"Gauche is good and droite is bad, as Orwell might have said. This concept is still implanted in young minds by a teaching profession which is heavily on the left."

This is very true ! During my schooling, I have never heared about teacher supporting the Right. But often, I have heared some of them supporting the Left. Some told us directly that they support the Left, others used to criticize the Right.

[john gregory Flinn]

Well, I mean the left are all washed up, terminated, exhausted, closed, (let me check the thesaurus for a minute....)!
Their heros Marx, Lenin, Engels, Mao, Kim, etc have all been shown up as, at best charlatans and thieves, but at worst murderers, tyrants and criminals. And some even claimed to be thinkers as well...!

Its become apparent that their ideas are hackneyed husks of hubris that may have driven an earlier generation, but are totally ill-fitting to the economic successes capitalism provides in the modern mixed economies of western Europe, and elsewhere.

So, 'les intellos' have nowhere to go. Even the new latin-American socialists Chavez, Ortega et alia turn out to be nationalists and devout catholics - how boring that must seem in the Parisian cafes! (And note how Chavez and company are generally ignored by the European left).

Thus, much to their suprise, 'les penseurs' find that capitalism and the mixed economies are rather indulgent to them and their great socialist debates about issues of the day. They do not have to look over their shoulders for the threatened '1984-style thought-police' as they used to fear - unless of course they want to debate issues on the right! Quite frankly, they don't want Me Royal disturbing things with her old-fashioned and irrelevant class conflict rhetoric!

Actually, Sarkosy has further appeal for 'les intellos', because he is a closet europhile and is busy hatching plans with Frau Merckel that could put 'La France' centre-stage again with Germany in the EU via a mini-constitution.
Thus, the vision of the 'grandeur' of France leading old-Europe once again may be enough to flutter their (hardening) arteries.
I think the role of Europe in the world and the part France plays in this is a more dominant theme for 'les penseurs' these days.

For Maggie G, felicitations - I like to think Mr Bremner takes a little from us all....

[Actu75]

"Gauche is good and droite is bad, as Orwell might have said. "
As Sarkozy might think too, refering loudly to Blum and Jaurès, but strangely short in quoting or name dropping great right wing political characters. Who by the way (if we take for granted that de Gaulle was elsewhere)? Bonaparte? Thiers? Poincaré? Maurras? Pinay? Bof...
But Orwell might still be quite an influence on those who paint left as so definitely bad (bureaucratic, confomist & short of ideas) that right can only be good (bound to innovation entrepreunership & wealth creation) and therefore fashionable world wide. The trouble with fashion applied to politics is that, par définition, it comes and goes.

[rocket]

Dominique

"She is a very smart woman who anderstood that life is just bonus."

Don't you mean "boners"

[MCDofUSA]

Christopher Muir
To compare Right-Wing Philosphy with Hurricane Katrina is outrageous.
This was one of the most catastrophic events in US history that devastated an area almost the size of the UK. To compare this to "a French city that were similarly struck" is dis-ingenuous and mind-boggling ignorant. This storm devastated several States and the complexities of the whole thing are huge. And though I doubt any Government can be prepared for such an event, there certainly were failures on the part of the Federal, State and local levels, starting with the Mayor and Governor of Louisiana, both Democrats. This event transcended Right and Left philosophies and has to do with human shortcomings in the face of overwhelming circumstances. The sheer enormity of the situation will inherently bring problems. You obviously have no clue of the complexities involved.

[rocket]

Mr. Muir

I have been waiting 6 weeks for an insurance expert to get up off his lazy ass and come and appraise the damage to my walls because the neighbor upstairs let her toilet drip for months before a third person was able to discern the problem inspite of the "insouciance" of the person (in this case the person upstairs).

DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT give lessons as a response to destruction to an area in the US which was half the size of France.

I've got 10 M2 of wall here that no one knows how to deal with.

You government is not even capable of getting 130 tent people off the canal St Martin.

[christopher muir]

McdoUSA,

Glad that all's well. Here's a Reuters paragraph about New Orleans:
NEW ORLEANS, Feb 19 (Reuters) - New Orleans, the "Big Easy" city famous for its good times and relaxed attitude, has become the Big Uneasy in recent weeks as its murder count has soared and anger grown at local leaders unable to stop the violence.
Annual Mardi Gras celebrations unfolded without incident this weekend, but fear of the rampant blood-spilling and its threat to the city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina are constant topics of conversation.

[christopher muir]

rocket,
What has inspired you to fire an off- course missile at poor old me is a puzzle. You see, rocket, your launcher should have been aimed at Australia where I live. I do hope that your problems with apartment water leaks will be quickly resolved. Having lived in a cramped sixth floor Parisian mansarde as a foreign student, I know well the frailty of French plumbing. One can't dispute your observation that 10m2 is a smaller area than New Orleans. Are you blaming those annoying drips on any particular French political party? It all sounds like a bright start to a play by Eugene Ionesco.

[MCDofUSA]

Um, where did I say all was well?
You couldn't even handle a HEAT Wave, which killed thousands of people. You're too simple-minded to comprehend the catastrophic damage done by Hurricane Katrina, so give it up.

[christopher muir]

mcdofusa,
I'm learning fast that contributing to Charles' blogs has its challenges. Being simple-minded (as you state), I had the temerity to suggest in a post that all was not well in New Orleans and it reflected poorly on the right wing Bush administration. "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." Now, who said that? Then that prolific contributor, rocket, felt equally aggrieved by my comment and attempted to associate me with the present Paris St Martin canal problems with its unwelcome tents. Very odd indeed. He also describes his hatred of French plumbing and insurance agents. What your reference to "thousands" of people perishing in a heat wave is about, I do not have a clue. Here, in Australia (your closest ally), we meet heat-waves annually - and apart from lethal bush fires - survive admirably. Would it be possible that you are referring to the French canicule of some years ago? And I had nothing to do with that, either.

[Maggie G]

MCD and Rocket,

Sorry to laugh, but your exchanges with Christopher Muir have been absolutely hilarious. I didn't THINK 'Christopher Muir' was a very French-sounding name.

Thanks for a good laugh, all three of you.

[Valentin]

The current US Administration is a school example for mismanagement in general.
I'm afraid this is less related to them being right wing and more to being simply abysmally incompetent, no matter where one would look - finances, public welfare, social security, foreign affairs, Katrina, in short everything they had to deal with.
They're more of a shame for the Right actually, in that they bring loss of credibility to good rightwing policies. Ronald Reagan, Bush Sr., Thatcher, or Aznar in Spain are better examples of rightwing governments.

[MCDofUSA]

My mistake. I should have said France instead of "you" concerning the heat wave. Coming from a Country built by immigrants, I don't think to identify what Country someone lives in by their name.
But anyone who trys to connect Katrina to Right-Wing politics looks absymally foolish. Alas, ignorance is bliss.
Concerning the current Administation, unemployment has been lower the last 3 years than the average of each of the last 4 decades. And welfare reform was one of the best things Bush has done. Other issues have been mounting for years with seemingly no Party having the guts to tackle. It's not easy managing 300,000 million people. I look around the World and don't see many smaller Countries do a better job.

[Valentin]

Not that this post has anything to do with the original one from Charles, but Bush's job on welfare is hardly something to praise, starting with social security, the supposed reform of Medicare, the tax reductions for the rich (and it's the US analysts who say that, not the French), the difference between the first 1% fortunes and the rest of the population, and on and on... Suffices to read the unbiased press (but then a true Republican will say ALL the press is leftwing hence unreliable...). And I can even mention the way of dealing with the global warming, it does concern public welfare at the end of the day.

Oh well. Frankly I'm stunned there are still people out there defending Bush.
Maybe it's just the patriotic sentiment of not bad mouthing the Commander in Chief in front of foreigners...

[Valentin]

Katrina type catastrophes can actually be related to rightwing policies. Right usually decentralizes public administration, leaves regions and communities to deal with problems more by themselves than supported by the State. The Right supports the small government, which means only dealing with the strictly necessary issues.

Sometimes rightwing governments don't know the right balance and leave things worsen to the point of no return, and that is called incompetence.

[christopher muir]

mcdofUSA,
It’s perfectly understandable that one can make an error when seeing red. For my part, I must refrain from allowing my fingers to again flit over the keyboard to write about the controversial subjects of New Orleans and rocket’s quite pressing French plumbing needs.

Cheers.