La haine

Today is an off day for me. Been feeling sicky-icky in the nose/sinus area and the rain this morning halted all subsequent activities (even though it's gorgeous out now... effff).

Moving on...

Today I'm going to talk to you about something I found absolutely shocking when I got here and the more I learn about the phenomenon, the more upset I get: there are extremely conservative political parties in France.

This might sound silly, but my impression of Europe was one of being more liberal. In general, it is, but there are some political parties filled with "la haine" (hate) and intolerance.

These political parties are called the National Front and the Movement for France.

I did not know that they existed, but they are infamous for a common slogan:

"France pour les Français" France for the French

Movements like this exist in the United States (which is super ironic when you think about it) so it's not a big reveal of nativité on my part... I just didn't think I would find that here.

And, like at home, it manifests itself physically:

When I first got here, this was a lovely mural with passages from the Inernational Declaration of Human Rights. About 2 weeks ago, it became what you see above. The passages have been blotted out-- as have the faces of the darker-skinned individuals-- and the slogan of peace, unity, and exceptance that was at the bottom of the mural has been replaced by "France pour les Français". I just don't get it.

I suppose my main motivation for sharing this with you is to give you a better idea of how multifaceted this experience is turning out to be. I did not expect to find racism here. Unfortunately, I fear it is an international phenomenon.