As for the French, they have never been and never will
>be the lapdogs of the US. The Gaullist tradition of opposing
>in an almost knee jerk fashion policies promulgated in London
>and Washington is very much alive and well.
<What can I say? Daniel Singer, who lives there, says the Gaullist tradition is dead. I guess we've got a difference of opinion here.>
-------------------------------
>From the Guardian (or maybe it was the Observer):
Odd bedfellows, old slogans
The French response: Loyalties lost in the shuffle. Paul Webster reports
Monday April 12, 1999
A leftwing revolt against the Kosovo campaign has created some of the most unlikely political and intellectual alliances since the Algerian war while undermining Lionel Jospin's authority in the Socialist-led coalition.
Feuding over French participation in Nato strategy, so far limited to eight bombs on Serbian targets, has wrecked long-standing human rights partnerships, pushed old enemies into joint action, broken up a moral consensus and revived a simplistic anti-Americanism reminiscent of the 1950s.
Tensions caused by anti-war campaigns led by the interior minister, Jean-Pierre Chevenement, and stalwart Gaullists such as Charles Pasqua, have contributed to belligerent reactions by the prime minister and President Jacques Chirac, whose `cohabitation' has entered a honeymoon phase with joint daily pledges of their will to go on fighting.
De facto political alliances are astonishing enough with the Communist leader, Robert Hue, finding himself in the anti-war lobby alongside the National Front chairman, Jean-Marie Le Pen, while the Greens' Daniel Cohn-Bendit, puts out much the same bellicose message as the Gaullist chairman, Philippe Seguin.
But the moral disorder is even more eccentric, with writers like Regis Debray and impeccable human rights activists such as Pierre Vidal-Naquet fighting a pitched pacifist battle against a philosophical pro-war lobby led by Henri Bernard-Levy and Andre Glucksmann.
The argument has also split families, with the writer Oliver Todd in the pro-war camp while his son, Emmanuel, backs a pacifist group that includes the author and former Socialist minister, Max Gallo.
Although about 60 per cent of the electorate approve of French intervention, according to public opinion polls which also show overwhelming support for Mr Jospin and the president, the anti-war faction is bringing more and more opponents into the streets.
Apart from the Communist Party, which has revived the 1950s atmosphere with slogans like `Nato go home', the anti-war faction includes the biggest Trotskyist movements, trade unions, teachers and human rights organisations like the movement against racism, MRAP.
Among press support is the popular weekly, Marianne, whose editor, Jean-Francois Kahn, described Mr Chirac and Mr Jospin as `killers of the innocents'. While the war's opponents include a strong layer of what is known as the `moral left', the underlying rallying call is the anti-Americanism which led Mr Debray to stigmatise France's co-operation as sleepwalking behind American priorities.
Apart from winning over allies such as Mr Chirac's former adviser, Marie-France Garaud, leftwing suspicion of US motives has rallied middle of the road figures, including the former United Nations protection force commander in the region, General Jean Cot.
In juggling with the leftwing mutiny, Mr Jospin has so far avoided a showdown although cabinet meetings underline a chasm between the leading pros and antis. The health minister, Bernard Kouchner, is the architect of a policy known as `the right to interfere' to solve humanitarian crises even in sovereign states.
The environment minister, Dominique Voynet, represents what has been described as the most strident pro-war voice, the Greens.Ranged against them are Communists, such as the transport minister, Jean-Claude Gayssot, and the sports minister, Marie-Georges Buffet, who have backed marches calling for Mr Jospin to go.
But the most troublesome case is Mr Chevenement, who resigned as defence minister at the beginning of the Gulf war to set up his own splinter party, the Citizens' Movement.
Because a ground war could force him to lead the pacifist faction out of Mr Jospin's government, every gesture he makes is being intently analysed.
Allying the three strands of opposition political, moral and intellectual he gave the whole cabinet photocopies of an article by the German writer, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, which calls for an end to the `fantasy of omnipotent morality'.
The war could be over before anyone decides what Mr Chevenement really meant by distributing a work condemning `global rhetoric', which, he said, reflected `my philosophical state of mind'.