Word: french
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...student of French history knows, it doesn't require a presidential order to generate argument about a proposal - especially one that detractors suspect is fueled by political motives. Sarkozy, political opponents allege, is using the museum push as another sop to voters on the hard right, many of whom fear French culture and tradition are being over-run by immigration and globalization...
...creation of a "Ministry of Immigration and National Identity", for example, was applauded by rightists and deplored on the left with equal vigor - and for the same reason: the notion that safeguarding French identity is directly tied to controlling foreigners coming to France...
...over the previous year. In doing so, Hortefeux surpassed a deportation quota of 26,000 Sarkozy had set for him. Leftist and centrist opponents of Sarkozy's policies note that Hortefeux's announcement came just hours after his boss's explanation in Nîmes that a museum of French history will "reinforce national identity". (See pictures of the Pope visiting France...
...push to create a museum, opponents say that Sarkozy will pillage other collections to create the illusion of a unified and coherent vision of French history, a past that is actually very diverse, complex and chaotic. "A single venue dedicated to the history of France makes no sense, and is even dangerous in seeking to create a single, global, and unique (national) history," curator, scholar, and former Picasso Museum director Jean Clair told the Journal du Dimanche. "It's totally a incomprehensible project, because all museums are historical...
...Sarkozy says that's nonsense. A museum would actually assemble far-flung works, artifacts, and resources in one place to allow scholars to further examine and challenge interpretations of French history, he argues, and not tie it to a single perspective. "The idea is not to create an official history or to keep up arguments over how things are remembered," Sarkozy said in Nîmes, "but rather to develop a scientific, comparative and pluralist approach...