Word: french
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Prudish? Moi? Re your article "Postcard: Paris" I suspect that there is a more sinister reason for young French women's reluctance to bare their flesh [Aug. 10]. In the 1970s and 1980s, going topless was a way for women to express their liberation and equality with men. Women's shape and size did not matter. Nowadays, young girls are expected to be liberated, clever, independent and physically perfect. By refusing to unveil their bodies they are rebelling against unrealistic expectations in the same way as their mothers did by burning their bras. Shame on you, South Africa! Anne Favier...
...much of the world, strikes are as French as wine, cheese or extramarital affairs. But France's dirty little secret is that industrial action has long helped perpetuate the status quo rather than overturn it. Now the art of protest is undergoing a revolution (another French tradition) as a small group of social activists uses creativity, humor and media savvy to draw the kind of attention it once took millions of marchers to muster. And here's the really radical thing: France's youthful demonstrators aren't just winning support for their various causes - they're challenging the very social...
That cozy post World War II arrangement, in which the state has regularly arbitrated between big business and unions, may have helped those three groups, but it has too often ignored wider French society. The system has made reform nearly impossible and is now "sclerotic," according to Julien Bayou, 29, one of the half-dozen or so people at the core of France's new protest movement. "Thirteen percent of people in France live in poverty, youth unemployment is above 25%, and the number of people who can't keep up with the price of rent and food continues...
...proved wildly successful. "What you have is a small number of brilliant people taking up problems that may seem marginal compared to the broader socio-economic debates going on, but which it turns out a lot of people are very concerned with," explains Guy Groux, a specialist in French social and labor conflict for the National Center for Scientific Research. "It's a real 2.0 movement in being able to project a far larger image - and produce a much bigger reaction - than such a small initial protest base previously allowed." (Read: "Why the French Love to Strike...
...matter under what form or identity Dalai uses to enter Taiwan, we resolutely oppose this," according to the Xinhua news agency. China is sensitive to prominent overseas visits by the Dalai Lama, whom it accuses of seeking independence for Tibet. Beijing boycotted an E.U. summit last December when French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he planned to meet with the exiled Tibetan leader...