Word: french
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...launched by President Nicolas Sarkozy's government three months ago with much hype and patriotic ebullition - a series of 100-plus town hall meetings across France to debate what it means to be French in the 21st century. And even after opponents on the left and right alike criticized the initiative as a Machiavellian way of casting immigrants, their French-born children and especially Muslims as a threat to France's national identity, government officials defiantly took the initiative to term. This week it ended with a whimper, however when authorities issued a list of largely symbolic measures intended...
...Many observers saw the exercise as a political ploy - an effort by the conservative government to seduce extreme right-wing voters by fanning nationalist flames ahead of regional elections next month. Other critics said that while discussing French identity isn't objectionable in itself, people used the scores of open debates and the government's online forum to voice opinions that only served to offend public sensibilities. Some have even questioned whether the entire initiative may have backfired, doing more harm to Sarkozy's already tarnished image and undermining his party's chances in the March balloting. Early polls showed...
...Indeed, the proposals put forward by Prime Minister Francois Fillon this week to bolster patriotism are hardly revolutionary in scope. They include a requirement for schools to fly the French flag (most already do) and for each classroom to display the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (ditto). Authorities also called for naturalized foreigners to meet unspecified linguistic and integration requirements and instructed schools to issue "Young Citizen's Logs" to children in which they can record their civic actions. (See pictures of Bastille Day celebrations...
Until the error was revealed Monday, Feb. 8, by the journalist Aude Lancelin in the French weekly Nouvel Observateur, the media in France were buzzing with praise for Lévy's new book - as they did for his previous works, including Who Killed Daniel Pearl?, an investigative book about the killing of the American journalist, and American Vertigo, a meditative tome about his journey across the U.S. Lévy had also been doing the promotion rounds, appearing on major talk shows to discuss his new book and posing for photographs in French magazines, wearing his trademark white shirt...
...least as well known for his celebrity as for his writing. He is a fixture in magazines, sometimes being photographed at his large Left Bank apartment with his wife, the French actress Arielle Dombasle, or by the pool at the couple's mansion in Marrakech, which was once owned by John-Paul Getty. Given his jet-setting lifestyle and dashing appearance, some French journalists have found the story of his literary error too titillating to ignore - and their coverage has been overwhelmingly unforgiving. Lancelin, who first spotted Lévy's mistake, described it as a "nuclear gaffe" that would...