French Pledge Of Allegiance Proposed For Teenagers

[jimmy olsen]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/21/french-pledge-of-allegiance-teenagers_n_974461.html

French Pledge Of Allegiance Proposed For Teenagers

French Pledge Of Allegiance

PARIS -- If President Nicolas Sarkozy's
conservatives have their way, French teenagers
will one day swear their allegiance to the defense
of France – a sort of muscular French take on the
U.S. Pledge of Allegiance.

Fifteen years after France ended obligatory military
service, Sarkozy's UMP party wants to tighten the
binds between the nation and its military by
requiring rising 18-year-olds to declare "allegiance
to the arms" of France.

But critics see political posturing: France will hold
both presidential and legislative elections next
year, and they say the purely symbolic idea is
aimed to help conservatives siphon off voter
support from a resurgent far-right.

Many French take pride in their military – France
and Britain are western Europe's top military
powers – and the national anthem includes the
combative cry: "Aux armes, citoyens!" (To arms,
citizens!).

The debate about the military in nuclear-armed
France, a permanent member of the U.N. Security
Council, has already been part of the election
campaign. Green Party candidate Eva Joly drew
criticism over the summer after saying the annual
Bastille Day military parade should be abolished –
and replaced by a "citizens parade.". Segolene
Royal, who lost to Sarkozy in 2007 and is once
more vying for the Socialist Party nomination, has
recently revived her longtime call for the creation
of military-styled boot camps for juvenile
delinquents.

Under the UMP idea, French teenagers would
"make mention of 'the allegiance to the arms' at
the national day of call to defense or at the time of
acquiring French nationality," the party says on its
Web site. A law passed last year requires French
teens to attend a one-day program, called the "day
of defense and citizenship," to learn about the
military and civilian service.

Interviewed on French TV Wednesday, UMP chief
Jean-Francois Cope said the new proposal strikes
at "the issue of loyalty that is asked of every
French person ... in the hypothesis that the country
is under threat."

The proposal was one of 29 laid out at a party
conference on defense issues Tuesday. Others
included a call to explore new military alliances,
such as with Russia, and expressions of support for
France's defense industry.

The "allegiance" idea has already sparked
grumbling within the UMP: Defense Minister Gerard
Longuet reportedly has said the term bothers him,
and Education Minister Luc Chatel said it wasn't
"necessarily appropriate."

At the UMP meeting, Cope called for a "vow of
commitment, or allegiance, the term doesn't
matter ... for each young French person to show
he's ready to commit to the country if the
circumstances require it."

"It's the famous phrase of John Kennedy: 'Ask not
what your country can do for you, ask what you
can do for your country,' behind this proposal," he
added.

Cope, who has already declared his desire to run in
the presidential race in 2017, has clout in the UMP:
He was behind a controversial law enacted in April
that banned face-covering Islamic veils in France,
also seen as by some critics as a sop to France's
far-right.

But Marine Le Pen, the head of the far-right
National Front party, took issue with the
"allegiance" proposal: She told reporters the focus
should be on national service and "it seems utopian
to me to think that a simple pledge would
be enough."

"And then there's this Americanization of political
life – in whatever area it may be – it's really
starting to annoy me," she said in remarks on
French television.

[Zoupa]

I pray to God this moron doesn't get re-elected.

[Duque de Bragança]

Effet d'annonce a.k.a political posturing
No chance in Hell it will pass.
Even the FN is laughing is at that idea.

edit: this seems more like another stupid idea by Ségolène actually.

[Grey Fox]

Aux Armes, Citoyens!

[Martinus]

Why is this written like a poem?

[CountDeMoney]

I pray to God this moron doesn't get re-elected.

I like him. 
And all French schoolchildren should at least sing La Marseillaise.

Take pride in your Frenchiness, dammit.

"And then there's this Americanization of political life – in whatever area it may be – it's really starting to annoy me," she said in remarks on French television.

WTF dragging our asses into this
You know what's starting to annoy me?  Bitches with big mouths and Eurotudes, yo.

[Martinus]

If there is one thing I like the French for, it's their unbashed hatred of Americans.

[Tamas]

If there is one thing I like the French for, it's their unbashed hatred of Americans.

Maybe its your boyfriend but you are way too exposed to east europaism nowadays. Hating on jews and americans. Srsly?

[Grinning_Colossus]

Why is this written like a poem?

'I pledge allegiance to France and egalitie,
the toleration of all speech and sexuality.
Should l'musulmane seek to advance his station,
we shall forthwith arrange a return migration.'

[Malthus]

Why is this written like a poem?

'I pledge allegiance to France and egalitie,
the toleration of all speech and sexuality.
Should l'musulmane seek to advance his station,
we shall forthwith arrange a return migration.'

[crazy canuck]

If there is one thing I like the French for, it's their unbashed hatred of Americans.

Of all the things one might regret saying in life, this surely would be an example.  I have no idea how a person educated in law can single out a whole nation as deserving hatred of others.  I have no idea how someone who can argue so vehemently for protection of gay minority rights can at the same time act in this way.

[Eddie Teach]

Martinus says trollish things all the time. I have no idea why you'd single out that post.

[crazy canuck]

Martinus says trollish things all the time. I have no idea why you'd single out that post.

I disregard most of what he says as being either factually inaccurate or silly.  This instance of applauding "hatred" however is something that is beyond the pale and in my view deserving of comment.

[The Brain]

I hate America.

[crazy canuck]

I hate America.

But you love Americans - and their farm animals.