International Fair of Contemporary Art

The FIAC (Foire Internationale d'Art Contemporain- International Fair of Contemporary Art) is being staged in Paris starting today and continuing until Oct. 30th. This is the 33rd edition of the event, and it is being held at the Grand Palais and at the Louvre courtyard. Anyone in Paris over the weekend will want to stop by and have a look. Some of the most prestigious galleries and artists in the world will be represented.

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Wonder of Wonders- Public Smoking to be Banned in France

I never thought I’d see the day, but it appears the French government is about to ban smoking in all public places starting in September, 2007. It is finally being acknowledged that second-hand smoke is causing an estimated 5000-6000 deaths in France each year. Associations of restaurants, buralists (people who run tabac shops- people who sell tobacco products), and bar owners fear a loss in business of 20-30%. They also say that deaths from second-hand smoke are caused in the home. In order to allow smoking in an establishment, that bar or restaurant will be required to provide an area that is “hermetically closed”.

Personally I applaud this move. I can recall eating in a quaint and typical restaurant in Lyon, called a “Bouchon”, and feeling strangled by the smoke by the end of the evening. Nothing can ruin a dinner in a nice French restaurant quicker than having to swallow the smoke of someone sitting near you. It tastes awful and for some people with sinus problems like me, it can literally make you sick. And even though many French restaurants have non-smoking areas these days they are often not separated from the smoking areas by much.

I’ve always thought it humorous that many French people will wail against OGM’s (genetically modified foods), and then immediately light up a cigarette. 66,000 people per year die from tobacco products in France according to statistics, but OGM’s haven’t been linked to a single death in all the years they have been used and tested, to my knowledge. Apparently opinion polls show that 70-80% of French people support a public smoking ban, however, so there has definitely been a big change of mindset in recent years. And that makes the political risk for making the move not too great or insurmountable. There will no doubt be people who will be marching in the streets in protest, but they will be a minority. Going on strike and marching in the streets is common in France- even students go on strike and march in the streets at times. That’s how the political system works there.

It remains to be seen if the new law will be respected. A similar law passed in Spain is largely being ignored in restaurants and bars, according to a recent article. I wouldn’t be surprised to see people smoking in restaurants even after the ban, but hopefully the numbers will be fewer than is typical today.

For more information about France, click here: France Travel
Also, I mentioned sinus problems above. We have a sister site dedicated to helping people with sinus problems. Please feel free to visit that site: Post Nasal Drip

French Presidential Race on the Horizon

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As is the case in the U.S. with important congressional elections coming up soon, the people of France are also preparing for a major election. France will elect a new President next April. The process of choosing candidates is in full swing right now in the major political parties in France. The Socialist Party (called the PS or Parti Socialist- roughly equivalent to the Democrats in the U.S. and the largest party on the left of the political spectrum) is finalizing its list of candidates seeking the nomination. This choice will be decided in November, and before then there will be three televised debates among those seeking to represent the PS. The leader in the polls right now by a large margin is a woman named Segolene Royal. She will be opposed by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius, and probably Jack Lang, a long-time top-ranking member of the PS. Lang is expected to make his candidacy official on Tuesday, Oct 3.

The leading candidate on the right of the political spectrum for now is the current Interior Minister and leader of the UMP party, Nicolas Sarkozy. Sarkozy is often outspoken and has made the issue of illegal immigration a major one in this election. Sarkozy is often demonized for his candid remarks, but as a French gentleman told me this summer, he often says what many people are thinking. Sarkozy will have a difficult time winning, however, because the leaders of the current government, also from the UMP party, have low approval ratings and it will be difficult for anyone from the UMP to win. I personally think that if Sarkozy does win, relations between the U.S. and France will improve. His political philosophy is closer to the American free enterprise model, and he says flatly in his recent book that free enterprise simply produces more and better goods and services than does a state run system like communism. There are a number of things about the American system he dislikes, but in general it looks doubtful he would have as hostile an attitude towards the U.S. as does the current regime, in my opinion.

While the U.S. has two major political parties, in France there are many more, ranging from the extreme far left to the far right. There will probably be about a half dozen or so candidates running from different parties. In order to win on the first vote, a person must obtain over 50% of the votes. Otherwise there will be a second round of voting between the top two finishers which occurs two weeks after the first ballot. A second election is often needed since the votes get split up among a number of parties.

It appears possible that both the U.S. and France could have a female President after the next elections.