A north carolina town support... France! (TRANSLATED)

[Luvian]

Here is a link to the article, but it's in french, sorry. I'll translate it later tonight if I get some free time.

canoe.com

[ 03-14-2003, 04:40 PM: Message edited by: Luvian ]

[Ronn_Bman]

Cool! I look forward to that. I wish I wasn't unilinguistic. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Luvian]

Ok, here's my translation, but it won't be perfect:

Iraq Crisis
A north carolina town support... France!

In counter-current to a wave of Anti-French in the United State, the town of Carrboro, in North Carolina, declared april "month of the french products" to support the position of Paris in the Iraq crisis.

The town council of Carrboro, town of 17 240 habitants, self proclaimed «Paris of the Piedmont», voted tuesday a resolution asking the inhabitants of the locality to buy and consume french products in the month of april.

«Even if it's a little Ironic, it's a response to the very hostile actions against France in the States», said the town council member Jacquelyn Gist, author of the resolution, which will be sent to the French ambassador in Washington, to the american president, George W. Bush, and to the North Carolina congressmen.

«I thought we could take a counter-current position and say: I think France is right in trying to avoid a war", said Mme Gist. The town council already sent the resolution to the Americans leaders expriming it's opposition to a war in Iraq.

The wave of Anti-French is so strong in the US that even the american congress decided to rename "French fries" and "French toast" on the menu of it's cafeterias to call them "Freedom Fries" and "Freedom Toast".

[Ronn_Bman]

It may seem like a nice gesture on the surface, but it comes from the City Council, who have absolutely nothing to do with the Iraqi situation. Sure as individual citizens they are entitled to their opinions, but to use their elected status for this is wasteful. This City Council is basically protesting the Bush policies and their Senators' positions as opposed to doing anything truly pro-French.

I find the protest of individuals, whether pro or anti-action in Iraq, important because it's a true reflection of what people are feeling. This is nothing like that. We aren't talking about something they did based on a huge petition from the people. Is this action really reflective of their constituents views?

These low level politicians are trying to associate themselves with something that is so far away from their power to effect that it's ridiculous. They want to make a name for themselves and nothing more.

If the town's people had gotten together and done something pro-French (which is what I thought this story would be about), or if there had been a write-in campaign, or a cry from the public demanding this type action then I would have accepted that as an honest reflection of their feelings, but this is nothing more than politically motivated attention seeking by a bunch of "wannabe's".

Before anyone says I wouldn't feel this way if the officials had put forth an anti-French or pro-Bush message let me tell you I still would have. If the local public doesn't ask my city council or county commissioners for some action like this, they'd better not waste their time pontificating about something that is outside their line of experience and that isn't listed in their job description. There is too much that needs doing in my city and county for them to waste time with their personal agenda on Iraq.

If they want to share their point of view, let them join a forum to talk about it there because their opinion is no more important on this issue than anyone else's.

Thanks for the story and the translation Luvian! [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[ 03-14-2003, 10:57 PM: Message edited by: Ronn_Bman ]

[khazadman]

This resolution has as much of an affect on our foreign policy as the various anti-french resolutionsout there. The same for those resolutions opposing the war with Iraq. It's all just people with a bloated sense of importance with too much time on their hands.

[Luvian]

Originally posted by khazadman: This resolution has as much of an affect on our foreign policy as the various anti-french resolutionsout there. The same for those resolutions opposing the war with Iraq. It's all just people with a bloated sense of importance with too much time on their hands.

Of course you do realize that all of us here have a bloated sense of self importance too, right?. We keep spending days here arguing between ourselves, thinking we can convince each other...

[Ronn_Bman]

Originally posted by Luvian: Of course you do realize that all of us here have a bloated sense of self importance too, right?. We keep spending days here arguing between ourselves, thinking we can convince each other...

That is exactly right...lol.