France. You have two cows1. You go on strike and demand a third one.
France is very popular for being on strike. When I was living in France, I had the impression there was a demonstration every week. It is not true, fortunately! For a few months, several demonstrations have been taking place. They are about same-sex marriage.
In November, a topic woke up all the French. Christiane Taubira, the French Minister of Justice, announced the bill law about same-sex marriage would be discussed in the National Assembly. This triggered a wave of demonstrations involving all the French, dividing them and assembling them. One the one hand, Le Mariage pour tous -"Marriage for everybody"- supporters, and on the other hand, La Manif' pour tous -"Demonstration for everybody", against same-sex marriage- supporters.
Both sides organize demonstrations every month. The biggest ones took place last month. Hundreds of thousands of people went to these demonstrations to support their ideas. Le Mariage pour tous took place on the 27th of January. I was already back to Ireland at that time. But I wish I were still in France.
I have never been to any demonstration in my life. People going on strike are whimsical to me. They are always thinking of themselves, their own interests, and can't open their eyes and accept new evolutions. But I wanted to be there last month.
Not only homosexual people took part in this demonstration. People whose the new law will not change their life were also there. It was like saying: “I want my neighbour to get the same rights as I because we are all living in the same nation, the law should be enforced to everyone equally”. What I see is these people didn't think of themselves but were there to defend a minority, to show solidarity still exists. They claim equality, as the French national motto reads.
On the 12th of February, after debating, arguing and insulting one another during 110 hours, the French députés accepted the bill. It was tough (329 yes vs 229 no), but they made it. The second round is on now. The Senate will be debating it next month. I heard it would be harder, as there are more conservative senators.
Le Mariage pour tous is not a simple demonstration, but a march for freedom. The bill is a call for equality. The battle has just started. The first round was tough. The second round sounds harder. But this is on. The battle for freedom is on. And I wish I were there. I wish I could hear French people acclaiming equality and welcoming liberty. I wish I were part of them.
1.“You have two cows” are political jokes. Each sentence begins by that phrase and is supposed to humorously summarizes the ideologies of different kinds of politics. Here are some of them: http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/jokes/bljokecowspolitics.htm.
/https%3A%2F%2Fassets.over-blog.com%2Ft%2Fcedistic%2Fcamera.png)
Comment on this post