The town hall had an exhibition recently where they featured citizens of France and their perspectives of What France Means to Me. Here are some of the things they said:
“It's eating couscous with bread.” Elsa
“It's a question of love.” Bernard (Retired)
“Equality, Brotherhood, Liberty.” Leila
“If I wasn't born in France, I never would have had the idea to become a chef.” Guy
“Cheese is France! France is cheese!” Gérard (Gerald)
“A country that's too proud of itself, of its philosophical roots. A totally hypocritical and outmoded bearing that engenders arrogance and pretension to seem like a model in other people's eyes. An unbearable selfishness, an absolutely ridiculous self-importance. Finally, a nation that as well as doesn't manage to own up to its historical contradictions, loathe to open itself to the world because it is unable to equip itself with a plan for the future.” Alexandre (Alexander, student at Political Science University.)
“It was liberty...” Guillaume (William, wilderness mountain guide, Chamonix)
“For me France, it's a country of racists and hypocrites. Yet among all of its defects, this country also has riches such as the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre museum and plenty of other things too...” Alik. (French Guyana)
“France, it's the country where I was born. It's the country of my childhood. But I don't really feel French. How can you feel French when you have to watch your back everywhere? Yet I am crazy about France and my father fought for France! There will have to be two more generations for us to be considered French. A second generation North African girl who's kinda sexy, for her it's ok. But for us guys, the blacks, the North Africans, it's ****. It's not that we're haters... we have love! When the French soccer team wins, we're happy!” RimK
“In India, I walk barefoot with my staff. The people kiss my feet. I go to Australia and they feed me. In France, they call the police.” Michel (Michael)
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