Garden

Pendant, 1850, France.

Starmie from Pokemon Gold (1999), Game Boy Color

A card from a series of officially licensed Mario quiz cards that depicts Luigi as the instigator of the French Revolution and Mario as a political prisoner in the Bastille. Main Blog | Twitter | Patreon | Small Findings | Source

1830s youth cultures in France

THE PRESIDENT OF FRANCE WANTS TO BAN HOMEWORK

well this is it

bonjour my petite crossaints

patio

patio isn’t french

le patio

10 Travel Tips From Around The World. Part 1

Cliffs of Étretat, France Étretat cliffs in Normandy are one of the best place to see near Paris. Étretat is best known for its white cliffs of up to 300 feet high …

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François Hollande’s speech following tonight's massacre in Paris

My dear compatriots,

As I speak, terrorist attacks of unprecedented proportions are under way in the Paris area. There are dozens killed, there are many injured. It is a horror.

We have, on my decision, mobilised all forces possible to neutralise the terrorists and make all concerned areas safe. I have also asked for military reinforcements. They are currently in the Paris area, to ensure that no new attack can take place. I have also called a cabinet meeting that will be held in a few minutes.

Two decisions will be taken: a state of emergency will be declared, which means that some places will be closed, traffic may be banned and there will also be searches which may be decided throughout Ile de France (greater Paris). The state of emergency will be proclaimed throughout the territory (of France).

The second decision I have made is to close the borders. We must ensure that no one enters to commit any crimes and that those who have committed the crimes that we have unfortunately seen can also be arrested if they should leave the territory.

This is a terrible ordeal which once again assails us. We know where it comes from, who these criminals are, who these terrorists are.

In these difficult moments, we must - and I’m thinking of the many victims, their families and the injured - show compassion and solidarity. But we must also show unity and calm.

Faced with terror, France must be strong, it must be great and the state authorities must be firm. We will be.

We must also call on everyone to be responsible.

What the terrorists want is to scare us and fill us with dread. There is indeed reason to be afraid. There is dread, but in the face of this dread, there is a nation that knows how to defend itself, that knows how to mobilise its forces and, once again, will defeat the terrorists.

French citizens, we have not completed the operations. There are still some that are extremely difficult. It’s at this moment that the security forces are staging an assault, especially in a place in Paris.

I ask you to keep all your trust in what we can do with the security forces to protect our nation from terrorist acts.

Long live the Republic and long live France.

palace of versailles

france is one of the worst and most overtly violent countries in its treatment of romani in the entirety of europe.

in 2014 they evicted 13,483 romani from the country. that’s almost three settlements per week. the people evicted were making use of their right to move freely within the EU as citizens of countries like romania and the evictions not only violate EU but also international law.

romani are not allowed to attend school in france either. more than half of romani children surveyed were not attending school and when asked why the parents said they provided all identification and enrolment papers and were rejected anyway on grounds of their ethnicity. this is flat out illegal.

violence and hate crimes against romani are astronomically high in france. reports of romani settlements being burned down or demolished after its inhabitants are forcefully chased out of them are common and the police does nothing about it. in fact, the police is often leading the violence themselves. roma lead the list of hate crimes in europe and france is no exception.

politicians and major public figures often engage in outright hate speech and it’s at best tolerated and at worst encouraged. events like a french mp saying “maybe hitler didn’t kill enough of you” are not isolated incidents.

france isn’t the only perpetrator of violence and oppression of course. romani endure things like forced sterilization, denial of health care, education or housing and extreme poverty in all of europe. (more sources: 1, 2, 3). but they are definitely among the worst. 

one of the reasons why france is able to get away with this is because almost no one knows or cares about what is happening to france’s romani population. there are no big news articles, no protests, no discussions around this except for very few spaces which don’t have a wide reach. that’s not acceptable at all.

france needs to be held accountable for the violence they perpetrate against the marginalized members of their population and their crimes (because they are crimes!) need to be shared with as many people as possible. if you can, please educate yourself, share information and consider donating to errc.org to help them fight for romani rights.