News in France

I'm not sure how big this is in the States, but it is huge news in France, so I just had to write about it. It's all I have been hearing about for the past week.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, member of the French Socialist party (largest party of the French left), and the president of the IMF (International Monetary Fund), was arrested on... Saturday...? Well I'm not sure of the exact date because of the time difference, but I first heard about it on Sunday evening in France. Apparently while staying at Sofitel Hotel in New York City, he was arrested for attempting to rape a hotel maid. She appparently walked into his room under the assumption that it was empty, when he suddenly came out of the bathroom with just a towel on and sexually assaulted her. He then left the hotel in a hurry, leaving behind his belongings, boarded the plane for France, but was then arrested moments before takeoff. He was held without bail in New York City. Shortly after resigning from his post at the IMF, he was released under strict conditions, but he has to remain in NYC. This greatly reduces his chances that he would be in France in time to start campaigning for the presidency. I asked a French person's opinion about this, and he noted with dismay that the right wing parties were more likely to win in the next election now. There was no one making comments about the hotel maid.

As I didn't know very much about 'DSK' (the French turn everything into an abbreviation, no joke), I started to read old articles about him. From what I've gathered, he seems to be quite the chaud lapin; his major weakness is women, and this seems to be a well known fact in France. He has even stated long before this incident that he was worried about Nicolas Sarkozy (or someone else) using this weakness to their advantage   (such as framing him for rape). That being said, the French media is building this up to be a huge conspiracy to keep DSK from running for president in the next elections (many polls suggest he is the only candidate that would defeat Sarkozy).

When I read the American newspapers online, there is a lot of criticism about the French's lax policies concerning the life of politicians especially when they do something wrong. (Extract from New York Times: "[The French politicians] believe themselves so indispensable to the running of the country that trying to topple one of them is a bit like threatening to shoot a prize racehorse for nibbling your lawn. You're meant to shut upa nd let them nibble.") The American media sees the hotel maid as the victim of a sex crime.

But when I read the French papers, it's a lot of theorizing and questioning whether this actually happened the way the chambermaid claims. They claim that the American justice system is too hard on the alleged criminal, and that even though they claim to follow the idea of "innocent until proven guilty," the actions of police and prosecuters say otherwise. They take it particularly badly that photos of DSK in handcuffs were released to the general public, which has been illegal in France since 2000. (Mentioned in La Libération: The first person to "hear" about the news and spread it via Twitter was an active member of the UMP, which is Nicolas Sarkozy's political party. From there, the seeds have been sown and the controversy has spread!). Interestingly enough, 57% of French polled see DSK as the victim of a political smear campaign and continually emphasize the importance of the policy of "innocent until proven guilty."

This is quite interesting, especially for someone who has tried to read both versions of the story. The Americans see the French as 'pervs', and the French see Americans as 'puritans.' It seems to me that the debate has swerved away from the actual issue (Did DSK do it or not?) to a new one: the differences in attitudes towards sexuality between the Americans and the French. Just something to think about.