Monday, May 23, 2011

Women protest


Despite our progress in France, you will find very few women in the government, in parliament or at the head of large companies... and they have globally less power on society here. The recent Dominique Strauss Kahn case, and the way it was dealt with in the French press, showed that we are also a very chauvinistic country. That is why feminist activists decided to demonstrate today (Sunday), near Beaubourg. Not a lot of people, but enough to make it to the news. I think we badly needed this wake up call.

26 comments:

  1. Good for them! I hope it does some good. Who knows, there may larger demonstrations as women decide to take some power for themselves!

    Kris

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  2. It is so interesting to take note of how different countries have reported the DSK case.

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  3. I'm not qualified to comment on the issue, not knowing French politics. But I trust you on this one, Eric. And I think the photo's great.

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  4. I agree with BC. Here in Australia, we are getting both sides of the story times 2. Meaning we read the reports of indignation from France, the reports of justice from the USA, and we are also getting the flip side of both these stories as the concept of 'rape' is analysed and also the patriachal society is analysed. I am able to read here in my press about the 'excesses' that the American legal system enacts in the name of 'justice', too.

    In both countries (USA & France), an element of populism is engulfing the story, to the detriment of the accuser, the accused and the legal system. It all makes fascinating reading from an emotional distance.

    I find it intruiging that the push is on to replace DSK at the IMF with a woman, as though that will go some way to ameliorating the anger and the injustices against women in general.

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  5. Women agency to do more to protect the Women. Reproductive rights and violence against women are still critical issues.

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  6. Interesting how this situation may have been viewed if Ségolène Royal had succeeded in her bid for the French Presidency.....

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  7. Violence against women is a huge issue. Whatever the social condition. Violence against women can take so many different forms, alas... included the sexual one. Terrible. We can see Eva Joly, hidden behind the micro, on the right. French member of the European Parliament, she will likely run for the President election in France in 2012. Her life is an interesting example of a free and clever woman.

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  8. N'est-ce pas Clémentine Autain au centre de ta photo ?

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  9. @Nasty GG. Ben si. Et effectivement Eva Joly derrière le micro également.

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  10. All the issues aside (cleverly avoiding the facts), I think this is a fantastic photo Eric. There's so much going on in the shot.

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  11. You know, there's a very interesting point made in the book The Female Brain, which I'm reading right now. It seems that in many cases it's not that women are being shut out or aren't good at jobs in politics or science, etc, but that their hormones kind of re-set at a certain point, making them want different things, start a family... oh I can't explain. I' wondering if people - men and women - realize this and maybe subconsciously don't elect women to positions that they might just decide to resign for because their brain is wired to be more family-oriented? I don't know. It's a really interesting book. It makes me feel as though my hormones control my every feeling and thought, but maybe it will end well. :-P I'm sure there are many fields in which there are more women than men. It just happens....

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  12. What a great photo, Eric. Lots of movement, activity, and you can see the passion of the people involved on their faces. Nicely done.

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  13. Great photo and all my support to the women who demonstrated yesterday.

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  14. My admiration and respect to all those women that make we can hear their smart voices.

    Regards

    Valery

    Barcelona Daily Photo

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  15. Legal Question: In this picture we clearly see the person's face, is this OK to blog/publish because it is a public gathering/protest?....

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  16. @ Martin : a quick answer.
    In France, many judgements have decided since 2001 the right to information as a counterpart to the image rights and respect for privacy. That means that if a person does have a right to his/her image, this is not an absolute right, since the photography informs about an event, a news and the photograph does not show an individual in a degrading situation, nor a ridiculous one.
    So I think Eric could not be sued in this case.

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  17. PS : but, IMO, the question remains asked concerning the publication of the late DSK arrestation pictures by all French medias...

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  18. I love that in France, protesting is akin to a hobby. Here in the US, no one cares enough to take it to the streets in the same way, and definately not on a Sunday! This interest in society by the normal person on the street is something we need more of here...


    Sean

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  19. Eric - love this photo & your usual up-to-the-minute news. It takes so long to change a society. The powerful don't usually like to give up power. The powerless must risk taking it. Its always a big risk. I think you're right to look to the facts. Talk is cheap. One wonders how tough a female head of the IMF will have it in the culture of that org. as its being described!

    Norma - all the media published the handcuff photos (and no doubt benefited) so they must have felt pretty safe to publish them (at the same time decrying such photos). I assume this was either because they didn't take the originals or because the act didn't occur in France. Are people saying they did wrong - challenging them to justify this if the images would not normally be publishable in France? If not, it would be an interesting double standard.

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  20. It IS a great photo! I see a couple of men in the shot, I think. Are they with these women or against them? With, I hope.

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  21. @Carrie: Yes, there are peope saying French TV did wrong, starting with DSK French lawyers!

    Section 35 ter of the 1881 law on freedom of the press (which is fully applicable still now) is, indeed, perfectly clear: it is strictly forbidden in France "to publish, without the consent of the person, the image of a person, wearing handcuffs, who has not been convicted. "

    But the images have been around the world! For French lawyers, these pictures, taken during the "perp walk" are illegal in France.
    The problem is the same for images of trials. In France - and in most European countries, that is a total ban.
    Now, if DSK lawyers intend to sue the French TV channels, they may win and obtain financial compensations but this is definitively too late for DSK image. These pictures will stay sticked for ever to his skin... although the presomption of innocence is a fundamental right in France ... And there would have been something odd if the French newspapers and TV did not publish images that have flooded the Internet area and were visible throughout the world...

    If you are interested, here is a French paper about this question (My comment is fully inspired from it). http://www.lesechos.fr/economie-politique/politique/dossier/0201372866692/0201385329474-fallait-il-cacher-les-menottes-de-dsk-166304.php

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  22. Yes Norma is right, in this particular case these people are public figures that climbed on a stage. They could not argue that they did not anticipate someone would publish a photo of them!
    (Actually they WANTED to get the media attention!)

    As for DSK, it's a specific law we have in France since 2001 or 2, like Norma reported it.
    Kinda like in the States it is not legal (or at least not usual) to disclose the name of a victim, whereas here, it has been everywhere in the news at a very early stage.

    Now of course, with Twitter, Facebook and the Web in general, all this becomes obsolete.

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  23. Your photo today, including both Clémentine Autain and Eva Joly, is a nice illustration of the right to information, which you always do perfectly, Eric.

    Flore

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  24. You have started a really interesting conversation here great work...

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