France--USA (excerpt).

Paris, France

September 2003

As some of you may already know, I live in France, more precisely in Paris. My purpose here is to give you an account of the possible reasons explaining the French reaction to the US move in Iraq, and see if there is a way to avoid past traps and mutual misunderstanding between these two nations.

To start off, I would like to make clear at this point that my favorite tool for understanding current events and international relations is History with a capital H. Quite often, but of course not always necessarily, international relations follow past schemas. These schemas are sometimes made rather explicit but can also be underlying or ignored. Moreover, even explicit reasons can often cover more complex issues that take several years to come to the surface.

Peoples, families, etc., also seem to need myths to account for their past. Myths are more often than not distorted accounts of the past. History, on the contrary, should be as close to real events as possible. It is sometimes difficult to tell myths and History apart. Therefore, it is important to understand both the myths and the history peoples and nations carry through to understand them. Therefore, I will try to be as fair as one can be regarding my interpretation of present French-American relations from a historical viewpoint. But at the same time, in case I am being mistaken, I wish you to follow my presentation as you would a fiction or a tale!

France & Religion

France witnessed the wars of religion during the 16th century. These wars created troubles apart from the human damages they brought about. King Henry the Fourth restored peace in the kingdom. Consequently the French separation between the Church and the State takes its roots in the wars of religion, as Henry the Fourth allowed for the people to unite themselves under one state, moving religions out. (1)

With the fall of the French monarchy and the rise of the French Republic through the 18th and the 19th centuries, the separation between the Catholic Church and the State became final and was reinforced in 1905. For instance, schools became fully secular.

Today there is a clear-cut separation between one's religious beliefs and one's public actions. For instance, when a French citizen fills out a form to enter the US, he or she probably does not understand the following question: Which religion do you have/hold? This question does not make sense for a French citizen. To him or her, religion belongs to the private sphere only. Thus French politicians, if they go to church on Sundays, will never make any publicity around it. Altogether, to illustrate this point, the French do not take oaths on the Bible.

Therefore you can imagine that any biblical reference made by a politician does not make sense to French people. With this element in mind you can understand why religious references like 'Empire of Evil' or 'Evil Axis' do not make sense in France, or seem misplaced. The literal translation of these expressions into French cannot convey the meanings they have in English and creates confusion.

French has a word for the separation between the Church and the State in everyday life: laicite, adjective: laic. How do you translate it in English? You can say 'secularity' or 'secularization' and still will not carry all the meanings that 'laicite' brings out. Altogether, it is quite impossible for me to translate 'sects' or 'denominations' in French!

It should be noted that 'laicite' is different from the secularization process former communist countries followed. Religions are not forbidden, they just simply belong to the individual and private sphere only.

What is the consequence of the French 'laicite' on international relations? The French tend to hold better relationships and ties with other secular states where religions can be a matter of discord. In short, the French distrust administrations based on religious grounds.

This is very important to understand French relationships with Iraq. To the French eye, Saddam Hussein was a 'laic', secular leader. Thus Saddam Hussein's regime has not always been perceived by France as dangerous as other regimes existing in the middle-east.

NOTE

1. He is famous for the motto "Paris is worth a mass."