"All things French" roundup, update (Part II)

This important information pertaining to the French blogosphere and freedom of speech has been brought to our attention by Sami Ben Gharbia , GV Advocacy Director for online freedom of speech. Here is the gist of it:
If you were to witness an act of violence in France ( by the police or someone else), catch it on tape and publish the video, you might go to jail.

"The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that criminalizes the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists. The law could lead to the imprisonment of eyewitnesses who film acts of police violence, "

Update:
Sami wrote an article that explains further the implication of that new law in France and more generally about internet censorship in the world:
Sami Ben Gharbia on censorship:

"One has to wonder now what the next move by the French Republic, in its fervor to “prevent criminal behavior”, will be. Will it be the banning of video-sharing sites like YouTube and the France’s Dailymotion, which were widely used by young citizen journalists during the “émeutes de Paris” (Paris riots) two years ago? And will music videos like “Paris Brûle” (”Paris Is Burning” — seen below) be forbidden in France?"

Claire Ulrich provided great insights about this issue in this article on ohmynews:

"Here are a few rapid-fire reasons for this surprising lack of concern:
France lives right now under the spell of the presidential election, with every second of media attention eaten up by the contenders. Blogging is hugely popular in France, but the concept of citizen journalism is not understood over here, save for a few sophisticated news geeks. French citizens have grown indifferent to their legislative bulimia nervosa, with laws, decrees and amendments being churned out wholesale everyday from every law-making institution. Citizens usually wait to see if the judges use it to protest (or oppose it) [..].
I am aware how shocking this new law sounds from abroad. It should only be ridiculed. To believe, just for a second, that a national law will be able to stop user-generated videos of any kind at the borders of the French Internet is ludicrous and laughable. Unless -- and this is a worrying thought -- a future government votes the means to enforce it, with cyber-police to keep French "vidcasts" under a tight log-on-and-upload watch.[...]
Their real concern -- and mine -- is the growing trend under this government to enact clumsy, vague and potentially dangerous laws under noble disguises such as the "fight against violence" or to "protect children from pornography."

So there you have it, thanks to Sami and Claire.

Pour resumer le problème (en francais): cette loi etait sensée être une mesure préventive contre la pratique ( imbécile) du "happy slapping". En théorie, cette loi autorise aussi l’arrestation de toutes personnes reproduisant une vidéo témoignant d’abus de violence par la police. L’application pratique reste à démontrer ce qui explique en partie le silence presque complet sur le sujet dans la blogopsphère francophone. Il y a cependant une tendance fâcheuse du gouvernement actuel de faire passer des lois sensées proteger ces citoyens mais qui en pratique, les privent de leurs droits d’expression de base. Cela n’est pas sans rappeller les décisions post 11-septembre aux USA.

I also would like to clarify my comment earlier on civil rights in France; I do not have any ill feelings towards France, I am merely pointing out what I think are misguided decisions on the part of the government.
In fact, here is a toast to the French-Malagasy relationship. What would be a better way to celebrate their common history than by putting in the spotlight these beautiful Franco-Malagasy ladies: (hey, it's almost friday :), I am allowed to have a moment of totally vain material !)
Laura Fasquel, Miss Albigeois and Miss World candidate (hat tip to Randy).

Noémie Lenoir, supermodel and wife of footballer Claude Makelele.



Both of their mothers are of Malagasy descent.
Finally, a big thank you to Harinjaka, Tattum, Aiky, Nivo, Madagascan, Many and Ikoza from whom I got the materials to write this post on ecology and development.


(written March 3rd,07)
Not a complete post here but some news just can't wait:

1) Alice Baker got the "GlobalVoices en francais" up and running. Contributors include Claire Ulrich [who already translated in French 3 posts including the one about Madagascar (thank you) ], Tattum and yours truly.

2) Claire Ulrich is a journalist from Le Monde 2 who also translated the post about bloggers 'reaction to Abdelkareem Nabil Suleiman's plight, the Egyptian imprisoned blogger ( here is the article from Le monde in French). The petition to free Kareem has been supported by Malagasy blogger Barijaona. Claire will also write about Ethan Zuckerman, creator of Global Voices.

3) Thanks to an awesome find by Mosi, it turns out that if France were to go back to a monarchy the next king of France could very well be Indian, Balthazar Napoleon de Bourbon.
Oh, the sweet irony ! Philippe de Villiers and Co. must be so happy :)
How does one say "Sarrazin, rampe jusqu'a Compostelle !" in Hindi ?
Mosi thinks France should go ahead, just to see how Amelie would be portrayed in Bollywood :).

4) Update: This important information pertaining to the French blogosphere and freedom of speech has been brought to attention by Sami Ben Gharbia , GV Advocacy Director for online freedom of speech.
If you were to witness an act of violence in France ( by the police or someone else), catch it on tape and publish the video, you might go to jail.

"The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that criminalizes the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists. The law could lead to the imprisonment of eyewitnesses who film acts of police violence, "

Cela veut dire que si la video ci-dessous avait ete filmee en France (au lieu des US) et postee sur un blog, le blogger en question pourrait etre passible de prison ferme. (video of UCLA police tasering student Mostafa Tabatabainejad. Be warned: the video is quite gruesome)



(courtesy of entereidolon)
I never thought I would say this but you could actually have more civil rights under the Bush's administration than under a Sarkozy-led French government....
I don't want to pick on the French gvt here but this is far from being their finest hour.