MACRON ERA

Place de la Bastille with the July Column in the center

France 1/2 Franc obverse

Meaning of Macron Presidency

Europe is more than 19 hours away from us. It has many languages, different cultures and political systems. Why bother about it?

I attended once a Europe Day and tried to understand why the need for a united Europe. Then I was given a workbook where each country that belonged to the European Union was narrated. One thing that struck me was the list of inventors, scientists, and literary geniuses.

In college we learned about Shakespeare as coming from England; of Moliere from France; of Cervantes as from Spain; meaning each country produced her own special people. So we connoted a famous literary person by his or her country.

However, in that workbook, no mention was made of the country at all. All the famous people were lumped together as European. I found that rather disturbing.

You see Folks, when I was in Europe in the 80's, a very rare opportunity for me to see that continent, I enjoyed travelling from one country to another. From Amsterdam where I had attended and presented my Super 8mm films at the First International Conference of Women in Film and Video, I rode a bus which took the boat from to England. After staying there for 3 months, I went around Europe – to Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, and back to Amsterdam. Later on, I was able to visit Brussels and Germany. I was amazed how the paper monies from one country to another differed from each other; and how they reflected the cultural differences. One country showed their royal personages; another their scientists thus showing whom they want to emphasize as having an impact in their society.

That is the beauty of Europe – the cultural differences which are only a few hours away from each other.

Now a European Union has been established which aims to unite all the countries and strengthen the continent in cooperating to solve the problems of existence in each country. Britain is exiting; whereas the ascendancy to the presidency of Emmanuel Macron is viewed as a step towards strengthening the union as he is loyal to its objectives.

So what is the relevance of Macron victory to our country?

1.The youthful age of Macron shows that the French idea of governance does not hinge on age. Rather it is the mind and the skill of the person that count more than the number of years of being in government or any other institution.

2.The defeat of Ms. Le Pen reveals the lack of synchronization of women's political capabilities to the requirements of society.

Ms. Le Pen comes from the right and so espouses a very limited view of how to govern a country. What France and all other countries in Europe need is a government that views the presence of all other countries whose developments could affect one's own. In other words, globalization is an issue that any ruler for that matter has to contend with, instead of running away from it.

3.Why are male leaders more open to the idea of globalization than women? Look at Britain which has a female prime minister, Theresa May, who is for Brexit or the exit of Britain from the European Union. And now, Ms. Le Pen whose defeat shows that the French are more for opening up to the other European countries and the world.

I think the presence of international terrorists push countries now to band together instead of existing on their own. They must join hands in order to keep their citizens safe and their countries free from being torn into disorder by them.

In other words, the French are telling us, as they have chosen Macron that we need someone who can help us plan our future and make us feel safe in our own shores.

The men actually are being true to form. Remember that the many colonizers who went out of Europe were men and so the habit of going out is still there, albeit without the need to conquer any more but rather to establish stronger economic ties legally.

5.Macron is only 39 years old thus showing that he is a product of the 80's. He must have experienced already a lot of political transitions – from undemocratic to democratic rules; from colonized to decolonized; from apartheid to equality of the races; and from male to female domination to equality, among others. France being a highly developed country surely would have an information system that can reveal the different facets of the world. And so, he must have seen that a multiple perspective of the world can bring about change, rather than an inward-looking one.

6. How much understanding should we make of French politics? In college, I tried very had to study the French language but I could not bring myself to really study it well so that I could read the works of Racine, Beauvoir, Sartre, and Camus in their originals. From the French existentialists, I learned that “Existence precedes essence.” In other words, before individuals can learn morals and truths,

they must be fed first.

By the way, my first French teacher died accidentally and so that scene always comes between me and my desire to learn the language. Perhaps I should overcome that.

7. Culturally, I have devoured a lot of French writings. In college, I read Jean Genet's The Maids; Alfred Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, among others. But my appreciation was very skimpy of these works because I knew that they were only translations and I have a leery view of such. Translations could be skimming over the really important ideas that the original author is trying to say.

When Les Miserables, the film was shown here, I tried to see how it matched the novel of Victor Hugo on which it was based. I was rather disappointed but nonetheless I enjoyed the music of Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil

8.When I visited Paris in the 80's, I marveled at the huge avenues, and the monuments right smack in the middle of the cities. Sometime during the celebration of French independence Day, on July 14, 1981, I bought a bottle of beer and drank it while sitting by the monument of Bastille, the site of the French Revolution of 1872 against the aristocrats. I really enjoyed that as I had just come from the restaurant where I bought the bottle of beer.

You see, Folks, when you sit inside the restaurant and drink the beer, you would be charged more; and so I decided to bring the bottle right where history unfolded. And wasn't that very apropos? I am sure the martyrs of the revolution also were happy to see me there, especially as I was coming then from a country that was being ruled by a dictator-- Ferdinand Marcos.

9.So what makes us view France? She has intellectual ferment. Dictators are not welcome there. That's the importance of maintaining a president who would accept contrary and pro ideas as having equal weight to be discussed.

Intellectual discourse there is natural. People will not shy away from discussing. In fact, at that time I was there, many political refugees lived and worked side by side – El Salvadorenos, Chilenos, and all other Latin Americans, Africans, etcetera. I lived in the home of an El Salvadorena who spoke French and Spanish. I helped her in finding an equal treatment of media coverage of the revolutionary activities of Farabundo Marti through just payments gathered from the sale of footages to French TV stations. I remember what she told me: “Bon travail, Guillermina.” That name is Wilhelmina, my real name, in Spanish and she spoke Spanish in her homeland.

Europe was actually then a huge political haven for citizens suffering from military dictatorships. Even England was full of political refugees – Palestinians, Latin Americans, South Africans, etcetera.

That tradition of sheltering refugees continues to this day as we can see that some other European countries have opened their doors to migrant-refugees from the Middle East, especially Syria.

And so in this age where the world is still opening up its doors to all kinds of ideas (mind you, I don't like the idea of Neo Nazis) we in the Philippines could learn a lot about political and religious tolerance.

Hence, we expect the same freedoms to be strengthened when Macron takes his powerful seat. By staying with the EU he is obligated to accept its decision to allow refugees to come in.

10. My expectations are that there be more cultural exchanges between France and our country. I would like French films to be available for viewing every month if not every other month here. Film with captions should proliferate so that we can see how people from other lands live, and react to life's vicissitudes.

11. French should be taught from the grades, as one of the foreign languages that a schooling child could opt for to learn. If English is available, why not French?

And Folks, did you know that our Filipino migrants there could speak French? They feel very much at home there, speaking the language and communicating with the vendors in the market.

The unity of the Filipino migrant workers is intact there also because every Sunday, they visit one Church where they hear mass and share with each other their life circumstances afterwards. They would also exchange francs into dollars which they could remit to their families in our country.

However, I hope that our migrant workers there would be able to raise their working status there based on their qualifications.

12. One thing that I appreciated while in Paris was a pair of socks which I had bought to keep me warm at that time, which was autumn then. The colors were mustard, red and green with geometric design. I kept that for a very long time and miss it now.

I was amazed at the color combination then which I had not seen yet at that time in our country. I knew also that my children would love to see those socks and so I bought two pairs for them.

13. Sans Souci Palace (means carefree) - I was able to visit this Palaca which is miles away from Paris courtesy of friends in the radical movement, a Filipina married to a Frenchman.

That experience I will never forget. The palace has a window that looks so very far to the horizon, you could not see the end of it.

I think the architect of a golf course replicated that here but I won't mention the name of the greens because it sits on an agricultural land that should be a source for food of MetroManilas.

So you see how some enterprising individuals in our country appropriate ideas from other countries without even acknowledging them.

I don't mind seeing French architecture but let us give credit where credit is due.

14. Rue de Ranelagh – that street is that an OFW had told me was for the elite. True enough, when I walked there, I saw huge displays of fur coats, designer clothes, etcetera and I saw one lady wearing one and walking on the sidewalk. It was very common to be rich and to look rich there. You know she glared at my outfit – layers of sweatshirts of different color combinations to keep me warm from the cold. It was also very common then to look down on the poor, I gathered.

Maybe we should also have streets in every province with businesses that showcase Philippine products worthy of being exported.

I expect that our own products should find their way to France and that the French would be appreciating the works of our people.

15. Drama was very much alive in Paris then. I went to see Bernarda Alba by Federico Garcia Lorca in a small theatre there. I was surprised to hear French, not Spanish nor English being spoken by the characters. And neither was it a literal translation but an interpretation of Lorca's play. In other words, the author had appropriated Lorca's ideas and shown it in his own way – with at one part, women all in white, riding a boat. Now that scene cannot be found in Lorca's drama at all.

Maybe our own plays could find their way into the French theatres there so that the people would know that our country is not only a place for killing of drug lords, addicts and pushers but rather a welcoming haven for beautiful minds to prosper in.

Lastly, I would like to mention that the non-party campaign of Macron shows that the French are ready for mavericks -- candidates need not belong to a political party as the people will judge them according to their credentials and ethical credibility.

What am I saying here? The term of Macron must show that France views third world countries like ours as important partners in development and that the European Union must also espouse the same policies to equalize the participation of all in making the globe an intellectually challenging, healthier, humane and peaceful place to exist in.

Marie Antoinette the last queen of France Marie Antoinette was guillotined at 12:15 p.m. on 16 October 1793.^[205]^[206] Her last words were "Pardon me, sir, I meant not to do it", to Henri Sanson the executioner, whose foot she had accidentally stepped on after climbing to the scaffold. Her body was thrown into an unmarked grave in the Madeleine cemetery located close by in rue d'Anjou. Because its capacity was exhausted the cemetery was closed the following year, on 25 March 1794.^[207]