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November 19 and 25, 2007
A raft of reforms, a puzzle of micro-provinces. No, it's not the Balkans. Welcome to France and the new president's agenda. "Sarko" the Elvis-loving man of the people has a plan to attack France's troubles. First, he's adding to them.
Starting with immigration. You might ask why a country of immigrants has trouble with immigrants. But the author of a new book reminds us that France is the country where suspicious countryfolk once threw rocks at Frenchmen riding in the Tour de France.
Real Men don't beat their wives. Or murder their sisters. But in some parts of Germany's Turkish community, they do. Has German war guilt allowed honor killing to survive?
And, Belgrade's new belligerence. Now we're talking Balkans. And two looming deadlines are turning up the political rhetoric to a pre-war pitch.
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Contents November 19/25
Sarkozy's shake-up
In France these days, nobody's been going anywhere fast. Except perhaps, the new president.
Nicholas Sarkozy's showdown with transport workers has led to commuter chaos around the country. Yet there have been public demonstrations by some who agree with him, and polls suggest most people do.
"Sarko the American" as some are calling him, has big plans for France. And in our first half hour we're going to look at how and why.
But first, CBC Correspondent David Common, with the sounds of Sarkozy's agenda.
Listen to David's dispatch
The Discovery Of France
What if the France that Sarkozy seeks to reform and govern is, in fact, ungovernable?
In the words of a new book called The Discovery Of France, the country is one big "puzzle of micro-provinces ... with no single French identity.
"
Hard to believe perhaps, but the French image of fine food and high culture that most of us think we know, is less than a hundred years old.
As no less formidable a figure than General Charles De Gaulle once said, "it's diffficult to govern a country with 246 kinds of cheese.
"
The author of that new book is Graham Robb, who pedalled across what he calls the "land of a thousand pays" in the course of his research. And he joined us from Oxford, England to explode some myths.
Listen his talk with Rick
The Discovery of France is published by W. W. Norton.
Discovering France as immigrants
Belly dancing music was among the sounds you would have heard delighting the crowds during the grand opening of the new French Museum of Immigrationin in Paris last month.
But the prominent son of Hungarian immigrants skipped the ceremony; and in doing so, President Sarkozy practically ensured it would be controversial.
Nobody from his government showed up either. To his critics, it's proof Sarkozy has little interest in the country's minorities.
In fact, his government intends to restrict immigration. It even wants DNA tests done on new applicants to prove they're related to their sponsors.
"DNA tests exist in eleven other European countries and it's not problem" Sarkozy says, omitting to mention French citizens are exempt.
Meanwhile, French police continue their raids and arrests of illegal immigrants. There are many thousands of them. But it's getting increasingly difficult for the government to do anything about the issue.
So immigration is also up for reform in Sarkozy's France. He talks about something he calls "chosen immigration," though others just call it chaos.
Anita Elash picks up our story in the neighbourhood many foreigners make their first home in France.
Listen to Anita's report
Part Two
Bosnian conflict brews
In the Balkans, the rhetoric is heating up again amid rumors the paramilitaries are re-arming.
The Serb government in Belgrade is hinting that if Kosovo breaks away and declares independence, they'll see to it the Serb Republic in Bosnia breaks away too, which would effectively break up Bosnia.
The timing is no accident.
Next month is the deadline for an international report on the status of Kosovo, which has been in limbo since NATO drove Serb troops out eight years ago.
And in Bosnia, the mandate for the European Union peacekeeping force is due to expire this week.
The implications for regional stability are enormous, according to James Lyon, in Belgrade. He's the senior advisor on the Balkans with the International Crisis Group, a non-governmental organisation that analyses international conflict.
Listen to his report to Rick
Brother against sister, in Berlin
When three brothers shot their sister at a Berlin bus stop, a dirty little secret was a secret no more.
It was an honor killing, an old tradition still observed by some in the Turkish immigrant community of Germany.
What makes this story all the more remarkable, is the way people in Germany have -- and haven't -- been dealing with it.
Dispatches contributor Alexa Dvorson recently sat down to dinner with some of them in Berlin.
Listen to Alexa's documentary
The website of Hatun und Can, the German group supporting these women: http://www.hatunundcan-ev.com
This program is the work of producers Donna Cressman, Dawna Dingwall, Alison Masemann, technical producer Victor Johnston and senior producer Alan Guettel.
The theme music for Dispatches is Mark Knopfler's What It Is, from his Sailing To Philadelphia CD (2000).
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