France is much more than a country, France is
also an idea. Perhaps the first nation-state in Europe, the nation that brought
democracy to the continent, and the power of the masses. The state of Henri IV
(the great and the good), Louis XIV (the state is me) and Napoleon Bonaparte
(the Emperor). Great leaders, who united the French nation, expanded its
borders, connected parts that once seemed to be impossible to connect, and for
better or worse, placed it on the map of the world of their time.
In a certain sense,
this is what the French nation has always sought, a leader that will connect
it, contain it and bring it to its proper place among the nations.
In the 20th century, France had only two leaders
approaching such a magnitude, Charles de Gaulle and Francois Mitterrand, one
from the right and one from the left. One a war hero, a symbol of stubbornness,
national pride and the father of the Fifth Republic and the second was the
ultimate politician, the modern king of
France, who became the most influential
figure of the European left in the 20th century. What Thatcher and Reagan
symbolize for global conservatism, Mitterrand symbolizes for socialism.
None of the four candidates for the presidency
today is a unifying candidate, on the contrary - the
uniqueness of each of them is in his contrast and opposition, to a symbol, an idea
or another candidate. Therefore, the close
results, the concern, and the uncertainty.
Like other Western nations, France is also seeking its way, the first round of elections is just the beginning.
אין תגובות:
הוסף רשומת תגובה