Economist.com Cities Guide: Paris Briefing - July 2006

News this month

Saving the children

French citizens are protesting against the government’s increasingly harsh stance on immigration. In June parliament passed a bill that encourages immigration by skilled workers and increases restrictions on others. Sponsored by Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister and the top conservative contender for next year’s presidential election, the bill complements a pledge to increase deportations of illegal aliens—of whom there are estimated to be between 200,000 and 400,000—to 25,000 this year. In Paris thousands have demonstrated against the government's plan to deport families with school-age children, and July saw more than 100,000 people sign a petition pledging to break the law and hide youths threatened with expulsion. One group, the Education Without Borders Network, estimates there are 50,000 to 100,000 such minors. Even the French airport unions say personnel may not help with deportations. Mr Sarkozy has consented to consider exceptions on a case-by-case basis.

Meanwhile, thousands of immigrants have flooded government centres, hoping to be among those offered amnesty from deportation. Families must meet three requirements: one parent must have lived in France for at least two years; one child must have been in school since September 2005; and one child must either have been born in France or have lived there before turning 13.

Hot in the city

Parisian authorities have taken emergency measures to handle a July heat wave that saw temperatures in the capital reach 36ºC (97ºF). France has been touchy about heat waves, ever since one in 2003 led to the deaths of at least 15,000 people. Accusations of apathy towards the elderly who live in rest homes and hospitals followed, prompting the health ministry to devise emergency strategies for dealing with extreme heat.

On July 18th Paris announced that it had moved to Stage Two of its three-step plan, when staff regularly phone elderly residents and medical aides visit homes. Posters everywhere urge people to keep out of the sun and drink plenty of water. Sprinklers have been set up in the Champs de Mars park, while mist-spraying machines cool tourists waiting at the Eiffel Tower. Temporary respite came just in time for the finish of the Tour de France. The cyclists, who had endured a scorching three weeks, arrived at the Champs-Elysées on July 23rd.

The new far-right

The government is seeking to ban a group of black extremists who staged an anti-Semitic rally in Paris’s historic Jewish quarter. Kemi Seba and 19 members of his Tribu Ka organisation walked through the Marais on May 28th; witnesses claimed they shouted offensive slurs and violent threats, although Mr Seba denies this. Police quickly broke up the march, ran identity checks on participants (who weren't armed) and stepped up security in the area. In early July Mr Sarkozy asked Jacques Chirac, the president, to dissolve the group for incitement to racial hatred. But Mr Seba, 26, has promised a “bloody response” to any such move. He has branded politicians “Zionist vassals” and has vowed to avenge the historic oppression of blacks. “For five centuries we’ve been spoken to with violence,” he said in an interview in July. “It’s time for us to answer back in the same language.”

Mr Seba spent time in France's branch of the Nation of Islam before starting the tiny Tribu Ka, which eschews racial integration. His march was the latest evidence of growing racial tension in Paris. His group claims that young Jews attacked a black man in February, during a demonstration commemorating Ilan Halimi, a French Jew who was kidnapped and killed by a gang that was part-black. But witnesses of the demonstration have denied this.

Fun by the river...

For the fifth year running, Paris has converted the banks of the Seine into a fake beach, complete with sand, chaises longues and ice-cream vendors. The theme is Tahitian, and visitors can enjoy traditional Polynesian houses, free massage classes and Tahitian ballet. “Paris Plages”, which attracted 4m visitors last year, is not the only summer amusement organised by municipal authorities. The Stade de France, the national stadium in Saint Denis, has been converted into a giant sporting club. Besides an artificial beach and giant pool, it offers activities with intriguing names such as speedmington, beach rugby, kayak polo and sandball. Some 55,000 people are expected to visit.

The amusements, set up by the mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, and his team, have been attacked by conservative opposition politicians. They claim such attempts to generate summer fun fritter away public funds, while graver municipal matters are ignored.

...and in it, too

The Josephine Baker pool, which floats in the Seine at the foot of the National Library, opened on July 5th to huge fanfare. After a brief hiccup, when construction problems forced it to shut down for a week, the pool has reopened, comforting wilting Parisians during a heat wave. The €17m complex—named after a dishy, American-born, music-hall star who had “two loves—my country and Paris”—includes a 25-metre pool, a children’s pool, a gym and a sauna, and will be limited to 375 visitors at a time. Its technology includes a retractable glass roof and a filtering system that makes Seine water fit for swimmers, and also returns it to the river after making it fit for fish.

The pool replaced the Deligny, a private enterprise with a 200-year history, which came loose from its moorings and sank in 1993. Despite its temporary closure, Mr Delanoë hailed it as a success and announced plans to build more, beginning with another in the Seine on the west side of the capital, facing André Citroën park, by 2010.

Catch if you can

July 2006

Cindy Sherman, retrospective

Until September 3rd 2006

Cindy Sherman may be the best-known art photographer working today. She is certainly the most recognisable, since for decades her subject has been herself: disguised, mutilated, made up, or turned into a sex bomb, an old man, a child, a doll, a corpse. Some photos will be familiar, such as the most famous of 70 “untitled film stills”, or the “history portraits” that evoke well-known paintings. By recreating certain conventional genre poses or inventing awkwardly voyeuristic scenarios, Ms Sherman teases the relationship between viewers and the viewed. Even if you think you know her style—wry, often unsettling and even grotesque—it is astounding to see all 250 of these works together, in what is her most complete retrospective to date. The show also includes recent works, such as a disturbing clown series from 2004.

Le Jeu de paume, site Concorde, 1 Place de la Concorde, 8th arrondissement. Tel: +33 (0)1 47 03 12 50. Métro: Concorde. Open: Tues noon-9pm, Wed-Fri noon-7pm, Sat-Sun 10am-7pm. For more information see the museum’s website.

More from the Paris cultural calendar