Today is July 14, and in France it is the Bastille Day. France’s equivalent of US July 4th, and Canada’s July 1st. It celebrates the day the people, in 1789, stormed the Bastille prison and kicked out the King, Louis XVI, and declared a Republic. It is also the day every French celebrates the Declaration of the rights of man and the citizen (1789) which forms the core of the French constitution.
I have titled this post on the 3 fundamental French principles (Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood), but before you accuse me of French chauvinism, I do recognize that since 1789, France has gone through revolutions, counter-revolutions and dictatorships. Even fascism has crept into the system from time to time, and we cannot claim that it is totally free, nor that it is equal, and even less that everyone lives in a community of brotherhood (to keep in with trends, we should call it siblinghood). But then again, there is not a single country that can claim this to be fully and universally true.
The other day, however, I was talking to a close family member at breakfast about healthcare and socialist vs capitalist healthcare systems, and she used France as an example of a socialist healthcare system. As we talked, she brought up a number of points about France, which I will summarize here through the lens of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité. I cannot say much about the Liberté part, because I do not think France is any more or less free than other democratic countries. It is just that the areas of freedom and restriction are different for each country. I happen to appreciate the freedoms in France, even though there are areas of restriction that I do not, but I can tolerate them (Believe me, I am not a libertarian). But that is my nature, which may be different for another person who may appreciate the freedoms of Canada, US or Germany better and is able to better tolerate their restrictions; as long as the basic rights and freedoms exist, which is (hopefully) the fundamentals of any democracy.
On the Egalité and Fraternité side, on the other hand, there is much to be said about the French principles, which may not suit many people, but it is a distinctive nature. You can see its manifestations through features: the best schools, universities, and hospitals are public and are generally free, or limited fees. The system insists that children eat lunch at the school (although not mandatory) and what the parents pay depends on what they can afford through their income. One set of parents may pay €5 for a meal, while another one pays only €0.20 for the same meal. The kids eat together and no one knows who pays what, but they all eat together. The healthcare is available to almost everyone, and each person pays the same percentage of its income, regardless of how much they make, and that is regardless of how many dependents are covered. You pay more if you make more and less if the opposite. The list is long, and I won’t bore you with it, but I am in no way saying that things are copacetic in France, far from it. There are inequalities, and unfairness.
There are people excluded from the equal access to education and healthcare. Furthermore, this concept is deteriorating gradually towards further class privileges, and let’s not forget that after all, France is a capitalistic country, but its revolutionary fathers tried to bring about what is called solidarity between generations and classes, and that is what living together means, no?
Paris, July 14, 2022
Zeejay