It is common in the US to view France as a fading nation. Last week’s carnage in Paris has reminded Americans what they value in their oldest ally. France may suffer from steep unemployment and a sclerotic public sector. It remains an à la carte ally of the US, rather than adopting a British-style prix fixe. But its effective handling of the attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo — and the symbolic nature of the target — has invoked something in America’s DNA. “Solidarité” is the cover of the New Yorker against a cartoon of the Eiffel Tower as a pencil — an artful echo of Le Monde’s “We are all Americans” post-9/11 headline. The slogan, “Je Suis Charlie”, may be overblown. But this tragedy has brought out America’s underlying sympathy for France. The more is the pity that no senior US official was able to attend Sunday’s unity demonstration in Paris.
Though recent, the neoconservative view of France as a nation of “cheese eating surrender monkeys” is now a memory. Yet the lessons of the Iraq invasion look ever more relevant. In 2003, many Americans saw France as a weak-kneed appeaser of Third World dictators — Saddam Hussein being the latest. Some of it was true. The French have few scruples in dealing with thuggish regimes when there is profit to be made. But France — and Germany — stood against the Iraq invasion on principle and substance. With hindsight they were prescient. History will treat Jacques Chirac more kindly than Tony Blair. Besides, the US and the UK have histories of arming their own strongmen — at one time that included Saddam. Whether you view the fight against Islamist fascism as a war, or as an international police operation, the French are doing some things right.
Last week’s horror reminds us that Enlightenment values are universal — and France remains one of its strongest cradles. Some commentators have pointedest to Charlie Hebdo’ gratuitous lack of taste. The magazine has been relentlessly provocative, they say. It is a fair critique. Hebdo has made its name through insulting people of all faiths, Muslims among them. But the critique confuses defence of free speech with its content. Voltaire said: “I do not agree with what you have to say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” The philosopher is said to have made those remarks in 1766 after the French state had executed a baron for blasphemy — the offender having defiled a crucifix and spat on religious imagery. The philosopher’s worldview prevailed. Today, such material is likelier to be on exhibit at a Parisian art gallery. No one is required to like Hebdo. We are all Voltairians now.
France has stuck more rigidly to secularism than its cousins in the US. Depictions of Jesus are as unwelcome in the French classroom as the Islamic veil. Some Muslim feminists argue this is counter-productive — wearing the chador emboldens girls from conservative families to go out into the world. Yet France enforces the principle even-handedly. In parts of the US, such as Texas, the curriculum teaches that the Christian God is the author of American liberty. It is a long way from what most of the founding fathers believed. Many, including Thomas Jefferson, the most Francophile of America’s revolutionaries, were Deists — they believed God originally made the universe but did not interfere in its workings. It was as close to atheism as the age permitted.
Today, few US politicians would dare admit to Godlessness, or even agnosticism. According to Pew, just 2.4 per cent of Americans identify as atheist. Yet faith is only selectively rewarded in the US. Muslim unbelievers are celebrated with plenty of airtime.
Nor is France vacillating in its response to the Islamist threat. With mixed results it spearheaded the war against Muammer Gaddafi’s Libya — President Barack Obama was content to lead that from behind. It has taken the initiative to fight the Islamist insurgency in Mali. It is the most sceptical among the EU three in its view of Iran’s nuclear ambitions — Britain and Germany are less hardline.
There are plenty of doubters in the English-speaking world. They point to French readiness to pay off al-Qaeda-linked hostage-takers in north Africa and elsewhere. They are alarmed by rising anti-Semitism — a record number of French Jews are moving to Israel. Moreover, France’s 5m Muslims are among the least integrated in Europe. Marine Le Pen’s far right Front National will doubtless gain support after last week’s horrors. Whatever backlash occurs will encourage yet more French Muslims to join the Islamic State’s insurgency in Syria and Iraq, another dubious league table that France tops.
But these are dangers France and the US have in common. With obvious reluctance, but little option, Mr Obama has assembled another ad hoc coalition to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the latest threat from the Middle East. This time France is a willing partner alongside the UK. Two of the Hebdo terrorists were trained by al-Qaeda in Yemen. Others will have learnt new methods from Isis. It is probably only a matter of time before one of the groups tries another attack on the US homeland. Today, as in the late 18th century, France and the US are peas in a pod. Each sees itself as exceptional. But what they have in common transcends national vanities. When France and the US see eye-to-eye their histories sometimes rhyme.
美国人普遍把法国视为一个衰落中的国家。上周巴黎发生的屠杀让美国人回想起，他们对最长久的盟友法国看重的是什么。法国可能正受困于高失业率和僵化的公共行业。法国仍是美国的一个照单点菜式的盟友（而非英国那样的铁杆拍档）。但是，讽刺杂志《查理周刊》(Charlie Hebdo) 遇袭后法国的高效处理——以及被攻击目标具有的象征意义——唤醒了美国人基因中的某些东西。最新一期《纽约客》(New Yorker)封面的主题是“团结”，背景是制成埃菲尔铁塔(Eiffel Tower)卡通形象的一枝铅笔——巧妙呼应了法国《世界报》(Le Monde)在9/11事件之后“我们都是美国人”的标题。“我是查理”(Je suis Charlie)的标语可能有些过头了。但这场悲剧引出了美国对法国的根本同情。在这一背景下，没有一位美国高官能够参加周日在巴黎举行的团结游行更加令人遗憾。
英语世界中有一些质疑者，他们指出法国准备为北非等地发生的、与基地组织有关的人质劫持事件支付赎金。反犹太主义升温引起他们的担忧——迁居以色列的法国犹太人人数创下纪录。此外，法国的500万穆斯林融入主流社会的程度是欧洲最低的。在上周的惨案发生后，马琳•勒庞(Marine Le Pen)领导的极右翼党派国民阵线(National Front)无疑将获得支持。无论产生什么反弹，都将刺激更多法国穆斯林加入叙利亚和伊拉克的“伊斯兰国”(Islamic State)动乱，这是法国领衔的另一个不好的排行榜。
