As France heads into the 2022 presidential election, the fabric of a country that has at times been the envy of Europe is looking tattered. The sands of society are shifting on an almost daily basis, the ‘traditional’ French way of life appears to be on the way out. Things that used to define France appear to have gone: the welfare state is losing steam, industry and agriculture are both suffering.

The far-right claims that the country isn’t French enough and has become too multicultural - and that even debating the place of Islam has become a dangerous no-go zone. France, it seems, is going through “a crise d’identité”.

Crossroads France, created by Antoine Boyer, Sarah-Lou Lepers and Camille Kauffmann and hosted by Barney Spender, explores five different regions of France and five areas of French life to find out more about the country in the 21st century.

Episode 1 looks at the forgotten people of the “Empty Diagonal” where public services are dwindling while Episode 2 heads down south where heavy industry is declining but new industries are taking root.  Episode 3 takes us to Paris to hear more about the far-right’s notion of ‘assimilation’ and the effect of the death in police hands of Adama Traore, the face behind France’s equivalent of the Black Lives Matter movement.   

In Episode 4 we learn more about a row over Islam that went out of control at a university in Grenoble. The question of Islamophobia has become so awkward in France that it is barely possible to debate it without tempers becoming frayed.

And in Episode 5 we go west to see how climate change is affecting attitudes to farming and the countryside. 

Stay tuned, episode 1, will be released on Monday, April 4. 

An AFP Audio podcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As France heads into the 2022 presidential election, the fabric of a country that has at times been the envy of Europe is looking tattered. The sands of society are shifting on an almost daily basis, the ‘traditional’ French way of life appears to be on the way out. Things that used to define France appear to have gone: the welfare state is losing steam, industry and agriculture are both suffering.

The far-right claims that the country isn’t French enough and has become too multicultural - and that even debating the place of Islam has become a dangerous no-go zone.  France, it seems, is going through “a crise d’identité”.

Crossroads France, created by Antoine Boyer, Sarah-Lou Lepers and Camille Kauffmann and hosted by Barney Spender, explores five different regions of France and five areas of French life to find out more about the country in the 21st century.  

Episode 1/5 : The Forgotten

One of the abiding images of France around the world is the strength of the public services: free education and health for all. It is viewed as a system that has evolved into a smooth, fair and fully-functioning tool.

The reality, however, is somewhat different to the myth as multiple reforms since the beginning of the 2000s have driven the welfare state to the brink, accused of inefficiency and out of control public spending.

This sense of abandonment is strong in the “Empty Diagonal”, a section of small-town rural France which feels neglected by the State.

It is the France of the yellow vests and the "forgotten" where hospitals, post offices and other public services are closing down, to the detriment of the people who live there and pay their taxes.

We travel to the Ardennes in the north-east, to a concert by the singer Gauvain Sers who sings ‘Les Oublies’ which became an anthem for the Yellow Vest marches. We dive into the “Empty Diagonal”, where there is a sense of injustice among the people, a feeling they have been cut adrift by the elite in the capital.

Translator & narrator: Barney Spender

Editor: Camille Kauffmann

Studio assistant: Antoine Boyer

Creator in French: Sarah-Lou Lepers. 

Original music: Clémence Reliat et Nicolas Vair. 

Engineer : Christophe Robert.

Illustrator : Julie Pereira. 

Marketing and communication : Laurent Nicolas, Coline Sallois.  

Editors-in-chief : Guy Jackson and Michaëla Cancela-Kieffer.  

An AFP Audio podcast.  
 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 2/5 :  “Reinventing Industry” 

One of the major themes in the 2022 presidential has been
the deindustrialisation of France. The car, metallurgy and textile industries alone have lost half of their workforce in the last 40 years. Less and less is being
manufactured on French territory. In this episode, we went to the Decazeville basin (south of France) where the loss of its contract with Renault has seen the Aveyronnaise
Metallurgy Company (SAM) going out of business. We talk to some of its former employees who are occupying the factory, such as David Gistau who is facing the same fate as his steelworker father, and his grandfather who was a miner. 

There is better news 150km away, where Julien and Myriam Tuffery have taken over and reinvigorated the family clothes business which has been going since 1892. With 25 employees and a growing turnover, they appear to have hit upon a sustainable and modern business model that is still able to preserve a tradition. 

  
Translator & narrator: Barney Spender
Editor: Camille Kauffmann 

Studio assistant: Antoine Boyer 

Creator in French: Sarah-Lou Lepers
Original music: Clémence Reliat et Nicolas Vair
Engineer: Christophe Robert
Illustrator: Julie Pereira
Marketing and communication: Laurent Nicolas, Coline Sallois 

Editor: Guy Jackson
Editor-in-chief: Michaëla Cancela-Kieffer   

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 3/5: Liberty, Equality, Diversity 

In this third episode, we are in Paris to look at what it means to be French. What defines Frenchness in a country where a quarter of the population are either immigrants or have immigrant heritage? It is a question that seems to come up in every presidential campaign and   inevitably leads to heated debate and by default much tension and soul-searching. 

Immigration is a particular concern of the far-right candidates Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour who talks about ‘assimilation’ rather than ‘integration’ of all immigrants. It is also an important factor in the campaign of right-wing candidate Valérie Pécresse and is dividing an already disunited left. 

At a Zemmour rally on the ouskirts of the capital, we meet Ludovic, son of a Malaysian immigrant, who says he is "proud to be French and fully assimilated". 

We also hear from Assa Traore, France-born of Malian parentage, whose brother Adama died while being arrested by police in 2016. It was France’s George Floyd moment and exposed the systemic racism that many believe still prevails in French life.  

Narrator & translator: Barney Spender
Creator in French: Antoine Boyer  

Original music: Clémence Reliat et Nicolas Vair
Engineer: Christophe Robert
Illustrator: Julie Pereira
Marketing and communication: Laurent Nicolas, Coline Sallois
Editor: Guy Jackson
Editor-in-chief: Michaëla Cancela-Kieffer   

An AFP Audio podcast.  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 4/5:Islam: the high risk debate

France has no place for religion in public life. It is the law and has been since 1905. This secularism has a special word: Laïcité. It applies across the board to all religions. 

But there has been a crystallising of debate around secularism and the practice of Islam, the second religion of France. For some, Islam is not compatible with the secular Republic. For others, the obsession with secularism excludes Muslims. Particular exception is taken to the use of two phrases: ‘Islamophobia’ and "Islamo-leftism".

We travel to the prestigious school of political studies, Sciences Po, in Grenoble where an internal academic discussion into how to talk about Islam sparked a fierce reaction, with the university becoming a touchstone for the rest of the country. 

We hear from the academics involved in the dispute as well as muslim students who have been affected by it.

We also look at how religion is now practised in France. Fewer people claim to have a religion than they did 50 years ago but there is a rise across the faiths of religious extremism.  I would say something milder : evangelism is to extremism 

Narrator & translator: Barney Spender
Creator in French: Antoine Boyer 

Original music: Clémence Reliat et Nicolas Vair 
Engineer: Christophe Robert
Illustrator: Julie Pereira
Marketing and communication: Laurent Nicolas, Coline Sallois  

Editor: Guy Jackson
Editor-in-chief: Michaëla Cancela-Kieffer  

An AFP Audio podcast 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 5/5 : Farmyard France and the Struggle for Water

Episode 5 heads west to the Marais Poitevin, the second largest wetland in France nicknamed “Green Venice”, 200 kilometres north of Bordeaux, where farmers and environmentalists are at loggerheads over a plan to build 16 large water reserves. 

France has always been proud of its countryside. It has the largest rural population and agricultural industry within the European Union. But faced with the onset of global warming, farmers are facing a new battle for water.

With temperatures rising, farmers are stuck with the age-old problem of feeding their crops in summer. But the solution appears to be coming at the expense of France’s wonderful natural landscapes and biodiversity: it is an existential crisis for the agriculture sector that is not singular to the French. 

The farmers in the Marais Poitevin largely view the project positively as the reserves will provide water during the dry months of summer but environmentalists, and even certain other smallhold farmers, believe it will weaken the marsh and reduce the availability of water.

The demonstrations are currently local but with plans to export the reserve idea to other parts of the country, these are likely to be just the first salvos in a nationwide battle. 

We travel to the Marais Poitevin to hear from farmers from both sides of the hedge as well as environmentalists and ecology researchers who also look ahead to a France that will need greater self-sufficiency following the Ukraine War.

Narrator & translator: Barney Spender

Creator in French & English editor: Camille Kauffmann

Original music: Clémence Reliat, Nicolas Vair 

Engineer : Christophe Robert

Illustrator : Julie Pereira

Marketing and communication : Laurent Nicolas, Coline Sallois  

Editor: Guy Jackson

Editor-in-chief : Michaëla Cancela-Kieffer  

An AFP Audio">AFP Audio podcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.