July 14th 2024
Dear All,
Well, the date above reminds me that of course the Bastille fell to the Revolution on that day – but events in France this last week were nowhere near as dramatic, or, thank God, as bloodthirsty. It was a bold last-minute turn-around though, for the parties of the left to band together and prevent the Rassemblement Nationale – the extreme right – from getting a majority. The tactical vote, based in horror at the idea of a basically fascist party ruling France, was brilliantly orchestrated over just a few days. Now, the big problem is going to be how these disparate parties govern the country after having formed that hasty alliance…
I left France a couple of days ago to cross by boat from Dieppe in Normandy to Newhaven on the coast of Sussex, a good old-fashioned and very peaceful way to travel. The sea was flat calm, the rain poured down in torrents all the way. Then I got on a good old-fashioned train and trundled my way across the rain-soaked south of England. Does England feel different after its own dramatic election last week? Maybe it was my imagination, but maybe also people were cheerier, more outgoing, and there were more smiles along the way. It makes a difference to be not just the sick man of Europe, but a country devoted to a new experiment in democracy. As Keir Starmer pointed out in the Commons, this is the most diverse parliament ever, with more women too in top posts. Rachel Reeves, the first woman Chancellor in 800 years. Diane Abbott, a Black woman and a left-winger, the ‘mother’ of the House.
To move on from politics – it’s been hard to do, this last week – I visited the church of Saint-Valéry in Varangeville-sur-Mer while staying with a friend. It used to be more than a kilometer from the sea; now it’s perched on the edge of a high cliff. It was built in the 11th century and then in the 16th a whole other church was built on to it. These carvings are I think remarkable, and remind me of the carvings on capitals in the southwest of France, and in Spain, on the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela. There is the pilgrims’ shell – the coquille Saint-Jacques – and the crossed staves of a pilgrim; this was a staging post for pilgrims from England, on their way south. The mermaid and a man sticking out his tongue remind me of medieval humor, and the ‘green man’ often found in English churches and cathedrals. Our roots in Christianity may be solid, but beneath them there is a sly paganism, as these sculptors often show.
Traveling in Europe, finding our common roots in so many places, witnessing the transformations and manoevrings of politics, I’ve been able to take my mind away from the US election, somewhat. I’m reminded, by events in France and England, that anything is possible. You just have to decide, not lose your nerve – and vote!
Affectionately, Ros