The On-Going 'Persecution' of Vegans in Nice, France
Guénady
August 31, 2009
High time, we suspect, to connect the dots between some of our recent articles concerning prominent vegans in Nice and the harassment they are experiencing at the hands of (it would seem) local authorities, as well as local individuals and/or entities which seem to be encouraged or at least protected by local authorities.
The Supreme Master, Ching Hai
Harassment seemed to be decreasing over the springtime, then picked up again. This year's meditation sessions seem to have been limited (discouraged?) and most of the students don't come into Nice, by-passing it completely, so as to not disturb anyone (as the few who do come attest), and in an effort to be discreet. Did the authorities ever think about all those tourist euros lost? Particularly difficult to digest when tourism has been depressed over the last five full years. Whatever, we have been advised that problems with the neighbors continue and are even getting worse, with no more information than that. Ching Hai's rule is never to criticize, clearly asking her followers to behave like saints! And they oblige, apparently. And so, locally at least, the Supreme Master's influence is definitely reduced. Let us hope that by clipping her own wings she has not undermined the work she has been so good at : informing the citizens of the world of the dangers of global warming, and how they can help to counteract it : Be veg, go green, save the planet!
France's only vegan restaurant, in Nice
Or at least this was France's only vegan restaurant, up until a handful of weeks ago. Now, The Supreme Master has opened another one in Paris, and there is definitely room for many more around the country.
The erstwhile only vegan restaurant in France (in Nice since 1998), has been experiencing unbroken harassment for the last 6 years, following an early attempt to close it by municipal authorities in 2001.
A campaign of public insults, death threats, vandalism, nuisances directed at customers, trying to drive them away, all this and more the restaurant has weathered. Our previous articles on the subject, in May 2008 and May 2009, recount the story in detail. Written in a reader-unfriendly manner, these two articles were intended mainly to serve as warnings to those responsible for this harassment, to get them to 'lay off', rather than to really inform the public. The strategy didn't work, or at least not for long. As proof of this, note that an inspection by the local Hygiene Department took place (again! This is the best and most regularly inspected restaurant in Nice, where most are never inspected at all) on June 16 and the Hygiene Inspector, a young woman who announced, within hearing of the neighborhood before entering the restaurant, 'She [the owner] is a bad neighbor!', this young woman, poker-faced and shouting rather than speaking, came to do the inspection with an escort of four armed policemen! Even the policemen were sarcastic and provocative, according to the restaurant owner. However, the latter is now in possession of irrefutable proof of official collusion in the harassment she has been suffering, which she is preparing to make public, if authorities in Paris do not act to oblige local officials to put an end to this intolerable situation. If no action is taken quickly against corrupt members of the local administration, she will be turning her proofs over to a French journalist for publication, for all the world to see.
Séverine Gérard
Despite promises from Belgian authorities concerning a demand for extradition for her son, 2-year-old Elie still remains a captive with the foster family in Antibes. A lawyer and a journalist, among our acquaintances, have referred to this case as, in their opinion, a 'legalized kidnapping'.
Documents in this case will be posted on internet to show the strange attitude adopted by the French judge. In order to discredit Séverine as a person, after he backed down on the issue of the dangers of a vegan diet for children (having received around fifty tesimonial letters sent to him for the hearing on July 15, from vegans all over the world who shared their positive experiences of being vegan, and also in view of the copy of the latest report from the American Dietetic Association, concluding that a vegan diet is appropriate for all ages, from pregnancy to old age, which copy was provided by The Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine), the judge turned instead to casting doubts on the reality of Séverine's work as an artist, insinuating that her art did not really exist. He also cast doubts on the reality of her university degree in psychology (we have seen a certificate from her Belgian university confirming that she finished her course of studies and pasted her exams, thus confirming her degree, just as she has claimed), which seems strange as it is a claim easily verified, but rather than check it, he preferred to go on record with his speculations about its existence... And as for the charges against her in regard to her 'agression' of the foster family in which her child has been placed (described in a previous article), we note that all charges against Séverine have been dropped-- perhaps because there were too many witnesses to claim that things did not happen as the official version pretends? That instead of aggressing this family, the father, assisted by a friend of his who was present, threw Séverine to the ground and manhandled her, after first threatening her life. And we can wonder why the French judge, in writing, in his decision to maintain the child in care, dated July 15, 2009, claimed that the child enjoyed eating the meat which his mother did not allow him (notoriously, children hate the taste of meat and have to be forced to eat it, usually swallowing pieces whole, so as not to have to taste it)... In addition, orally, but in the presence of witnesses, the judge informed Séverine that the foster family had filed a petition to adopt her son-- when such an adoption is impossible, according to French law. Why would the judge tell Séverine such things, if not to add to her torments?
Séverine has now gone back to Belgium to work with authorities there to get Elie released from the Nice judicial system, but she is told that her file is being held up because of non-cooperation on the part of French authorities...
Looking at these three cases of on-going 'troubles' directed towards prominent vegans in Nice, we think of an observation shared with us by one of Séverine Gérard's supporters, a French lady, a long-time resident of Nice, who said : « With her long skirts, her paintings, her child without a father, and even, at one time, two cats in tow, Séverine was in line for trouble here in this town. Here, being 'different' is not tolerated. You have to be like everyone else, and live in an accepted way, or you will be rejected and you will have trouble...' This is an observation that makes of Nice something like the Orange County of France...
Still, we often think that Kafka must have spent time in Nice, and taken his inspiration from the techniques of local authorities : alienate your victim and breed hopelessness in him/her through the absurdity of the persecution, change the ground rules whenever necessary, to suit your needs, invert the roles, so as to make it appear that the victim is actually responsible for the trouble... All this has become a fine art among the local 'elite', not to mention the little local mafias, both of which are likely holdling hands in secret... Of course, the elite referred to is in name only, for they are but those who manipulate and profit the most efficiently from the exploitation of others, the common people, just like their mafia friends. And the victims they want to destroy are made to look like the guilty, and so effectively that it is tiresome (the goal, of course) to the victims to try to undo the tangled web of lies and misrepresentations...
Can a conclusion be drawn from all the above? Only one : Friend, watch your step if you're spending any time in Nice, France, particularly if you don't fit into the 'common mold'.
For the rest, the three targets here seem determined to continue to resist the efforts to break them and drive them off. In this respect, we recall, in particular, that the first victims in this city are the local people, who bear and have borne the consequences of the rule of this 'elite' from time immemorial. For let us not forget that all three targets mentioned here have more than just their veganism in common : all are women, alone, foreigners, and susceptible to being branded 'marginal' because they do not live like everyone else. Perhaps in the face of the conditioned passivity and submission of the French (here, totally held in check by the local social system which leaves no opening for anyone who doesn't have the 'right' connections, even if they are French) the resistence of foreigners, who have not been raised since infancy to accept this state of affairs, will hopefully one day lead to an erosion of the present system of power and dominance, and thus, as a result, to better conditions for everyone here.
The Supreme Master, Ching Hai
Harassment seemed to be decreasing over the springtime, then picked up again. This year's meditation sessions seem to have been limited (discouraged?) and most of the students don't come into Nice, by-passing it completely, so as to not disturb anyone (as the few who do come attest), and in an effort to be discreet. Did the authorities ever think about all those tourist euros lost? Particularly difficult to digest when tourism has been depressed over the last five full years. Whatever, we have been advised that problems with the neighbors continue and are even getting worse, with no more information than that. Ching Hai's rule is never to criticize, clearly asking her followers to behave like saints! And they oblige, apparently. And so, locally at least, the Supreme Master's influence is definitely reduced. Let us hope that by clipping her own wings she has not undermined the work she has been so good at : informing the citizens of the world of the dangers of global warming, and how they can help to counteract it : Be veg, go green, save the planet!
France's only vegan restaurant, in Nice
Or at least this was France's only vegan restaurant, up until a handful of weeks ago. Now, The Supreme Master has opened another one in Paris, and there is definitely room for many more around the country.
The erstwhile only vegan restaurant in France (in Nice since 1998), has been experiencing unbroken harassment for the last 6 years, following an early attempt to close it by municipal authorities in 2001.
A campaign of public insults, death threats, vandalism, nuisances directed at customers, trying to drive them away, all this and more the restaurant has weathered. Our previous articles on the subject, in May 2008 and May 2009, recount the story in detail. Written in a reader-unfriendly manner, these two articles were intended mainly to serve as warnings to those responsible for this harassment, to get them to 'lay off', rather than to really inform the public. The strategy didn't work, or at least not for long. As proof of this, note that an inspection by the local Hygiene Department took place (again! This is the best and most regularly inspected restaurant in Nice, where most are never inspected at all) on June 16 and the Hygiene Inspector, a young woman who announced, within hearing of the neighborhood before entering the restaurant, 'She [the owner] is a bad neighbor!', this young woman, poker-faced and shouting rather than speaking, came to do the inspection with an escort of four armed policemen! Even the policemen were sarcastic and provocative, according to the restaurant owner. However, the latter is now in possession of irrefutable proof of official collusion in the harassment she has been suffering, which she is preparing to make public, if authorities in Paris do not act to oblige local officials to put an end to this intolerable situation. If no action is taken quickly against corrupt members of the local administration, she will be turning her proofs over to a French journalist for publication, for all the world to see.
Séverine Gérard
Despite promises from Belgian authorities concerning a demand for extradition for her son, 2-year-old Elie still remains a captive with the foster family in Antibes. A lawyer and a journalist, among our acquaintances, have referred to this case as, in their opinion, a 'legalized kidnapping'.
Documents in this case will be posted on internet to show the strange attitude adopted by the French judge. In order to discredit Séverine as a person, after he backed down on the issue of the dangers of a vegan diet for children (having received around fifty tesimonial letters sent to him for the hearing on July 15, from vegans all over the world who shared their positive experiences of being vegan, and also in view of the copy of the latest report from the American Dietetic Association, concluding that a vegan diet is appropriate for all ages, from pregnancy to old age, which copy was provided by The Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine), the judge turned instead to casting doubts on the reality of Séverine's work as an artist, insinuating that her art did not really exist. He also cast doubts on the reality of her university degree in psychology (we have seen a certificate from her Belgian university confirming that she finished her course of studies and pasted her exams, thus confirming her degree, just as she has claimed), which seems strange as it is a claim easily verified, but rather than check it, he preferred to go on record with his speculations about its existence... And as for the charges against her in regard to her 'agression' of the foster family in which her child has been placed (described in a previous article), we note that all charges against Séverine have been dropped-- perhaps because there were too many witnesses to claim that things did not happen as the official version pretends? That instead of aggressing this family, the father, assisted by a friend of his who was present, threw Séverine to the ground and manhandled her, after first threatening her life. And we can wonder why the French judge, in writing, in his decision to maintain the child in care, dated July 15, 2009, claimed that the child enjoyed eating the meat which his mother did not allow him (notoriously, children hate the taste of meat and have to be forced to eat it, usually swallowing pieces whole, so as not to have to taste it)... In addition, orally, but in the presence of witnesses, the judge informed Séverine that the foster family had filed a petition to adopt her son-- when such an adoption is impossible, according to French law. Why would the judge tell Séverine such things, if not to add to her torments?
Séverine has now gone back to Belgium to work with authorities there to get Elie released from the Nice judicial system, but she is told that her file is being held up because of non-cooperation on the part of French authorities...
Looking at these three cases of on-going 'troubles' directed towards prominent vegans in Nice, we think of an observation shared with us by one of Séverine Gérard's supporters, a French lady, a long-time resident of Nice, who said : « With her long skirts, her paintings, her child without a father, and even, at one time, two cats in tow, Séverine was in line for trouble here in this town. Here, being 'different' is not tolerated. You have to be like everyone else, and live in an accepted way, or you will be rejected and you will have trouble...' This is an observation that makes of Nice something like the Orange County of France...
Still, we often think that Kafka must have spent time in Nice, and taken his inspiration from the techniques of local authorities : alienate your victim and breed hopelessness in him/her through the absurdity of the persecution, change the ground rules whenever necessary, to suit your needs, invert the roles, so as to make it appear that the victim is actually responsible for the trouble... All this has become a fine art among the local 'elite', not to mention the little local mafias, both of which are likely holdling hands in secret... Of course, the elite referred to is in name only, for they are but those who manipulate and profit the most efficiently from the exploitation of others, the common people, just like their mafia friends. And the victims they want to destroy are made to look like the guilty, and so effectively that it is tiresome (the goal, of course) to the victims to try to undo the tangled web of lies and misrepresentations...
Can a conclusion be drawn from all the above? Only one : Friend, watch your step if you're spending any time in Nice, France, particularly if you don't fit into the 'common mold'.
For the rest, the three targets here seem determined to continue to resist the efforts to break them and drive them off. In this respect, we recall, in particular, that the first victims in this city are the local people, who bear and have borne the consequences of the rule of this 'elite' from time immemorial. For let us not forget that all three targets mentioned here have more than just their veganism in common : all are women, alone, foreigners, and susceptible to being branded 'marginal' because they do not live like everyone else. Perhaps in the face of the conditioned passivity and submission of the French (here, totally held in check by the local social system which leaves no opening for anyone who doesn't have the 'right' connections, even if they are French) the resistence of foreigners, who have not been raised since infancy to accept this state of affairs, will hopefully one day lead to an erosion of the present system of power and dominance, and thus, as a result, to better conditions for everyone here.
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