Anthony Barnett (London, OK): In July a secret decree was signed by President Sarkozy creating an integrated database of everyone who the French state thought it might need to track over the age of 13. As Charles Bremner reports in the Times, France's privacy watchdog forced the government to reveal the existence of Edvige as it is called. A swift summer rebellion began and a campaign against it roared into life. (It even has a page in English). There is a very good, thoughtful description by Christopher Caldwell in the FT
Edvige would organise data on the religious, political and philosophical beliefs, ethnic background, sex lives and health of an estimated 1m-2m people. It would contain information about their families and relationships. That is more information than French people were comfortable with giving up. Opposition gathered quietly over the summer – quietly enough that President Nicolas Sarkozy seems to have been taken by surprise. Dozens of associations and unions and 140,000 petition-signers now demand that Edvige be scrapped or modified, and a day of mobilisation has been planned for October 16 in case it is not.
The petition now has over 166,000 supporters and has an English translation in Facebook. Caldwell descibes some of the larger forces at work. It seems clear that the transformation of the state which the British government has embarked upon under Brown is not unique. But here in the UK there is still a passive acceptance that 'they' can get away with it, perhaps rooted in our knowing in our hearts that we are subjects. Whereas across the Channel a shared sense of citizenship means the government is already on the retreat under a blizzard of protest with Cabinet members disagreeing with each in public over a fundamental issue of principle. If only...
