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February 17, 2005
The American cultural threat
Anti-americanism is especially a cultural problem for most of the people throughout the world. French policy to protect the French and European cultural heritage from the US industry is one of the most restrictive in the world, based on quotas for both theaters and TV.
In October 2004, French President Jacques Chirac gave a speech in Hanoi, which was clearly a warning of a "catastrophe" for global diversity if the United States' cultural hegemony goes unchallenged.
Speaking at a French cultural center in Hanoi ahead of the opening of a summit of European and Asian leaders, Jacques Chirac said France was right to stand up for cultural and linguistic diversity.
He warned that the world's different cultures could be "choked" by US values.
This, he said, would lead to a "general world sub-culture" based around the English language, which would be "a real ecological catastrophe".
Citing Hollywood's stranglehold over the film industry as an example ("You would only have American films on your screens", he warned), Jacques Chirac stressed that only with government assistance could countries maintain their cultural heritage.
"There is a tendency towards a prevailing Anglo-Saxon culture which eclipses the others. If we accepted our American friends' ideas, there would quite quickly be only one form of cultural expression, and all the others would be stifled to the sole benefit of American culture," he said, quoted by Liberation.
See the entire article "Chirac gives an Anti-Americanism lesson in Hanoi" (in French)
This diatribe was, among others, a sign of the "threat" that US culture, industry (via Hollywood) and even language represent in the points of view of France, Europe, and other countries in the world. The cultural industry remains one of the major symbols of American power. That's also why it is seen as a threat.
See the entire debate and the speech of Jacques Chirac (in french)
Posted February 17, 2005 11:27 AM
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