France, 20 Apr – 18 May 2015<\/p>\n
Jean-Marie Le Pen loses power struggle against his daughter ++ A history of female suffrage ++ Fran\u00e7ois Hollande visits Cuba. Jean-Marie Le Pen loses power struggle against his daughter<\/strong><\/p>\n The executive bureau of the far-right party National Front (FN) suspended its honorary member Jean-Marie Le Pen. The decision was initiated by Marine Le Pen, daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen and current president of the FN, following a provocative interview given by her father. Le Pen, co-founder of the FN in 1972 and its uncontested leader until 2011 has repeatedly caught attention for the belittlement of the Holocaust. So far Marine Le Pen had narrowed her father\u2019s racist and anti-Semitic remarks as mere \u201cpolitical errors\u201d. However, the renewed claim that Holocaust was \u201ca detail of history\u201d was the last straw.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Marine Le Pen wishes that her father should \u201cno longer be able to speak in the name of the FN\u201d, as she is eager to reshape the party\u2019s reputation. While the FN did well in the last elections, it has been so far unable to win or set up an effective majority (see French Report Feb\/Mar 2015<\/a>). Well-informed circles of the party reckon that it may not be able to win such a crucial majority as long as it is publicly recognisable as an extremist party.<\/p>\n In the months to come a general party meeting will be held. Members will be expected to abolish the party\u2019s honorary chairmanship and to vote on a new statute. By means of the reform the executive bureau wishes to \u201cbring the party\u2019s organisation to perfection\u201d. Meanwhile, Mr Le Pen, who still holds his seat in the European Parliament, fumes at what he calls a \u201ccriminal betrayal\u201d. He has urged his daughter to get married so she would no longer carry his name.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A history of female suffrage Today, 94 years old Blanche Lacroix remembers how she went to the election office in 1945 together with her parents: \u201cMy mother turned to me and asked: \u2018Would you give your ballot to your father?\u2019 She wouldn\u2019t even think of voting herself\u201d.<\/p>\n Social scientists point out that equal rights on paper do not automatically lead to an emancipated participation in societal concerns. Nowadays, the divide in political participation runs less along the lines of sex then of social condition. According to the Ministry of the Interior voting abstention at the last elections in March reached 50 per cent. The opinion that \u201cvoting won\u2019t change anything\u201d was particularly recurrent among constituencies with a high proportion of low income earners.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, equal rights and the principles of mutual respect also need to be lived on a daily basis, as critiques point out. Recently, 40 women in political journalism published a common manifesto to denounce sexism and contemptuousness by political representatives they have encountered during their career.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fran\u00e7ois Hollande visits Cuba However, the journey to the Caribbean was not meant to be a pure pleasure trip or just an attempt to regain the sympathies of socialist voters in France. The French delegation was able to secure drilling rights along the Cuban coast for the multinational oil and gas company Total.<\/p>\n
\nby Matthieu Choblet<\/em><\/p>\n
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\n70 years ago, on 29th April 1945, women in France were allowed to vote for the first time. The country, which in 1789 had taken a pioneering role to put Enlightment into practice, took a long time to grant equal rights. During the Revolution, Olympe de Gouges was famously executed under the guillotine for challenging authority with her abolitionist and feminist demands. The ordinance of April 1944 (and later on the Constitution of 1946) finally opened up the way for a renewed liberal spirit.<\/p>\n
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\nFrench President Fran\u00e7ois Hollande visited Cuba, where he met with former head of state and \u2018Maximo l\u00edder\u2019 Fidel Castro. \u201cI found him to be fully awake, with sharp senses and very well informed. He also makes use of the internet\u201d, reported Hollande after his meeting with the man who for decades had had a tight grip on the flow of information inside his regime. It is said that during the 50 minute encounter difficult subjects such as human rights were avoided.<\/p>\n