Franco Phoney in Romania
Is it good or is it bad that the Francophone Summit is organized here in Romania? The rehearsal on Saturday showed us that our francophilia will be stuck in traffic on the main avenues. At the same time, tomorrow we'll have the country report which combined with the days of francophony, will make us shout happily "We're in Europe!"It's a question of image after all. We are not as francophones as they want us to be, nor as Europeans as we would wish to be. But as long as apparences are kept, it's fine. In our case, disconfirming the saying "the habit does not make the monk". Francophony suits us well, like a (rain)coat and tries to make us, as a European nation, connoiseurs of French wine and fromage.
But this is not the main issue. We all accept the image rehearsal exercise, we're glad we have the opportunity to see various concerts, exhibitions, to hear our grandparents' langue de societé. The problem is that this is being forced upon us. All of a sudden all we hear is about our Romance roots, about those from the 1848 cultural revolution who studied in Paris and, inevitably, about "little Paris", as Bucharest used to be called at the beginning of 20th century.
Let's make a parallel. Do you know the kind of TV shows where they take a country girl, dress her up, apply make up, dye her hair and finally present the "big change" to the public? And usually the clothes are too trendy and the make up too violent, in strong contrast with her behaviour, attitude, and redneck skin.
The same thing happens now - we apply strong make-up to the city, hide its imperfections with some dabs of paint, teach it how say bonjour and how to give flowers to the officials. We spell "little Paris" in capitals and wear the label in plain sight. We make up phoney French words and remember Caragiale.
"The people in Bucharest are strongly recommended to avoid sudden movements", we hear in the news. Don't make sudden movements, don't be angry if you miss the plane because of the traffic jams, report to the police any suitcase forgotten in the elevator, make free entry passes for your home. Funny.
If we really want to be "little Paris" we should do a little bit more than painting a fence. And chill out a bit, because we look like an old lady receiving the visit of far relatives with important positions, and she tries so hard not to disturb them. The guests feel embarrassed and the host is stressed out.
And what will happen next? After the show, the country gal gets back her usual second hand clothes and hair combed by the wind. It's all rating and advertising.
And the city will come back the its "normal" state. The French style buidings will be just as worn out, still no one will read Baudelaire, we'll have French music concerts just as "often" as we did so far, the streets will be just as "clean" as ever, the homeless will wait patiently for the manholes and sewers to be unsealed and we'll have Ionesco in theaters again when pigs fly.
But make no mistake about it: organizing the Summit in Romania is not a bad thing all in all. It's a PR exercise meant to attract the eyes of the world upon us, despite our problems. Helps the country brand, strengthens relationships, we socialize a bit and rub elbows with high class.
If this event would bring along a real change (not that a traffic jam would be something abstract), we would not be nagging so much. So is it worth it? Make up and face-lifting jobs require time, money and lots of nerves.
