Activist Knocks French Language Militants For a Loop

One thing political commentators, social observers and especially advertisers cannot predict, is why some campaigns fizzle, some are ho-hum and some catch fire.

If somebody could bottle and replicate at will, the essential elements of a formula that would fire the public's imagination and interest at will, they could become fabulously successful and wealthy, perhaps displacing Don Draper of Sterling Cooper as the top adman on Madison Avenue.
If somebody could with any accuracy and consistency, tap into the public consciousness and produce a positive response, he or she could ask for millions in consulting fees as a strategist on any presidential political campaign.

In fact I do recall one presidential campaign which largely turned on a television commercial that captured the nation's attention and turned enough voters away from Michael Dukakis to give George H. Bush the presidency.
That commercial featured a mugshot of a black criminal, convicted for a brutal murder,  who while on weekend furlough from prison, raped and robbed once again, outraging middle Americans and igniting a negative reaction towards Dukakis. Read the story.

That commercial was perhaps the most famous and successful attack ad ever run and nobody could have foreseen that it would become the key element in giving George Bush the presidency.

As I said, it's well nigh impossible to predict or understand why some things capture the public's imagination, like the success of PET ROCKS or the RUBIC CUBE or advertising slogan's like "WHERE'S THE BEEF?"

These last months in Quebec we've witnessed a multitude of public demonstrations by citizens, for or against the Charter, against world domination, unemployment insurance cuts, electricity rates, police brutality, etc. etc., all sharing the ignominious fate of being irrelevant the day after.
Whether those demonstrations were well-organized or produced ad hoc, whether attended by hundreds or thousands or a few dozens, other then to those who participated, the story lasted barely one news cycle, soon forgotten and largely without impact on public opinion.

So what is it about a tiny demonstration by a committed activist leading with a handful of cohorts protesting the lack of English signs in a Montreal shopping centre that has so gripped the French media and raised the hackles of the mainstream media as well as radical French language militants.

Murry Levine took offence to the fact that stores in the giant  Fairview Pointe-Claire mall, where the majority of customers are anglophones, were posting signs in French only, despite the fact that the law allows for bilingual signage.

The tiny demonstrations consisting of under a dozen protesters would have largely gone unnoticed if not for the virulent reaction in the French media over the issue, which somehow triggered a certain outrage at the 'impertinence' of Anglophones demonstrating for their rights.

First there was the expected blowback from French language militant groups like Impératif français;

Francophobia : a shopping Centre boycotted

"Anglophone  residents of Dorval are upset that Quebec is French.¹. They are offended with customer service in French in Quebec, specifically in Dorval,² Fairview Mall. They are demanding the anglicisation of commercial establishments.³What Murray Levine and his acolytes don't understand in calling for a boycott of the mall, is everything in Quebec is French in and any and all residents must understand  French, otherwise one must learn it urgently! This, in addition, is fully consistent with the law.⁴Refusing to learn or speak French,⁵ these supremacists,⁶ seek, through a system pressure to impose systematic anglicization on Quebec to accommodate 3% of unilingual English Quebecers. What do they expect ? They have the right and duty to learn French.Impératif français encourages customers to monitor this situation closely and demand  that the Fairview Mall accelerate its good business practices in all its stores. As for us, we encourage all residents of Quebec to ensure that French is everywhere and at all times, without exception the language of public use in Quebec and also to share and spread this message:In Quebec French is where it's at!The economy and the Quebec nation does not need to undergo this type of defrancisation pressure. " Link

Now I've taken the liberty of offering a few critiques;

1. Nowhere, but nowhere has Mr. Levine and his group made any such statement. This is fantasy, an attempt to frame the rest of the screed.
2.  The shopping centre is not in Dorval. This goes to fact-checking, something utterly lacking in any missive from Impératif français
3. Nobody is demanding that stores become anglicised, they are asking for a few English signs allowed by the law. Blatant hyperbole and exaggeration.
4. Just totally false.  No law forces anglophones to speak French.
5. Who says that Murray Levine and his group don't speak French? (they do) Did anyone at Impératif français bother checking befor making the assertion or is publishing untruths just par for the course. Again, as they say in court, 'entering facts not in evidence'
6. Is a Francophone in Ontario or New Brunswick who demonstrates for their legal rights, a 'supremicist?'

Now  Impératif français is a lobby group  and so can be excused its extreme position, but when bias creeps into mainstream reporting, it's important that the practice be denounced.
If newspapers want to write articles for or against certain issues, they should restrict themselves to the editorial pages.
Here is a story by Louise Leduc from La Presse, a newspaper which should know better than to editorialize within what should be a straight news story;

"There is too much French in the Fairview mall. That at least is the view of a Dorval resident¹ demanding more bilingual signs and to achieve its ends , there will be demonstrations and calls for boycotts. Fairview mall as in others like the names of the stores are mostly in English and English only, in contravention of the Charter of the French language.²

But the posters announcing sales, such as " Buy one , get one free" are all in French or nearly so, and this is what makes  Murray Levine wince."We must respect the majority of customers and the majority of customers in the west of the island speak English ," he said in an interview ......
.....The Charter of the French language does not prohibit the display in English, but states that the French must be predominant.Finally, note that the Quebec Office of the French language has made ​​several representations in recent times for shops to add a description in French to store names in English.".³ Link

1. Absolutely false and misleading, Mr. Levine's contention that there is not enough English at the mall cannot be construed to mean that there is too much French. It is like asserting that because there is too little salt in a dish, there must be too much sugar.....Does not compute.....
2. This bit of editorializing is completely out of line and demonstrates an attempt to sway opinion. Could you imagine a La Presse story about student demonstrations over tuition starting off by reminding readers that students pay the lowest rates in Canada?
3. Same argument as in the second point I made. This is editorializing and has nothing to do with the issue at hand, a sad attempt to deflect. This is definitely not an unbiased report

 Strangely the same article was reprinted in Le Soleil without attribution to the original author, certainly a breach of ethics, because the name André Pichette seems to be attached to the story .
Link {fr} Link{fr}

At  any rate it was the granddaddy of all whiners, Gilles Proulx,  that waded into the debate with this fine missive in Le Journal de Montreal. A sublime exercise in sarcasm, self-pityand wit;

Mon pauvre petit Gilles.....

"Perhaps inspired by Howard Galganov's uplifting bestseller, a book published in 1998 called 'Bastards,' about the bastards that Quebecers are, one certain Murray Levine protested outside a shopping center in the West Island demanding more signage in English!

The fight of a lifetime!

When will our oh so very aggressive Quebec government, once and for all stop harassing, diminishing and trampling on the beautiful culture of our good friends the Anglo-Quebecers, so much in peril and so badly abused, it no longer makes sense. Especially when you consider that the poor shoppers of the Fairview Pointe-Claire shopping centre are forced to fight to save their language, constantly weakened by the ruthless and powerful government of Quebec. The wicked Bill 101 would change the name of 'Fairview' into 'Centre de la Juste-Vue'(sic)- which would just be terrible. Let us rejoice that Murray Levine is rallying his minions to his crusade. In fact, at the beginning of the initiative, there were but two or three valiant defenders of the Anglo-American culture, now its grown to a few hundred supporters. Let's all rally behind Murray!

PITY ON THE ENGLISH

By launching a Facebook group and alerting the sleeping English media in the face of  this harmful francisation, Murray reminds us that enough is enough. So, through this newspaper and its hundreds of thousands of readers, I ask you once again, dear friends, I repeat: do something to help these victims of the arrogance of the people of Quebec who threaten to invade America and obliterate all traces of anemic Anglo-Saxon culture.

Actually, the ideal would be to eliminate French at home. It would be in our own interest. Then we could succeed in the North American life .

Understand once and for all that Fairview Point Claire is not in Pointe-Claire. Long live Claire Point City!"

LET'S  SUPPORT MURRAY

Luckily, the municipality of Hampstead has denounced the Charter of values ​​, calling it "racist and immoral !" What is the relationship with bilingual signs ? There is none. But ... any or all  reasons are good to trash Quebec. Fortunately Justin Trudeau also condemns the unjust Bill 101 which poses a serious threat to the universe. Fortunately there are people who stand up to the supremacy of Quebec. It is important that newcomers not speak our language, not fit in, not identify themselves, stick together, locked in their communities. It seems to me that bilingual signs could help them understand that fluency in French is not more important than the future of Quebec. Come one and all to sing in chorus to show our love of endangered English.  Let's support Murray Levine and his friends. Their epic demonstration will continue today and tomorrow from 11 am to 13 pm, in front of the 'View Point Claire City' mall

Ha1 Ha!
What a hilarious screed.
Nobody, but nobody plays the whinging victim like Gilles Proulx who associates a few English signs with the utter destruction of French in Quebec.

The only comment I'll make on the piece (It speaks for itself) is to say that like most francophone writers who choose to add English in their pieces, they invariably muddle it up.

'Fairview Pointe Claire' does not translate (if a translation is required) into; View Point Claire" it would be  Clearpoint Mall.

Now in all this, not one francophone commentator actually addressed the real issue at hand.

Given that Bill 101 provides for English signage (as long as it is smaller than the accompanying French text,) is it reasonable to provide such signage in areas where anglophones are clearly in the majority?

We know what the answer is from the likes of Impérati français, which wants English completely abolished in Quebec, but I'm interested in the position of La Presse and even Mr Proulx, both of which and whom expertly avoid taking a position.

As for Mr. Levine and his small band of followers, their success could not be predicted. By luck or design, they struck a nerve and accomplished something all of us could not do before.

That is to bring an English language argument to the mainstream French press in a significant and meaningful manner.