Beyond Google Print: Culture Wars or The French are coming!

[Ann Okerson <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

Of possible interest; a fairly remarkable piece of news.

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from The Times of London
March 18, 2005

French classics enter cyberspace

By Charles Bremner

Victor  Hugo  sent  to fight Harry Potter in cultural warfare

PRESIDENT CHIRAC is expected to ask Germany, Spain and Russia today to
join France in a �counter-attack� on American culture by making the
collected works of continental literature available online.

M Chirac opened the latest front in France�s cultural war on Wednesday,
when he ordered the Culture Ministry and the National Library to counter
Google Print, a project by the leading � America search engine which will
make 15 million books in English available on the internet.

As with Gallic resistance to Hollywood and �Anglo-Saxon� pop music, the
French are alarmed that Google Print may brainwash the world with its
English-language views.  American culture �tends to erase the other
cultures�, M Chirac said last year.  The Google scheme, will draw on
respected academic and public libraries but could lead to the ultimate
French nightmare: the world learning French history from English-language
books.

Jean-No�l Jeanneney, the director of the French National Library, who is
heading M Chirac�s project, sketched this vision last month.

M Jeanneney said the �heavily biased� British and American version of the
French Revolution would be all about �valiant British aristocrats
triumphing over bloodthirsty Jacobins and the guillotine blotting out the
rights of man�.

�The challenge is immense,� he said. �Here we have the risk of America
reinforcing its crushing domination of future generations� understanding
of the world.�

M Chirac is expected to propose his Europe-wide virtual library when he
holds a summit in Paris today with Gerhard Schr�der, the German
Chancellor, Jos� Luis Rodr�guez Zapatero, the Prime Minister of Spain, and
Vladimir Putin, the Russian President.

M Chirac is due to accompany Mr Putin on a visit to the Paris book fair,
which opens today with Russian literature as this year�s theme.

The Elys�e Palace said that the French leader was keen to bring Britain
and the British Library into his European scheme, which would take about
five years to launch.

It said that Paris might consider working with Google but wanted to start
from a position of strength.

Paris was not trying to pick a fight with the Americans or combat the
�omnigooglisation� of the world, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, the Culture
Minister, said. �We just want everyone to be able to exert the influence
of their own talents, heritage, history and culture.�

As usual with France�s schemes for ensuring le rayonnement de la culture
Fran�aise, the taxpayer will cover much of the cost.  Google�s plan is
costing an initial �100 million.

Paris is still awaiting a verdict from the EU Commission on its previous
attempt to bestow Gallic influence on the world: M Chirac�s
French-language news channel, designed to counter the global power of the
US Cable News Network � CNN � and BBC World.

The Brussels competition watchdog must approve the heavy state subsidy for
the channel, which is to be operated jointly by TF1, the biggest
commercial network, and France Television, the state network, at a cost of
�50 million a year.

Maurice A. O'Sullivan  [ Bray, Ireland ]
mauros@iol.ie
copyright 2005