Podcast: the hunting vote, France welcomes Ukrainians, non-binary Barthes
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France's presidential candidates court the hunting vote; how France is welcoming Ukrainian refugees; and Roland Barthes – ahead of his time in thinking about non-binary identity and language.
Hunting is France's third most popular pastime, after fishing and football, and the country's 1.1 million licence holders see themselves as a political force. Presidential candidates have been pushed into addressing hunting after some high-profile accidents led to calls to curb – or even ban – it. Several were recently invited to address the French federation of hunters (FNC) and lay out their policies. Hunter Denis Plat (@platdenis), editor of the online hunting magazine J'aime la chasse (I love hunting), defends the tradition and says it's far more socially and politically diverse than its image. Faced with what they see as an attempt "to destroy a certain way of life", hunters are ready to fight back. (Listen @1'58)
France is prepared to welcome 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing Russia's invasion, with citizens offering spaces in their homes and donating clothes, toys and other basic necessities. Paris has set up a Ukrainian welcome centre to help people get temporary residency papers and find housing. We visit the centre at the Porte de Versailles and meet people arriving in France for the first time, not as tourists, but as refugees. Their welcome is strikingly different from the one refugees from other countries have received in France, says Emmanuel Olliver, director of the French Salvation Army. (Listen @19'20)
French intellectual and essayist Roland Barthes, who died on 26 March 1980, is remembered for his ground-breaking work on semiology, but he also anticipated the question of non-binary identity and language. (Listen @15'15)
This episode was mixed by Cecile Pompeani.
Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, iTunes (link here), Spotify (link here), Google podcasts (link here), or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).
Hunting is France's third most popular pastime, after fishing and football, and the country's 1.1 million licence holders see themselves as a political force. Presidential candidates have been pushed into addressing hunting after some high-profile accidents led to calls to curb – or even ban – it. Several were recently invited to address the French federation of hunters (FNC) and lay out their policies. Hunter Denis Plat (@platdenis), editor of the online hunting magazine J'aime la chasse (I love hunting), defends the tradition and says it's far more socially and politically diverse than its image. Faced with what they see as an attempt "to destroy a certain way of life", hunters are ready to fight back. (Listen @1'58)
France is prepared to welcome 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing Russia's invasion, with citizens offering spaces in their homes and donating clothes, toys and other basic necessities. Paris has set up a Ukrainian welcome centre to help people get temporary residency papers and find housing. We visit the centre at the Porte de Versailles and meet people arriving in France for the first time, not as tourists, but as refugees. Their welcome is strikingly different from the one refugees from other countries have received in France, says Emmanuel Olliver, director of the French Salvation Army. (Listen @19'20)
French intellectual and essayist Roland Barthes, who died on 26 March 1980, is remembered for his ground-breaking work on semiology, but he also anticipated the question of non-binary identity and language. (Listen @15'15)
This episode was mixed by Cecile Pompeani.
Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, iTunes (link here), Spotify (link here), Google podcasts (link here), or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).