Let Freedom Ring

David Kopel over at the Volokh Conspiracy provides translations of both the prepared speech by Nicolas Sarkozy and the actual spoken version and notes a very significant alteration in the as-delivered speech.

In the prepared text, the penultimate paragraph is:

Je veux lancer un appel à tous ceux qui dans le monde croient aux valeurs de tolérance, de liberté, de démocratie et d’humanisme, à tous ceux qui sont persécutés par les tyrannies et par les dictatures, à tous les enfants et à toutes les femmes martyrisés dans le monde pour leur dire que la France sera à leurs côtés, qu’ils peuvent compter sur elle.

In English: "I want to launch a call to all those in the world who believe in the values of tolerance, of liberty, of democacy and of humanism, to all those who are persecuted by the tyrannies and by the dictators, to all the children and to all the martyrized women in the world to say to them that the pride, the duty of France will at their sides, that they can count on her."

(The italicized words were in the speech as delivered, but not in the prepared text.) Pretty good so far. Then, Sarkozy delivered a paragraph which did not appear in the prepared text, and his rising passion matched that of the audience:

La France sera aux côtés des infirmières libyennes enfermées depuis huit ans, la France n'abandonnera pas Ingrid Betancourt, la France n'abandonnera pas les femmes qu'on condamne à la burqa, la France n'abandonnera pas les femmes qui n'ont pas la liberté. La France sera du côté des opprimés du monde. C'est le message de la France, c'est l'identité de la France, c'est l'histoire de la France.

In English: "France will be at the sides of the Libyan nurses locked up for eight years; France will not abandon Ingrid Betancourt; France will not abandon the women who are condemned to the burqa; France will not abandon the women who do not have liberty. France will be by the side of the oppressed of the world. This is the message of France; this is the identity of France; this is the history of France."

That is, indeed, the best that French history has offered the world. Stirring words that could well signify a tectonic shift in the Western world. If Sarkozy carries through and governs in this manner, France could become an important ally to freedom in the world. One thing that is interesting is how the left in this country held France up as a model before and is now busily downplaying Sarkozy's victory and declaring France and French opinion to be irrelevant to American politics. 

Other Links to this Post

1. The Anchoress » “Feral” Sarkozy signals BDS-by-Proxy on the left — Wednesday, 9 May , 2007 @ 9:03 pm