An SUV In Paris
...Probably won't even carry you around the block these days. At least, not with the French enviro-pranksters known as "The Deflated" around, letting the air out of SUV tires after dark, just for starters. Now, I'm a libertarian, so I don't advocate harming other people's property. In my own battle against SUVs in America, I simply place a card on the windshield:
Still, I can't help but laugh at the approach these guys are taking to rid Paris of SUVS. Here's an excerpt from the LA Times story by Sebastian Rotella:
Under cover of night, Marrant's troops target Jeep Cherokees, Porsche Cayennes and other four-wheel-drive vehicles parked on the tree-lined avenues and cobblestoned lanes of wealthy neighborhoods. The eco-guerrillas deflate tires without damaging them, smear doors with mud and paste handbills on windshields proclaiming that the vehicles are dangerous, polluting behemoths that do not belong in the city."We use the mud to say that if the owners will not take the four-wheel-drives to the countryside, we will bring the countryside to the four-wheel-drives," said Marrant, 28, who uses an alias because angry drivers deluge his website, http://degonfle.blogg.org with e-mails threatening mayhem and questioning his manhood.
Although his nom de guerre was inspired by Subcommander Marcos, the masked Mexican guerrilla revered by leftists, Marrant insists he is not violent or even particularly serious. "Deflated" is a self-deprecating name that also means "coward" in French. The group wants to send a mischievous message while avoiding damage to the vehicles, injury and prosecution, the thin, mop-haired activist said during an interview in a corner cafe on the Seine's left bank, longtime turf of radicals and revolutionaries.
"We emphasize the comic, the burlesque side," Marrant said with the earnest, wide-eyed look of a prankster trying to keep a straight face. "It would be hard to take us to court. We don't slash tires, we deflate them. Air doesn't cost anything. As for getting cars dirty, that's nothing. I would plead guilty to that. Our rules are to never run from the police. And always run from the owners."
...Although city leaders don't condone vandalism, officials have gone as far as proposing that Paris ban sport utility vehicles. Deputy Mayor Denis Baupin, who oversees transportation programs, has called the SUV "a caricature of a car."
Baupin spoke during a recent rally of about 200 activists at a Jeep dealership where the manager had agreed to shut down early for the day. The decision drew cheers from children wearing cow and buffalo masks, cyclists hoisting bikes triumphantly aloft.
"An SUV is totally useless for Paris," Baupin said in his speech, blaming the recent devastating hurricanes in the U.S. on climate change caused by pollution. "The situation is striking: The country that refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol suffered from a climatic catastrophe…. We all feel sorry for the dead in New Orleans. But now maybe the United States should start considering that their development pattern is not to be repeated worldwide and that it causes environmental problems."
In the United States, sport utility vehicles account for one of every four automobiles sold, but in France, SUVs represent only about 5% of the market. The prices are high for middle-class families, but sales jumped about 20% last year.
My online buddies in .fr were, to my suprise, rather outraged by this. "That Marrant guy is going to be found one day with a bullet through his brain and his bumper stickers shoved up his ass. Let's see how marrant he finds that" was one (approximately translated) comment. Hmmm, those 'buddies' are further to the right than I supposed.
Stu "El Inglés" Harris at October 10, 2005 3:49 PM
That business card is almost menacingly stylish, Amy.
Jake at October 10, 2005 4:28 PM
I agree with Jake, Amy. I love the card. I should make some of those myself.
And I have to agree that the damaging of other peoples' property is crossing the line (as mud will probably scratch the finish and a four ton vehicle resting on deflated tires can't be good for it, either). There are ways to get your point across -- your own cards, for instance -- than vandalizing property.
Patrick at October 10, 2005 9:24 PM
Thanks -- I'm a type whore. It's so nice to be noticed.
Amy Alkon at October 10, 2005 11:29 PM
PS One of my favorite pastimes, SUV-wise, is asking people in the huge ones if they think of soldiers getting their legs amputated while they're gassing up.
Amy Alkon at October 10, 2005 11:31 PM
i knew there was a reason i adore the french.
sarai at October 11, 2005 10:20 AM
Of course our being in Iraq is about oil. That's why gas is only fifteen cents per gallon. Sheesh.
This is right up there with PETA's antics. Can't get your way in the courts or in public opinion? Be a busybody or vandal or commit criminal mischief. It isn't the high road.
Radwaste at October 12, 2005 1:58 AM
Being a "busybody" absolutely is the high road. People who drive SUVs are unnecessarily polluting and endangering the lives of others. I have no problem with a general contractor who drives a big truck. Why should anybody else impair my lung function and all the rest without me making a peep of complaint? If you drive an enormo SUV, you should have a bad day, just for starters, and I'm going to help you.
Amy Alkon at October 12, 2005 6:50 AM
Talk about "unnecessary" resource use is a bit rich coming from a libertarian, isn't it?
Hell, if you're worried about fuel economy and pollution you'd be better off protesting old cars than new SUVs. A well-running car from 1973 puts out more pollutants than a new Suburban, I suspect.
(In fact, there's another point to be expanded on. Small SUVs are often more fuel efficient than powerful sedans. Do you protest people with Dodge Magnums, Chrysler 300Cs (both with the unnecessary Hemi V8), or Mercedes S600s (unnecessary V12!)?)
I mean, this comes across as being mere snarky cultural obsession with "those people" and their SUVs, couched in not-very-misleading griping about fuel economy and "necessity".
It's the latter that really rankles coming from somone claiming to be "libertarian"; arguments about the "necessity" of something are typically socialist, and for good reason, as I'm aware of no obvious libertarian grounds for such an argument.
But at least you're not advocating Fascist action like these Frenchmen are undertaking.
Sigivald at October 12, 2005 3:43 PM
Sigi, excellent work, but Amy will never take your point. We've tried it dozens of times.
Crid at October 12, 2005 6:20 PM
Ah, but if somebody has no money, they can't really help what they drive. What I'm doing is the essence of democracy -- using my freedom of speech to try to persuade people to choose more wisely (actually, the aim of the campaign is a little more sneaky -- as was my previous one, linked on the left side of my page...to make SUVs uncool to drive).
Libertarianism says "your right to punch me in the nose ends where my nose begins." Your right to blacken my lungs...
Amy Alkon at October 12, 2005 6:35 PM
Right, Amy! So stop burning all that fuel on those trips to Paris. They're SO unnecesary...
Crid at October 12, 2005 9:52 PM
On the contrary, many people benefit from what I learn in Paris.
Read the second question here:
http://www.inweekly.net/article.asp?artID=1928
Amy Alkon at October 12, 2005 11:02 PM
Moreover, I'm not saying people should stop living. A contractor, for example, will need a big vehicle. Totally fine. But if you're one little woman, transporting your skinny ass and a latte around Beverly Hills...perhaps you could find your way into a car instead of a Hummer?
Amy Alkon at October 12, 2005 11:05 PM
I was filling up my SUV long before soldiers were dying in Iraq.
As a former soldier myself I find it highly distasteful that people who have never actually served use the sacrifices of our soldiers to shame others. Shame on you, who has probably never actually done anything to serve your country other than to bitch and moan about all the things you don't like a lot more than praising the things you do.
You have the right to complain all you want, one of the things I served for, but don't use a soldiers sacrifice to shame an SUV driver. It is petty and in bad taste, especially when a large percentage of soldiers drive SUV's themselves.
If you are going to shame an SUV driver you might as well shame a person who drives an old Rambler or some other relic because it is cool, even though it burns more gas than your typical SUV and has poorer emissions quality to boot.
Soldiers are dying in Iraq because Bush is an idiot who is cleaning up his fathers scraps and trying to push some empirical agenda designed to destabilize the Middle East in an effort to bring in a form of government more compatible with ours.
It is ironic, using military force, to establish a democracy.
Senor Limey at October 13, 2005 10:13 AM
I drive a 66mpg Honda Insight. I drove a Rambler when I didn't have any money. The Rambler is long gone.
I can have an opinion about what is right and wrong and use whatever means I wish to promote it whether or not I've served in the military. There's no shame in that. In fact, there's patriotism in exercise of free speech. Moreover, in Cohen v. California, 1971, the Supreme Court said something like "sometimes the wrong words are better than the right words to make a point." What would you have me say to motivate people? "Kindly drive a Prius"?
I do support our troops (see above) and I sent letters and a big box of supplies when somebody was organizing a drive to send stuff to the soldiers.
Amy Alkon at October 13, 2005 12:42 PM
I got a bit testier than I intended to in that last post. I appreciate the fact that you care about the environment, I seriously do. I also did not intend to call into question your patriotism or your right to say whatever you please, I agree with a lot of the things you say. I just get really irked when people use a military persons sacrifice to shame people or push their agenda.
Having served for over 10 years I just find it all extremely distasteful. I abhor the fact that soldiers are dying on a daily basis and hope our presence their ends as quickly as possible, but I don't think we should use their deaths to push someone's buttons.
I just get worked up when people use that "soldiers are dying...". I doubt any true soldier views it that way. I would also hate to think of the pain one of the those cards would cause if placed on the SUV of a wife who lost their husband in Iraq.
I didn't mean to make that so personal. Sorry.
Senor Limey at October 14, 2005 8:52 AM
It's fine that you made it personal. I'm for complete freedom of speech, and I'm "in your face" -- you have every right (and responsibility, actually) to respond in kind. I think open discussion is really healthy.
Amy Alkon at October 14, 2005 9:13 AM
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