It is the first time that I have covered a demonstration where protestors chanted "We are not pork sausage!" Ha-Ha-Ha...we are not...des Andouillettes!
On Jan. 13, Standard & Poor's, the international credit rating agency demoted France from the much coveted triple A rating to AA+. Several dozen French demonstrators gathered in front of S&P's Paris offices to protest. The demonstration was organized by the political party, Front de Gauche (Leftist Front); photos were taken on Jan. 14, the second evening of protest. Jean-Luc Melenchon, presidential candidate for Front de Gauche has called for "resistance to the war of finance against France".
The loss of the triple A credit rating is indeed a set-back for the government of Nicolas Sarkozy that pushed through a controversial pension reform law on the basis of the importance of maintaining the AAA credit rating. It will also give the Socialist Party plenty of political ammo to use against Nicolas Sarkozy during the presidential campaign. The Socialist Party candidate, François Hollande stated that this financial penalty signifies the failure of President Sarkozy's five year term in office. "We are no longer in the first league." he stated, remarking that this is the first time that France has been demoted in relation to Germany. The National Front candidate, Marine Le Pen, declared that this is the first step for the disintegration of the Euro Zone. Her far right political movement has been campaigning for France to exit the Euro monetary union and to return to a national currency.
So where does the pork sausage come in...? First of all, "Ha-Ha-Ha" when chanted by French demonstrators sounds like A-A-A.
Andouillette is a specialty of French cuisine. It is made from the pigs small intestine. It can be prepared and served in almost as many ways as there are regions of France. It was served by Louis II, called the "Stammerer", when he was crowned King of France (878 A.D.) in Troyes in the Champagne region. Louis the Stammerer, by the way, was the son of Charles the Bald. Alexandre Dumas mentions andouillette in his Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine. It is one of those very typical dishes for which one must acquire a taste; and I admit, after 30 years in France, I still have not succeeded.
Not to be outdone by S&P's, in a perfect display of Gallic one up-man-ship, the demonstrators gave themselves four A's : l'Association Amicale des Amateurs d'Andouillette ( the friendly association of lovers of andouillette), yet in fact it should be five A's - they forgot to include Authentic which actually makes it AAAAA. Oh well, what's an A between friends...?
An andouillette, in French, is a little andouille, which is a different kind of pig gut sausage, but in French slang, andouille means idiot or sap head, so perhaps the basic message of the demonstrators is, "We're not idiots...!" Some economists and politicians argue that any government who takes these credit rating agencies seriously enough to impose austerity measures are indeed saps.