April 13, 2023

French Protesters Storm LVMH Paris Offices, Opposing Macron's Pension Reform

April 13, 2023/ Anne Enke

The protests against French President Emmanuel Macron’s pension overhaul escalated Thursday as a crowd of men waving flares and banners stormed the headquarters of luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE.

The Wall Street Journal described the event [free AOC ink] as a moment in which the weekly protests “morphed into a populist rebuke of France’s establishment”.

The central issue is the intention of Macron’s government to raise the age of retirement from 62 to 64 by 2030. The French prime minister used his constitutional powers to take the action without a vote.

Representatives of LVMH said the protesters did not stay long, after forcing their way through the Avenue Montaigne entrance of the luxury group’s headquarters and taking an escalator to the reception area leading to LVMH corporate officers, including Bernard Arnault. There is no confirmation that Mr. Arnault was on the premises.

Emmanuel Macron Re-Elected President of France; Fragile European Alliance Holds

April 24, 2022/ Anne Enke

Emmanuel Macron has retained the French presidency, beating back right-wing, Russian president Vladimir Putin-supported candidate Marine Le Pen with an estimated 58.2% of the vote to her 41.8%, based on 8pm Sunday evening estimates.

For all of his problems, Macron is the first French leader in 20 years to win re-election — since 2002. In that faceoff then-president Jacques Chirac won against Le Pen’s rabidly anti-immigrant father, Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Lascaux 4, Full-Size Replica Of Ancient Cave Paintings, Opens In Dordogne, France

December 23, 2016/ Anne Enke

Lascaux 4, Full-Size Replica Of Ancient Cave Paintings, Opens In Dordogne, France AOC Muse

Often labeled the 'Sistine Chapel of prehistory', France's Lascaux cave paintings may be up to 20,000 years old. Included as a UNESCO world heritage site since 1979, the public has been banned from visiting the Lascaux caves since 1963. The caves were accidentally discovered by a group of boys in 1940, and for a period of time, visitors did tour the site. Archaeologists and art historians then discovered that the amount of carbon dioxide being exhaled by humans caused major damage to the integrity of the paintings, necessitating that they be closed from the general public forever.

In a wonderful gift to the worldwide public, Lascaux 4, a full-size replica of the ancient cave paintings has opened in the Dordogne region of France. The whole Lascaux cave will be the essential part of Montignac-Lascaux Parietal Art international Centre, devoted to using the latest image technology and virtual mediation to recreate the experience of actually walking through the Lascaux caves.