Angry residents have rallied to a campaign against the ‘trashing’ of the capital. Some blame mayor Anne Hidalgo while others see the protests as a far-right ploy
In the middle of Paris’s third Covid lockdown last March, a hashtag appeared on Twitter with a photo of a lock on the Canal Saint-Martin that runs through the north of the city clogged with litter, plastic bags and bottles.
Images of Paris looking worse for wear are nothing new but, within days, dozens of pictures of overflowing bins, broken pavements and graffiti-covered walls appeared with the same hashtag – #SaccageParis – which roughly translates as Trashed Paris.
Today, less than a year on, the hashtag has been used more than 2.7m times on Twitter alone and has become the battle cry for those who fear the once beautiful city is losing its soul. To others, it is a political smear campaign aimed at the Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo, also a candidate in this year’s presidential election.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...city-of-blight
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When did it become woke, morally righteous dogma to let your city descend into filth and sanitary chaos? Even ten years ago (when I proudly campaigned for Obama) being a liberal meant the complete opposite. Jane Jacobs was required reading and "Death and Life of Great American Cities" stressed the need for clean streets, safe parks, community spirit, beautiful architecture to lift the soul, mass transit that eschewed car culture, and an urbanism that was environmentally sustainable.
This is not only a Paris problem but is increasingly becoming an issue around the world. Filth and trash is now seen as a hallmark of being "woke." I posted about Union Station in DC now having 25 tent encampments, trash everywhere, homeless taking sink baths in the public restrooms, and I was thoroughly trashed for it, called racist, insensitive and mean-spirited, for wanting a clean city.
One even said, "I want the city to be filthy because we need to show the rot out in public. Our society is extremely unequal and hiding it conveniently hides the systemic inequality. I'm sorry those tent encampments and garbage make you uncomfortable, but that's who we are."
Am I becoming old, or have people lost their minds?!
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