English News from Paris — Museum Workers on Strike (but not today)
I set off today (Sunday, 06DEC09) to visit the Musee d’Orsay, to view its wonderful collection of post-1850 art and to enjoy the architectural delights of this renovated train station. I had no idea that French cultural workers had been striking major museums since 23NOV09 http://bit.ly/5UeuGP.
But, as luck would have it and today being the first Sunday of the month (the one day a month when the museum is open free of charge), the workers had elected to work today in order that “… the visitors be satisfied and delighted.” (Quote from a 1-page tract handed out by union representatives to museum-goers as we waited in line to gain entry to the exhibit.”
In what I think must be a brilliant gesture designed to gain public support for their strike, the tract went on to state, “Today, Sunday 6th December, we are stopping the strike, only to start again on Tuesday 8th. Why? Free entrance is granted once a month, on the first Sunday of each mongh, and we wish you to take advantage of it.”
The tract goes on to say, “The consequences [of the current government trend to run museums as though they were media events, with the focus on making money] are heavy on the staff as well as on the quality of the activities, and therefore on the visitors. For instance, higher entrance fees are asked for well-advertised exhibitions; chefs-d’oeuvre are rented for a high price to foreign museums. So much so that, in the end, visitors are considered not as culture amateurs or culture lovers, but as ordinary consumers of money-making enterprises.”
I love that French ethos: art is the lifeblood of society, not some commodity to be bought and sold at ever-increasing profits long after the artist has died and can no longer benefit from the popularity of her/his work. Talk about liberte, fraternite, egalite. These guys stay “on message.”
For their persistence I admire them. For their generosity of spirit, I thank them.
I had a wonderful few hours in the museum.
What amazing good luck following the beat of heart and finding the gates open.
Sounds awesome, what luck!