WEB RESOURCE ON CIVICS IN FRANCE

In the wake of the religious symbols ban, the French education minister, Luc Ferry, has published a set of civics materials for educators. See the site here, press release here, and an article in the Nouvel Observateur here. (Nouvel Obs will also translate the article for you, and the results -- while far from perfect -- aren't that bad. See here.)

The site has a link to Chirac's December speech on laïcité, here (PDF file), a collection of short essays on key republican concepts here (PDF file), and something that's likely to interest Chris Martin, an extensive filmography, here (PDF file), with movies grouped under five themes (including "the other," "the absurdity of racism," "struggles for human dignity"). There's a surprising number of Hollywood films on the list, actually, including E.T. and Rain Main (both about "The Other"). One of my favorite French films, Hate (see Rotten Tomatoes here), didn't make the list, but perhaps it cuts too close to the bone.

MORE: Chris has some reactions here.