For a long time, the USSR claimed to be a "worker's paradise"; its Komintern has been spreading a radical, ideological propaganda all around the world. Picturing this "worker's paradise" from the inside gave a slightly different view. As France can hardly be compared to the USSR (France is far less powerful), similarities are merely obvious:
- ideology: lots of French alleged "intellectuals" were and still are communist. The die-hard French socialist mind stands still as opposed to modern free markets, (classical) liberal Anglo-Saxon policies, no matter the price, no matter the results.
- propaganda: the socialist agenda doesn't come from Moscow anymore. International media such as the AFP (its directors are named by the French government) or the new CII (the 'French CNN'), international neocommunist "Agitprop" groups such as Attac or other gangs of anti-Globalization punks, some European leftist think tanks, all of them relay a French-brewed biased point of view. France has the largest diplomacy in the world.
- goals: basically, to be a counterweight to America, now by the means of the EU and the UN.
This «French Social Model» is actually the last thing left in order to carry on the present socialist agenda, and the propaganda is so massive that anything deserves to be done to fight the monster. This is my little Samizdat.

I'm not here to show misery because of what it is: unbearable. Those images are the reality of France. I take pictures of them on my every day trips to earn my life -- I'm despoiled of my income by about 75% taxes, in order to keep the glorious social model running one more month. I don't plan my trips in order to take pictures of homeless; they merely are here, sitting next to millions of Parisians. According to me, the most dramatic thing is, admitting of course that they shouldn't be so numerous, homeless people became as familiar as pigeons are for Parisians: they can see them everywhere and they don't care -- Socialism is also a mental disease, it creates merely inhumane reactions: "Nanny State is supposed to take care of them, so why bother?".
I've been hesitating for a long time, thinking I had to respect those poor guys' privacy and dignity. But I had to do so, I had to show what France had become, in order to witness to what should never be done...

The first thing is true. But you have to come to Paris in order to see by yourself the extent the problem. The number of homeless people is growing exponentially, as poverty is falling all around the world. As far as I know, most of the bums in America are mentally-ill people, but you can't force them into hospital. Others are individuals who chose to live that way. In France, it's not the same problem: the mentally-ill persons are in jail, and 25% of the homeless do have a regular job, and others chose to live that way too.
Another very important thing as far as relief is concerned: incentives. in France, the Nanny State (allegedly) takes care of the poor: civil servants are paid to distribute (my) money to what basically become their customers, the benefits recipients become the justification for their very existence. Charities are also subsidized by my money: for the charity, the incentive is to have a whole lot of bums to "take care of", in order to get subsidies the next year; for the charity recipient, there's no incentive to get out of misery, as he'll always get the taxpayers' money and subsidized charities to get food and a bed. In Anglo-Saxon countries, the main part of the poverty relief is private charity: individuals giving their money and their time to take care of another individual. The incentives for the giver is to be glad of having helped somebody out of misery, and the incentive for the relief recipient is to satisfy the guy who helped him, because if he doesn't the Samaritan will stop helping him.

Only one simple thing: I'd be glad if people coming around have such images back in their mind the next time their hear or read the words «French Social Model».