This appeal appeared in the Paris paper Libération (September 4), signed by the rapper Mokless, the journalist Mouloud Achour and the entrepreneur Félix Marquardt:
“Young people of France, this is not a call to evade taxes, but simply to leave. As we say in Northern Africa and in the poorest neighbourhoods of France, your elders treat you like asses without ears, ‘khmar bla ouinedine.’ Their pretty words increasingly conceal a far more embarrassing truth: you live in a hyper-centralist, ossified gerontocracy which crumbles a little more each day….
“Or, to put it more prosaically, get the hell out of here if you want to get more out of life. Because even if you don’t make more money right away by (re)launching your career abroad, the probability that your lifestyle will improve after a couple of years is far greater than if you remain stuck in the mud here in France….
“Young people of France, not just your homeland is yours for the taking, but the entire world. So go out and take it, even if it hurts.”
Eric Koch’s new book, The Golden Years: Five Stories, was launched on Saturday, March 16. The book is available from the 
