US rejects French politicians’ statue of freedom Request: NPR

French politicians faceted the US to return the Statue of Liberty to the US.

Rafael Gluxman, a member of the European Parliament of the Socialist and Democrat Progressive Alliance, said at the party convention on Sunday he had a message to “the Americans who chose to fire researchers to demand scientific freedom.”

“Give us a statue of freedom back,” he said with a smile as the crowd cheered. “We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you’re lightly spooning it. So it’s fine here.”

Lady Liberty – the full name, “The World Enlightening World” – was conceptualized in 1865 by French anti-slavery activist Edualdo des Labourey, and celebrates the US Declaration of Independence and its friendship with France.

After years of construction, transportation and assembly, the statue was officially announced in 1886 at the Port of New York. There, millions of immigrants who arrived on Ellis Island in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, engraved the words torches and engraved.

It has endured in decades since then as a global symbol of freedom, patriotism, democracy and its lack.

“Normal people, from American suffrageists in the 1800s and 1900s to Chinese students in the 1980s, have increased the similarity of statues seeking greater equality, an end to injustice, and a more enlightened society,” says the National Park Service (NPS), which maintains the site.

Glucksmann’s comments come when the US is criticized both domestically and internationally for abandoning some of these commitments, including cracking down on immigration and alienating European allies. Glucksmann is a voice critic of President Trump’s decision to temporarily suspend aid to Ukraine in defending Russia.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that he has since confirmed when asked about Glucksmann’s request during a briefing Monday.

“And my advice to that unknown, low-level French politician is to remind them that they should be very grateful to our great nation, as the French are not speaking German now only for the United States.

No one actually regained the statue

Glucksmann responded with a 10-part X thread addressed to Americans, admitting, “I wouldn’t be here if hundreds of thousands of young Americans hadn’t landed on our beaches in Normandy.”

But he said it was a different version of America. “I fought the tyrants, it didn’t flatten them.” “We welcomed the persecution and did not target them.”

“It embodied, saying it was far from what your current president was doing,” he wrote.

He specifically cited the Trump administration’s “betrayal of Ukraine and Europe” and the treatment of scientists. In particular, one French university recently launched an initiative to welcome American scientists whose work is unacceptable due to the government’s research cuts.

Glucksmann said his comments were intended as a “wake-up call.”

“Of course no one will come and steal the Statue of Liberty,” he wrote. “The statue belongs to you. But what it embodies belongs to everyone. And if the free world is no longer interested in your government, we’ll take up the torch here in Europe.”

According to UNESCO, the Statue of Liberty is owned by the US government, so it would be difficult for France to remember. It is also a national monument and a major tourist attraction that depicted 3 million visitors in 2023 alone.

The US had to work for gifts

The Statue of Liberty was a gift, but its creators believed the project should be a joint effort. The French paid for the statue, and the US paid for the pedestal.

It included large-scale fundraising activities in both countries through advertising, public events and souvenir sales.

“While wealthy individuals have contributed, it was the small contributions of hundreds of thousands of workers and children on both sides of the Atlantic that made the Statue of Liberty a reality,” says NP.

French sculptor Frederic Augaste Barsoldi led the design and construction of copper parts for statues for several years, working with American architect Richard Morris Hunt to design a 154-foot pedestal.

The 151-foot statue was assembled in France by 1884 and presented to the US Minister in the same year. Then came the challenge to actually bring it to the state.

Versoldi had chosen New York’s Bedrow Island (now called Liberty Island) as the site for the New York statue. However, according to the NP, to get there, the statue was disassembled into 350 pieces, transported by French Navy ships and reassembled.

The statue was finally announced on a rainy day in October 1886, with one million New Yorkers cheering for a look.

“When it was time for Barsoldi to release the Trichola France flag covering Liberty’s face, guns, hists and applause rang out,” says NP.

In 1903, a bronze plaque engraved with the “New Colossus” (poem by Jewish-American poet and activist Emmalazarus) was added to the pedestal to commemorate the famous phrase.

The symbolism and portrait of the statue has since grown far beyond New York. Replicas can be found all over the world and are traded by the US and France.

The French, who live in the United States, sent replicas to their hometowns in 1889 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The statue is located on an artificial island on the Seine River in Paris and originally faces the French Presidential Palace. In 1937 he began playing against the American sisters in New York.

Decades later, in 2021, France sent the second small replica of the statue to the United States on a 10-year loan on a 10-year loan, on a 10-year loan, to remind us of the friendship and shared values ​​between the two countries. “Little Lady Liberty” is temporarily joined by her sister in New York, heading to Washington, DC, and on display outside the French ambassador’s residence.