Billionaires raced to pledge money to rebuild Notre Dame. Then came the backlash.

[Demovictory9]

"Of course, I find it nice, this solidarity," said Ingrid Levavasseur, a leader of the yellow vest movement that has protested inequality in a series of often violent Saturday demonstrations since mid-November. The stream of donations essentially confirmed the movement's broader social critique, Levavasseur said.

"If they can give tens of millions to rebuild Notre-Dame, then they should stop telling us there is no money to help with the social emergency," Philippe Martinez, head of the CGT trade union, said on Wednesday.

The cash flow has also furrowed brows abroad, with critics emphasizing that destroyed landmarks in non-Western locales - such as the ancient sites destroyed by the Islamic State in Syria - have hardly inspired such a global groundswell.

"In just a few hours today, 650 million euros was donated to rebuild Notre Dame," South Africa-based journalist Simon Allison tweeted. "In six months, just 15 million euros has been pledged to restore Brazil's National Museum. I think this is what they call white privilege."

Rio de Janeiro's National Museum was incinerated in a fire in September.

Inside and outside of France, the unease has centered on a perceived disparity between concern for the fate of beautiful monuments and concern for the struggles of real people, which can be more difficult to sell to donors.

In February, for instance, the United Nations launched a record call for $4 billion dollars in aid for Yemen, in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. "Almost 10 million are just one step away from famine," Secretary General António Guterres said in his pitch at a donor conference in Geneva. In the hours after his call, roughly $2.6 billion came in - a feat in itself. But still well short of the goal.

Notre Dame offers a striking contrast: No one was killed, no one is starving, but philanthropists likely provided the full amount - if not more - instantaneously and unprompted.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Billionaires-raced-to-pledge-money-to-rebuild-13777806.php

[MicaelS]

1. No matter what good people do, there are always people complaining about it. n/t

[Cuthbert Allgood]

5. Do you not think it's a valid point?

Billionaires are throwing money at Notre Dame, but when it comes to the poor and the other emergencies we are facing, pockets get pretty shallow.

[tymorial]

6. It's a fair argument but Notre Dame is a testament to human ingenuity and genius

Its a marvel and cultural treasure. Yeah it's a working church.. so what. Its meaning to the French people and the world is beyond religious ideology.

So too is it true that some people who are able to donate millions towards its reconstruction are being more than a little hypocritical

[MicaelS]

8. It may be a valid point but it is mean-spirited to me.

That is how I feel about it.

If someone does something they're criticized. If they do nothing they're criticized. Sometimes they get killed.

A good Samaritan, Craig Brewer, got killed the other day for buying people's food at a Waffle House, when a woman complained about him not buying hers. So her boyfriend got his gun and killed the man.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/man-killed-florida-waffle-house-paying-meals-handing/story?id=62262513

[Wednesdays]

15. So, the moral is to not buy food for other people?

[BannonsLiver]

9. The yellow vest people are mostly nut jobs

[hlthe2b]

2. Absolutely true and important point... That said, I want social justice but likewise want Notre Dame

restored. It is irreplaceable to our history. This underscores the fact (long denied) that we can and must do what is right for our world's people. A piece of that, however, is to preserve our irreplaceable legacies.

[Throck]

4. To a homeless starving atheist a cathedral means little.

[hlthe2b]

7. Notre Dame is far more than a Cathedral. I wish you could have visited to recognize that...

I'm not religious, but I found it one of the most profound experiences and I say that purely on a secular, but history-loving level. And as I have already clearly expressed agreement with the paradox and the need to prioritize people, I'll leave it at that...

[Throck]

18. Given the delayed and negligent response to child molestation in the Catholic Church....

...I have lost all respect for them. Let this symbol of decadence and indulgences go to ashes, compensate the victims.

[hlthe2b]

19. Notre Dame is not a proxy for the need for Catholic reform. Nor should it be.

Do you wish ALL historical monuments destroyed because of some symbolism you choose to equate? I am a tremendous lover of ancient Egypt. Sadly with the intervening rise of monotheist religions of many types there were periods when some art and monuments were destroyed simply because they were built by those no longer in favor. I also think of the Taliban destroying the Buddhas.

No. You aren't promoting active destruction yourself, but the equating of an irreplaceable historical site with "punishing" Catholicism for its failures is certainly reminiscent. Blaming differing beliefs on tragedy as though it were somehow deserved retribution is indefensible.

[cwydro]

20. Oh for crying out loud!

Too funny.

[Throck]

3. An interesting predicament.

The world seems to have an unlimited amount of problems with finite resources to solve them.

Personally I'll keep contributing to the local soup kitchen and food bank. The Paris tourist can fend for themselves.

[sdfernando]

10. Think its bad now?...

just wait until the mega-donors start arguing about branding rights.

[hlthe2b]

11. Unlike our own beyond-mercenary capitalist society, the French would NEVER allow that.

[sdfernando]

14. Yeah..I was just being sarcastic. /nt

[jayfish]

12. Agree With The First Point But;...

Brazil's National Museum is not Notre Dame.

[natstephen]

21. Nope. It was much more important.

The largest natural history and anthropology museum of the Southern Hemisphere. 20 million objects. The oldest skeleton of the Americas, Egyptian sarcophagus, the largest collection of South-American archeology, etc.

[msongs]

13. catholic church worlds wealthiest entity has plenty of $$ to fix it nt

[harumph]

17. The Catholic church does not own it. The French govt. does.

Accordingly, it is the responsibility of the French state to maintain it.

[renate]

16. I wonder which cause--hunger or rebuilding a church--Jesus would want people to donate to

Of course, not all donors are contributing for religious reasons. And Notre Dame is a cultural icon.

But for those donating for religious reasons... I know they mean well, but this is an interesting conundrum.