Defense and the proselytism of the French language is a noble cause.
What more natural than to defend its cultural difference.
I agree with this, and it's vital to maintain local languages and dialects all over the world. To lose them would be tragic. However, for years it's been vital to achieve the creation and common use of a world language.
Esperanto was . . . erm, less than a success. Good intentions and all that, but a modern world language has to be technology-based first, and artistic last.
I recall years ago a Japanese scientist talking of the stress he felt by learning so much of his own language. He made the astonishing statement that it felt as though the relevant hemisphere of his brain felt (something like) stuffed to the brim. He knew he had better things to do than tackle a complex language that relied so much on graphical interpretation.
What is so odd is that some years ago, there was a decree - in academia or the courts, can't remember which. - which stated that all science papers must be published in English. I was astonished, but felt it was a step in the right direction. But now we have a huge industry forced to waste, what in real terms? - half a million bucks, maybe a lot more than that. And that just gets them legal for day one.
In my lifetime, this had become a small world. We simply can not carry on talking dozens of different languages.