'L'Inglorieuse' Révolution

 

La Révolution Française. Une bête acharnée, sauvage et quasi incontrôlable, relâchée à faire comme bon lui semble. Comment pouvait-elle incarner l'Egalité, la Liberté et la Fraternité? Au contraire, de continuer à faire semblant, à la célébrer comme si c'était bien le cas, est de l'hypocrisie cynique, indigne de la vérité et de la mémoire de tant de victimes innocentes.

Tous les faits sont soigneusement archivés et disponibles, comme ceux des massacres et noyades de Nantes, ou les tueries de Vendée- parmi lesquels celui de la Chapelle de Notre-Dame où 564 personnes furent froidement massacrés au sabre et à la baïonnette dans ce lieu sacré. Voici l'ordre de Huché: 'Enfoncez-leur vos sabres jusqu'à la garde dans le corps. Taillez et retaillez...'
Le froid massacre des prêtres et des religieuses, l'obligation d'abjurer la religion, surtout le Catholicisme. Une guerre diabolique contre Dieu lui-même. La dévastation et le pillage des églises, les enlèvements, la destruction ou les refontes des clochers datant même parfois du XII siècle.

C'était bien un règne de terreur où il ne suffit que d'avoir une voisine jalouse ou malveillante pour finir décapité(e) à la guillotine. Mais avant d'y arriver, il fallait traverser l'horreur des prisons, souvent sans eau ni nourriture, ni vêtements contre le froid- car selon les bourreaux- pourquoi s'en préoccuper s'ils vont être guillotinés?

Il y a des récits atroces, des chasses aux sorcières, des horreurs commises par 'les Bleus' de Cordellier, les massacres des Beaufou, la Gaubretière, Lucs, Saint-Sulpice-le-Verdon, Mormaison... Voici encore un rapport du Général Huché de l'armée glorieuse de la République: 'Je les égayés de la bonne manière; ils étaient en trop petit nombre pour en faire grand carnage. Plus de cinq cents, tant hommes que femmes ont été tués... J'ai fait fureter les genêts, les fossés, les haies et les bois, et c'est là qu'on les trouvait blottis. Tout a passé par le fer, car j'avais défendu que, les trouvant ainsi, on consommât ses munitions.'...

Ce sont seulement quelques petits récits parmi tant d'autres événements barbares et inutiles de cette histoire. Car à partir de la prise de la Bastille le 14 juillet, 1789- qui en elle-même sembla avoir déjà établi un précèdent de cruauté injustifiée- jusqu'à la fin, il y a assez de tels exemples pour remplir des volumes.

Aujourd'hui, où il se passent des événements ailleurs dans le monde qui devraient aussi nous rappeler de ce qui s'est déroulé vers la fin du XVIII siècle en France, (des horreurs haineuses et barbares, l'intolérance religieuse, les répressions cruelles et tyranniques, etc.) comment peut on prétendre que les principes fondamentaux de la Révolution Française, cette Liberté, Egalité et Fraternité étaient mis en valeur, en pratique, et respectés?
N'est il pas temps que l'on soit officiellement plus honnête et intègre concernant la réalité, les faits incontestables de cette partie terrible de l'histoire française, au lieu de continuer à vouloir perpétuer un mythe- pour la forme et le bien de la République?

Si la Révolution Française fut inévitable, même nécessaire, si les beaux principes- plutôt utopiques- que l'on proclame toujours haut et fort, sont réellement valables, est ce qu'on a le droit de considérer tous ces événements, tous ces faits, partie intégrale de quelque chose de 'glorieuse'?

Cette bête acharnée, sauvage et quasi incontrôlable a fini par se tuer elle-même, mais on n'a pas le droit de minimiser le mal qu'elle avait fait auparavant, et encore moins de la glorifier.   

Avant de mourir cependant, elle a fait naître un Empereur auto-proclamé. Lui aussi est allé trop loin, certainement en Espagne et en Russie, mais malgré les critiques d'aujourd'hui (bien moins tendre avec lui qu'avec les criminels de la Révolution) c'est possible, ironiquement, que ce soit surtout lui qui a re-légitimé la République, la stabilisée et sauvé la France du vortex infernal, des conséquences irrévocables de sa propre Révolution.

 

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Text  © Mirino (PW) December, 2009. Source-L'Anti-89. Images (modified) Google archives.   

The vicar of St. Jude

The vicar of St. Jude
Is a man of habitude
Always ready for his
Varied congregation.

Yet he, unlike the Pope
Has little left of hope
For support to finance
The restoration.

Those gathering in the nave
Can neither spend nor save,
 Though bats would make donations
From the rafters,

And the mice beneath the pews
Would gnaw the vicar's shoes
And nibble hymn book pages
For their afters.

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The above might seem a bit irreverent, but it was carried out (many years ago) with love and respect. Things were not, and are still not that dramatic- thank the Lord- and whatever one's religion, or lack of it, we are all proud of our heritage, of our venerable Churches and Cathedrals. And because many of them have survived several, troubled centuries of history, perhaps they now represent our aspirations more than ever.

Although the above obviously pertains to an imaginary, English, parochial Church, surely this would be a general, European sentiment.

We can't all afford to be supportive towards the 'local parish Church', especially nowadays, and even less of us are regular Church goers in any case, yet unconsciously we identify with the Churches and Cathedrals we and our ancestors (in some cases from as far back as the 9th century) grew up with.

'Irreverent perhaps but carried out with love and respect' could equally apply to the master masons' impressive, artistic embellishments. The gargoyles (from the French 'gargoyle'- originally throat or gullet, to drain water from roofs, before the Godsend of gutters and drainpipes) and grotesques that seem to mock the very reason of being of the Cathedrals they grin or scowl from. Master masons' whims, signatures and secrets that seem to temper the righteousness of sacred monuments, timeless feats of architecture. Or it's thought they were sculpted to scare people into attending Church, reminding them that 'the end is nigh'. But it's more likely they were intended to keep evil spirits away from Holy sanctuaries. They were not always appreciated however. St Bernard of Clairvaux, (1090-1153) commissioned by the Pope to encourage the second Crusade, condemned the various monsters and animals that protruded from his Church. 

In history not all evil spirits have been kept away very easily, and it seems that we have entered into another period of having to cope with them once again. For it can't be good to claim to have the monopoly of righteousness, certainly without practising it. It's not good to disdain the culture, history and religion of others, to impose one's will by force, and commit odious crimes in the name of the God one claims to worship, thus using the religion one pretends to fervently abide by, as a pretext to commit evil.

Through centuries of history Europeans have fought each other for power, politics, territory and also for religious reasons. From the terrible lessons of hate, prejudice and intolerance, of war, and of constantly improved technology that has since made full scale warfare more senseless than ever, we have learnt to be more tolerant. In spite of, and because of our differences, we have learnt to appreciate one another- each European nation- as being essential to Europe and the world. We have won our unity.

But tolerance has to be reciprocal, general, international, to reign correctly. That 'intolerance is intolerable' isn't so much a paradox, it's a principle of democracy. It should also be a principle of every religion. It's why two world wars had to be fought, and why even now, there's a war in Afghanistan, and why there are other conflicts elsewhere. Freedom and civilisation depend on tolerance, which means tolerance within the limits of reason.
The New Testament tells us to turn the other cheek, but this is only possible if one has the freedom to do so, if circumstances permit, and that if by doing so, it leads to a positive consequence.

(Clint Eastwood's film, Gran Torino is a wonderful, fictive example of this).

Our Churches and Cathedrals are still standing, and somehow or other, whatever our faith, we shall make sure that they continue to do so, because we are still standing, and shall always make sure that we continue to do so.

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Italiano
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Text and illustration © Mirino (PW) Dcember, 2009

Writhing and fainting in coils

Had he known the extent of 'wake' his best work would leave behind, Lewis Carroll would surely have been overwhelmed.
Perhaps the reason for the fascination his chef-d'oeuvre 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' endlessly evokes is more profound than one might imagine.

He was a man of his epoch used to its rigours and discipline. A deeply religious man and a fine mathematician who, as Master and Tutor at Christ Church College, Oxford, taught within the boundaries of logic and no doubt thought within the boundaries of his religion and social observances.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, alias Lewis Carroll (derived from Lutwidge, his mother's maiden name, the German for Lewis, and the Latin for Charles- Carolus) was however to meet young Alice Liddell who inspired him into improvising 'Alice's Adventures Underground', which was to become 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'.

If Carroll fell in love with little Alice, perhaps it was more with what she represented for him as a writer and adept photographer, than with her real self. This epitome of an unspoilt, (or spoilt) innocent young girl was for him an ideal, and the essence of his inspiration. If the sequel, 'Through the Looking Glass' was less spontaneous and inspired, it was more an adieu to little Alice who was to become 'Queen' and finally leave her immortalised youth behind.

Carroll was a devout and disciplined man who stuttered. A skilled logician living in the oppressive, hypocritically 'moral', 'tightly corseted' Victorian age- from which he contributed to liberate his young readers, as well as himself, by giving freedom and immortality to Alice. She was to be seen and heard.
He gave her the freedom of a dream world of nonsense where everything and anything within the limits of innocent youth are possible or impossible, yet to Alice, quite acceptable but always questionable. A dream world where time stands still.

Only a logician would know how to create such a land of credible nonsense, for even nonsense must be harnessed by logic to be credible. The Caterpillar, for example, is so evocative because of its logical (illogical) description. He is blue, exactly three inches high, smoking a long hookah and sitting on a perfectly round mushroom.

Alice's dream must also allow her to break free from the rigours of Victoriana. She must be able to wave aside basic arithmetic and make parodies of the austere, stuffy, moral poems of her time. 'How doth the little bee...' (first line of Isaac Watts' poem moralising against idleness) becomes 'How doth the little crocodile...', and his moralistic 'Tis the voice of the sluggard...' becomes- 'Tis the voice of the Lobster...'. Similarly 'You are old Father William...' is the amusing parody of Robert Southey's 'Consolations of a pious old man'. The 'Turtle Soup' song is the parody of 'Evening Star' which was a popular song of that time.

It is revealing that Carroll's poem parodies have easily outlived the virtuous originals.

Alice was thus able to question and ridicule the rigid values of the epoch, and in her Wonderland she was free to explore and adapt, even in size, to the ever changing surroundings of her adventures.

She was both the participant and the unimpressed observer, ever curious, ever confident and sometimes selfish as young children often are. Carroll's ideal, young girl eternalised in a dream where time stands as still as it does at the Mad Tea-Party.

'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' has been illustrated well over two hundred times in English versions alone. It has been translated many times consecutively in foreign languages. In French it has been translated at least seventeen times. There is also a strong following for Alice in many countries including Japan, where, according to an eminent collector of Carolliana, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' is considered to be one of the world's greatest masterpieces for children. In Japan it has been translated over forty times and illustrated at least twenty six times.

It's understandable why this work continues to attract not only artists but also translators and writers. The attraction and challenge for an artist are obvious and varied but there are points in common with those of a translator. Carroll's Wonderland is full of visual problems, often puzzles for an illustrator to solve. A three-legged, round, glass table, for example, seen from any angle is visually a geometrical problem. And the dispute between the gardeners must be closely followed in order to accurately convey the action taking place. Even Tenniel took liberties here.

For a translator the problems to solve are not only literary, they are also mathematical in certain ways, especially concerning the poems and play of words. Finding the equivalents, puns and parodies that a particular nation's culture can appreciate and identify with, and at the same time retaining the evocative style, the meanings, the rhyming, the feeling, with that particular atmosphere that Lewis Carroll wanted most to convey, is by no means easy.

The one translation that Lewis Carroll was keen to help with, was the first French translation, the results of which still make it in many experts' opinion, the best.
Although Henri Bué, son of one of Carroll's teacher colleagues of French at Oxford University, finished his translation incredibly quickly, Carroll took over two more years himself to make sure everything was as perfect as he wished it to be. This may explain why the Bué translation is still as fresh and undated as Carroll's own text. Certain French translators since then sometimes seem to get a little over zealous so that their results tend to be more laboured and sometimes pedantic.

It is certainly poignant to observe the gradual changes in one's growing daughter, and Alice, the immortalised child, is a wonderful thought and a wonderful gift.

Lewis Carroll lived with his sister during the final years of his life. The house, 'The Chestnuts', can still be seen in Guilford, South London. There is also a tiny museum dedicated to him quite near the house.
One can walk up the hill along the long lane to St. Michael's Cemetery where Charles Dodgson, alias Lewis Carroll is buried. His modest grave is next to an old yew tree near the little chapel in the centre. There's nothing particularly significant written upon it, and perhaps it's still untended and in need of repair. Yet like Shakespeare, even Lewis Carroll needs no monument. As Milton wrote of Shakespeare- 'What needs't thou such weak witness to thy name?' For there's no doubt that Lewis Carroll built for himself and for 'Alice' too, the most wonderful, eternal monument that no stone could ever compete with, including any of his own white ones.

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 (First written for Mischmasch, the Lewis Carroll Society, Japan). Text and illustration © Mirino (PW) Dcember, 2009

High hopes for Europe

What can one say?
Certainly one must never judge by appearances, but if one should, then it would be obvious that Brussels' first error of choice lay there. Amongst the various criticisms of European press, one even heard the suggestion that Brussels have come up with a carrot and a turnip. At least it would make a change from sprouts.
The Daily Telegraph seem to hit the nail squarely on the head by suggesting that such results reflect European leaders' reluctance to delegate too much power to Brussels.

Baroness Ashton is anticipated to be a "first rate disaster" by Peter Ludlow (European Strategy Forum). After having abandoned Tony Blair because of European lack of support, Gordon Brown's choice of the inexperienced Labour peer surprised most European leaders.

As Mr. Van Rompuy is an economist as well as a staunch federalist who writes poetry, one wonders what sort of poetry he would produce. One also wonders why he accepted the post when he is still needed as his nation's Prime Minister to continue to stabilise what has been a very critical period for Belgium.

Considering that the Lisbon Treaty's reason of creating these key posts was to give the EU strong and unified representation in world affairs, such unconvincing choices would seem to have all the potential of creating the adverse effect.

However let's try to be fair, more philosophic and optimistic. The US president, for example, gave us aspiring hopes and he has since been somewhat disappointing. Brussels' two choices, which remind one of an absent minded school teacher and his hysterical assistant, inspire no one, yet who knows? They may well accept the challenge to prove just how wrong everyone is to have such doubts...

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Text and image © Mirino. 'Pigs may fly' © November, 2009. 

Royal initiatives

En règle générale je préfère poster des articles plus personnels ou globaux au lieu de trop faire allusion à une actualité nationale. Mais comme je trouve cette initiative scandaleuse, je crois que l'on doive le souligner.

Malgré l'opposition du Luc Chatel, ministre de l'Education Nationale,  Ségolène Royal, présidente de la région Poitou-Charentes confirme qu'elle va fournir à une centaine de lycées de sa région des 'chèques contraception'.

Selon Mme Royal, "cette action est préparée depuis trois ans et a l'accord de tous les partenaires. Je suis bien décidé à la continuer"...
Premier coût de l'opération- 400,000 euros des contribuables de la région.

Mais personne ne parle de l'accord des parents des élèves. Personne ne lève le sujet de quoi en fait il s'agit. Il s'agit de prendre une initiative morale et physique sans aucune invitation des premiers concernés. De quel droit Ségolène Royal se mêle des affaires qui ne la regardent aucunement? Prétend elle savoir mieux que des parents des filles mineures ce qui est mieux pour elles? Voit-elle dans son initiative un progrès exemplaire et positif pour l'éducation nationale et le futur du pays?

Si, comme elle souligne, il y a 6,000 grossesses précoces dont 500 en Poitou-Charentes par défaut d'information ou à cause d'être isolées, ne serait il pas mieux d'investir plutôt pour améliorer l'accès d'information préventive et de faire en sorte que personne ne soit isolée?
On pourrait aussi se demander pourquoi Madame Royal comme présidente de Poitou-Charentes n'a rien fait pour améliorer l'accès à l'information nécessaire, ni rien fait pour empêcher de tels cas d'isolement dans sa région durant cette période? En somme ce qu'elle dit pourrait être interprété comme un aveu de négligence si elle croit que ce problème soit de sa responsabilité. 

Au lieu donc de traiter intelligemment la question préventive et morale, Mme Royal- qui sait mieux que tout le monde- facilite les choses avec une sorte de carnet de tickets (comme pour les restaurants) pour des consultations gratuites, pour l'achat de contraceptifs, pour faire des analyses médicales et pour faire une visite de contrôle médicale.

Malgré toutes les justifications que Mme Royal peut brandir comme des drapeaux de la liberté sexuelle dépassée, la seule qui compte reste honteusement manquante, celle de l'autorité parentale.

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By Mirino. With apologies to Mme Royal and more so to Leonardo da Vinci. November, 2009

The Wall

It's revealing how much more significant the pulling down of the Berlin wall now seems twenty years after the actual event. Naturally in retrospect we see everything in a clearer perspective. Twenty years ago it was considered more a German affair. Up to fifteen years ago one might be more concerned about the cost of the reunification, and the fear of hosting too many 'Easterners'.
Today we realise that it wasn't 'only' Germany that was divided, it was Europe, and by extension the whole world.

This seems to indicate that in the last twenty years we have made positive social and geopolitical progress, and this timely realisation has spurred our leaders to get together to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of this historic event and hail the courage of the Berliners.

The Wall existed from 1961 until 1989. Escapees numbered around 5000 of which it's thought that up to two hundred died in the attempt.
The Communists referred to the wall as the 'Antifascist Protection Wall' (Antifaschistischer Schutzwall) while The West Berliners would sometimes refer to it as 'the Wall of Shame', after Willy Brandt had made this allusion.

The origin of the wall was the Berlin Blockade imposed by Soviet Russia in 1948 due to disagreements regarding the reconstruction of Germany. It was to represent the division of doctrine and part of the Iron Curtain. But the actual wall was eventually considered imperative to stop the 'brain-drain'. The officials of Eastern Germany were growing increasingly preoccupied by the flow of  well educated young people emigrating to the west.

It has been suggested that the instigator of the wall initiative came from Nikita Khrushchev.
The building of the wall started in August, 1961. Two months prior to this the Socialist Unity Party made a public declaration that- 'No one has any intention of erecting a wall'.

But six years beforehand, to underline the seriousness of any 'flight from the republic', an East German propaganda booklet was published in 1955 :

'Both from the moral standpoint as well as in terms of the interests of the whole German nation, leaving the GDR is an act of political and moral backwardness and depravity.
Those who let themselves be recruited objectively serve West German Reaction and militarism, whether they know it or not. Is it not despicable when for the sake of a few alluring job offers or other false promises about a "guaranteed future" one leaves a country in which the seed for a new and more beautiful life is sprouting, and is already showing the first fruits, for the place that favours a new war and destruction?
Is it not an act of political depravity when citizens, whether young people, workers, or members of the intelligentsia, leave and betray what our people have created through common labour in our republic to offer themselves to the American or British secret services or work for the West German factory owners, Junkers, or militarists? Does not leaving the land of progress for the morass of an historically outdated social order demonstrate political backwardness and blindness? ...
Workers throughout Germany will demand punishment for those who today leave the German Democratic Republic, the strong bastion of the fight for peace, to serve the deadly enemy of the German people, the imperialists and militarists...'

Yet there are still other walls of division around us and elsewhere. There are still people intent on building them. They include the walls of established ways of thinking, walls of political hypocrisy, idéology, walls of prejudice, of racism, of religious extremism, of fear and hate. The walls that ensconce weakness. 

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Text  © Mirino (PW) November, 2009. Source Wikipedia. Satellite image with thanks to Nasa.