January 09, 2006
The Mitterrand Generation
UPDATED on Jan. 11, 2006. See end of the post.
Also, check No Pasaran.
The Brigade for the Money of French Taxpayers struck again. On the occasion of the anniversary of François Mitterrand's death, its members wanted to pay a special tribute. It's the least the "youths" of the Génération Mitterrand could do.
Do not miss the video here (The video is there - The song in the background is a famous, French tribute to Pétain). Below is a translation of the post.
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The Brigade for the Money of French Taxpayers disturbs the worshipping of François Mitterrand at the HQ of the Socialist Party.
Scandal on Sunday, January 8 at the HQ of the Socialist Party: While the entire people of the Left was crowded in front of pictures of François Mitterrand, the bloggers of the BAF [Brigade for the Money of French Taxpayers] (Arthur Wneir and Erik Svane) intervened. Our mission: apply the francisque [see details here. Mitterrand received one] that the Socialist Party stupidly forgot on the giant picture of Uncle [Mitterrand].
(...)
The followers of Mitterrand came from all over France to admire their idol: the last socialist who was able to win a presidential election.
He is handsome, he is tall, this is Mitterrand.
But his jacket on this picture appeared to lack something.
Hidden in an alcove we (Arthur Wneir and Erik Svane) went up the steps in the courtyard of the Socialist Party. In front of hundreds of militants.
I took Mitterrand's francisque and tried to apply it on his right... hmm...
Well, no, finally, it'll be a leftist francisque. On the side of the heart, on which he didn't have a monopoly, though [During a political debate between former French presidents Valery Giscard d'Estaing and François Mitterrand, back in 1974, Giscard d'Estaing, of the party representing the French right, told Mitterrand, a Socialist, that Mitterrand did "not have a monopoly on the heart", meaning on generosity].
Meanwhile, the crowd got excited and insulted us: "Bastards", "Fascists" (Were they talking about Mitterrand or about us? We'll never know).
Thankfully, the milit... the security service of the Socialist Party arrived. They threw themselves at us before getting us out.
We heard the head of the security service say to one of his men trying to twist our arms "Calm down Pierre, there are cameras all around".
While they were throwing me out, I yelled to the crowd booing us on the theme 'the bastards tarnishing the Left': "Assume your history, I'm not the one who received a francisque" and "I'm not a friend of René Bousquet as far as I'm concerned".
UPDATE
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The joke ended with the police, but not with the arrest of the members of the BAF... the police came to call the Socialist Party to order. |
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Actually, the security service had kept my backpack. They refused to give it back to me despite our protests and Erik's courageous attempt to get it back. An hour later, we had to call the police. It arrived with the lights on on their car. Simply by being there, the police made the security service change their mind. They had to give me my bag back. We're still having a good laugh just thinking about it. |
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Posted by Carine at January 9, 2006 10:47 AMWow! That takes guts. Hats off to you!
And thanks for the info about Mitterrand. Americans knew he was a pinko socialist, but we (or me, anyway) weren't aware that he was a collabo.
Posted by: Lou Minatti at January 10, 2006 03:23 PMI read and saw this yesterday, but did not have time to post.
Folks, I gotta say:
Now, this is a WOMAN!
ps: Are you the woman with the short black hair?
Posted by: andy at January 11, 2006 12:44 AMI posted an item about this subject earlier today and the Houston Chronicle picked up on it. I hope you, Arthur and Erik get some additional publicity, Carine.
Posted by: Lou Minatti at January 11, 2006 02:08 AM"he was a collabo",
He was worse than that. He was the one that sent young french draftees to Algeria (he was number two or three in the French government during this time). Even though everybody knew at that Algeria was not France (De Gaulle, the president, was the first to say : let's get out of here), Mitterrand sent these poor young guys doing horrible things just to please his extreme-right long time friends. An uncle of mine went there, and he hates Mitterrand with his guts.
Socialist ? My behind, he took over this party to gain power but he was always an extreme-right nut.
France was nice before him, now look what it has become.
Lou Minatti,
Thanks :)
--
Andy,
A woman? The only woman of the team was behind the camera...
Posted by: Carine at January 11, 2006 10:03 AM(a quick read for the uninformed), here's an excerpt:
Book views Mitterrand's Nazi link
The Associated Press
PARIS Ä Shrouded in half-truths and rumors for nearly a half century, President Francois Mitterrand's role in the pro-Nazi Vichy regime during World War II has been brought to light in a widely acclaimed book published this week.
"Une Jeunesse Francaise" (A French Youth), a 616-page work by investigative reporter Pierre Pean, answers many questions Mitterrand never wanted to confront.
Previous biographies on the president have skimmed over the war years, concentrating on his childhood and rise in the Socialist Party starting in the mid-1950s.
Working from archives, tracking down lost photos, letters and previously unpublished documents, Pean managed to piece together the Mitterrand enigma.
(the rest HERE):
http://wildcat.arizona.edu/papers/old-wildcats/fall94/September/September6,1994/05_1_m.html
Posted by: Joe (Bigsky770) at January 11, 2006 10:22 AMInteresting how the cops have no problem showing up for something like this but if it's a tran full of people being mugged and raped, that's a different story.
Posted by: Jay at January 11, 2006 12:38 PMMitterand while a member of the French Nazi Party
called Vichy was decorated by Petain. Was it for his part in the French holocost?
