Mom says I have revolutionary tendencies. I think she’s right. I guess I take after my grandfather, for whom a good man is one who walks and keeps his shoes on.
What about today? Ah, the times… Strange times… Especially for those who think it was better before.
If for some the road is long when breath is short, nothing is ever too great for those who hope for new inspiration to correct contemporary impertinences.
And me and me and me…. ?
Listening to Dutronc and his comment about the 700 million Chinese, I wonder what I’m doing here, surrounded by all these tobacco bars…
It would take a happy hubbub, a banner, which I would place in the streets, like the invisible revolution of John Hamon, the man with the most famous mouth in Paris.
Here’s the Germanopratins’ 10-commandment guide to raising the alarm:
- Get up on the right foot – always the left!
- A noble revolution is first and foremost one that hatches in a good HQ, because “what doesn’t happen doesn’t exist”. Preferably this will be the Balto, the control tower, nerve center and nerve center of the war in Paris’s 6th arrondissement…
- The revolutionary usually wears a chapka as a vestige of the Russian Revolution. Preferably born on November 7, the date of the 1917 revolt converted to the Gregorian calendar. You have to move with the times… And don’t forget to hide the books on inclusive writing from your little sister (as we don’t have a monopoly on the heart, we have to draw the line somewhere…).
- Sunday is mass day, but with a twist. Rendezvous at HQ with the whole neighborhood pack, and even those from faraway places whose names we never get around to. After all, why bother when you can keep it simple? Let’s get to work! For revolutionaries, there are no neighborhoods (except the 6th, of course), but we don’t want to “waste our lives earning it”.
- We recommend absinthe as a drink rather than beer, which is too vulgar, and prefer a good elbow raise to a fundraiser.
- No time to beat the pavement, here we throw it away. I don’t mean to sound “Germano-Latin”, but revolution comes from revolutio, the return. So let’s take a look at ourselves, and head for May ’68. “Under the cobblestones the beach, right? Just as well. We’ll end up driving the enemy into the sand (it’ll be a vacation for everyone…) and what’s more, it’s a paid vacation, so there’s something in it for everyone.
- We’re not into high masses, but it has to be said that if there’s one saint we venerate, it’s Saint Germain.
- We’ll all happily sing the “carmagnole” or “bella ciao”, and pray we’re not vulgarly confused with “Casa del Papel” fanatics or anyone else who consumes culture like you’d gobble down a macaroon. Do you really think I’m a snob? But remember that Boris Vian also swore by Saint Germain, coincidence? I don’t think so.
- We lead our revolution through dance and song, until we have no voice left. We’re like an old machine that’s been given a facelift by getting rid of the cogs and rust. While in the distance, the fresh wind deposits thousands of tiny droplets of hope on our faces, giving us a glimpse of a new window beneath the beach.
- Revolution is always something to think about and lead: let’s sail together, companions, towards new horizons and let the possibilities take shape, as the peaks point towards renewal.
Juliette Dana
