Inauguration of Saint-Just's Bust in the Mairie (Town Hall) de Blérancourt

[maelicia.livejournal.com]

"You know how it's difficult to speak objectively of Robespierre and of Saint-Just nowadays, that when they speak of them, it's generally to speak ill of them, and never to remind the good part, [when they posed] the first elements of a social politics.

We brought a monument here to remind everyone who was Saint-Just."


Antoine-Saint-Just.fr reports the inauguration of a bust of Saint-Just in the Mairie (Town Hall) of Blérancourt on 9 May 2009.

You can watch a video of the official inauguration, where they cut a pretty tricolour ribbon for him: http://www.antoine-saint-just.fr/buste090509.wmv (you can download the link).

One of the men in the video says that "Saint-Just is now back in his home", that is the Town Hall, where he began his political career. Gellé and his other enemies from Blérancourt = pwned in the centuries and in the skies.

They placed the bust in the Town Hall next to a great staircase, and facing windows with a view on the places where he walked and lived, like a great place (named Marais), where there were the patriotic manifestations and where he burnt that famous libel.

They placed three quotes on the wall next to the bust so that everybody knows what he said. (They suggest that they may add more.)

"The first is a reference to the optimism of the Enlightenment [...]: Le bonheur est une idée neuve en Europe."

"The second is a reference to a constant aspect of Saint-Just's politics, constantly turned towards the démunis (the poor), among which he was already in Blérancourt [...]: Les malheureux sont les puissances de la terre, ils ont le droit de parler en maîtres à ceux qui les gouvernent.."

"Finally, the third: the Terror. It's impossible to speak of Saint-Just without speaking of the Terror. It's obvious that it's impossible to accept a politics consisting in the physical elimination of political adversaries. Undoubtedly, for us, it's a painful past that refuses to pass. But I am tempted to say that this past refused to pass for Saint-Just himself, since he felt the need to write this beautiful phrase that you could read: La Révolution est glacée. La Terreur a blasé le crime comme les liqueurs fortes blasent le palais."

"So at least, now that this statue is here, it will be able to call out all those who pass next to it."

Comments

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the toxicness of the cause they were fighting for...

[chip-squidley.livejournal.com]

Indeed!

Yet it is amazing how much nostalgia for that "lost cause" still seems to lurk in the American psyche. Even where I live, near San Fransisco, it's not impossible to come across a Confederate Flag portrayed in some form or another.

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

I've noticed that too. It's bizarre.

[chip-squidley.livejournal.com]

That flag turns up in the weirdest places. I have a very very very rudimentary knowledge of Russian, so sometimes I browse Russian livejournals just to see if I can pick out a few words. I once came across one that featured a Confed flag with Stars of David in place of the "regular" stars. I really wish I would have known enough to figure out what that was about!

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Wow, just when I thought it couldn't get any more strange...

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

You should read the book Confederates in the Attic (http://www.salon.com/books/sneaks/1998/03/10review.html). It's an excellent book, basically about the Civil War's continuing resonance in America (and especially the South) today. One of the most interesting/strange things I've read in a long time.

[chip-squidley.livejournal.com]

I actually have seen that book during my frequent bookstore browsings. It looks interesting.

So many books...so little time!