,“You could be forgiven for thinking that, after almost 6 years living as an American expat in Paris, France, one’s concern and interest in stuff back in the States might wane a little bit. Nope. Not one iota. Watching the growing calamity of this inept and viciously damaging administration’s actions — on behalf of their would-be monarch — from 6,000 miles away does nothing to diminish the horror of this moment in history. We see it. We feel it. We are angry and ready to fight.
Which is why I and maybe 1,000+ of my fellow US expats living in Paris — plus some of our supportive French neighbors and friends — gathered together at La Place de la Bastille yesterday afternoon. The choice of site was not a random one. Back in the 17th and 18th centuries this was an ungodly hell-hole of a prison for those political, religious and “seditious” writers who ran afoul of the king. And then came the Revolution. The prison was stormed on July 14th, 1789 and over the next year to July 14th 1790, the prison was destroyed. The column that is the centerpiece of the plaza commemorates the 1830 “July Revolution” in which King Charles X was overthrown. To say that this plaza represents a significant middle-finger thrust skyward to monarchs is probably an understatement!
And so it is that we gathered here yesterday in union with so many others across the US and around the world to chant, shout and sing. Yes, we surely did sing. We opened the event with all of us together singing the US National Anthem, through raised clenched fists (and a few fingers!) and more than a few tears.
Oh, Mssr. Trump! “Can you hear the people sing?”
A big Merci beaucoup to “Les Misérables” lyricists Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel (for the original French lyrics):
“À la volonté du peuple . . ."
“To the will of the people . . .”
