"CRY OUT!" - The wisdom of a 93 year old Frenchman

[kpete]

The little red book that swept France

The latest call to (non-violent) arms has turned a 93-year-old war hero into a publishing phenomenon. John Lichfield reports:


Indignez vous! (Cry out!), a slim pamphlet by a wartime French resistance hero, Stéphane Hessel, is smashing all publishing records in France. The book urges the French, and everyone else, to recapture the wartime spirit of resistance to the Nazis by rejecting the "insolent, selfish" power of money and markets and by defending the social "values of modern democracy".

* "I would like everyone – everyone of us – to find his or her own reason to cry out. That is a precious gift. When something makes you want to cry out, as I cried out against Nazism, you become a militant, tough and committed. You become part of the great stream of history ... and this stream leads us towards more justice and more freedom but not the uncontrolled freedom of the fox in the hen-house."

* "It's true that reasons to cry out can seem less obvious today. The world appears too complex. But in this world, there are things we should not tolerate... I say to the young, look around you a little and you will find them. The worst of all attitudes is indifference..."

* "The productivist obsession of the West has plunged the world into a crisis which can only be resolved by a radical shift away from the 'ever more', in the world of finance but also in science and technology. It is high time that ethics, justice and a sustainable balance prevailed..."

THE REST:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-little-red-book-that-swept-france-2174676.html
via:
http://www.americablog.com/2011/01/wisdom-of-93-year-old-frenchman.html

[stevedeshazer]

1. +1

We need a guy like that.

[Whoa_Nelly]

2. We need to be that guy n/t

[Little Star]

18. That was my thought the first time I heard about him......

Where is our Stéphane Hessel?

[Roci]

49. I can

remember a time when "we" were that guy.. It hasn't been as long ago as some people would like to have you believe, but it has also been far too long since, in too many other aspects.

[scarletwoman]

3. K&R! Wonderful! Thank you for posting this!

[freshwest]

4. I love it! Thanks for much for posting this! It made my evening.

[malaise]

5. I'm trying to get a copy since last week

I was really happy to read about him on DU.

[felix_numinous]

6. K&R

Part of the challenge here in the West are those who ridicule anyone who cries out as whiners who want their pony, or conspiracy theorists, or doom and gloomers...it is so great to hear sanity from overseas from a man who has seen enough history to know when it is time to speak out. It is time.

[kpete]

7. you are right

it is time........

[somone]

8. "cry out against the complicity between politicians and economic and financial powers"

His little book is definitely a must-read

[Selatius]

9. They're willing to fight against corporatism. They still remember the Nazi occupation.

In one way, the US missed out. The war in Europe is still very fresh in the minds of Europeans. Anywhere between 40,000,000 to 50,000,000 died in Europe before Hitler was finally dead. The democracies that were built out of the ashes of World War 2, as a result, are very dear institutions to the French and Germans and to others who came through that war. If the Nazis had occupied parts of the US, maybe our sense of resistance against corporatism would've been multiplied by many times.

[Enthusiast]

25. This is the built-in advantage for the Europeans.

They recognize fascism because they have seen it up close. Here, not so much.

[Ramulux]

10. This guy would get mocked over here

You cant get away with all that social justice stuff in this country.

[glitch]

11. 93 years old and still whining for a pony. That's the French for you.

Care for a freedom fry with that whine?
(Deep and scornful :sarcasm:)
God Bless you for your relentless Resistance, M. Stéphane Hessel, and THANK YOU for your continued service.

[tavalon]

23. Well captured.

[somone]

12. English version in negotiation

http://www.myboox.fr/node/5363

[pa28]

13. "To resist is to create".

This seems to be the major idea and theme (I want to buy a hard copy but I had to find it online and give it a read).

After reading Mr. Hessel's essay I imagined him living in our country and how he might care to comment. I doubt he would be willing to STFU and go into a corner because his leaders told him to quit whining.

[War Horse]

14. You should google Stéphane Hessel

if you haven't already (I just did so myself). Quite a bio!

[Catherina]

43. I just did. Fascinating! Former Ambassader to the UN, holocaust survivor

and this part makes me want to finally watch “Jules et Jim”

Hessel was born in Berlin in 1917 to a Jewish family that converted partly to Protestantism. His parents, painter Helen and writer Franz, were said to be inspirations for two of the three lead characters in “Jules et Jim”, an autobiographical novel about a love triangle written by their friend Henri-Pierre Roché. The book was famously adapted to the screen by New Wave filmmaker François Truffaut.

...

“We call on the younger generations to carry on the legacy of the Resistance and its ideals”, Hessel writes, citing “the gap between the poorest and the richest” as one of many reasons to be indignant today.

Hessel also writes that the civil liberties he helped articulate while drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights voted by the UN General Assembly after World War II still are not enjoyed by everyone, more than 60 years later. It was this conviction that led Hessel to take up various causes in later years, during which he served as France’s ambassador to the UN. He has been a champion of illegal immigrants’ rights in France, noting in a 2008 interview with FRANCE 24 that he was “revolted” by the “way the current government treats illegal immigrants”.

Hessel, who in 2006 was named Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, has also been a vocal supporter of a boycott of Israeli products in protest against Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. In his interview with FRANCE 24, Hessel said that criticisms of Israel were muted, because “everyone is afraid of being called an anti-Semite. This reticence must be conquered”. Israeli treatment of Palestinians is indeed a major theme of his essay, in which he notes: “Jews themselves perpetrating war crimes is intolerable. Alas, the past offers few examples of people learning lessons from their own history”.

But beyond specific issues that are dear to Hessel, his book’s appeal for a more active political engagement carries a broader philosophical argument. Anger toward status quo is useful, Hessel suggests, because resulting actions can change things for the better.

“I wish for all of you, for each one of you, to have your reason for indignation”, he writes. “It is precious”.

http://www.france24.com/en/20101230-behind-unlikely-bestseller-fierce-political-conscience-hessel-indignez-vous-books

I want a copy now!

[reggie the dog]

15. Indignez vous can also be translated

as "revolt your self" something that makes to be "indigné" is to be revolted This man is talkin sense if you ask me

[Catherina]

39. Or "Get Indignant"

Salut Reggie.

Agreed, he's talking big sense.

[Solly Mack]

16. k/r

[NuttyFluffers]

17. one has a voice, but it means nothing if not used. love this old man.

indignez vous, indeed! in fact, i really, really like it. i think i'll represent it somehow on my sig...

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[OneGrassRoot]

20. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[OneGrassRoot]

21. K&R Thanks! n/t

[Swamp Rat]

22. Cut military spending in half and END THE WARS NOW!!

And double taxes for the rich!!

:kick:

[Enthusiast]

26. Can I vote for you? nt

[Raster]

31. Preach on, my Brother!

:fistbump:

[Plucketeer]

45. You BET!

When and HOW will we ever break the ridiculous bloated spending on military stuff??? Bring ALL Americqan troops home - not just the ones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dismantle ALL the nukes too! Who's stupid enough to use them besides terrorists anyway???



BOENHER - McDUNCELL JOBS PLAN

[FiveGoodMen]

46. Now, THAT'S a platform!

:fistbump:

[Enthusiast]

24. K&R! Just wonderful! nt

[prairierose]

27. I hope this is translated and available soon...

I would buy it in a minute.

[Catherina]

42. Very soon I think, I hope. It's only 13 pages long. n/t

[raouldukelives]

28. k&r

[SaveOurDemocracy]

29. Is it permissible to "Indignez vous! " @ DU?

There are too many voices missing who tried.

[nashville_brook]

32. Indignez DUous?

[Cleita]

30. Yes, I wonder why we, who are

being ruled by corporate fascism, haven't embraced the spirit of the resistance to the Nazis. I'm old enough to remember.

[shireen]

38. because

too many uneducated idiots have been brainwashed into voting for corporate right-wingers posing as Republicans and teabaggers.

First, this is psychological warfare.

[ooglymoogly]

33. Advice we must ingest into the very heart and soul of America

to reclaim our democracy or all of us are in grave danger; and not in the very far off future....kr

[Odin2005]

34. K&R

[Cherchez la Femme]

35. A much better thought than "Cry Havoc!"

"...and let slip the dogs of war."

Which seems to be the U.S. slogan of at least this century!


Isn't he a doll though? ...doesn't look a day over 70! :D :applause:

[TygrBright]

36. "money ... has never been so great or so insolent or so selfish...its servants are placed...

...in the highest reaches of the State."

In a nutshell.

That is it.

The man has put his finger on What's Wrong With Everything Today.

Hardly a surprise that the book is a publishing phenomenon.

Of course, there is as yet no translation available on Amazon.com.... <we really, really, really need an irony smiley...>

bemusedly,
Bright

[xchrom]

37. ...

:applause:

[Catherina]

40. In my Derrick Jensen way, I totally agree.

a radical shift away from the 'ever more', in the world of finance but also in science and technology.

A political manifesto.

The success of the book could be an important straw in the wind as France enters a political cycle leading to the presidential elections of May 2012. Hessel denounces, among other things, the growing gap between the very rich and the very poor, France's shocking treatment of its illegal immigrants, the need to re-establish a free press, protecting the environment, the plight of Palestinians and the importance of protecting the French welfare system. Rejecting the "insolent, selfish" power of money and markets and defending the social "values of modern democracy", Hessel's book could be considered as the first real ideological project for the Socialist Party in preparation for the 2012 presidential elections. Hessel has already announced he will be supporting the head of the Socialist Party, Martine Aubry.

The essay also contains a lengthy denunciation of Israeli government policies, especially in the Gaza Strip, and harshly condemns the country's military operations. Hessel's stances on this polemical issues – whose father was a German Jew - have stirred up huge controversy, as he has been accused by French Jewish organisations of "anti-semitism".

In the vein of Zola 'J'accuse', 'Indignez-vous' sounds like a call for a collective realisation. And it is quite a breath of fresh air to see that a book written by a 93-year-old man, which contains no sex, no jokes, and deals with all modern stakes, can be a publishing phenomenon.

http://www.franceinlondon.co.uk/en-Article-689-Indignez-vous---The-essay-thats-shaking-France-up-Politics--Stephane-Hessel-Essay.html

[Uncle Joe]

41. You're on a roll today, kpete.

Thanks for the thread.:) :thumbsup:

[reggie the dog]

44. I just ordered his work in french from amazon.fr

only 2 euros 95 cents! People often ask me why i take politics so personally... c'est parce que je suis indigné par des connards qui dirigent le monde!

[Roci]

47. Bravo!

Bravo, mon Frere!

[ThatsMyBarack]

48. Working on it...

CRY OUT is my philosophy, too! ;)