time for eggheads and for meek in mind to conquer the world. Bush, Scharon, Berlusconi, and now Le Pen. We're getting there. The end of ideologies, deregulation, globalisation, transfer of power (to Bruxelles, stock exchange, labs of international companies), the end of national state and regionalism, pull-back from Us into Me, the time for men with vision. One would expect that Le Pen, our one-eyed man, would stop drifting into banality after 09/11, in spite of his efforts during the election drive to build up his respectability. Caused by Al-Qaida and questions, that occupy the american simpleminded: Does the war on terror legitimize violence and torture? The answer of course was delivered by american authorities, when they supplied the world with photos of manacled men in fluorescent-orange coveralls, that made them look like some adopt-a-mile get-together at the edge of some highway. And the zenith of irony: our bretonian faschist, the man, that called gas chamber a "detail" in the history, got unexpected help from Scharon. Because the war in Algeria is still on his mind, he understands Scharon, who must destroy palestinian authorities and push off the birth of the independent palestinian state into eternity, if his plan of changing a military victory into a political one is to succeed. Both aspects should remind our one-eyed one of his past as a torture boy in Algeria and of the moment, when FLN let their bombs explode on the streets. He must have made quite a happy face and nod in full understanding. Yes, and while he is at it, he makes himself the expert and the connoisseur and gives a big israeli newspaper an interview, expressing his support for the Scharon's politics of burnt earth. Of course the goal sanctifies the means. This Le Pen an anti-semite? Don't make me laugh. Well, no. Starting Sunday night we dont feel much like laughing any more.
by Jean Rouaud, Prix Goncourt 1990 |
