Bastille Day

Today, July 14, is Bastille Day in France. It’s the day when, in 1789, French citizens revolted against their king and stormed the titular fortress-prison. More symbolic than anything, it marked a significant moment in history: the French Revolution was under way and the aristocrats were about to start getting their heads lopped off on the guillotine.

The Bastille itself was chosen because it held guns and ammunition, which the revolutionaries needed to protect themselves against the royal military. Not inconsequentially, it was also the prison where a lot of political folks where locked up when the royalty didn’t like what they wrote.

It’s an important day for me because my lady is French. She comes from a country with a proud history of Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité (Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood), which unfortunately doesn’t seem to exist any more, despite the socialist movement dominating French politics until recently.

In more than seven years living there, in Paris, my personal experience was of a country full of people who could be wonderful, it they’d only pull the stick out of their butts and stop being so conformist. A society dominated by appearances, by bureaucracy, by Cartesian thinking and where some Parisian night clubs still play rock ‘n’ roll music. Oh dear.

Technologically, they’re way ahead of the UK and a lot of other countries. They love their gadgets. Their broadband is four times as fast as here, with no limits, free TV, free telephony and half the price. One guy at the company for which I worked had six patents pending in networking technologies. Oh yes, they love their technology.

The arts are also still appreciated there. And I mean really appreciated – it’s one of the few remaining countries where you can be a writer, a sculptor, a painter or a musician and get as much respect as if you were a scientist, a businessman or a sportsman.

On 14 July every year, there’s a massive parade on the Champs Elysées, with the military and a bunch of other folks parading for the Président and the gathered masses. A few years ago, it was also the moment when some lunatic tried to shoot the country’s leader. He got slapped down pretty damned quick.

In the evening, festivities continue in the streets of Paris, with crowds jammed onto the Champs. It’s a very festive time (it’s a public holiday), but it’s also rather dangerous as there is always a bunch of people who think it’s clever and funny to throw fireworks. At ground level. In the massed crowds.

While to many of the French, Bastille Day is a day of great pride in their history, to me it marks something else: the way such beautiful ideals can be twisted, abused and ignored by so many people. Most frequently, those three wonderful words – Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood – are forgotten in the pursuit of the modern trinity: Power, Money, Fame.

Today is Bastille Day. Perhaps we bloggers should start our own, personal, online revolution. Perhaps we should hold true to the real meaning of the French Revolution and do our best to free  ourselves from the shackles of pursuing material wealth, power and celebrity.

Perhaps we could aim for something a bit more meaningful. Break down the walls of conformity and do our own thing. Shatter the façade of the big media. Give up accepting what we’re told and look for the truth. Stop letting ourselves be treated like second-class citizens – in work, in politics, in life.

New aristocrats, beware. The bloggers are coming. We’ve got a virtual guillotine and we’re not afraid to use it.