In 1789, France decided it had had enough of the monarchy and the powerful Catholic church. They dumped the king for a democratic republic, and threw the church out of politics, a policy they follow today, called Laïcité. They adopted a motto: Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité. Great words to live by.
In 1773, America made a similar decision—no kings! Freedom of religion! So they threw a “party”—a tea party to be exact. And the American democracy was born, also with separation of church and state.
Does America now want to give over that hard won freedom to a gilded king with absolute power? (And if you don’t believe it’s happening, just watch this AI video which the president himself posted on social media: himself in a big gold crown, dumping tons of excrement on the very constituents he was elected to represent who are peacefully celebrating democratic principles). As the French say, on verra. Time will tell if we can find a way to make ourselves heard and heeded.
We are back in Charleston at the moment. So without further comment, I want to share with you some photos I took of a very exuberant “No Kings Day.” In my photos I really wanted to capture the the positivity, the great signs and costumes. It was an amazing day: peaceful, patriotic, festive, celebrating our democracy with vigor and good cheer, and humor,.
One of Vance’s crazy cat ladies here, whom you many recognize. Claws out for the cause!
The organizers suggested wearing yellow, so why not dress as bananas?
This guy, channeling a founding father, is holding a bound copy of the Constitution.
My sister is an artist, and hand-painted her signs.
Another artist who painted her own sign. So clever.
Future activists, including one in a stroller. Hope for the next generation!
In the COMMENTS: our commenters this week liked what language teacher Deborah had to say, and Natalia, Julie and Tom all had some good tips of their own, which you’ll want to check out if you’re a student of French. Tom, congratulations on 6 years of volunteering, and it sounds like it’s been quite successful.
Favorite READS and VIEWS: Something special this week: my first ever podcast! Deborah of Feel Good French (our guest blogger for the last post) has a podcast called Retiring in France, which features expats, and she asked me to do an interview about moving to France. She also asked me to address some French myths and stereotypes, which was great fun. You can watch it HERE.
Natalia’s book recommendation today is by the wonderful Sean of the South, whose full name is Sean Dietrich. It’s called Over Yonder and I plan to read it. His blog posts are treasures, so I’m sure his book will be an inspiration as well.
7 thoughts on “Revisiting the French National Motto”
So good to see everyone everywhere on No Kings Day! Even sleepy Napa Valley turned out in force. Don’t stop wherever you are until this aberration in American history is ended.
So glad that you all felt mutual support in protesting against what is actually a President who is in the process of taking absolute power. There are unfortunately several examples in the world of Republics where the President cannot be held to account. Those of us with a monarchy which is not involved in politics but represents the nation with honour and dignity feel that we are blessed and that the premise of ‘No Kings’ sort of gets it wrong. It is Republics who elect in Presidents who take more & more power onto themselves which leads to a democratic system which is in now in danger.
So glad to see so many people out in support of democracy in Charleston!
I agree with you 100%! I think we will have a revolution soon—similar to the French Revolution.
Brava! Thank you.
Always great to celebrate Freedom! Love the sign “love heals”, esp in light of the hatred displayed now throughout our country…for me it’s NO KINGS JUST JESUS!!
We Must impeach him soon! Help! He has just gone way too far!! Sure, marble walls and gold fixtures are just what was popular during Lincoln’s time😒😡😩