In Avignon, a first demonstration will take place on Saturday, June 29, for the opening of the festival, at the call of the inter-union. We have gone from shock to mobilization against a far right now on the threshold of power. The world of culture refuses to remain silent. Faced with the imminence of danger, the time has come to stop discussing the sex of angels or to ask which came first, the chicken or the egg…
The far right dreams of a fossilized culture, a subjugated and docile culture. Its model is Puy-du-Fou: bread and games, sound and light to entertain the people. It plans to eliminate the intermittent system, to favor national preference. Racist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, that is its DNA.
“Conjure fear and bring forth light”
Hundreds of theater companies are present in Avignon. We can imagine their difficulties in organizing the response when the economic stakes – playing in Avignon is expensive – weigh so heavily. To suggest that artists would live, privileged, outside the realities of the world, is to forget, to deny, the work they do on a daily basis, going to schools, high schools, prisons to talk about theater and poetry. For Gérard Watkins, who organized a first mobilization at Théâtre 14 in Paris last Monday, it will be necessary “to speak out, overcome anger, ward off fear and bring forth light and intelligence”.
“We are forced to defend ourselves against a regime that wants to get its hands on ideas and consciences. I fear that the Ministry of Culture will become a ministry of heritage and folk dances.”said Laurent Rochut, vice-president of the Off. That is where the fight is. That is where the challenge is. If theatre is vital, it is because it gives the world the means to tell its story as it is, to invent itself.
And this is what the RN does not want, preferring to deceive its contemporaries by cultivating fear, hatred of others, withdrawal into oneself. “It’s dark in the land of lights,” read a sign during a demonstration against the far right.
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