Sirens and police cars crisscrossing our streets -shootings, radio, TV, messages from friends, from children, from all over the world -confusion. Within a few minutes, we are in a war zone -sirens and police cars crisscrossing down there. The death toll keeps rising, striking the younger ones.
Bataclan, Stade de France, Eagles of death metal
Too many sirens, too many police cars, too many words. Words non-stop clashing in my head since Friday evening -how did it become so chaotic so fast? Words accumulate -scattered words, randomly bombarded into each other. They’ve been stuck in my ear more than three days now. How to avoid them? Where to escape?
Bataclan, Stade de France, Eagles of death metal
kalachnikov, terroristes, leur arsenal de guerre
I often wondered why some musical tunes, even if heard briefly, wander endlessly in my head -such is the case for Schubert’s Trout or Gounod’s Carmen. So I desperately turn off the radio as soon as they pop up, in order to avoid falling prey. Too many sirens, too many police cars, too many words.
Bataclan, Stade de France, Eagles of death metal
kalachnikov, terroristes, leur arsenal de guerre
Même pas peur, nos valeurs, destruction des valeurs
Last night’s issue of Le Monde was long, too long -48 pages. How to avoid it? How to read it all? No wonder, we all did sleep poorly. Marc’s dream, waking up in Paris : « The school is on fire, threatening to expand. I seize a fire brand, I throw it far away and I do stop the flames. » As for my own one: « In Paris, US tourists wondering what to do, I translate messages, explaining what happens. » What do the dreams tell us? What goes on in our brains?
Bataclan, Stade de France, Eagles of death metal
kalachnikov, terroristes, leur arsenal de guerre
Même pas peur, nos valeurs, destruction des valeurs
c’est la guerre, c’est la guerre, c’est l’état islamique
How to keep working ? How to keep going? “Après les attentats, libérer la parole”, most psychiatrists claim, according to all. For direct survivors, to speak is the best way, the only way to go.
Bataclan, Stade de France, Eagles of death metal
kalachnikov, terroristes, leur arsenal de guerre
Même pas peur, nos valeurs, destruction des valeurs
c’est la guerre, c’est la guerre, c’est l’état islamique
Congrès de Versailles, Allons-z-enfants…
For us all, at large, one single thing to do, to slowly start again, step by step, rebuilding a micro-universe –the one so finely described by Erving Goffman in Asylums. To start thinking again, turn those orphan and scattered and random words back into meaningful elements, into sentences, into projects, into an intellectual fabric of sort.
Bataclan, Stade de France, Eagles of death metal
kalachnikov, terroristes, leur arsenal de guerre
Même pas peur, nos valeurs, destruction des valeurs
c’est la guerre, c’est la guerre, c’est l’état islamique
Congrès de Versailles, Allons-z-enfants…
état d’exception, état d’urgence
«The enemy is incredibly strong and determined, we’re totally unequipped and we’ve not seen anything yet », judge Marc Trévidic quietly asserts. Too many sirens, too many police cars, too many words. I’m walking in the void, taking care of each step. I’m walking in the void and longing for silence. I’m walking in the void, thinking of Burundi, thinking of our friends. Bataclan, Stade de France, Eagels of death metal…
par Annie Cohen-Solal