A short film [called] Refutation. . .[1]
First search for news footage
--The maximum of images of Portugal -- especially from the following dates: 25 April 74; 28 September 74; workers' demonstration on 7 February 75 (if it was filmed); 11 March 75; June 75 and especially the workers' demonstration on 17 June. (Crowds, soldiers, sailors, tanks, generals, Cunhal and Soares: all images of riots and street battles are welcome.)
--Many galaxies, stars, nebula (seen from on high: astronomical observatories, but only the images they see, not the telescopes themselves).
--Many forests, including views of trees being cut down (the film library of the Agricultural Ministry must have a catalogue of stock footage).
--Many oil wells and pipelines, in Arabia, Libya, Venezuela, California, Kuwait, etc. -- also oil platforms in the ocean (the North Sea, the Scottish coast).
--Many speeches at the U.N.
--Many university restaurants, rest stops (for example, the Borel chain) or horrible snacks[2] in the Latin Quarter or on les Champs-Elysees (of the Hippopotamus type). Perhaps one can find the Borel at the Montparnasse tower, built at the beginning of this year?
--Giscard at diverse ceremonies and especially receiving General Costa Gomes (beginning of June).
--Railroad accidents.
--Diverse meetings of the Council of Ministers, with reporters interviewing them (Giscard era).
--Actors at receptions for the Cannes Festival; Oscar awards in Hollywood.
--Television stations, radio stations.
--Highway interchanges (Bagnolet), especially in Paris, on the periphery.
--Several particularly weak happenings[3] (either from their appearance in 1962 or since then).
--Gigantic petroleum ships and ports for industries that are more or less in the new petrochemical style, such as Fos or Dunkerque.
--(Again at the film library of the Agricultural Ministry): modern -- that is to say, super-automated -- animal farms. Alice remembers seeing a sheep farm, perhaps in Jouy-en-Josas, filmed in 1967 or before, which strongly resembled the current organization of the metro.
--Atomic power plants, especially their elevated towers, in the area around La Loire.
--Rivers and streams (pretty and peaceful: once again at the Agricultural Ministry).
--Englishmen and women on line for the burial of King George VI (1951 or 1952).
--The Tour de France: several bicyclists traveling through mountain passes and one or two arriving in a sprint.
--Fighting in the [1973] War in the Middle East and, if possible, images of "SAM rockets" pursuing, catching up to and destroying planes.
--The University of Vincennes, the buildings (if possible, the name recognizable), the amphitheaters, the students and professors.
Can one get, complete with sound, a good speech by the Minister for the Quality of Life? And also a little propaganda in favor of atomic power plants.
Furthermore, I recall the necessity of having the speech made by Roger Salengro in June 1936.
Guy Debord[1] Translator's note: Refutation of All Judgments, Full of Praise of Hostile, That Have Been Made Until Now About the film "The Society of the Spectacle."
[2] Translator's note: English in original.
[3] Translator's note: English in original.
(Published in Guy Debord Correspondance, Vol 5: Janvier 1973-Decembre 1978 by Librairie Artheme Fayard, 2005. Translated from the French by NOT BORED! April 2007.)