One relates in different forms a quotation from [Bertolt] Brecht that, under its appearance of being a mere quip, reveals all of the secrets of the "political" powers of our era.

One says, for example: "When the people vote against the government, it is necessary to dissolve the people," or "if the Communist Party and the people are not in agreement, the only thing to do is dissolve the people."[1]

The Party that is desirable for the "politicians" actually consists in the camouflaging of the fact that all power over life has been confiscated, especially by the economic powers, and in the simulation that -- through the intermediary of their "representation" -- this power still belongs to the people.

In moments of crisis, this lie is difficult to maintain. The "representatives of the people," confronted by the people, and forced into a showdown concerning their role as usurper, thus necessarily adopt formulae that are more or less Swiftian and that reveal the paradox of their existence and express their disarray.

These rare moments in which the truth surfaces are beautiful. While we stay in the prison cells that profit has erected everywhere, we must collect them and honor in them the sign that -- though reinforced by the innumerable techniques of illusion -- the lie remains fragile and can become transparent when it is confronted with reality, which contradicts it.

Generally speaking, it is not in the repressive logorrhea that one sees this kind of confession stand out, but in the mouths of those who make professions of faith in respect for humanity in general and for the wretched in particular. Thus, while the gnomic villain Sarkozy[2] sharpens his knives and erects watchtowers, which he hopes will guarantee him access to the Elysee,[3] it is the "democrat" Delanoe who gives the secret away when he encounters the contradiction[4] and when the tramps of our era remind him of their existence, that is to say, poverty.

To those who are not in agreement, one demands that they leave the hall: here indeed is an interesting definition of representative democracy, which one must not confuse with any form of direct democracy. Those who are "represented" must leave so that those who "represent" them can remain.

Thus, thanks to the poor "political" ham-actors who, pushed too far, reveal that if [there is] "politics," it is them, it is good for the trash can; or, instead, if "politics" exists, it has nothing in common with them. Thus, quite despite them, their anger and their misfortune contribute to the progress of the concept.

The Blacks currently have a choice between drowning in the manner of New Orleans,[5] dying in flames in places like Paris' "mansions," or [being shot by] the bullets of Moroccan police officers at the frontier of the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla[6]: but our "politicians," who would like "to pacify" all this in their own fashion, clearly prefer that the Blacks, by returning to their [own] countries, opt for AIDS. One only keeps those who have learned to stick their index fingers into the camera's lens[7] and to become millionaires by stammering out squalid ineptitudes in time to a rhythm or by alternating between the "Star Academy"[8] and athletic doping, always to promote the most extreme vulgarity.

In brief, when the population has prepared for "Black misery," and when the "politicians" have already begun to eradicate the Blacks, expecting to reserve the same fate for the poor in general, they provide the manifest proof that they are quite simply incompatible with them: they want to dissolve the people out of fear that it is not the contrary that takes place. QED.[9]

[1] In English, the most common version seems to be this: "The people have forfeited the confidence of the government and could only win it back by redoubled efforts. Wouldn't it be easier to dissolve the people and elect another in their place?" The occasion for this bitterly sarcastic remark was the uprising by workers in Leipzig, East Germany, in June 1953.

[2] Nicolas Sakorzy had been the Minister of the Interior and today (2007) is the President of France.

[3] Elysee Palace is the official residence of the President and the meeting place of the ministers in Paris.

[4] Bertrand Delanoe, a member of the "Socialist" Party, is the Mayor of Paris. The author is responding to a news report from "Paris de 20 Minutes," dated 6 October 2005, to which he provided a link.

"Delanoe is dislodged from the gymnasium."

One narrowly escaped a riot.

Yesterday, Bertrand Delanoe stopped at the Jean-Jaures Gymnasium (19th arrondissement), in the context of his annual tour of the arrondissements. If the tone is sometimes angry during these mandated reviews, never has the Mayor of Paris confronted such excesses. Seven hundred people had been displaced, of which a good third were particularly demonstrative. Collectives of evicted inhabitants and oddballs had violently seized the lodging, a common theme in Paris since the reopening [of school]. The families who had been evacuated on Friday from an apartment building, and who had been housed in the gymnasium and then dislodged Tuesday evening, were quite virulent.

"If you are not happy, leave," Bertrand Delanoe retorted, raising the stakes on the best of his detractors, who screamed that "There is no democracy." The Mayor then tried to calm the crowd, which was whistling loudly, in vain. Half the place was standing up, some inhabitants wanted "to speak to him personally."

"I am a police officer of the Town of Paris, SDF [without fixed domicile], and my wife is pregnant. I want to see the Mayor about getting housing, I have sent three letters," said a riled up man, accompanied by his wife and his two children, watched by a security detail overwhelmed by the events.

Another man escaped their vigilance and approached the Mayor. A brawl broke out. Roger Madec, Mayor (PS) [Socialist Party] of the 19th arrondissement tried to take the floor. "Let me do it," he ordered. Bertrand Delanoe put an end to the debate. "These actions are done by a minority and I do not want to give it any support, because I am the majority," he said in leaving.

[Written by] Magali Gruet.

[5] Hurricane "Katrina" hit New Orleans, Louisiana, at the end of August 2005.

[6] On 2 October 2005, Moroccan police officers shot and killed five men when 600 other North African immigrants tried to cross into Ceuta and Mililla, which are "gateways" into Spain and thus the European Union.

[7] As in, "I'm # 1."

[8] A TV show in which pop musicians compete for awards. English in original.

[9] QED is the English equivalent for CQFD (ce qu'il fallait demontrer), which means "What was necessary to show," as in "What was necessary to show has been showed."

Written by Les Amis de Nemesis (the Friends of Nemesis). Translated from the French by NOT BORED! 29 September 2007. Footnotes by the translator.