12-10-09 Europe: Stephane Hessel

A Resistance Hero Fires Up the French

View on blog: http://inproperinla.blogspot.co.il/2012/10/12-10-09-europe-stephane-hessel.html - to Cess with love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJpuTCG_2Bk

Charles Platiau/Reuters Stphane Hessel at a pro-Palestinian rally. He is wearing a Phrygian cap, an icon of the French Revolution. By ELAINE SCIOLINO Published: March 9, 2011

PARIS As a hero of the French Resistance, Stphane Hessel was in exile with Charles de Gaulle in London, imprisoned in concentration camps, waterboarded in Nazi torture sessions and saved from hanging by swapping identities with an inmate who had died of typhus.

The British edition of the pamphlet.

Now, at 93, he is the author of a best seller that has become a publishing phenomenon in France. It is not the story of his life (he wrote his autobiography years ago), but a thin, impressionistic pamphlet calledIndignez-Vous!, held together by two staples and released by a two-person publishing house run out of the attic of their home. It urges young people to revive the ideal of resistance to the Nazis by peacefully resisting the international dictatorship of the financial markets and defending the values of modern democracy. In particular Mr. Hessel protests Frances treatment of illegal immigrants, the influence on the media by the rich, cuts to the social welfare system, French educational reforms and, most strongly, Israels treatment of the Palestinians. When something outrages you, as Nazism did me, that is when you become a militant, strong and engaged, he writes. You join the movement of history, and the great current of history continues to flow only thanks to each and every one of us. Since its publication in October Indignez-Vous! has sold almost 1.5 million copies in France and has been translated into Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Greek. Editions are planned in Slovenian, Korean, Japanese, Swedish and other languages. In the United States, The Nation magazine published the entire English text last month. On Tuesday the British edition went on sale under the title Time for Outrage! with a foreword by Charles Glass, an American journalist in Europe who published it under his recently created imprint for Quartet Books. Sylvie Crossman, a former correspondent for Le Monde, and her partner, Jean-Pierre Barou, who originally published the book, said they hoped to line up an American publisher and a movie star like Sean Penn or George Clooney to write a new foreword. At about 4,000 words Indignez-Vous! can hardly be called a book. Its French edition is 29 pages, including explanatory footnotes, an illustration and just 14 pages of text. But the timing was right. It came out a year and half before the hotly anticipated presidential election here, with the French already loudly talking politics and considering alternatives toNicolas Sarkozy, who is now at his lowest level in approval ratings. The books short length and low price (it sells for about $4) made it a popular Christmas gift among left-leaning intellectuals, parents struggling to inject political activism into their children and just about anyone else who needed an extra stocking stuffer. Christmas came at the right moment couldnt have been better, said Mr. Hessel, a courtly, gentle man who wore a three-piece pin-stripe suit and a stiffly starched white shirt from another era during an interview in his Paris apartment. I have many friends who tell me, Ive bought 10 copies because I want to give them to 5 of my children and 5 of my friends.

A deeper reason, perhaps, is that more than the books emotional ramblings, the French have embraced Mr. Hessel as one of the last living heroes of the darkest era of the 20th century, as if to tell themselves that they too can be like him. Its, Ah, yes, hes the old man who has been in the Resistance and who has joined General de Gaulle, he said in superb English. So obviously that was part of the success, I quite agree. If it had been written by a young man, it would probably not have had the same impact. The book was an accident. Inspired by a speech Mr. Hessel gave in 2008 to commemorate the Resistance, Ms. Crossman proposed publishing a pamphlet based on his thinking. After three interviews with Mr. Hessel she whipped his words into a text. He did a bit of editing, and voil, 8,000 copies were printed by Ms. Crossman and Mr. Barous publishing house, Indigne. The only advertising was word of mouth. Mr. Hessel confesses that although the ideas and content are his, Ms. Crossman did the writing. My contribution was oral, he said, adding: She used her words. It is true that it is her language. The book has been a windfall for Indigne, which usually publishes books on subjects like Chinese medicine and American Indians that sell no more than a thousand or so copies apiece. Mr. Hessel asked for no royalties from Ms. Crossman and Mr. Barou, just a promise that they give his share of the proceeds to his favorite causes. The book has been criticized for offering no prescription for action, just attacks on the status quo. Nothing would be less French than apathy and indifference, Prime Minister Franois Fillon said about the book. But indignation for indignations sake is not a way of thinking.

Ed Alcock for The New York Times Mr. Hessel

Luc Ferry, the philosopher and a former education minister, lectured Mr. Hessel in an open letter that indignation is the last passion needed in France at the moment. This sentiment is one that is applied only to others, never to oneself, and real morality starts with demands one makes on oneself, he wrote. Mr. Hessels work also has been faulted for lacking literary value. The book, or pamphlet, is rather poorly written, a columnist wrote in the British newspaper The Independent. It is repetitive, unoriginal, simplistic and frustratingly short.

More serious is that the book has been branded anti-Semitic by some French intellectuals for its attack on Israel, in particular that countrys 2008 incursion into Gaza. The book describes Gaza, which Mr. Hessel visited with his wife in 2009, as an open-sky prison for a million and a half Palestinians, and says that for Jews themselves to perpetuate war crimes is intolerable. On his Facebook page Pierre-Andr Taguieff, an expert in the history of French anti-Semitism, wrote: Certainly he could have ended his life in a more dignified way, instead of inciting hatred against Israel, thus adding his voice to the worst of anti-Jews. Even old age doesnt make someone impermeable to vanity, or kill the appetite for applause. Mr. Hessel denies that he is anti-Semitic or anti-Israel. I feel that I am completely in solidarity with Jews in the world, because I know what it is to be a Jew, he said. Ive seen what it is, I am myself of Jewish origin, and therefore I can only be fully in support of the idea that the Jews, after all theyve suffered, need a country where they are at home. I shouted my joy when Israel was founded. I said, At last! When a handful of protesters branded him a racist during a speech he gave in the Paris suburb of Montreuil last week, he said that he told them: My love for Israel is stronger than yours. But I want it to be an honest country. Other critics have pointed out the books outrage does not mention human rights offenses in places like North Korea, Myanmar, China and Iran. Since Mr. Hessel is widely respected as an honorable man without vanity or guile, the book has refocused attention on his extraordinary life. He was born in Berlin to a Jewish father and a Protestant mother and was baptized so that he could attend school. The family immigrated to Paris when he was 7. With her husbands consent his mother had a longstanding affair with HenriPierre Roch, the writer and art dealer. The relationship became the inspiration for Mr. Rochs first novel and later for Franois Truffauts classic French New Wave film Jules and Jim. The young Stphane character was the little girl in the film. After the Nazi invasion of France, Mr. Hessel fled to England and then flew secretly into occupied France as a Resistance officer. Captured by the Gestapo, he spent time in concentration camps. Asked how he survived torture, he said, The third time of waterboarding, I said, Now, Ill tell you. And I told them a lie of course. He added: One survives torture. So many people unfortunately have been tortured. But its not a thing to recommend. After the war he worked as a junior official for the fledgling United Nations in New York, where he participated in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He held diplomatic posts in Vietnam, Algeria and Switzerland. Named ambassador for life, he still carries a diplomatic passport.

This week another French publisher will release another slim volume, this time a series of interviews with Mr. Hessel, titled Engagez-Vous! (Get Involved!). In it he appeals to his readers to save the environment and to embrace the positive. He also emphasizes the importance of good luck in life. Luck can always intervene, he says in the book, adding: Ive been tremendously lucky. I went through things that turned out wrong, and I got myself out of them. So I project this luck onto history. History can bring luck: this is what we can call optimism.
_____ Joseph Zernik, PhD Human Rights Alert (NGO) * United States - the 2010 submission of Human Rights Alert to the Human Rights Council (HRC) of the United Nations was reviewed and incorporated in the official HRC Professional Staff Report with a note referring to corruption of the courts and the legal profession and discrimination by law enforcement in California. [1] 10-10-01 United Nations Human Rights Council Records for 2010 Review (UPR) of Human Rights in the United States, where Human Rights Alert (NGO) submission was incorporated with a note referring to "corruption of the courts and the legal profession and discrimination by law enforcement in California." http://www.scribd.com/doc/38566837/ * State of Israel - the 2012 submission of Human Rights Alert to the HRC, titled, "Integrity, or lack thereof, of the electronic record systems of the courts of the State of Israel', is scheduled for review in January 2013. [1] 12-06-04 Human Right Alert's Submission; 2013 UPR of the State of Israel: Integrity, or lack thereof, of the electronic record systems of the courts of the State of Israel http://www.scribd.com/doc/92826212/ [2] 12-05-10 Appendix I to Human Right Alert's Submission; 15th UPR - State of Israel: Integrity, or lack thereof, of the electronic record systems of the courts of the State of Israe http://www.scribd.com/doc/108663259/ [3] 12-07-18 Human Right Alert's Appendix II to Submission; 2013 UPR of the State of Israel: Integrity, or lack thereof, in the electronic record systems in the courts of the State of Israel - Additional Responses by National Authorities/Experts, Re: ComSign, LTD - sole certifier and hacker of the digital signatures of the State of Israel http://www.scribd.com/doc/108662869/ _____ Human Rights Alert online: http://inproperinla.blogspot.com/ Flag Counter: 145 http://www.scribd.com/Human_Rights_Alert Total Reads: 945,129 Followers: 1,601 http://www.scribd.com/SeyagLizhuyotHaadam Total Reads: 45,147 http://twitter.com/inproperinla http://www.liveleak.com/user/jz12345 Total Item Views: 664,803+500,065 http://www.examiner.com/x-38742-LA-Business-Headlines-Examiner http://www.facebook.com/joseph.zernik Facebook Friends: 4,165 http://www.opednews.com/author/author81971.html http://www.opednews.com/author/author42343.html ____________________________ Boycott the US presidential vote! It only legitimizes the illegitimate... 12-04-15 2012 Presidential election votes will be counted in Spain http://www.scribd.com/doc/89464081/ Occupy!

11-12-10 Where should Occupy go next? Civil Disobedience in the footsteps of Thoreau and Gandhi! http :// www.scribd.com/doc/75348301/ 12-06-08 Courts and Judges as racketeering enterprises under RICO (the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) - key element in the current financial crisis http://www.scribd.com/doc/96504009/ Secede! The US in its current form is simply unmanageable... 12-01-01 Secession - A Smart Business Move! http://www.scribd.com/doc/76877453/ Get Up, stand up, stand up for your rights! _____________________________ Take away justice, then, and what are governments but great bandit bands? Saint Augustine, Civitas Dei (City of God,4.4) _____________________________ WHAT DID THE EXPERT SAY ABOUT THE CURRENT FINANCIAL CRISIS? * "I think it's difficult to find a fraud of this size on the U.S. court system in U.S. history," said Raymond Brescia, a visiting professor at Yale Law School who has written articles analyzing the role of courts in the financial crisis. "I can't think of one where you have literally tens of thousands of fraudulent documents filed in tens of thousands of cases." Reuters (Jan 22, 2012) http://www.scribd.com/doc/79572282/ * Foreclosure fraud: The homeowner nightmares continue CNN (April 7, 2011) * About 3 million homes have been repossessed since the housing boom ended in 2006 That number could balloon to about 6 million by 2013 Bloomberg (January 2011) * "...a system in which only the little people have to obey the law, while the rich, and bankers especially, can cheat and defraud without consequences." Prof Paul Krugman, MIT (2011) http://www.scribd.com/doc/50753639/ _____________________________ WHAT DID THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA? * "...judges tried and sentenced a staggering number of people for crimes they did not commit." Prof David Burcham, Dean, Loyola Law School, LA (2001) http://www.scribd.com/doc/29043589/ * "This is conduct associated with the most repressive dictators and police states... and judges must share responsibility when innocent people are convicted." Prof Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, Irvine Law School (2001) http://www.scribd.com/doc/27433920/ * "Innocent people remain in prison" * "...the LA Superior Court and the DA office, the two other parts of the justice system that the Blue Panel Report recommends must be investigated relative to the integrity of the system, have not produced any response that we know of..." LAPD Blue Ribbon Review Panel Report (2006) http://www.scribd.com/doc/24902306 / _____________________________ WHAT DID THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN CALIFORNIA? * "...corruption of the courts and the legal profession and discrimination by law enforcement in California." United Nations Human Rights Council Staff Report (2010) http://www.scribd.com/doc/38566837/ _____________________________ WHAT DID THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE STATE COURTS IN THE UNITED STATES? * "On July 26, 2010, Laurence Tribe, Senior Counsel for the United States Department of Justice, Access to Justice Initiative, delivered an important speech to the Conference of Chief Justices, challenging them to halt the disintegration of our state justice systems before they become indistinguishable from courts of third world nations." Prof Laurence Tribe, Harvard Law School (2010), per National Defender Leadership Institute (2010) http://www.nlada.net/library/article/national_dojspeechto%20chiefjustice07-26-2010_gideonalert _____________________________ WHAT DID THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE CONDITIONS IN THE PRISON IN MONROE COUNTY, TENESSEE? * "What goes on there is more like gulags of centuries ago." ACLU http://www.scribd.com/doc/72546279/ _____________________________

WHAT DID THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES? * "More than 100 law professors have signed on to a letter released today that proposes congressional hearings and legislation aimed at fashioning "mandatory and enforceable" ethics rules for Supreme Court justices for the first time. The effort, coordinated by the liberal Alliance for Justice, was triggered by "recent media reports," the letter said, apparently referring to stories of meetings and other potential conflicts of interest involving Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas among others." More than 100 law professors, as reported by the Blog of the Legal Times (February 2011) http://www.scribd.com/doc/49586436/ _____________________________ WHAT DID CHIEF JUDGE OF THE US COURT OF APPEALS, 5TH CIRCUIT, SAY ABOUT THE US JUSTICE SYSTEM? * "The American legal system has been corrupted almost beyond recognition..." Chief Judge, US Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit, Edith Jones, speaking before the Federalist Society of Harvard Law School (February 2003) http://www.scribd.com/doc/50137887/ _____________________________ WHAT DID THE CHAIR OF THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE SAY ABOUT THE US JUSTICE SYSTEM? * In a speech in Georgetown University, Senator Leahy, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee called for a "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" on the US Department of Justice. Transcript of Senator Leahy speech (2009) http://www.scribd.com/doc/38472251/ ____________________________