Saturday, October 29, 2016

Entrapment of Liberty


everywhere that you can see 
read hear watch
on all forms of media
experience in your guts

too frightened to think
much less speak out, or act

what is, was, will be
freedom

***

Liberté, égalité, fraternité 

Liberté, égalité, fraternité, French for "liberty, equality, fraternity", is the national motto of France and the Republic of Haiti. It originated during the French Revolution, and became official in France at the end of the 19th century.  The phrase originated with Maximilien Robespierre, (who was, ironically, a prime instigator of the Terror, a bloodbath which claimed thousands of lives), in a speech delivered on 5 December 1790. From the time of Robespierre’s execution, the term Fraternity was discarded and under Napoleon I, the slogan fell into disuse. The Emperor preferred the use of another motto: “Liberty, Public Order” (in French: Liberté, Ordre Public). During the constitutional monarchy of Louis-Philippe, the motto became: “Order and Liberty” (in French: Ordre et Liberté). The original motto ‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity’ was again adopted during the 1848 February Revolution but was made official under the Third Republic (1871-1940). (Read more at http://frenchmoments.eu/national-motto-of-france/)

Incidentally, the French Revolution began as a revolt against the rule of King Louis XVI, husband of Marie Antoinette, who famously if apocryphally said, in response to a report on the lack of bread, the staple diet of the poor in Paris, "Let them eat cake." Both king and queen were beheaded by the guillotine. These incidents, especially the beheadings, are the core or the subject matter of many Hollywood and European films, not to mention Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities, and the romances of the Scarlet Pimpernal, among others. The visualisations by films brought the horror of the slaughter home to many who had known the Revolution only as a few paragraphs in their history books.

The Statue of Liberty was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and built by Gustave Eiffel.  Dedicated on October 28, 1886, it was a gift to the United States from the people of France. The statue is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess, who bears a torch and a tablet evoking the law, upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet.

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