Give an example of a famous satirical French totalitarian slogan.
March 30, 2006 12:41 PM   Subscribe

I need a French quotation from a French source that is a reference to a satirical utopian slogan like "Freedom is slavery" from Orwell's 1984.

The language police have been making the rounds lately at my work and I would like something witty to say when I am inevitably fired from my job.

Merci.
posted by dobie to Writing & Language (6 answers total)
 
Your claim sounds very strange. As far as I know, the Office de la langue française had some signs and posters changed (from unilingual English to bilingual), but has it ever had anybody fired? (And the wikipedia entry you are linking is incredibly one-sided and biased).
Unless you are a public servant occupying a bilingual job under false pretense?

Anyway, you could use this Fernand Léger poster or quote these verses for La Marseillaise:
Amour sacré de la Patrie
Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs
Liberté, Liberté chérie
Combats avec tes défenseurs!




posted by bru at 1:17 PM on March 30, 2006


I'm sure that quotes from Robespierre are full of "Terror is freedom" goodness.

This one is a bit too long, but quite in the spirit:

Le gouvernement de la révolution est le despotisme de la liberté contre la tyrannie

With a bonus that it is not meant to be sarcastic...
posted by qvantamon at 1:41 PM on March 30, 2006


Response by poster: Oh, I'm probably exagerating about the being fired part. I was hired for my English skills under the auspices of working in a billingual environment. HR have started to send around group emails that specify that all office correspondence must be in French and end in something like "Together we will achieve our Dream". They've recently put up flyers in all the common areas that are straight out of cold war propaganda.

It's alienating, but I suppose that's the point.
posted by dobie at 2:52 PM on March 30, 2006


There is also the famous words from Madame Roland before having her head cut off during the French Revolution:

«O Liberté, que de crimes ils commettent en ton nom! »
posted by bru at 2:59 PM on March 30, 2006


maybe you can find one in this list of grafittied slogans during the may 68 revolution in France?
posted by Frankieist at 9:09 PM on March 30, 2006


I was about to suggest «Sous les pavés, la plage» but I see it's on the excellent list Frankieist posted. I also recall «La lutte continue!» from the same period.
posted by punilux at 2:55 AM on March 31, 2006


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