Indignez-vous! [ancienne édition] [Paperback]

...for a more equitable society. I recently had the father of a French friend, who was on his first visit to the United States, over for dinner. Instead of the customary bottle of wine, he brought three French books as "petits cadeaux," this being one of them. He said it is a "best seller" in France. Indeed, it is, currently ranking #3 at Amazon.fr, with 231 reviews. Yet it is only a very thin pamphlet, which can be read in under an hour.

Stephane Hessel, at the age of 93, and as he says, the "end is not far," is still fighting the good fight. His "credentials" for such a fight are impeccable. He fought in the French Resistance during World War II, parachuting into France before D-Day. He was captured and tortured by the Nazis, deported to Buchenwald, and was within one day of being executed. After the end of the war, he played a key role in drafting the Declaration of the Universal Rights of Man for the United Nations, which was adopted in 1948. (As he says, he insisted on the word "universal," as opposed to his Anglo-Saxon colleagues, who wanted to use the word "international.") Most importantly, he reminds the French in particular of the "social compact" that was adopted upon the Liberation, in which the resources available would be utilized to meet the fundamental needs of all of society's members, including the less fortunate. He readily denounces the attitude of the few at the top today, who "always need more..." and who will now claim that we cannot afford to take care of the less fortunate. How can this be, he asks, when in war-devastated France, we adopted the attitude that we could? For a much more in-depth look at this period, I would highly recommend Serge Halimi's Quand la gauche essayait.

Hessel was born in Berlin in 1917, the son of a Jewish writer and a mother who was a painter. They emigrated to France in 1924. In addition to the changed social compact within France, Hessel is equally indignant towards Israeli action against the Palestinians, in particular, Operation Cast Lead, the attack on Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, "an open-air prison."

Towards the various injustices in the world today, Hessel says that indifference is the worst attitude. The first step towards change is the indignation that is required not to accept the status quo, particularly as is promoted by the main stream media which is owned by the very rich. From indignation, he advocates peaceful revolt, and cites examples, like South Africa, where that worked.

I looked at the various 1-star reviews at Amazon.fr, and they range from those who say that this is "much ado about nothing," that is, this pamphlet is far too short and simplistic (and indeed, in many ways, that is a valid criticism) to those who are still enthralled with the "magic of the marketplace," despite the economic collapse of 2008, which necessitated a massive bailout of the rich. The biggest question remains though: Why in France, and in many parts of the Arab world, is there this strong "indignation" with the injustices perpetrated by the ruling class, but in the United States, the distractions of, for example, of Presidential birth certificates, and professional sports, still are able to prevent the many who have been injured in order that the rich live exceedingly well, from focusing on those issues?

Thomas Paine accomplished much with simple and straightforward pamphlets. Hopefully Hessel's will do more than `stir the pot."

Enough though, or this review will be longer than Hessel's work. I acknowledge its shortcomings, including brevity, but it definitely deserves 5-stars for being said. Thanks for not giving up, M. Hessel.

› Go to Amazon.com to see the review  5.0 out of 5 stars