Civility

"Civilité" is a kind of urban politeness. In a broad sense, an art of living together.
This isn't something you would see in the South of France. What do people together? Ferias and fights...
I won't discuss the artistical side of bullfights - torero's clothes, the "habit de lumière", are artistical, but I am absolutely insensitive to the esthetics of a fight, out of some exceptions (Stewart Granger vs Mel Ferrer in Scaramouche - I prefered Mel Ferrer; or Russ Tamblyn or Richard Beymer and George Chakiris in West Side Story - I prefered George Chakiris...), and a killing is a killing, even when it reanacts the fight between the man and a divinized powerfull wild beast, somehow keeping the god content while its gentle grand-daughters and castrated grandsons are taken to the slaughterhouses.
Reality shows and contests on TV aren't worth better, an elimination represents a killing. They are all about breeding and... rejection? disposal? clearance? sweeping off? sublation?

Montpellier has a "brigade propreté et incivilités" since 2012. The agents must prevent the pollution and degradation of public spaces: tell people to use the bins and public toilets, etc. 

They can give up to 450€ tolls, but it doesn't seem convincing enough, or they simply are not enough numerous at all...

One easily understand why our so precious tourists don't stay long or don't keep a great memory of the city.

The public lamp slightly spoil the views, but the shoes are more problematic. Locals don't know about the history of shoe tossing, shoe flinging or shoefiti. Drug dealers might have once upon a time in America used to throw shoes up onto the telephone wires to let their buyers know they were on the right street, or passer byers would know someone there dealt drugs in case they wanted any. Now and here, it rather looks like a way of leaving a track: "I left thousands of ecological prints with my synthetic shoes and I will go on whatever you think!". Dumbness is the widest shared character.

Another traditionnal Spring and Summer event organised for our precious tourists: public works.

There is a discussion in some schools on wether veiled mothers should be allowed to accompagny the classes on school outings. As they seem to be the only candidates in many schools, one have to allow them if one wants to organise outings for the children. There is a kind of paradox, as the public schools promotes laïcity and equality between men and women, doesn't recruit veiled people, and pretends to teach french. The maternal authority in muslim families is not extremely strong, especially toward (pre)teenage boys. If they are considered as shepherds or guards, what kind of consideration is given to the female teacher? Isn't she, besides, suspect of immorality? She certainly is, as the late school-strike affair showed it.

A woman called Farida Belghoul (antiracist militant in the eighties in the extreme-left, she became very close to the extreme-right and "celebrities" like Dieudonné and Alain Soral) called famillies to take back their children from school one day a month to protest against the supposed teaching of the gender theory. Public school doesnt' teach gender theory, but equality between men and women. Social networks and religious authorities fed a rumor, and most of the muslim children were absent one day. Finally, teachers and national medias reacted. Teachers explained what they taught, with references to the constitutional texts of rights and, discretly, an allusion to the parents'duties (school is compulsory from the age of 6 to 16). Journalists explained how the rumor was created and spread. In conclusion... it showed the strenght of the muslim communitarism, the existence of an "internal" information and of specific social networks and the power of the religious authorities among this community. One only started to talk about the social networks made up to convince youngsters to make djihad in Syria. A law publicated in December 2012 allows the authorities to sue any french citizen leaving to get a training in an islamic camp, for criminal conspiracy in view of committing terrorist acts in France. The maximal punishment is 10 years in jail and 225 000 euros (art. 421-5, code pénal). This law was taken after the Mohamed Merah murders: this man came back to France strongly fanatized, trained to look like a well-balanced man in front of the police investigators who had an eye on him, and prepared to kill. He murdered french soldiers, and then young children and a father in a jewish school in Toulouse. He made videos of his murders for his social networks. Nobody, in fact, was seriously condemned for leaving. Most of the people claim they didn't know what it would be and that they resisted to brainwashing. Some aren't 18 years old. Hundreds left and might be trained to commit terrorist acts in Europe.

Mehdi Nemmouche, the french man suspected of having killed 4 persons in a jewish museum in Bruxelles (he claimed he committed the murders on a hidden file, but is considered as a suspect till a judge declares he is guilty). The french authorities had an eye on him till he came back from his syrian jihad, but he killed in Belgium... and they also had an eye on Merah, who fooled them.

The 8 magnolias of the Peyrou (an ancient royal place) seem to be dying. Two are flowering, but the leaves of the others are turning yellowish. Poison, parasit or illness, who knows. People walking on the grass despite the prohibitions and barriers (there are no more barriers on the first level of the gardens) certainly don't help. People climbing in the trees either. They don't seem to love grass, trees and shade so much.

The Peyrou again... Jurassic limestone full of shells.

And the parking of the Peyrou...
This place was given the name of Max Rouquette, an occitan writer who died a few years ago. He appreciated the "tamburello" (jeu de tambourin, in french) opens which took place there - before the place was definitly turnt into a parking. His widow was very sorry with the parking.

Max Rouquette was a modern troubadour, but not as modern as a parking lot for blind drivers.


E Quand Seria?...

E quand seria?... lo caminet espera
Jos los sambucs, los fraisses e las blacas.
Jos l' ala viva dels aucels
de jos la passa de las nivols,
de la tenebra, e mai dels jorns.
Ges de patz non i tinda pas.
A delembrat
lo pas de l'ome e de son ombra
L'ome s'es enanat un cop per totes.
E dins l'ombra muda dels olmes e dels sambucs
Podia pas qu'i daissar son ombra.
Perduda entre erba rasa e bauca;
beguda per las peiras dau camin.
Esvanida? o! sai que non: mesclada
a l'erba e qu'arresta pas dins lo riu de la saba
d'enaigar, en sa lutz, la branca dels aucels.


And When Will it Be?...

And when will it be?... the path awaits.
Under the elder, the ash and the oak.
Under the live wings of birds
and under the passage of clouds,
of the tenebrous, and of days also.
Naught of the peace no resounding step.
T'is forgotten
the step of man and his shadow
Man is gone once and for all.
And in the mute shadow of the elms and the elders
Could not but leave his shadow.
Lost between level grass and wild-oats;
drunken by the stones of the path.
Passed-out? oh! certainly not: mingled
to the grass that never stops in the flux of its sap
to suffuse, in its light, the birds' branch.