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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nAs I read it, I recalled a professor I had in college. She was from Paris, teaching French at the City University of New York in 1968. She sometimes talked about de Gaulle and the Second World War. Even we jaded New Yorker natives sensed an emotional foundation under her words. I recall she looked old enough to have had first hand experience of wartime France. I have a picture of her in my mind, standing at the front of the lecture hall, talking about de Gaulle in London, telling us how he was telling everyone \u201cJe suis la France,\u201d and nobody believed him, even though, she said, it was true. I thought of her as I read the words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nLes chefs qui, depuis de nombreuses ann\u00e9es, sont \u00e0 la t\u00eate des arm\u00e9es fran\u00e7aises, ont form\u00e9 un gouvernement. Ce gouvernement, all\u00e9guant la d\u00e9faite de nos arm\u00e9es, s\u2019est mis en rapport avec l\u2019ennemi pour cesser le combat. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\nCertes, nous avons \u00e9t\u00e9, nous sommes, submerg\u00e9s par la force m\u00e9canique, terrestre et a\u00e9rienne, de l\u2019ennemi. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\nInfiniment plus que leur nombre, ce sont les chars, les avions, la tactique des Allemands qui nous font reculer. Ce sont les chars, les avions, la tactique des Allemands qui ont surpris nos chefs au point de les amener l\u00e0 o\u00f9 ils en sont aujourd\u2019hui. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\nMais le dernier mot est-il dit? L\u2019esp\u00e9rance doit-elle dispara\u00eetre? La d\u00e9faite est-elle d\u00e9finitive? Non! <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\nCroyez-moi, moi qui vous parle en connaissance de cause et vous dis que rien n\u2019est perdu pour la France. Les m\u00eames moyens qui nous ont vaincus peuvent faire venir un jour la victoire. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\nCar la France n\u2019est pas seule! Elle n\u2019est pas seule! Elle n\u2019est pas seule! Elle a un vaste Empire derri\u00e8re elle. Elle peut faire bloc avec l\u2019Empire britannique qui tient la mer et continue la lutte. Elle peut, comme l\u2019Angleterre, utiliser sans limites l\u2019immense industrie des \u00c9tats-Unis. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\nCette guerre n\u2019est pas limit\u00e9e au territoire malheureux de notre pays. Cette guerre n\u2019est pas tranch\u00e9e par la bataille de France. Cette guerre est une guerre mondiale. Toutes les fautes, tous les retards, toutes les souffrances, n\u2019emp\u00eachent pas qu\u2019il y a, dans l\u2019univers, tous les moyens n\u00e9cessaires pour \u00e9craser un jour nos ennemis. Foudroy\u00e9s aujourd\u2019hui par la force m\u00e9canique, nous pourrons vaincre dans l\u2019avenir par une force m\u00e9canique sup\u00e9rieure. Le destin du monde est l\u00e0. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\nMoi, G\u00e9n\u00e9ral de Gaulle, actuellement \u00e0 Londres, j\u2019invite les officiers et les soldats fran\u00e7ais qui se trouvent en territoire britannique ou qui viendraient \u00e0 s\u2019y trouver, avec leurs armes ou sans leurs armes, j\u2019invite les ing\u00e9nieurs et les ouvriers sp\u00e9cialistes des industries d\u2019armement qui se trouvent en territoire britannique ou qui viendraient \u00e0 s\u2019y trouver, \u00e0 se mettre en rapport avec moi. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\nQuoi qu\u2019il arrive, la flamme de la r\u00e9sistance fran\u00e7aise ne doit pas s\u2019\u00e9teindre et ne s\u2019\u00e9teindra pas. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\nDemain, comme aujourd\u2019hui, je parlerai \u00e0 la Radio de Londres. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Such a powerful message! I translated as best I could for Husband, who got a little misty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The great width of the Champs Elys\u00e9es itself is extraordinary. In a previous world, it surely would have had a more distinctly French feel. Now, that feeling is punctured by signs of the global marketplace: Apple, BOSS, McDonald\u2019s, Louis Vuitton. However, it is images of the panhandlers that stick with me from that walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beggars and panhandlers are nothing out of the ordinary in large urban settings. In Paris, some are aggressive and come up to you and ask directly for money. I had already encountered those at Metro and bus stops in my travels around the city. They were pushy and invaded my personal space in a way that New York panhandlers do not. I\u2019d move away, ending the encounter. In New York and Newark, I used to have extra change in my pockets just to give to these people. I once mentioned this to Betsy. She told me that a much more effective way of helping such people is to make donations to organizations that can use the money to assist them more efficiently than I could by giving 4-bit donations to random individuals. So that\u2019s what I do now. I know the money will be put to good use and my skeptical friends are satisfied that I\u2019m not being scammed on the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Paris, most of the panhandlers looked like non-white non-Europeans. Along the Champs Elys\u00e9es, they were mostly Arab. Some of them had signs made of the cardboard with little stories on them describing how they were Syrian and needed money to feed their children. Some of them sat up holding their signs in one hand, little paper cups in the other to receive money. But the women who prostrated themselves in the middle of the sidewalk next to their begging cups, face down with their arms stretched out in front of them, that was something different. Even if you think it\u2019s all an act, you have to acknowledge the poignancy of it: Begging, face down, accepting whatever comes to you from whoever is passing by, not knowing how much or who until the end of your time on the ground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All, incongruously, in the middle of one of the wealthiest streets in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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