Saturday, March 22, 2025
A reminder
French MEP Raphaël Glucksmann responding to the White House press secretary’s attack after Glucksmann suggested France should reclaim the Statue of Liberty:
“Dear Americans, since the White House press secretary is attacking me today, I wanted to tell you this:
Our two peoples are intimately linked by history, by the blood we shed, and by our shared passion for freedom—symbolized by the Statue of Liberty, which France gifted to honor your glorious Revolution.
As the press secretary for this shameful administration said: without your nation, France would have ‘spoken German.’ In my case, it goes further: I would simply not be here if Americans hadn’t landed on our beaches in Normandy.
Our gratitude to these heroes and their sacrifices is eternal. But the America of these heroes fought against tyrants, it did not flatter them. It was the enemy of fascism, not the friend of Putin.
It helped the resistance, not attacked Zelensky. It celebrated science, not fired researchers for using banned words. It welcomed the persecuted, not targeted them. It was far—so far—from what your current president does, says, and embodies.
This America—faithful to the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, your America—is worth so much more than betrayal. More than the abandonment of Ukraine and Europe. More than xenophobia and obscurantism.
We in Europe love this nation to which we owe so much. And we know it will rise again. You will rise again. We are counting on you.
And that is why I said in a rally: if your government despises everything the Statue of Liberty symbolizes, we could symbolically reclaim it. It was a wake-up call.
No one, of course, will come and steal the Statue of Liberty. The statue is yours. But what it embodies belongs to all of us. And if your government no longer cares for the free world, we will take up the torch here in Europe.
Until we meet again in the fight for freedom and dignity, we will be the continuators of our shared history and the protectors of our greatest treasure: not copper and steel, but the freedom it represents.”
****************
A poem I wrote last year:
FIRST, THE ARM WITH THE TORCH WAS BUILT
In 1865 when the Union held,
in his mind's eye
Edouard de Laboulaye
spotted the light of a beacon
in the hand of a woman
all the way from France
what greater gift
what better friend
than one who calls forth
the truest self
again and again?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Posting Glucksmann's address is act of quiet subversiveness, Tabatha. I applaud your actions and your poem speaks to the original intent of the statue. More power to you.
Thank you, France, for calling "forth / (our) truest self / again and again." Thank you, Tabatha for being a beacon of Truth in These Times.
Powerful words "You will rise again. We are counting on you."
Yes, let's be people who can be counted on.
Glucksmann's response was beautifully written and points to the basic truth of the Statue of Liberty. And as he says: "We in Europe love this nation [America] to which we owe so much. And we know it will rise again. You will rise again. We are counting on you."
So let us be our "truest self."
Post a Comment