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In a blink of an eye, 9 years have passed since Occupy Wall Street.
In September 2011, thousands of people poured into Wall Street in New York, USA, holding signs saying "We belong to the 99%", accusing society of injustice and the greed of the rich. The capital Washington, Chicago and other cities responded successively, and eventually spread to the world. It's a pity that after continuously refreshing the front page headlines of the world's major media, "Occupy Wall Street" suddenly disappeared, as if it had never appeared.
With just one simple fact, the movement was doomed from the start—it had no concrete appeal.
At that time, three years after the subprime mortgage crisis. The economic crisis, sparked by the greed and shortsightedness of the American elite, centered on Wall Street and quickly spread across the globe—company failures, workers unemployed, financial paralysis. The US government took action to rescue the market, and the most striking action was to inject liquidity into big companies and banks to ensure that they would not fail, thus effectively controlling the scale of the crisis.
Three years later, in the eyes of the bottom Americans, their lives have not improved, but the year-end bonuses of executives of big companies and Wall Street bankers have "recovered early" before them. "Why use our taxpayers' money to subsidize this group of 'criminals' who spawned the economic crisis?!" The American people were outraged.
"We belong to the 99% (of ordinary people)", the slogan sounds exciting enough. But what is the crowd on Wall Street against? In fact, they can't even tell.
Is it against bailing out big corporations and big banks? But if big business is allowed to collapse, every American's savings, investments, and pensions will be bloodbathed, the economy will take longer to recover, and everyone participating in the parade today will be hurt even more.
Is it against the entire financial system or the super corporations? That's even more absurd. It is the financial system and super corporations that guarantee America's status as a "superpower", thereby allowing ordinary Americans to enjoy a special benefit. As Liu Yu wrote in "The Water Level of Concepts", a group of people holding iPhone in their left hand, Starbucks coffee in the right, wearing jeans bought by Walmart, and going to eat at McDonald's at noon, angrily denounced the establishment and management of iPhone, Starbucks, Walmart And McDonald's "1%", somewhat funny.
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In a word, Occupy Wall Street is nothing but anger and no plan. It's been 9 years, but now its spirit ghosts roam the world.
It is in this context that the French film "Les Miserables" is so worth watching.
The story begins with the 2018 World Cup win in France. A moment of glory, but also the beginning of worries.
Pento, Chris, and Gwada are a three-person team in the Paris Police Department, responsible for the security management of Saint-Denis in the 93 departments on the outskirts of Paris. 93 Province is the place where the great writer Hugo wrote "Les Miserables". Today, more than 100 years later, the race here is complex, the territory is numerous, the drugs are rampant, and the security is fragile...
The poverty and weakness of the public sector in Paris is obvious to all, as evidenced by the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the delay in treatment.
Chris is the captain of the team of three, the old fritters in the Paris police force. In this complex environment, he has worked out a special way of working, which is sometimes rough, sometimes slick, and he is able to work well in various social groups. Therefore, he has been safe for many years.
On this day, a black Muslim kid stole a gypsy's lion. The Gypsies did not choose to call the police, but gathered a group of brothers to shout at the black man's territory, asking the black leader to hand over the lion.
Gypsies run circuses, and lions are just props to make money. In Paris, most black people believe in Islam, and the lion means sacred. Clearly, the theft has unique racial and religious connotations.
The two sides were at each other's throats, and seeing that a fight was inevitable, Chris took the responsibility of the city administrator, fired a warning shot, and ordered all parties to stop and get out, and he would find the lion for the gypsies.
The method is not difficult, and Chris quickly locked the little boy Issa who stole the lion through social networks. However, in the process of arresting Issa, he was besieged by a group of black children. In desperation, Gwada fired, and Issa was wounded by a rubber bullet, with a long cut on her tender face.
Even more unfortunately, the shooting of Issa was completely captured by another black child's drone.
Imagine that videos are uploaded to social networks, children, black people, Paris police, shooting... No one cares about the truth behind it. As long as these keywords are combined, the whole French mood will be ignited. I don't know how big a storm can be. .
It's over, and the three Paris policemen feel like they're being put on fire.
They must find the drone, destroy the video, find the lion, coax Issa, a boy who was beaten in the face by a rubber bullet, and stabilize the anger of the black community...
This series of missions must be fulfilled, making the plot full of tension and climaxes one after another.
By the way, don't forget, this is Paris, the Arc de Triomphe stands proudly there, and the dreams of Hermes, Dior and Chanel have not yet woken up. However, the film "Les Miserables" does not see the "flowing feast" written by Hemingway, and some are just endless crimes and unsolvable social deadlocks.
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The film begins with France winning the World Cup, which is a brilliant stroke.
In fact, French football has been poor and weak for decades. Until it began to accept people of color, it was the beginning of the turning point of French football. In 1998, France won the World Cup for the first time, and half of the troops were descendants of immigrants. 20 years later, French football has returned to its peak. The most dazzling stars in the team, Mbappe, Pogba, Kante, Umtiti, Dembele, are all black.
The black boy Mbappe is the biggest contributor to the French championship (especially the one that eliminated Messi, which made me cry for a while), and is also the hottest new star in football at the moment. But the beginning of the film is buried in such a scene.
A French white man said that he would rather give the Ballon d'Or (the most important award in world football) to Modric (World Cup runner-up, Croatian main force, white) than Mbappe.
This light-hearted stroke subtly revealed the simmering racial issues in Paris, paving the way for subsequent conflicts.
Perennial wars in Africa and terrorism in the Middle East have created a large number of refugees every year. France, often the first choice for refugees from Africa and the Middle East. The reason is very simple. France is guilty of many historical problems. Moreover, most of the colonial descendants can speak French, an African dialect accent "Bonjour!". You French don't open the country, how can you be embarrassed?
How can a diverse and complex group of people get along in a country? Samuel Huntington wrote a book, Clash of Civilizations, and you can see what he means by just reading the title.
Francis Fukuyama, a beloved disciple of Huntington, published The End of History and the Last Man in 1992. The core idea is this: Societies with different cultures will all arrive at the same The end point - an open and free market + a democratic and free country, this is the end of history.
At the end of the Cold War, the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and the West, led by the United States, was shrouded in victory sentiment. Fukuyama and his "The End of History and the Last Man" sounded groundbreaking and became the best banner for victory sentiment.
However, just 30 years later, needless to say, history is not over. Whether it's the rise of other institutions on the world stage, or the plight of markets and democracy itself, history is far from over.
As the starting point of the French Revolution, Paris has a stronger tradition of democracy and freedom than anyone else. In terms of the labor system, Parisians are often ridiculed, "half a year on vacation and half a year on a parade". In terms of social welfare, the state should guarantee every Frenchman's right to live. You see, the black kid from Les Misérables still wears full adidas and brand new World Cup winner t-shirts, even when he's not working and on dole. In terms of people's thinking, Parisians are always ready to pick up roadblocks and go to the streets to oppose the Paris government. The restraint and supervision of public power cannot be said to be incomplete.
From the perspective of "Les Miserables", it is obvious that the life that the people have won is not so bright.
The gypsies lost the lion, and instead of looking for the Paris police, they organized a racial fight. Black kids, free to play football, swarm when a three-man squad arrests Issa, and get revenge for Issa by masking. Their time has been free, but their eyes have also been furious.
The rights of black people have been adequately promoted and protected, but it is strange that from the perspective of life circumstances, everyone feels that they are victims of the current system. This is the main emotional driver of the film's tragic ending.
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On the first day of the opening of the Wuhan Fangcai Hospital, a photo circulated widely. A male patient wears a mask and reads a book while lying on a hospital bed. The one in his hand is another book by Fukuyama, "The Origin of Political Order: From Pre-Human Era to the French Revolution".
The "end of history conclusion" is too refined and self-confident. Whenever the Western system encounters problems, it will be dug up and whipped by Fukuyama's academic enemies. Fukuyama, whose face was slightly swollen, had to come out and say a few words. This "Origin" was regarded by some as a 180-degree turn of his views, and some, well-meaningly understood, was his own supplement to the "End of History". The point of Origins is that democracy and freedom alone cannot do everything, and that "nation-building" is also needed - in simple terms, the organizational capacity of the government, and, in simpler terms, to ensure democracy and freedom, it is also necessary for the state to do Good defense, taxation, public security, and public service.
It is a pity that from 1992 to 2020, the times have changed, and the public has lost interest and patience in the big brick works of old scholars like Fukuyama. "Origins" is far from the vibration and discussion that "End of History" has brought.
Whether in the East or the West, the obsession with "slogans" has trumped the search for truth.
Due to the death of Floyd, a black man, caused by the police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the United States set off an extremely turbulent demonstration movement. At present, protests have broken out in 50 states in the United States. 62,000 National Guard troops were used and 1.35 people were arrested. million people.
Misinterpreting facts and pandering to emotions are probably the common abilities of every careerist in the East and the West. This is obviously a case of improper law enforcement, and it can be handled according to the current law, but it has really become a large-scale political performance. Freud had a long criminal history, and his origins, and his death, were not driven by the pursuit of equality. But that didn't stop the speculators from kneeling down and making him a hero.
Biden said that by electing him president, he would repeal systemic discriminatory policies. But where is the "systemic" discrimination? From Lincoln's Abolition Proclamation to Kennedy's ordering of the National Guard to escort blacks to school, institutional discrimination has long been eradicated. There are more real reasons for the suffering of black people, but everyone turns a blind eye.
Racial equality, this topic will always have traffic, there will never be risks, but it will never have substance.
This is just another "Occupy Wall Street".
A few days ago, HBO's "Gone with the Wind" went offline. This film, which was released in 1939, was "digging a grave" and criticized as racial discrimination. Google Chrome will no longer use words such as "Blacklist" and "Whitelist", but instead "Blocklist" and "Allowlist".
Political correctness in the United States has reached new heights.
In this context, watch "Les Miserables" again, this film said a little bit of good words for the Paris police and asked the black people in Paris to do a little reflection.
It's simply "outrageous".
Wu
Yes, the name of the film brings to mind the novel "Les Miserables" written by Victor Hugo more than 100 years ago.
Jean Valjean served 19 years in prison for stealing half a loaf of bread in order to support his sister's seven children. The trials of fate were enough to turn him into a man full of malice. But in the end, under the bishop's on-demand broadcast, he returned to kindness, spent the rest of his life helping others, and even eventually influenced Javert, a policeman who had been chasing him all his life.
Hugo wrote a story about love.
But the movie "Les Miserables" is not.
Issa decided to stand up and take revenge on all those who had bullied her. He's no longer the black kid who stole lions for fun, the long scar on his face with a rubber bullet, now his badge. He and his fellow black children pushed three Paris policemen to the edge of desperation. Issa stood on the steps, holding a lit Molotov cocktail, high up like a winner.
Pento (the male protagonist), the most "good guy" in the three-person group, pointed a gun at him and repeatedly shouted to Issa: Drop it, listen to me, drop it.
The two sides faced off. The movie came to an abrupt end. On the screen is a sentence from Victor Hugo's epic novel "Les Miserables", that there are no bad crops and no bad people, only bad peasants.
In other words, it is society that makes it all.
In any context, pointing your finger up, you see, is society's fault—the easiest, least risky conclusion.
Probably, even if Hugo, the great writer, did not know how to end the movie.
Hopefully, we can all live in a society where the rich feel safe and the poor see hope.
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