We all dream of the resistant quarter of an hour

On May 8, Jean Moulin, his fellow prisoners in Montluc prison: what could be stronger for a president in search of new impetus than to celebrate this “spirit of the Resistance” which vibrates in every Frenchman? Jean-Luc Melenchon would have us believe that the social body is first worked by the revolutionary idea. More powerful, and certainly more shared, is that of the Resistance that we like to see reignited within us.

Who hasn’t felt it by saying no to injustice, by standing up to a boss or by giving their hours to a cause? There is no finer way to be in the world than to bear the name of Jean Moulin, if only for a quarter of an hour. This Monday of commemoration, Emmanuel Macron blows on the flame of commitment: 3,000 jobs are created for young people wanting to invest in international solidarity.

There is no better way to cement a country than to remember that they were one, and thousands beside it, to take risks and carry a certain idea of ​​France. And of the Republic. “Jean Moulin and Marc Bloch tell us that the French Republic is by definition neither bad nor harmful, it is necessary”, says Emmanuel Macron in his speech. Mélenchon taken on the wrong foot; the unit is on the side of the Resistance.

Activists or resisters?

And yet, the appeal is double-edged. When they bang on saucepans and deny the president the right to appropriate the figure of Jean Moulin, the demonstrators do not live otherwise than as resistance fighters. When they challenge retirement at 64, block the construction of highways, spray works of art, they do so, sincerely, of course, in the name of their idea of ​​the common good.

Even if it means flirting with legality. Even Martin Hirsch, when he talks about his forthcoming novel (1), makes the link between General de Gaulle, Abbé Pierre and environmental activists. “To act, you have to either move the frame, or get out of the frame. Abbé Pierre said “I am not illegal, I precede the law which should change”, reports the one who worked with him for a long time (JDD).

Among the tappers of pans, same speech. “Jean Moulin is the symbol of disobedience to institutions when they take decisions contrary to the interests of the population and we are in this case today”, says an FO official quoted by “Le Parisien”.

Activists who think they are resistant spray a contested work at the Palais de Tokyo; the Head of State condemns “an attack on our values”. Resistance, what misunderstandings in your name!

(1). The Solastalgics”. Stock