Is Journalism Worth Dying For__ Final Dispatches - Anna Politkovskaya [158]
“The sea unites and brings together. It bears within itself the values of solidarity … The sea plays a great part in that freedom which Socialists bring to the world in the name of the all-round development of man … The sea is unbounded. It is open to all the winds of firm liberalism, from the rubbish tips on the shoreline to sailors left to fend for themselves … To conduct a policy imbued with the spirit of the sea means to reject liberal deviations … We want to avoid the submerged rocks of excessive liberalisation.”
And finally, “Let us save the sea from the ebbing and flowing tides of liberalism.” This soundbite summarises Jospin’s thoughts about the sea. It is the core of his politics, and if there was a special Guinness Book of Records for political demagogy, would undoubtedly be in it.
We need to translate all this from the idiom of French politics into something more comprehensible. What on earth was he talking about? What did he mean by the references to “firm liberalism,” “rejecting liberal deviations”? This was a uniquely French way of throwing a brick into the political garden of Jacques Chirac, the liberal President and Jospin’s main rival. By criticising him in this metaphorical manner, Jospin managed to avoid all mention of his name. By the local rules, this was considered very cool. And we thought he would talk about Chechnya!
The finale was simple, and followed the script of all election campaign finales. The last ebbings and flowings from the platform were greeted with an ovation. “Jospin – Président! Jospin – Président!” the front rows chanted to the rhythm of “Spartak – Champ-i-on!” A minute later The Candidate, in order to avoid any unpleasant contact with The People outside, was led off through the back door.
Returning to Paris very late that evening on Jospin’s plane, put at his disposal by the private air charter company Darta, the mood was positive as if after a good day’s work. Entirely acceptable wine was passed round, and Jospin’s PR team started singing their favorite songs with gusto. First, many times, “Comandante Che Guevara.” Secondly, a song of the Italian partisans. Thirdly, “Motivé,” a song of the French Communists, conveying the concept that “I am a person with motivation.: The lead singer was a young man who was Jospin’s Press Secretary. For the entire hour until we reached Le Bourget private airport near Paris, he kept the team alternating “Che Guevara,” “Bella Ciao,” “Motivé,” “Che Guevara,” “Bella Ciao”…
[In the 2002 presidential elections, Lionel Jospin made it through to the second round, before losing to Jacques Chirac and the leader of the Nationalists, Jean-Marie Le Pen.]
THE “WAVES” OF POLITICAL EMIGRATION FROM RUSSIA
After the rigours of Moscow, the orderly life of London quickly turns you back into a normal human being, someone with the ways of a free citizen.
I imagine many of our compatriots who, for the time being and against their will, find themselves in Great Britain must experience similar feelings. Here they at last settle back into an ordinary way of life denied them in Russia. They cease to jump at any sound resembling a gunshot, and even take the London Underground without a bodyguard.
The air of London is revivifying. The proof was not long in coming; I went to the theatre – just for the joy of it, not to be seen in society – to a local musical which has had an unbroken run of many years and where, accordingly, no self-respecting New Russian would be seen dead in Russia. London is different. As I was sitting down next to Akhmed Zakayev, the Special Envoy of President Aslan Maskhadov of Chechnya, who is awaiting the verdict of a British court in respect of the Russian Federation’s entirely political demand for his extradition, somebody turned round from the row in front and said