European Tribune - Community, Politics & Progress.

Orwell Sniggers [UPDATE]

by afew
Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 03:18:58 AM EST

Not much noticed in the Salon yesterday, the photographic evidence that Nicolas Sarkozy was there on the 9th November twenty years ago, heroically smashing a breach in the Wall of Shame with a hammer (no anvil).

The photo's on Sarko's Facebook wall (where else?), along with the legend of young Nicolas' 9th November 1989. Where we learn:

Update [2009-11-10 3:11:37 by afew]: This story is all over the place in France this morning. Alain Juppé, who was supposed to have been there, is evasive. Bernard Kouchner, I heard half an hour ago on France Inter, said he systematically believes the President, and pompously refused to discuss this "derisory" matter (meaning Sarko's Facebook self-glorification is derisory, Bernard?). Others step up to support Sarko's version, but it's pretty clear no one believes them.

Nicolas Sarkozy | Facebook

Le 9 novembre au matin, nous nous intéressons aux informations qui arrivent de Berlin, et semblent annoncer du changement dans la capitale divisée de l'Allemagne. Nous décidons de quitter Paris avec Alain Juppé ...pour participer à l'événement qui se profile. Arrivés à Berlin ouest, nous filons vers la porte de Brandebourg où une foule enthousiaste s'est déjà amassée à l'annonce de l'ouverture probable du mur.

On the morning of 9th November, we got interested in news coming from Berlin, that seemed to announce change in the divided capital of Germany. With Alain Juppé, we decided to leave Paris... to join in the event that was shaping up. We got to West Berlin and went straight to the Brandenburg Gate where an enthusiastic crowd had already gathered following the announcement of the probable opening of the wall.

But...

Alain Auffray, on his Libé blog, as a witness of events in Berlin at the time, tells us how the story doesn't ring true.

For one thing, says Auffray, there was no news on the morning of the 9th, not even in Berlin, let alone Paris. That people began to be allowed to cross the border freely was a surprise development that came late in the evening. West German media only began talking about the possibility after 20.00 that evening, and it was after 23.00 that such a crowd of East Germans began to overwhelm the Bornholmer Strasse crossing that the guards decided to raise the barrier - before any official announcement had been made.

What's more, the Brandenburger Tor wasn't a centre of activity that night, and no crowds were massing on the West side at all. The crowds were on the eastern side, and not at the Brandenburg Gate.

The news spread from the next day on, the Wall was attacked, celebrities large and small headed for Berlin... Sarkozy no doubt among them. A follower, not a leader.

A rewritten, smoothed-out, post-op photo op. Orwell sniggers in his sleep.

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Orwell Sniggers [UPDATE] | 36 comments (36 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Orwell Sniggers (4.00 / 2)

Oh well, who cares, what does it matter one day early or one day late - he was there and he has the photo to prove it. </snark>

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Nov 9th, 2009 at 04:21:12 PM EST

Re: Orwell Sniggers (4.00 / 9)

This needs some serious reframing.

If he was seriously intent on breaking down the wall he could have gone at it from the blank East Berlin side.

Or hell - he had money he could've hired a crane.

No: instead we see him hammering away a piece of the extended spontaneous artwork that was the west side of the wall so he could take it home as a souvenir.

Sarkozy was one of the many looters destroying the largest contiguous contemporary cultural work that West Berlin had to offer for his own personal aggrandizement.

Sarkozy the vandal. Sarkozy the looter.

Funny how people don't change.

Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine - Patti Smith

by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Mon Nov 9th, 2009 at 04:46:02 PM EST

Libé is having a field day, doing going journalism (4.00 / 9)

to prove that the various versions (by Sarkozy, his PM Fillon and former PM Juppé and other accomplices) are full of shit

http://www.liberation.fr/politiques/0101602055-ou-etait-nicolas-sarkozy-le-9-novembre-1989

http://www.liberation.fr/politiques/0101602068-chute-du-mur-la-bande-a-sarko-se-prend-les-pieds-dans -le-tapis

Sniggers is right. They're pathetic. Some of the readers' comments are quite funny... And some rather more serious:

Ich bin Berliner, geboren in West Berlin in 1969. Ich war am Abend des 9. November am Checkpoint Charlie.
Am Vormittag des 9.11.1989 konnte niemand, wirklich NIEMAND voraussehen, dass ein Missverständnis bei einer öffentlichen Meldung einer Versammlung von DDR-Politikern, betreffend die Reisefreiheit der DDR-Bürger, nur ein paar Stunden später den Fall der Berliner Mauer zur Folge hat. (Übrigens behauptet das auch kein Mensch auf der Welt, ausser Ms. Sarkozy.) Die Mauer ist wegen eines Missverständnis' gefallen!
Der Checkpoint Charlie war am Abend um c.a. 22. Uhr noch geschlossen (Bornholmer Straße war seit 20.16 Uhr offen). Auf der West-Berliner Seite waren zu viele Menschen, die Polizisten der DDR (Volkspolizisten) hatten Angst, dass die Massen Richtung Ost-Berlin drücken. Sie wollten (durften) aber nur die Ost-Berliner raus lassen, uns aber nicht rein nach Ost-Berlin. C.a um 23. Uhr wichen die Menschen auf der West-Seite zurück und die Volkspolizisten öffneten die Grenzbarriere. Aber eben nur in eine Richtung. Für uns West-Berliner war es weiterhin nicht möglich, nach Ost- Berlin zu gehen. Niemand ist an diesem Abend von Westen nach Osten gegangen. Niemand.
Es ist außerdem absolut sicher (todsicher), dass es auf der Ost-Berliner Seite keine Graffities gab. Niemand ausser Grenzpolizisten konnte sich der Mauer von Osten her nähern, er wäre sofort erschossen worden. Dieses Foto ist garantiert nicht am 9.11.1989 aufgenommen worden. Es ist auch nicht in Ost-Berlin aufgenommen worden.
Missbrauchen sie nicht MEINE Geschichte, Ms.S. !

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Mon Nov 9th, 2009 at 05:31:30 PM EST

That would be (none / 0)

doing "good" journalism...

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Mon Nov 9th, 2009 at 05:32:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Quick and dirty translation: (4.00 / 7)

I am from Berlin, born in West Berlin in 1969. I was at the Checkpoint Charlie in the afternoon of the 9th of November.
In the morning of 9.11.1989 nobody, absolutely NOBODY, could have predicted that a misunderstanding regarding a public announcement from a gathering of DDR-politicians regarding the freedom of travel for DDR citizens, would cause the fall of the Berlin wall just a few hours later. (Incidentally, that means "nobody in the entire world," with the alleged exception of Mr. Sarkozy.) The wall came came down on a misunderstanding.
Checkpoint Charlie was still closed at 10 pm (Bornholmer Strasse was open since 8:16 pm). There were too many people on the western side - the policemen from the DDR (Volkspolizisten) were afraid that the masses would press towards East Berlin. They only wanted (or were only allowed) to let the East-Berliners out, not to allow us [West-Berliners] into East Berlin. Around 11 pm the crowd [at Brandenburger Tor] drew back, and the Volkspolizisten opened the border crossing. But still only in one direction. It was still not possible for us West-Berliners to go to East Berlin. Nobody went from west to east on that evening. Nobody. It is furthermore absolutely certain (dead certain), that there was no graffiti on the East Berlin side. Nobody except the border guards could get close to the east side of the wall - they would have been shot. This photo is certainly not taken on 9.11.1989. It is also not taken in East Berlin.
Do not abuse MY history, Mr. S.!

- Jake

"Terraforming your own planet to make it uninhabitable hardly counts as epic win." - ThatBritGuy

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Mon Nov 9th, 2009 at 06:04:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Quick and dirty translation: (4.00 / 5)

The importance of this is that Sarkozy claims (in the Facebook account) that he and the intrepid Gaullists went through to the East that night and attacked the Wall.

In fact what the photo shows is Sarko chipping a bit of artwork from the western side. On any date you like from the 10th to the 16th, which is now being quoted in France as the real date Sarko and Co went to Berlin.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 01:31:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Orwell Sniggers (4.00 / 4)

Isn't that Tony Blair next to him?

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Mon Nov 9th, 2009 at 10:51:27 PM EST

LOL (4.00 / 2)

It's François Fillon, actually, now his PM.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 03:35:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Even stranger is the person in the white coat... (4.00 / 2)

to the right of the picture in the background.

By a bizarre quirk of chance, I'm nearly certain it is of a 22-year-old Carla Bruni in West Berlin for a Karl Lagerfeld fashion shoot.

by Magnifico on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 05:04:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Orwell Sniggers [UPDATE] (4.00 / 10)

Daniel Schneidermann's comment on this (by email, so no link), is that the MSM aren't saying anything much (TF1, owned by Sarko's buddy Martin Bouygues, presented images from a video shot a week later, and said it was the 9th...)

He wonders if it isn't right to ignore a minor matter, or just to laugh about it. Or...

And he offers us this historical pic:

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 03:36:32 AM EST

Re: Orwell Sniggers [UPDATE] (4.00 / 7)

I think you all are being very unfair to this politician Sarkozy, whose presence at Yalta shows he's a bit older than one realized. Taking snigger shots at older people who happen to be politicians is like making fun of bankers doing god's work.

Selective Memory Onset Goebbels Syndrome (SMOGS) strikes ever deeper into the daily reality of old people, but it remains very subtle as it slowly develops over time. At first one is hardly cognizant of the workings of the disease, as it's progress through the brain is so slow. Poor Nikolas is likely not even yet aware of the beginnings of SMOGS coursing through his synapses.

This affliction gets short shrift in the media jumble of today's manipulated reality, but it strikes viciously hard at politicians, whose memory and grasp of reality are not top fit in the best of circumstances, and can hardly be expected to remember precisely on which side of what wall when.

Some of you may get older as well, and then you'll remember to be less forgetful about the ravages of SMOGS. If you were more like Tony Bliar, you'd have more compassion for minor misplacements of reality over time.

Que Sera Sera, whatever might be has been.

Skennah Kowa

by Crazy Horse on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 04:16:10 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Orwell Sniggers [UPDATE] (4.00 / 3)

I find Sarko's signature smile really unnerving. It's like he can't hide the fact that he knows the joke is on us.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 04:38:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]

He is a very serious man (4.00 / 5)

by Magnifico on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 04:55:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: He is a very serious man (4.00 / 3)

Is that a picture from his mental hospital?

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 05:04:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Orwell Sniggers [UPDATE] (4.00 / 3)

Migeru:

It's like he can't hide the fact that he knows the joke is on us.

well it is!

i see the same revealing prepotenza in gordo's louche leers, bliar's smirking disingenuousness, berlu's comical narcissism, they're all actors and can't keep their masks from slipping occasionally.

they're there to be unctuous, commanding, whatever the public projects its needs to be for a leader, but the strain is hideous, and it sometimes shows...

"Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do." Jim Hightower

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 06:05:52 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Ségolène Royal joked (4.00 / 7)

that it was good for Sarkozy that he did not claim to be at the Bastille on 14 July because he'd have more trouble spinning that one...

http://desirsdavenir.blog.fr/2009/11/09/royal-heureusement-que-nicolas-sarkozy-n-a-pas-pretendu-etre -la-le-jour-de-la-prise-de-la-bastille-parce-que-je-ne-sais-pas-comment-il-s-en-serai-7340282/

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 04:53:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Orwell Sniggers [UPDATE] (none / 1)

The Yalta picture is from Le Post: Sarkozy et le mur de Berlin: vos meilleures parodies - LePost.fr

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 05:06:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]

The government spokesman (4.00 / 8)

was on France-info all news radio this morning, and he furiously back-pedaled, saying that the date was irrelevant and what mattered was that Sarkozy was "associated" to such an important event.

France-Info has a new bulletin every 7 minutes, and in each of those I heard the journalists poked fun at the various politico's inconsistencies or outright lies.

These people were already public personae then, and they were in the media all the times - tons of unimpeachable sources are making a joke of their claims (Juppé was in the morning in Colombey, for a ceremony to mark de Gaulle's death, and the next day at the national assembly; his memoirs published a few years ago note that he was in Berlin on 16 November, but have no mention of him there before; one of the participants claimed they went to Berlin by train, after having heard 'in the morning' that things were happening over there; etc, etc...

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 03:39:56 AM EST

Re: The government spokesman (4.00 / 6)

Is it possible that politicians have not realised yet that the same surveillance they wish to impose on their unworthy subjects can be applied to them? One would have thought that it was obvious - but spincidents like this show they really don't get it.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 04:32:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The government spokesman (4.00 / 2)

Wikipedia: Social software as surveillance and sousveillance

Social software such as Facebook and MySpace aid surveillance by encouraging people to publish their interests and their friendship networks. They also aid sousveillance by making this information available to peer networks as well as to the authorities.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 04:36:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The government spokesman (4.00 / 2)

A double-sided coin - as usual.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 04:55:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The government spokesman (4.00 / 2)

I like Möbius strip, myself...

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 05:04:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The government spokesman (none / 0)

Good metaphor.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 05:23:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The government spokesman (none / 1)

Infinitely better ;-)

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 08:53:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The government spokesman (4.00 / 3)

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 09:06:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The government spokesman (none / 0)

I'd do a diary on the Möbian Mind, if I didn't have so many RW deadlines ;-)

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 10:15:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Orwell Sniggers [UPDATE] (4.00 / 3)

European Tribune - Orwell Sniggers [UPDATE]

Others step up to support Sarko's version, but it's pretty clear no one believes them.

What is Martine Aubry saying?

First Secretary of the French Socialist party (PS), Martine Aubry, has a two-page interview today in the popular Sunday paper, Le Journal du dimanche. It looks as if she's decided it's time to start rolling out some firepower, Sarkozy's motor misfiring at the moment and regional elections ahead, where the left has a lot to lose. And the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall leads her into a little historical analysis, which is more than the PS has dared come up with for a while.

It looks like attacking Sarko on being a fantasist might be profitable...

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 04:46:18 AM EST

Re: Orwell Sniggers [UPDATE] (4.00 / 3)

Well, independently of this Wall incident, Sarko's iron grip on the media cycle has definitely slipped lately. I don't think Aubry needs to mention it, there are plenty of other communicational avenues at work on that. It is however time to attack Sarkozy, and I felt she was right to set the attack in a broader historical assault on what she calles ultraliberalism. She can take the higher ground.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 05:29:11 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Orwell Sniggers [UPDATE] (4.00 / 3)

I have heard iit said that once the public starts to laugh at a politician it's all over for him or her.

Hey, Grandma Moses started late!

by LEP (rafifoon@yahoo.com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 04:48:40 AM EST

Re: Orwell Sniggers [UPDATE] (4.00 / 3)

But if you think of Dubya, you realize it depends which public, or how much of the public...

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 05:31:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Orwell Sniggers [UPDATE] (4.00 / 2)

I'm not sure we were laughing at Bush, at least during his first term; many of us were frightened.

Hey, Grandma Moses started late!

by LEP (rafifoon@yahoo.com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 06:08:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Orwell Sniggers [UPDATE] (none / 1)

I was definitely not laughing after his reelection either...

In 2008 he was tryly pathetic, though.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 06:26:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Orwell Sniggers [UPDATE] (4.00 / 3)

You can laugh and be frightened at once. He was ridiculous too, with his multiple misspeaking incidents, falling off his bike, choking on pretzels, etc. He was easy to make fun of. Unlike Darth Cheney.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 07:01:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Orwell Sniggers [UPDATE] (none / 1)

Unlike Dubya, Sarkozy is laughed at in the mainstream media, and probably by a majority of French people.

"Ce qui vient au monde pour ne rien troubler ne mérite ni égards ni patience." René Char

by Melanchthon on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 08:51:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]

The photographer has been found (4.00 / 4)

and he says the picture was taken on the 10th.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 05:10:25 PM EST

Here is the proof he was there: (4.00 / 3)

"Ce qui vient au monde pour ne rien troubler ne mérite ni égards ni patience." René Char

by Melanchthon on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 at 05:40:16 PM EST

Orwell Sniggers [UPDATE] | 36 comments (36 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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