<nettime> A country without drug and without any free horizon

[chris@creanet.net (Christine Treguier)]

Subject: France: A country without drug and without any free horizon

Hello Nettimers

A quick "coup de colere" before lunch

Apart from beeing the unfortune land of the Coupe du Monde, France happens
to be a country with no free horizon, with no, or less and less, spirit of
freedom. I'm not even  talking about the freedom of not participating to
this bloody Coupe du Monde (which happens to be impossible if you are not
lucky enough to leave for a one month holiday), but about the very idea of
freedom of thinking and living.

What triggers my anger ? An already old ( Multimedia Supplment 3/4 May)
article published in Liberation entitled the "Hidden Face of Internet", or
so called Undernet. A certain guy, named Jerome, pretending to understand
the "libertarian Internet space" for which he says he has fought, is
describing his track of  the Undernet. "When you have spent week ends to
search for a site and finally find it, he says, you feel like a
drug-addict". How fine ! So, hackers and underground activistswould be
nothing but addicts to some secrecy dose. Just like Mai 68 is now presented
as a sickness, a disease, a pleague which we should get rid of, cured of.
That is the unfortunate result of the 3Oth anniversary celebration of it as
Philippe Solers wrote it in Le Monde of Tuesday June 9th.

About the "undernaut" the  journalist writes : He is caught by the fear of
not finding the sites anymore. Jerome adds : " I went away without my PC, to
desintoxicate, but I was "en manque"; When I came back to my place, the
first thing I did was to dive into the Undernet again." I would suggest
Jerome, that you get yourself a quick surgery and implant a modem into your
forehead. This would solve your problem.

And talking about drugs and addiction, I arrive to the second reason of my
anger. Our President Chirac going specially to the anti-drug meeting in USA
yesterday to warn the possible laxists who would be ready to loosen the
repression on drug consumers : "France will not allow that, I will not allow
that. We are part of the anti-drug campaign, this new hysteria which could
as well be controlled by the producing countries looking for new markets for
their over-production. Prohibition has worked very well in its time to
augment alcool consuming, hasn't it ? These last two years the discourse on
drugs had slightly changed in France, and one had started to hear more
subtle opinions on had and soft drugs. Lots of studies have proved that
there is very little addiction to hashish or ganja, and some benific
effects. Helas, three times helas ! We will not get the benefits of a ten
years' fight against conservatism and false-pretexts. We will not be
considered as responsible human beeings free to eat, smoke or drink whatever
we think can be good for us. We will not join the cortege of european
countries which have finally decided to liberalise their position on this
topic and at least try something new to handle the delicate problems it can
create. Chirac is our Don Quichotte, pointing at his lance at the ghost
ennemy : Netherland and its too laxist policy on drugs. I am sorry to say it
but the clouds are gathering on teh horizon. France stinks because it is
unable to choose inbetween its right and left hand, between a conservative
and a progressive, modern line.

So, I cannot say anything else but bravo to all the "empecheurs de tourner
en rond", the "fouteurs de merde", who will hopefully accelerate the antropy
principle and force our authorities to move forward. I mean the airplane
pilots (though their struggles is purely corporatist and selfish), the OSF
(Ondes sans frontieres) a freet pirat TV ( with a temporary authorization)
and all the others who silently or not resist to stupidity.

Christine
"On fait partie ou du probleme ou de la solution."   U.M.M.

Christine Treguier
90 avenue de Paris
92320 CHATILLON - FRANCE
Tel: 33- (0)1 47 35 65 48
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