CLINTON ST. QUARTERLY OLUCHE IS GIVING THEBIG BOYS FITS, HEIS SCARING THEM TOSUCHAN UNFUNNY DEGREE THATA VIGILANTE-TYPE GROUP CALLED “HONOR OF THE POLICE"DID NOT HESITA TE TO MURDER RENE GORLIN, COLUCHES CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR, Florence Souchet translated from the French by Richard Wiltshire WHAT’S going on in the fair kingdom of France? It seems that for the first time since the so- called glorious year of 1968—when French university students triggered a general strike—a fresh wind is ruffling that old democratic system on the other side of the Atlantic. Presidential elections are ap proaching, and the classical images of the gentlemen who make policy are reappearing on the TV screen, each looking—as well as he can manage— more chipper than the other, each taking pot-shots at the other, each trying to peddle his latest solution to get France and the French out of the economic swamp, each trying to convince the electorate that he is indispensable. But lo and behold, in the very middle of this parade of three-piece suits with tie there appears .. .a clown! A real one. A clown with a red nose and deliberately asinine air, wearing a T- shirt and striped overalls. And he is running for president! Well, after all, the United States elected a cowboy, a ham actor who can make people laugh or cry when necessary, one trained to assume the proper tone and who has put his trade at the service of politics. So France will shortly render its judgment on a end THECEB B i l l \fO R L IN X BODY WAS FOUND IN ANEMPTYLOT WITH TWO BULLETS IN HIS NECK, COLUCHE HIMSELF RECEIVESDAILY DEATH-THREATS FROM THESAME GROUP, HEALSO GETSABUNDANT CORRESPONDENCE INDIGNANTLY^ CONDEMNING HIS LANGUAGEAND IDEAS, IS THISMAN THE NEXT PRESIDENT OFFRANCE? clown, who is putting politics at the service of his trade! This is a clown who says “ no” not only to inflation, to the energy crisis, to government scandals, but also to the whole posture of the professional politicians. To support this clown, whose name is Coluche (suggesting vaguely the word coqueluche— “ whooping cough” ), is to reject the rules of the political game. But if Reagan, the cowboy, played his western scenario in suit and tie, Coluche is playing the clown’s role dressed for the part. However, this is a clown who has unusual things to say. And is saying them in a manner that shocks the majority, amuses quite a few and, over the long run, is scaring certain folks. For the first time since ’68, somebody is trying to puncture the balloon, throwing rocks at the Untouchables. Someone is attacking politicians and politics itself. “ Politicians,” says Coluche, “ are like Camembert cheese: they stink too much to swallow.” And, by extension, so does the whole notion of wealth, the state and its police. He plays the democratic game only to dismantle its mechanism, to expose its guts to ridicule. And he doesn’t mince words. Direct and crude throughout, he is acting like a collective conscience. He uses ideas of the intellectuals of May ’68, but rids them of their weight of tired verbiage. His language is the slang of the streets complete with its crudities and violence, and he says out loud what Frenchmen are really thinking but won’t dare utter: namely, their being fed up with parties and politics, their disgust with a so-called democratic system that some are already beginning to label “ The monarchy of King Giscard” and that others call a “ soft fascism.” Coluche denounces the scandals of the gang that has dominated the political scene for years, but he does it, not as usual opposition parties with delicate allusion and demagogic care not to lose any votes but by short, club-like sentences that are understood by even those who don’t want to understand. For example, in pointing out the mounting abuse of authority, he states: “ The last year I counted, there were more people shot by police than by gangsters.” (In this connection, he has just made a movie with the actor Gerard Depardieu called Inspector Screw-up, which lets the police have it with both barrels.) rels.) Coluche has thus made a lot of friends in a hurry. In December, 1980, a poll showed him to be the choice of 16% of the electorate. Where were these votes coming from? First of all, from the young; but also from those who wouldn’t vote at all, if he weren’t a candidate and who have suddenly realized that they are not alone in being fed up with scandal and corruption. They want to break their silence. (Is this a new form of politicization?) There are also those who had voted for Brice Lalande and guitars • amps • drums • sound systems • authorized music man dealer horseshoe music co. 2419 se 39th portland, Oregon (503) 235*7095 16324 sw bryant lake oswego (503) 635*6799 19
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