Emmanuel Macron called on Monday, August 17, the French to show unity and fraternity in the face of the health crisis and its consequences, drawing a parallel with the spirit that led to the liberation of France 76 years ago.
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“ At a time when our country, like many others, is going through an unprecedented crisis, the health crisis requires that we all protect each other, that we are each responsible for all ”, declared the Head of State while participating , as every year for the past three years, at the anniversary ceremony of the liberation of Bormes-les-Mimosas (Var), the town in which Fort Brégançon is located, owned by the State where he spends his holidays.
Analogy between Covid and D-Day
For the president, the current situation presents analogies with that which led to the Allied landings in Provence in August 1944 and to the victory over the Nazis. He praised in particular this “ unity, this ability to act together, to give of one's time ” which the fighters of that time but also “ the country ” have shown since the start of the Covid-19 crisis.
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" This is what we will have to continue to take up in the weeks and months to come, given the resumption of the epidemic, faced with economic and social difficulties, faced with the international crises that our country will inevitably have " to face, said he added. “ We live in a magnificent Republic (...) She is generous, she is protective. It gives a lot more rights than in so many other countries and we forget it so often. But before the rights, there are the duties, ”he insisted.
"Do not try to debunk"
During his speech, Emmanuel Macron briefly returned to the memorial controversy that erupted at the beginning of the summer after the death of George Floyd, a black man, during a violent police arrest in the United States. Anti-racist activists then attacked monuments and statues linked to colonial history or to the slave trade.
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“ Our history is a block, ” said the president. “ We are still learning, our historians continue to reveal the truth, to better understand, historiography continues on its way. But let's not try to debunk statues and erase names ”. “ This is not the French nation. Nor is this the Republic, which would consist in reading our past with the eyes of today, in confusing the fighting, ”he added.
He then insisted on the role played in the Landing in Provence and the liberation of France by the “ fighters from both shores of the Mediterranean ”, by “ these soldiers from Africa ”.