Passé Simple – La Suisse et le colonialisme.
What if we call it like it is? Let’s talk about the fate of thousands of black people. Let’s show the color of their skin.
Let’s face reality and stop pretending we were not part of it.
I titled this collage: “A certain politics.” In french, the idiom « la politique de l’autruche » (The ostrich politics) is very often used to designate a person or group of people who prefer not to face a crisis, but rather pretend it does not exist because they don’t see it. While there were certainly no ostriches in the cotton fields, lots of people preferred to bury their heads in the sand so they wouldn’t face the inhumane precepts of that time.
This Passé Simple issue takes us back to those not so glorious but essential times of knowledge so we don’t repeat, recreate, or dehumanize again.
From anecdotes to archived historical facts, Passé Simple takes us into a not-so-simple past, one that we often forget too quickly, reminding us we should always feel concerned, even when we are not direclty involved.
A huge thank you to Christine Mercier and JustinFavrod of Passé Simple for their trust, one more time as they say 😉 These historical dives teach us, sometimes shake us, but always for a better future.
Passé simple is a monthly magazine dealing with the French-speaking part of Switzerland’s past. Its vocation is to address all audiences and to invite a large number of specialists from all kinds of backgrounds. Apolitical and non-confessional, it aims to be both instructive and pleasant. It deals with various subjects, from the origin of wine in Valais to the fate of General Dufour, from the recipe of the Malakoff to the creation of the canton of Jura. The periodical devotes a large part to the history of art, mentalities, literature, wars, science, economics and politics. Passé simple also deals with events that ocurred from prehistory to the year 2000. The magazine favors narrative over demonstration. Its baseline says: « It happened close to yours, but slightly before. »
If you wish to know more about Passé simple and/or subscribe: www.passesimple.ch