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Politics

从德雷福斯到唐纳德

Mar 5, 2020 Nina L. Khrushcheva

纽约——1977年逃离祖国躲避法定强奸罪的刑罚判决，法裔波兰电影制片人罗曼·波兰斯基迄今为止在美国仍然是贱民。但这绝不意味着他无法深刻理解这个国家。他的最新影片军官和间谍巧妙地捕捉到了一个被谎言和阴谋所吞噬、被蛊惑人心的政客所领导并被不敢为捍卫国家价值观而大声疾呼的无能精英所背叛的国家的狂热氛围。

这样的描述适用于唐纳德·特朗普总统领导下的美国，同样也适用于波兰斯基影片中的背景：美好时代时期的法国，当时埃菲尔铁塔还刚刚落成，而后印象派依然还占据主导。那时候的法国和今天的美国一样，都毋庸置疑地拥有世界文化中心的地位。但当然，阴暗面也同样存在着。

影片中，波兰斯基揭露了德雷福斯事件背后的肮脏故事，1894年犹太裔陆军上校阿尔弗雷德·德雷福斯因叛国指控被定罪后，歇斯底里和愚昧的反犹太主义充斥着法国。随着波兰斯基的讲述，观众们不仅上了一堂历史课，而且还对一个正在自我分裂的社会所具备的大众心理有了深刻的领悟。

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j. von Hettlingen Mar 11, 2020

Nina L. Khrushcheva says Roman Polanski’s new film “An officer and a spy” draws parallels between the Trump era in the US, and the “belle époque” in France. In 1895, under the shadow of war and rife with antisemitism, the Jewish captain Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of espionage, followed by public humiliation, exile and solitary incarceration on Devil's Island. The film gives a solid account of a falsely accused Dreyfus, who was eventually exonerated.
Back then, the “febrile atmosphere” in France “consumed by lies and conspiracies, led by incendiary demagogues, and betrayed by spineless elites….too afraid to speak up in defense of national values,” applies also to the US under Trump. Watching the film, the viewer “gets not just a history lesson but also a profound look at the mass psychology of a society that is tearing itself apart” – a déja vu experience under Trump, who “came to power by inciting hysteria among the whites,” instilling fear, sowing social discord, and declaring war on the country’s institutions, media and those who oppose him.
The author says, “the Dreyfusards and the anti-Dreyfusards – the revolutionaries and the reactionaries – were each fighting for their own idea of France and were blind to any other. One side wanted to restore the old order; the other was desperate to fend off counterrevolution and the undoing of all the reforms since 1789” – an infighting not unlike what is going on across the US. The country is more divided than ever, gridlocked over social issues, race, gender and the economy.
The film shows another parallel: Georges Picquart - an officer - “could not remain silent after discovering that the key piece of evidence against Dreyfus was a forgery, and his resolve was strengthened when the French General Staff still insisted on Dreyfus’s guilt even when they knew the identity of the real culprit (one Major Ferdinand Esterhazy). Likewise, Colonel Alexander Vindman, the US National Security Council employee who testified about Trump’s abuse of power in the Ukraine scandal that led to Trump’s impeachment, could not look the other way, and stood firm in the face of abuse and threats.”
Unfortunately the spineless Republicans refused to “stand alongside” Vindman. And there was no Émile Zola to champion Dreyfus’s cause. Zola’s famous open letter, “J’Accuse” shamed the countriy’s “complicit elites for their lies and corruption." Former officials in the administration – James Mathis, John Kelly, and John Bolton would rather “put their personal interests first, remaining mostly silent (perhaps, at least in Bolton’s case, to boost book sales.”
The author points out “an even more dismaying parallel: an epidemic of elite corruption that makes the broader crisis possible in the first place. In the Dreyfus Affair, a savagely right-wing press fanned the flames of anti-Semitism and intrigue among elites, just as Fox News does today against Trump’s enemies. Owing to these malign efforts, truth itself becomes blurred, and politics assumes an existential character.”
Republicans’ shamelessness is a marvel to behold. During the impeachment proceedings, some fawning admirers portrayed Trump as Alfred Dreyfus. They accused the intelligence community and his opponents of propagating a false narrative about the Trump campaign colluding with Russians. They were outraged that Trump was called a “traitor,” and that he misled the American people. They claimed the Democrats made Trump the Alfred Dreyfus of the 21st century: a completely innocent man, framed by his own government because of who he was (Dreyfus, a Jew, was the victim of French anti-Semitism) and not what he did.
“Following his philippic against Dreyfus’s tormentors, Zola was driven into exile in London. But he remained hopeful that ‘some day, France will thank me for having helped to save her honor.’
The author hopes that those “senior US figures who have soiled their own honor by serving Trump, betraying institutions like the US military that they proclaim to love, still have time to save their country’s honor.”
It looks as though these people do want to remove Trump. Yet they would rather let the voters decide over Trump’s fate in November, in order to avoid adding more fuel to the fire that Trump had set since he took office.
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P. Kamath Mar 6, 2020

“...Most depressing of all, though, is the fact that no senior figure in the US has come forward to stand alongside Vindman....” Very True. But then, is there a country in human history where the triumphant invader-ruler didn’t get his share of collaborators, accomplices, etc. Look what happened to every man and woman senators of Republican party who know towed to POTUS during Senate impeachment trial. Everybody is after protecting one’s self interest including in America.
- P. Kamath Mar 6, 2020
  
  know towed=. I meant “ kowtowed” to boss’s wish😁!
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