This originally aired on The Final Straw radio show.

July 14th is my favorite holiday. The only secular holiday I celebrate. I’d like to invite you to celebrate it with me, and if we celebrate it properly we might even celebrate it together.
I am talking about Bastille Day. Some history:
Back in 1789, the people of France were pretty angry with their government. It would seem that the government of France in 1789 was a lot like every government that’s existed for the last 6,000 years of hierarchical dystopia, including the current governments all over the globe, to some lesser or greater degrees. But 1789 in France was one of those rare moments like the L.A. riots or Occupy where the growing discontent and anger, and the indignation of being ignored provoked the people to do something a little more…radical.
They took to the streets and tipped over cop wagons, and they smashed windows and took bread. You know, a general state of disorder that happens a hundred times a year in our modern world, an outburst that normally exhausts itself and leaves a little glass to sweep up, while everyone goes back to their assigned seat… and then logs on to consult Crimethinc to find strategies for sustaining these disorders.
But I get ahead of myself. Back to France. The French peasants- an underclass- in the midst of their riot, did something totally Continue reading →