A Little Observation on the Politics

Le Progres in St.Claude

It’s very easy, here in gold encrusted Divonne, in our beautiful home here, to forget who we are, and where we’re from. When Sue and I have been here in the past, we have been strictly tourists, here for a short time, living the life. This trip is different; it’s long enough that I must remember who I am, where I'm from, and what I do. 

Geneva and Divonne are remarkable for their outrageous wealth. The people here all drive fancy cars, have fancy jobs and carry fancy little dogs!

Luckily, on our trip through the Jura this week, I was reminded that it’s all really an illusion.

St. Claude, a view downward from Centre Ville

St. Claude takes me back to reality. I love St. Claude, it’s got a rich history born from socialism, rebellion, isolation and pipes.  It is a tremendously isolated town, at the convergence of 4 rivers, deep in a valley. The only ways in are downhill, really, really downhill! The town is famous for pipes, (smoking pipes: not exactly a growth industry….) and we’re not quite sure what else is going on there. Obviously it’s a commercial centre, but it’s not clear what the people do there otherwise, in this century! The streets are narrow of course, there are many shops, and small businesses, but the shutters are peeling and looking worn, there are some vacancies and overall the feel is of past glory.

Tight quarters in St. Claude

Perhaps, but we walked by Le Maison du Peuple, and poked our nose into a little oasis. Down a little passageway, away from the street, a little square reveals a theatre, an arts centre, and a music school. There were posters for the events happening there, ranging from concerts to art films to day camps for kids. There was also a plaque that told a bit of history: it was the home of the food cooperative, the mutual insurance company, home for the labour movement. The Maison was the home of the French Resistance during the second World War. (St. Claude and much of the Jura were the home of the resistance. A plaque in the central square talked about the day the Gestapo took away 302 souls from St. Claude and very few returned...) A plaque outside the Maison told of the city burning in 1799 and leveling the Maison du Peuple. But they rebuilt. Today it is reinvented into an arts based cooperative, and they still thrive today.

That warms my socialist heart quite a bit.

Outside The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, disappointed

Fast forward to the next day, to our trip to Geneva. We meant to get to the Museum of Contemporary Art, but they were closed for an opening. (figure that one out!), so we went down the street to the Patek Phillipe Museum. Here was housed the most complete collection of historic timepieces anywhere! Here we saw clocks and watches made for kings and nobility, from the 1500’s to the present. Watches were, and still are signs of wealth, prestige and power. And we saw more gold and diamonds than we could conceive of! There was some amazing precision work: the waters of the Red Sea parted by Moses, on the quarter hour, birds flying out of pistol barrels on the half hour. Watches reminding us of the century, in addition to the second, minute, hour, day, month and year; A testament to centuries of skill, craftsmanship, invention as well as wealth and power.

Beautiful Geneve with Le Saleve rising in the background

Wow - but still sort of the opposite of the good works of the people of St. Claude.

My heart is there.