{"id":126107,"date":"2019-02-04T12:00:03","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T12:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=126107"},"modified":"2019-06-04T11:11:57","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T10:11:57","slug":"johan-galtung-sings-le-deserteur-music-video-of-the-week-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/02\/johan-galtung-sings-le-deserteur-music-video-of-the-week-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Johan Galtung Sings \u201cLe D\u00e9serteur\u201d (Music Video of the Week)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prof. Johan Vincent Galtung performing the famous anti-militaristic ode: Le D\u00e9serteur <\/em>composed by Boris Vian in 1954. The exquisite artwork is by Xiaonan.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Galtung was jailed for six months at age 24 for refusing military service as a conscientious objector, unlawful at the time in Norway. This event would set in motion a lifetime of groundbreaking peace work (over 170 books in 60 years, +++).<\/p>\n

httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=IrgUZHrr3V0
\nTranscript and translation to English, verse by verse, by Harold Berg:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Le D\u00e9serteur<\/span> – The Deserter<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Monsieur le Pr\u00e9sident,
\nje vous fais une lettre,
\nque vous lirez peut-\u00eatre,
\nsi vous avez le temps.<\/p>\n

Mr. President
\nI’m writing you a letter
\nthat perhaps you will read
\nIf you have the time.
\n<\/em>
\nJe viens de recevoir
\nmes papiers militaires
\npour partir \u00e0 la guerre
\navant mercredi soir.<\/p>\n

I’ve just received
\nmy call-up papers
\nto leave for the front
\nBefore Wednesday night.
\n<\/em>
\nMonsieur le Pr\u00e9sident
\nje ne veux pas le faire,
\nje ne suis pas sur terre
\npour tuer de pauvres gens.<\/p>\n

Mr. President
\nI do not want to go
\nI am not on this earth
\nto kill wretched people.
\n<\/em>
\nC’est pas pour vous f\u00e2cher,
\nil faut que je vous dise,
\nma d\u00e9cision est prise,
\nje m’en vais d\u00e9serter.<\/p>\n

It’s not to make you mad
\nI must tell you
\nmy decision is made
\nI am going to desert.
\n<\/em>
\nDepuis que je suis n\u00e9,
\nj’ai vu mourir mon p\u00e8re,
\nj’ai vu partir mes fr\u00e8res,
\net pleurer mes enfants.<\/p>\n

Since I was born
\nI have seen my father die
\nI have seen my brothers leave
\nand my children cry.
\n<\/em>
\nMa m\u00e8re a tant souffert,
\nqu’elle est dedans sa tombe,
\net se moque des bombes,
\net se moque des vers.<\/p>\n

My mother has suffered so,
\nthat she is in her grave
\nand she laughs at the bombs
\nand she laughs at the worms.
\n<\/em>
\nQuand j’\u00e9tais prisonnier
\non m’a vol\u00e9 ma femme,
\non m’a vol\u00e9 mon \u00e2me,
\net tout mon cher pass\u00e9.<\/p>\n

When I was a prisoner
\nthey stole my wife
\nthey stole my soul
\nand all my dear past.
\n<\/em>
\nDemain de bon matin,
\nje fermerai ma porte
\nau nez des ann\u00e9es mortes
\nj’irai sur les chemins.<\/p>\n

Early tomorrow morning
\nI will shut my door
\non these dead years
\nI will take to the road.
\n<\/em>
\nJe mendierai ma vie,
\nsur les routes de France,
\nde Bretagne en Provence,
\net je crierai aux gens:<\/p>\n

I will beg my way along
\non the roads of France
\nfrom Brittany to Provence
\nand I will cry out to the people:<\/em><\/p>\n

refusez d’ob\u00e9ir,
\nrefusez de la faire,
\nn’allez pas \u00e0 la guerre,
\nrefusez de partir.<\/p>\n

Refuse to obey
\nrefuse to do it
\ndon’t go to war
\nrefuse to go.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

S’il faut donner son sang,
\nallez donner le v\u00f4tre,
\nvous \u00eates bon ap\u00f4tre,
\nmonsieur le Pr\u00e9sident.<\/p>\n

If blood must be given
\ngo give your own
\nyou are a good apostle
\nMr. President.
\n<\/em>
\nSi vous me poursuivez
\npr\u00e9venez vos gendarmes
\nque je n’aurai pas d’armes
\net qu’ils pourront tirer.<\/p>\n

If you go after me
\nwarn your police
\nthat I’ll be unarmed
\nand that they can shoot.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prof. Johan Vincent Galtung performing the famous anti-militaristic ode: Le D\u00e9serteur composed by Boris Vian in 1954. The exquisite artwork is by Xiaonan.
\nGaltung was jailed for six months at age 24 for refusing military service as a conscientious objector, unlawful at the time in Norway. This event would set in motion a lifetime of groundbreaking peace work (over 170 books in 60 years, +++).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-video-of-the-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}