{"id":231516,"date":"2023-03-20T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2023-03-20T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=231516"},"modified":"2023-03-14T08:25:11","modified_gmt":"2023-03-14T08:25:11","slug":"johan-galtung-sings-le-deserteur-music-video-of-the-week-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/03\/johan-galtung-sings-le-deserteur-music-video-of-the-week-5\/","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>\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 his 92 years, +++).<\/p><\/blockquote>\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 \u2013 The Deserter<\/em><\/strong><\/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\u2019m 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\u2019ve 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\u2019est pas pour vous f\u00e2cher,
\nil faut que je vous dise,
\nma d\u00e9cision est prise,
\nje m\u2019en vais d\u00e9serter.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 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\u2019ai vu mourir mon p\u00e8re,
\nj\u2019ai 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\u2019elle 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\u2019\u00e9tais prisonnier
\non m\u2019a vol\u00e9 ma femme,
\non m\u2019a 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\u2019irai 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\u2019ob\u00e9ir,
\nrefusez de la faire,
\nn\u2019allez pas \u00e0 la guerre,
\nrefusez de partir.<\/p>\n

Refuse to obey
\nrefuse to do it
\ndon\u2019t go to war
\nrefuse to go.<\/em><\/p>\n

S\u2019il 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\u2019aurai pas d\u2019armes
\net qu\u2019ils pourront tirer.<\/p>\n

If you go after me
\nwarn your police
\nthat I\u2019ll be unarmed
\nand that they can shoot.<\/em><\/p>\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. Galtung was jailed for six months at age 24 for refusing military service as a conscientious objector, unlawful at the time in Norway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[809,871],"class_list":["post-231516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-video-of-the-week","tag-johan-galtung","tag-music-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231516","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=231516"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231517,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231516\/revisions\/231517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}