Category / Capitalism / France / Gentrification / Music / Paris / Politics
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Belleville for the people!
Belleville is a political neighborhood. Maybe that is why I am drawn to it. Most people vote left--socialist, communist, etc. In the late 1800's, one out of ten Parisian anarchists lived in Belleville and the area played a central role in the Commune. Belleville is up high--the highest spot in Paris is in it--and it… -
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Different Worlds
There are many worlds in the 19e and 20e. Who lives in this building with the creative tile work? I imagine an artist lives there. The neighborhood is dotted with artist studios. They beautify and add interest to the area and also challenge its visual norms. There is street art, too. Sometimes one piece… -
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Real Belleville
Sunday, I saw a completely other side of Belleville at the Parc de Belleville belvedere. I went because there is always something going on there on Sundays. What I saw was the tale end of a festival called "Belleville en Vrai" (Real Belleville). It's the tenth year of this three-day festival which includes, I discovered,… -
![The three French women rabbis looking over an old copy of the talmud and pay homage to Rashi]()
Rashi’s Daughters, Troyes, France 2019
If you have looked at a page of the Talmud, you know that Rashi--Rabbi Shlomo Itzchaki--dominates almost every page. And you may know that he lived, from 1040 to 1105, in the city of Troyes, not too far from Paris. You may not know, though, that he had three daughters and no sons, that he… -
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Busy at the Pyrénées stop
Everyone was in a hurry--except for me! -
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At Belleville Market
Busy morning at the market. -
![Skull soldier with skulls all around him--painted on the wall with flower pot and flowers below.]()
Anarchist Neighborhood
Belleville is a good place for political art. Here are a few known ones. The skull soldier showing that war means death (not career advancement) always has a well taken care of plant just below it, making the tableau complete. Mad Marx, who I posted last year, seems to have acquired some friends (or did… -
![Photo of woman with yellow vewst one and various quotations and roses around her.]()
To Create is to Resist!!! To Resist is to Create!
I believe that. Resistance may not achieve its current goals but creates movements. Creative activity gets the word out and gives sustenance. Here's a fine example of political street art on rue de Belleville below Pyrénées in Paris 20e. The tweezers holding an eyeball refer to the woman in the painting, Fiorina Jacob Lignier, a… -
![Yellow flyer with people in the background.]()
“One is not born, but becomes, Yellow Vest”
Zigzag. Out with the old, in with the new. We're not quite sure where we're going. But we know what we want to leave: 'flexible' workplaces where people don't matter; universities more like biological processes than forums for deliberation and debate; institutions that thrive by making others precarious, isolated, displaced and hungry. Without knowing the shape… -
![Photo of Belleville poster: 'We do not remain passive!']()
That’s how it is in Paris
My photographic style is a response to what I see in France. I have visited Paris every year since 2015. What photographer would not want to capture the elegance of even the smallest details there? Here's an architectural detail I saw in 2016 on a walk back to my Belleville apartment from a look at…
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