Bastille Day – Fête nationale française
14 July 2024
www.ink2quill.com

Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the National Day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. In French, it is called the Fête nationale française. Legally it is known as le 14 juillet.

French National Day is the anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille Prison on 14 July 1789, a major event that precipitated the French Revolution as well as the Fête de la Fédération that celebrated the unity of the French people on 14 July 1790.

On the 14th of July, Bastille Day, celebrations are held throughout France. One that has been reported as “the oldest and largest military parade in Europe is held on the 14th of July on the Champs-Élysées in Paris in front of the President of France, along with other French officials and foreign guests.

historically La Bastille held people jailed on the basis of lettres de cachet (literally “signet letters”), which were arbitrary royal indictments by the king that could not be appealed and did not indicate any reason for a person’s imprisonment. A person was not told why they were being imprisoned or the charges levelled against them and had no legal recourse of any kind.

A similar injustice exists in the U.S. today with what is sometimes called “The Black Highway” (It has several names though) where a person has paperwork generated about them by law enforcement but is never confronted with any crime or even informed that the negative paperwork was even generated about them. They have no right to see the negative paperwork but it turns up on background checks for others to see, like job interviews or landlord enquiries. This effectively destroys the careers and lives of people who have never committed any crime. And it is even said that it eventually kills them, slower and with much more cruelty than any guillotine. Old Blues Eyes, Frank Sinatra was on The Black Highway and some even say that is why he played Sun City, South Africa during Apartheid, because he needed the income. Who knows? He is one person of many.

John Ink2Quill

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