VI. HISTORY THAT ILLUMINATES

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THESE BLOOKS EMPHASIZE THE ROLE OF UNDERLYING ECONOMIES

Understanding the material base behind institutions, philosophies, customs, etc. in other societies leads to rethinking our own: "Hm. Humble coachmen would insult each other with 'Your father was a valet!,' because so many aspects of daily life reinforced the social system that oppressed them. Does being expected to wear different clothes every time I appear in public do the same when an economy depends on consumption?"   

Giant companies expressing the mentality they hope we'll adopt. Views of Paris and its past reinforce it, in ways that are all the more powerful in that they are often involuntary:

Ad hovering over the Châtelet crossroad in central Paris.

• No logical reason is given for purchasing the brand.  The image promotes unquestioningly accepting whatever feels good, a step in believing propaganda. So history is often seen as a narrative with no connection to tangible reality, a list of events that make no sense.

• The figure is alone, untied to the real world or to other people. Absence of human agency opens the way to authoritarian leaders and to the belief that the rich succeed through their personal efforts ("Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon. All by himself?" said Berthold Brecht) and eliminates collective action. Of course Parisian insurrections are left out, like so much else. 

• The background is a void because only the brand matters. By omitting all that contradicts their blandness, most views of Paris and approaches to the past do the same.

Such erasure has begun to apply to the past itself. Eliminating, camouflaging or covering over major sites began in 2017. Because its points of reference contest the nothingness that advanced capitalism wants to impose? 

The façade of the Opéra, one of the most important buildings of the 19th century, became a backdrop for ads in 2023.

"All that seems to have permanence goes up in smoke, all that was sacred is profaned, and men are at last forced to look lucidly at their conditions of existence and reciprocal ties."  

-- The Communist Manifesto 

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But that world is contested. Click Global Protest Tracker for demonstrations that have become omnipresent, and notice a different kind of ad:

The company is described here.

Two people look out at the world. As part of a multitude united as is a team, they may change it. 

By unveiling a conditioning of which we are usually unaware these blooks fits that spirit. 

If you find their ideas useful,

please pass them on.

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