When separatists bicker

Michel Tremblay has lost the faith. The dream of sovereignty has died, destroyed by crass economics. And how long does it take before the knives come out? Oh 24 to 48 hours. In Le Devoir today Claude Jasmin spews one of the downright bitchiest attacks I’ve ever seen anywhere. The fact, sez Jasmin, is that Tremblay was never a REAL sovereignist in the first place. Pooh on those fake sovereignists. Pooh, I say. I love this stuff. I sense the rulers coming out, my sovereignist devotion is bigger than yours.

Tremblay’s sin is that he accepted money from the Great Satan to make a living. And now Beautiful Sovereignty is dead because we’ve become money grubbers like the rest of the world. He admits he’s rich, I’ll give him that much. I wish someone had informed me that I was growing up in a socialist near-Eden, the only thing that kept it from being perfect was, of course, Ottawa. Maybe I would have appreciated it more.

I also like that Jasmin attacks Tremblay for living in Florida. !! Cat fight! Meow!

How are artists supposed to make a living? I’d like to see a return to patrons. Real patrons. Some fat rich guy on the mountain who pays a starving artist to write him a requiem or paint his portrait like in the good old days. But since the rich are neglecting their duties, the government has to be the patron. I don’t like it, but I blame the rich for this. Hey, rich guy/girl, don’t give your money to a foundation; give cash directly to some sculptor living in a loft in St. Henri. Let her buy groceries first, then art supplies.

The great Robert Lepage has expressed his doubts about sovereignty too. Let’s call him lukewarm on the idea. Is this because he’s actually travelled the world, worked in different cultures, spent a lot of time outside the province? Or is he just a turncoat, too? This reminds me of Les Invasions Barbares and the character played by Stephane Rousseau , the son-of-a-hardcore-separatist investment banker who lived in London and who didn’t give a hoot about separatism. ‘Cause he left it all behind. For money! The tramp.

Jasmin on Tremblay: His infantile political expression displays a crass immaturity.
(Son infantile réflexion politique est d'une immaturite crasse). How is this helpful? What a bitch.