Those who sought to bring down the Republic will have to answer for it. Tell you who would have loved this? Who would have been utterly engrossed scrolling the hashtag #Paris on Tuesday night as two things happened simultaneously, the harrowing of the Barcelona defence at the Parc des Princes, and the harrowing of Paris itself via tales of city-centre thuggery and end-of-days political doom‑mongering.
The big man, Guy Debord himself. The Society of the Spectacle, you say? Actually, I think we’re past that now.
We’ll just take the spectacle. The great Parisian Situationist philosopher wasn’t really one for managed fun. But it was impossible not to be bowled over by the extraordinary pre-match show for Paris Saint‑Germain versus Barcelona, Champions League Matchday Three.
The wild pyrotechnics, the plumes of smoke, the full-wrap light show, the lime-green robo‑text spelling out every player’s name on the pitch. Although not the Barcelona names, sadly, for anyone with an unrealised desire to see the words “ANTHONY GORDON” projected in vast letters for the delight of a shrieking crowd. Admittedly, the Halloween‑themed tifo banner showing a masked Paris Saint-Germain serial killer-type literally butchering the Barcelona badge to death with his bloodied chainsaw was perhaps a bit much.
As were the Barça Puta signs, which are now reportedly the subject of a complaint to Uefa. But it was a wild and all‑consuming spectacle, annihilating every other impulse in your head to a green thought in a green shade. And in the process capturing the profound sense of cognitive dissonance in the city.
Just walking around the streets of central Paris earlier in the day generated its own mild whiplash. On the face of it this was still the same city of flâneurs and tourists and everyday bistro business, and not, repeat not, a civil war drama or some kind of emergent military caliphate. But the sense of dread was also tangible.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
