Bastille Day is a French national holiday celebrating the storming of the Bastille - a notorious French prison where people were arbitrarily interred. The mechanism was the
lettres de cachet which were executive orders from the King that had no legislative or judicial oversight. An individual served under a lettres de cachet had no right of appeal either.
This was the basis for French absolutism which existed since Phillipe II. It was a despotic, tyrannous and arbitrary form of executive power. Consequently the storming of the Bastille carried emotional and symbolic appeal as the overthrow of tyranny by the people.
Claude Manet's Rue Montorgueil Louis XVI's reign was relatively new when the enlightenment's challenge to divine power, coupled with a worsening economic situation and the ever-present poverty in Paris contributed to the seemingly constant uprising's and establishment of barricades in the city. Alistair Horne writes:
There now took place the famous gathering in the Jeu de Paume, or indoor tennis court, so well depicted by David. The floodgates were now opening.
The aristocracy had lost its influence, the bourgeoise, already shaken to the core, by the bursting of the Law bubble [Bank speculation], now wanted something more than reform - though what that was it did not quite know until the Jacobins, a society of radicals, led the way.
On July 11th the King sacked Necker [Jacques Necker, the director general of finances] and with him went the best chance of reform. Fearing national bankruptcy, the Bourse closed its doors. An empty exchequer and republican sentiment now combined.
The Bastille, despite being a feared symbol of arbitrary monarchical authority, only had seven prisoners in it when it was stormed after dissenters were killed by gunfire from the tower. The Bastille was dismantled, stone by stone, and revolution ran through the streets. Like the establishment of nearly all the French republics the violence was extreme between the warring political and class factions.
In the same way that I throw ANZAC Day parties in America which serve as an ethnic outlet for all things Australian, I have been invited this weekend to a Bastille Day party from a French-American mate of mine. I am excited to see what French ethnicities are served up as part of the celebration.
Most Popular on South Sea Republic
The articles that have been viewed the most:
Most Popular Restaurants in Phoenix
Phoenix Eats Out is the restaurant review site for
Phoenix,
Scottsdale and
Old Town Scottsdale which lists the modernist and contemporary restaurants, taverns and bars in the greater Phoenix area.
This is the list of the most popular restaurants pages from phoenixeatsout.com that have been viewed the most;
My personal favourite restaurants in Phoenix are
AZ88,
Postinos,
Bomberos with
Grazie,
Humble Pie,
Orange Table,
The Vig,
Fez and others coming close behind. View the complete list with the photo-journalistic style images on
phoenixeatsout.com
Most Popular Hikes in Arizona
Arizona is an outdoor state and has lots of hiking in the city and around the state. Phoenix is unusual for most cities in having several large mountains in the center of the city with great hiking. Anyone who comes to Phoenix has to do the
Echo Canyon trail on Camelback and the
Summit Hike on Squaw Peak or Piesta Peak. The views of the city, suburbs and surrounding mountains are wonderful from Camelback and Piesta Peak.
For more experienced hikers there is the McDowell Mountains in North Scottsdale that has several difficult and strenuous hikes in
Tom's Thumb and
Bell Pass. Alternatively, you can hike the highest mountain in Arizona. At 12,600 feet
Humphrey's Peak is a long and difficult hike.
Alternate Australian Constitutions
Between 2004 and 2009 this site,
southsearepublic.org, was a constitutional blog based on scoop which focused on Australian and global constitutional issues.
One of the strongest aspects of it was the development of constitutions by those involved in the blog. These constitutions are the outcome:
The constitutions were built using principles from Montesquieu's separation of powers, the enlightnment's universal political rights and the ancient Athenian technology of sortition and choice by lot.
Archives For South Sea Republic
South Sea Republic started in 2004 as an Australian constitutional blog in 2004 based on scoop software. It was an immigrative outgrowth of Kuro5hin. The archives for each year since then;
The articles are ordered by views.
Who Is Cam Riley
I am an Australian living in the United States as a permanent resident.
I am a software developer by trade and mostly work in Java and jump between middleware and front end.
I originally worked in the New York area of the United States in telecommunications before moving to Washington DC and
working in a mix of telecommunications, energy and ITS. I started my own software company before heading out to
Arizona and working with Shutterfly. Since then I have joined a startup in the Phoenix area and am thoroughly enjoying myself.
I do a lot of photography which I post on this website, but also on flickr. I have a photo-journalistic website which lists
the modernist and contemporary restaurants in phoenix. I have a site on the
Australian Flying Corps [AFC] which has been around since the 1990s and which I unfortunately
lost the .org URL to during a life event; however, it is under the
www.australianflyingcorps.com URL now.
The AFC website has gone through several iterations since the 90s and the two most recent are
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2004-2002) and
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2002-1999) which are good places to start.
Websites Worth Reading
Websites of friends, colleagues and of interest;
