Repères
AIDA
AIDA – Geneva Section
The idea of the International Association for the Defence of Artists Victims of Repression throughout the World, whose acronym is AIDA (in reference to Verdi's opera) was born around 1978 among French entertainment personalities who wanted to mobilise international public opinion to defend censored or imprisoned artists. Officially founded in France in February 1980, it opened several national sections in various European countries during the same year. For Switzerland, the Geneva section of AIDA was founded in Geneva in September 1980, under the presidency of François Rochaix, a director and an emblematic figure of what is considered ‘committed theatre’. The founders of the Swiss AIDA were mainly from the Geneva theatre scene, with the addition of a few passionate journalists, such as Pierre Biner. The association is, however, open to people from all walks of life, who participate occasionally or support various events. AIDA's actions are based on international collaboration between various national sections, such as the one in favour of 100 missing Argentine artists. Others are initiated by various local sections.
One of the first actions of the Swiss Aida was to stand up for Czech intellectuals and artists, notably by reconstructing the trial of the VONS (Czech Committee for Unjustly Persecuted Persons), in collaboration with Télévision Suisse Romande, filmed live on the 1rst December 1980. This commitment to Czechoslovak artists and writers continued over time. In November 1981, a week of Czechoslovak writers was organised at Radio Suisse Romande. A highlight was the Avignon Festival in July 1982, at the heart of which the international AIDA organised ‘La Nuit pour Havel’. Swiss Aida also carried out several other actions during the 1980s: in favour of Polish theatres and artists after martial law was introduced in Poland, and also in favour of the Soviet cartoonist Vyacheslav Syssoev.
Image database for Poland
On the initiative of the Polish artist Tadeusz Andrzej Lewandowski, who lives in France and teaches at the École nationale supérieure d'art de Cergy-Pontoise, with the participation of students from this university and the École des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans, several French artists have offered unique works: posters, postcards and greetings cards created especially for this occasion and featuring the logo of Solidarność for the exhibition entitled "Banque d’Image pour la Pologne" Image data base for Poland. This exhibition of more than 200 works of art was organised in Nina Dausset's Parisian art gallery. The money raised by the sale is donated to Solidarność or to Polish émigré artists.
Secret post offices under martial law
Several dozen post offices operated underground. Stamps were printed by all the major underground opposition organisations, including Solidarność Post, Solidarność Walcząca, KPN Post, Independent Pomeranian Post, Independent Post / Poste Indépendante, Underground Post, Polish Underground State / Poste de l'État Clandestin, a, SKOS Metrum Siedlce, stamps from the Most publishing house and other independent publishers.
ALERT CENTRE
La "Centrale d’alerte" Alert Centre (1973-1984) was created within progressive Christian circles on the initiative of Giovanni Chicherio, parish priest of the Holy Trinity parish in Geneva. The Centrale sought to act at the regional level as a kind of broadcasting antenna for a French-speaking solidarity network.
The aim of this organisation was to quickly mobilise as many activists as possible around a cause requiring urgent support. To this end, a file was created containing the names of all the groups that had joined the "Centrale d’alerte" Alert Centre, and who on the one hand wanted to use it to find support for their actions and on the other hand were ready to support the cause of others. In total, the Centrale relayed thirty-seven calls made by the various groups that made it up.
Réf : Pierre Collart, "Alert Center: Creation, Operation, and Limits of a Solidarity Network in French-speaking Switzerland (1973-1984)" Travail du Séminaire : Solidarność – Solidarité(s), Department of General History, University of Geneva, autumn semester 2020.
Committee of Socialist Solidarity with Opponents in Eastern Europe (CSSOPE)
The CSSOPE (1977-1990) was founded in Geneva in March 1977 by activists from the Geneva Socialist Party, the Revolutionary Marxist League (which became the Socialist Workers Party in 1980) and a few independent individuals. In the 1980s, it expanded to Lausanne and the Jura. The Committee seeks to defend and support opponents and victims of repression in Eastern Europe in the name of the principles of democratic socialism. It is committed to send petitions to intervene publicly in favour of respect for human rights in Eastern Europe. The periodical Samizdat published by the Committee, is an information and discussion platform, with the aim of sparking a broader debate within the labour movement. Among the actions carried out, we can mention those in favour of the militants of Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia, of members of the Workers' Defence Committee (KOR) in Poland and of the Free Inter-Professional Union of Workers (SMOT) in the Soviet Union. From August 1980, the militants of the CSSOPE supported the union SolidarnośćThe committee was also active in the 1980s, organising peace demonstrations and protests against rearmament, and disseminating information on independent pacifist movements in the USSR, Poland and the GDR.
Réf. : Collège du travail, Fonds du Comité de solidarité socialiste avec les opposants des pays de l’est (CSSOPE) Fonds CH-001784-0 CSSOPE
Solidarity badges and pins
Solidarity badges are a continuation of the 19th-century traditione and refer to the period of ‘National Mourning’ (1861-1866), an initiative of Polish society intended to demonstrate opposition to the plundering authorities, to denounce oppression and to express the general aspiration for national freedom. Initially launched against the Tsarist power, this initiative spread to the other Polish lands subject to the despoiling forces, Prussia and Austria. It was Polish women who led this passive struggle. During the period of mourning, they wore modestly cut black clothes (and later also grey and purple due to repression), as well as simple jewellery (made of metal or artificial stones, gold being reserved for clandestine national activities) with allegories representing freedom and incorporating religious symbols such as the cross or the crown of thorns.
In the 1980s, the symbols on these badges, which were generally patriotic in nature, varied: many pins referred to historical events, people and places and featured national motifs such as the eagle or the red and white national flag. It is also very popular to wear them with religious symbols, such as crosses, the image of the Virgin Mary or references to Pope John Paul II's pilgrimages to Poland. But the best known badges are those of the independent trade union ‘Solidarity’, which bear the union's logo. Frequently used in Poland, they are also found in the West.
The Walls
Authors : Jacek Kaczmarski, Przemysław Gintrowski, Zbigniew Łapinski
The song ‘Les Murs’ (The Walls), sung by Jacek Kaczmarski, ‘bard of Poland and of legal Solidarnosc‘ (We are the young and we are strong) opens this exhibition. This song, very popular in the Polish anti-communist underground in the 1970s, became the unofficial anthem of Solidarity in the 1980s. Sung during the shipyard strikes and then after the military regime introduced martial law in December 1981, it was very popular among the imprisoned. It became a symbol of the struggle against the communist regime. The chorus of the song became the sound signal of Radio Solidarność. However, the message of the song goes beyond the common understanding as accepted in the 1980s. The song is about how the revolution and the desire to break down old divisions only lead to them being deepened and new walls of separation being created. The bard warns that the walls are being rebuilt by the very people who wanted so much to tear down the old barriers.
The Walls
He was young and inspired, they were - an innumerable crowd
He gave them strength by singing that dawn was near.
They lit a thousand candles for him, smoking above their heads,
He sang that it was time for the wall to come down...
They sang with him:
Wrench the teeth from the bars of the walls!
Break the chains, break the whip!
And the walls will fall, fall, fall
And bury the old world!
(x2)
Vite ils surent la chanson par cœur et la mélodie sans parole
Portait en elle la vieille substance, les frissons dans les cœurs et les têtes.
Ils chantaient donc, applaudissaient en rythme, comme des coups de feu.
Et la chaîne était toujours lourde, l’aube tardait…
Et lui, il chantait et jouait :
Wrench the teeth from the bars of the walls!
Break the chains, break the whip!
And the walls will fall, fall, fall
And bury the old world!
(x2)
And they understood how many there were, felt the strength and the time,
And singing that dawn is near, they flooded the city streets.
They knocked down the statues, they tore them down – This one is with us!
It's against us! Solitude is our worst enemy!
And the bard was all alone.
He watched the crowds marching in step,
In silence he listened to the thunder of their footsteps,
And the walls went up, up, up,
The chain was dangling at their feet...
He watches the crowds marching in step
In silence he listens to the thunder of their footsteps,
And the walls go up, up, up,
The chain is dangling at the feet...
Mury
On natchniony i młody był, ich nie policzyłby nikt
On im dodawał pieśnią sił, śpiewał że blisko już świt.
Świec tysiące palili mu, znad głów podnosił się dym,
Śpiewał, że czas by runął mur…
Oni śpiewali wraz z nim :
Wyrwij murom zęby krat!
Zerwij kajdany, połam bat!
A mury runą, runą, runą
I pogrzebią stary świat!
(x2)
Wkrótce na pamięć znali pieśń i sama melodia bez słów
Niosła ze sobą starą treść, dreszcze na wskroś serc i głów.
Śpiewali więc, klaskali w rytm, jak wystrzał poklask ich brzmiał,
I ciążył łańcuch, zwlekał świt…
On wciąż śpiewał i grał:
Wyrwij murom zęby krat!
Zerwij kajdany, połam bat!
A mury runą, runą, runą
I pogrzebią stary świat!
(x2)
Aż zobaczyli ilu ich, poczuli siłę i czas,
I z pieśnią, że już blisko świt szli ulicami miast;
Zwalali pomniki i rwali bruk – Ten z nami! Ten przeciw nam!
Kto sam ten nasz najgorszy wróg!
A śpiewak także był sam.
Patrzył na równy tłumów marsz,
Milczał wsłuchany w kroków huk,
A mury rosły, rosły, rosły
Łańcuch kołysał się u nóg…
Patrzy na równy tłumów marsz,
Milczy wsłuchany w kroków huk,
A mury rosną, rosną, rosną
Łańcuch kołysze się u nóg…