Against laïcité. Parisians Bunting Flags for Joan of Arc in 1909
This article reassesses flag bunting as a research object for the historical sociology of mobilizations. Taking the case of the beatification of Joan of Arc in 1909, it develops the concept of “visual acclamation”. Bunting a flag can be understood as a visual acclamation in the sense that it makes a political inclination visible in the public sphere. The Catholic monarchists from the right used this technique to display their fierce opposition to the law separating church and state passed in 1905. They attempted to create an alternate national holiday, distinct from the 14th of July that made the pride of the left coalition. For them, Catholicism was not to be confined to the church; it should be expressed as a popular and national feeling. A parallel was drawn between the vox populi and the vox dei. Bunting meant demonstrating a conservative patriotism, visually made self-evident and socially controlled at the neighborhood level. The Catholics fought for their version of popular democracy, a democracy that was not driven by elections. They did it by virtually replacing ballots with little flags, investing the street with the colors of the old France that was not willing to fade away.
Keywords
- France
- Paris
- French Third Republic
- Joan of Arc
- demonstration
- flag
- laïcité