A sketch by Jean-Pierre Martinez
One – Did you hear that? In Afghanistan, women are condemned to live in rooms without windows…
Two – Without windows…?
One – So as not to risk being seen by the neighbours.
Two – It’s mad… when it would be enough just to close the shutters.
One – Even in the USA, the right to abortion is being called into question in most states.
Two – To think that America used to be the land of freedom…
One – And in Europe it’s no better…
Two – We naïvely thought that progress only went in one direction, and that light would eventually dispel the darkness.
One – But all over the world religion is rearing its head again.
Two – Religion… it’s like that monster from Greek mythology. You cut off one head and three grow back.
One – Yeah… The three monotheistic religions.
Two – Monotheistic religions are the worst. The Greeks had one religion, but several gods. At least you had a choice. And it all stayed in the family…
One – Today there are several religions, but it’s your community that imposes its own on you from birth.
Two – You’re only entitled to one god per person…
One – And since each of those three gods claims to be the only one with the right to exist…
Two – It always ends in wars of religion.
One – Atheism is the main belief in our country, and yet it’s us who are asked to keep our heads down.
Two – It’s true. Before the First World War, in France there was only one dominant religion. Being anticlerical meant being left-wing and anti-bourgeois.
One – Today, criticising religion means being racist and hostile to the working class.
Two – And yet Marx already said that religion is the opium of the people.
One – It’s true that at the time opium was a luxury reserved for the elites.
Two – And until a few years ago, cocaine was the preserve of show business.
One – Yeah. Pills of all kinds were expensive. The consecrated host, on the other hand, is free.
Two – That’s what allowed them to flood the market.
One – The consecrated host… at first it seems less dangerous to your health than LSD, but in the end it damages the neurons too.
Two – And apparently it’s even more addictive.
One – Unfortunately, religion hasn’t stopped cocaine from becoming democratised either.
Two – It’s a double punishment…
One – So there’s no hope left…?
Two – You must never despair of freedom… You throw it out through the door and it comes back through the window.
One – That’s probably why in Afghanistan they’ve decided to brick up the windows.
Blackout.
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A sketch from the collection Of Animals and Men
Link to the collection for free download (PDF)
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