In It's not just a life in life , Georges-Marc Benamou, essayist, producer, writer and journalist, talks about his new novel The General is gone , published by Grasset. In this book, between fiction and history, Georges-Marc Benamou immerses the reader in a significant period in the history of France: May 29, 1968, the day when General de Gaulle overwhelmed by the movement of May 68, rides in helicopter and disappears in the greatest secrecy, for a few hours, in Baden-Baden, Germany.
How did he get there? What happened during this leak? Why did he leave? "General de Gaulle feared a death to the Mussolini, he can not think that his wife is not going to be slaughtered like Mussolini's wife, his family thinks that it can be treated like that of Louis XVI," answers George- Marc Benamou.
"How do you know how the story will end?" Asks the essayist. "These are questions Macron had to ask himself, but he has 300,000 yellow vests in front of him, while De Gaulle has 10 million."
Georges-Marc Benamou also evokes, in this interview, a moment of crucial hesitation for General de Gaulle, during May 68. Should we shoot in the air to defend the institutions? "It must have been a terrible internal debate for de Gaulle," says the writer, recalling that a student and a police commissioner died during this period. "It may be because he did not want to shoot that he fled."
During this interview, the parallel with today's France is gradually gaining momentum, at a time when police are accused of using excessive force during demonstrations. "No power, not even Macron's, can get away with this question: how far is violence legitimate in order to restore order?" This question probably arose during the discussions between Mr. Macron and Mr. Castaner ", analyzes Georges-Marc Benamou.
The writer, who was a child during May '68, admits to having taken fright when he noticed that the "yellow vests" were going to the Elysee. "I corrected the end of the book when I saw Eric Drouet enter the street of peace, then turn left, in the rue Saint-Honoré.And, there, I said to myself: 'What madness! the prefect of police? '", he recalls. "The idea that the palace could be attacked that day made me think that there are matches between the yellow vests and May 68. What would have happened if we did not stop "It would have been an extremely serious mistake, it is the obsession of the police prefects throughout the history of France."