Get up early to complete a collective task. Move a project forward together. Gather energy to overcome obstacles. Roll up your sleeves. Don't be afraid of taking risks. Adopt disruptive strategies to achieve goals. Cross the road together. Leave no one behind. Lead a genuine revolution. These incessant watchwords in French political discourse apply perfectly to the video entitled Amish Building Move!, posted online by Bill Lyons in July 2022.
The creator of the film, which is split between a camera inside and a drone outside, himself admits in the comments to being surprised by the popularity of his work. What's it all about? A simple project: the relocation of a disused building in Addison, Steuben County (New York State, US). The originality lies in the identity of the buyer – a member of the Amish community – and in the method of moving the building: human traction. Oh, and an important detail: the very fact that the video exists at all. The Amish, descendants of Swiss and Alsatian Protestants who don't use cameras, drones or any other technology they believe promotes individualism, agreed to let an "English" person (the name they give to other Americans) mingle with them and film.
The result allows us to fully appreciate the coordination of the hundred or so men at the helm, literally carrying out – in gesture, laughter and good humor – the litany of clichés chipping away at our ears, from Nicolas Sarkozy to Emmanuel Macron. Let's not forget that the latter has not hesitated to publicly use the image of the American Anabaptist community to discredit critical discourse on the use of technology. The first time was during an interview on Europe 1 on November 18, 2016, the day after he declared his candidacy for the French presidency, when he was defending his policy of deregulating bus transit ("If we're against buses, we're preventing people from getting around. I'm not for an Amish society").
He offended again (or hit the nail on the head, according to tradition) in a speech to start-ups on September 16, 2020, when he buried the French Citizens' Convention for Climate's call for a moratorium on 5G: "I hear a lot of people saying that we should address the complexity of contemporary problems by going back to the oil lamp: I don't believe in the Amish model. And I don't believe that the Amish model can solve the challenges of contemporary environmentalism."
Social conservatism
Will the president take another opportunity to mock the Amish community's way of life? It's not certain. In the meantime, with the Elysée having set its course more toward social conservatism, some elements of the "Amish model" might even seem enviable to Macron. For example, there is their use of uniforms (pants, suspenders and shirts for all!).
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