That’s the Spanish Civil War slogan No pasarán in French. It originated with Dolores Ibárruri.
Ce soir, c’est la République qui est attaquée avec l’assassinat ignoble de l’un de ses serviteurs, un professeur. Je pense ce soir à lui, à sa famille. Notre unité et notre fermeté sont les seules réponses face à la monstruosité du terrorisme islamiste. Nous ferons face .
Maddog: They shall not pass. Which I guess can also connote they won’t get away with it, they will not prevail, etc.
My French and Spanish are very rudimentary however.
Acolyte of Sagan
maddog, as Ophelia said, the phrase stems from the Spanish Civil War, when it was used to express a determination to defend a position against the enemy.
Athel Cornish-Bowden
It’s true that No pasarán is associated in most non-French people’s minds with the Spanish Civil War, but it’s older than than that: Ils ne passerons pas was used by the French at Verdun in the First World War.
Ah thanks Athel. I’ve always figured it must have been a slogan among soldiers in all wars, because of course it must, but I did figure Macron was alluding to that particular resonant use. It goes beyond the universal “us not them” to draw on The Resistance.
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6 responses to “Ils ne passeront pas”
They won’t pass?
They won’t get away with it?
Help?
Maddog: They shall not pass. Which I guess can also connote they won’t get away with it, they will not prevail, etc.
My French and Spanish are very rudimentary however.
maddog, as Ophelia said, the phrase stems from the Spanish Civil War, when it was used to express a determination to defend a position against the enemy.
It’s true that No pasarán is associated in most non-French people’s minds with the Spanish Civil War, but it’s older than than that: Ils ne passerons pas was used by the French at Verdun in the First World War.
They all stole it from Gandalf.
Ah thanks Athel. I’ve always figured it must have been a slogan among soldiers in all wars, because of course it must, but I did figure Macron was alluding to that particular resonant use. It goes beyond the universal “us not them” to draw on The Resistance.