WORLD WORLDWIDE FRANCE News Journal Update - (en) France, UCL AL #337 - Culture, Read: Filice, "Mecano" (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

" Mécano " : it is the abbreviation of mechanic, or female mechanic. And that's
what people who drive trains are called. Because driving a train is above all
mastering the technical operation of the locomotive of the day, and therefore
that of several models. ---- Mattia Filice, Franco-Italian, is a mechanic. With
this book, he tells us about his professional life, from his formative years to
daily life, including episodes - very interesting - of strikes. Written entirely
in verse, the text may be scary at first sight, but on the contrary it is much
easier to read. Those who know will find a bit of the formidable A la ligne, by
the late Joseph Ponthus [1]. Technical terms, bits of Italian, unknown
abbreviations, quotations but also typographical games and ironic neologisms :
the language is poetic, often mischievous, without ever being lost. So diving
into the heart of " L'Entreprise ", and above all meeting with the people who run
it; over the pages we become familiar with the colleagues and their
particularities; Geoffroy the unlucky, Pablo the resourceful, Kamal the flirty,
Gérard the Jedi master. The female characters are rare but highlighted: it is
Hidaya's combativeness that invigorates the demoralized strikers on an evening
when the strike will finally be renewed following her speech.

Strike ! It is approached as an epic. First of all, there is the procrastination
of the very young employee, the importance of the experience of the old men and
women, and above all the atmosphere of the discussions between colleagues outside
the usual roles, where we see a wind rising audacity and freedom. Claims are
never revealed; what is important are the new links that are created, the
imaginations that are unblocked.

On the evening of a fruitless fight, Mattia Filice concludes : " The worst fight
is the one that doesn't take place ", and we fully agree with him !

Melanie (UCL Grand Paris Sud)

Mattia Filice, Mécano, POL editions, January 2023, 368 pages, 22 euros.

To validate

[1]Joseph Ponthus, A la ligne. Factory Leaflets, Folio, August 2020.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Lire-Mattia-Filice-Mecano-Plongee-dans-la-vie-d-un-cheminot
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