Let me remind you of a sentence by Saint-Just, one
of the main protagonists of the French Revolution who got guillotined
in the end, and who said once: ‘There’s this new idea in Europe: happiness.’
Well, his other phrase, which I like very much is: ‘If the people can
be oppressed, even if they are not actually oppressed, then they are
oppressed already.’ It is a very interesting statement, because it says that
the possibility is already the reality. Even if you are unaware of it, it has
already happened. Hence the menace in the present period.