Since the Covid-19 pandemic, injunctions to resilience have multiplied. Omnipresent in the declarations of the executive, it has already been the subject of three texts of law (here, Emmanuel Macron delivers his speech before the prefects at the Élysée, in Paris, on September 15). LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP
CHRONIC – We must react to geostrategic, economic or ecological shocks.
This is one of the catchwords that the Head of State likes to suck like a Valda pellet. “The Notre-Dame construction site, a symbol of resilience, embodies the desire to rebuild in the face of adversity”, he explained on January 9 while showing the work of the cathedral to the Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida. Not one of the presidential speeches is delivered without mentioning this “moral strength to bounce back”.
Originally designating the shock resistance of a material (car or airplane bodywork), the term now describes the psychic capacity of adults and children to overcome trauma. Neuropsychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik has contributed a lot to its popularity, at the risk of becoming a refrain, from sports coaches to personal development manuals.
Let us recall that in France, Paul Claudel, the writer and diplomat, was the first to have used the concept in this figurative sense, after having been ambassador to Washington from 1927 to 1933 at the time of the Great Depression. “There’s…
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