A group of French teachers has launched a competition to find a new set of words for the national anthem, the Marseillaise, because they believe the existing text is too blood-thirsty to be sung by children.
Philippe Dac, head of the association "A Marseillaise for Children," has composed his own version as an example, and hopes the contest will culminate in a Eurovision-style television show to choose the winner.
"We want an anthem that would really represent French values in the third millennium and which children could sing in official ceremonies or side by side with foreign children," he told Le Figaro newspaper.
The current version, as composed by Rouget de Lisle during the French revolution, is undoubtedly something of a stomach-churner -- more a call to arms than a celebration of the nation.
"The bloody standard is raised. Can you hear the ferocious soldiers bellowing in the fields? They have come to our very doors to slit the throats of our sons and women," it reads.
"To arms, citizens! Form into batallions! Let us march, let us march! And may their impure blood irrigate our fields."
Dac's alternative goes as follows:
"The standard of France is raised. Do we hear in our history the call to fraternity, liberty and equality resounding as loud as our victories? Together, citizens, we will achieve peace! Let us march, let us march! And may justice unite the nation!" – PARIS (AFP)
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