Liberty Loving Lion: Unexpected Company of Lionel Durand Paperback – April 19, 2024

This absorbing story of the life and times and places of an extraordinary, but little-known international journalist, social commentator, and social justice advocate has all the first person, primary source feel both of the best Frontline documentaries and of the best History Channel docu-dramas. It enriches familiar textbook coverage of the history of Haiti, the French Resistance during World War II, and “the eye of the storm” during the Algerian War of Independence with very many illuminating, delightful, heartbreaking, on-the-ground, and always thought-provoking details. “From Algiers, where he was recovering from the effects of tear gassing, Newsweek’s Lionel Durand cabled: ‘Go in, if you want,’ the captain told me, ‘but you’re crazy to want to.’” “‘The body of the colonized and colonial violence is that the colonized is someone who is excluded from humanity. That’s how they are being treated politically, and so it is a body that is very rigid, highly stressed and finally, it can result in a permanent explosion. For them liberation in this colonial context can only be achieved by releasing the vital energies in the body, and music and dance are the best way to reclaim those energies that are encrusted in the body, that are prohibited from movement, to release them, and reconnecting them through the function of the dance and trance in the traditional manner.’” (Karima Lazali) “‘They are affectionate people, free from avarice and agreeable to everything. I certify to your Highness that in all the world I do not believe there is a better people, or a better country. They love their neighbors as themselves, and they have the softest and gentlest voices in the world and are always smiling. They may go naked, but your Highnesses may be assured that they have very good customs among themselves, and their cacique maintains a most marvelous state, where everything takes place in an appropriate and well-ordered manner.’” (Christopher Columbus, 1492 Ship’s Log) “‘Haiti, Haiti, the further I am from you, the less I breathe. Haiti, I love you, and I will love you always. Always.’” (Jean-Bertrand Aristide) “‘I don’t think that prejudice in France is based on color or religions. It’s based rather on the condition one is in intellectually or socially. In other words, if a good man happens to be a Negro in France, it does not make the slightest bit of difference. There’s been a long tradition of liberalism, true liberalism, in France for centuries. France is one of the few countries were a man is free to find himself and then determine his own life and destiny. He does not have to pretend to adhere to any system or any manner of speech or religion or anything like that in order to become a part of the “free society.” He can be a free man if he is free himself and has found which way he wants to go.’” (Lionel Durand, 1953). “‘Americans, the eyes of the world are upon you. How can you expect the world to believe in you and respect your preaching of democracy when you yourself treat your colored brothers as you do? The things we truly love will stay with us always, locked in our hearts as long as life remains. . . . You must get an education. . . . You must go to school and you must learn to protect yourself with the pen, and not the sword.’” (Josephine Baker) “‘I wasn’t really naked. I simply did not have any clothes on.’” (Josephine Baker) “‘On the scene, Newsweek’s Lionel Durand cabled this account: ‘As de Gaulle’s motorcade entered the square, tough, steel-helmeted Gards Mobiles pushed the shouting Europeans back. Inside the city hall, de Gaulle told local officials: “Algeria is being transformed through huge and very cruel trials. . . . There must be peace.” . . . As the shouting outside grew, de Gaulle shrugged. “Noise, shouts—that signifies nothing,” he snapped. “Algeria’s future is entirely in Algeria’s hands, not in France’s.” Then he turned and went to the door. “I know that if I go out, they (the crowd) will start yapping all the more,” he told the mayor. “But I am going out!” With that, de Gaulle stepped out of the city hall. Ignoring the Europeans, who were crying “Traitor!” the general walked over to a gathering of Moslems. Brushing aside his bodyguards, he strode in among them. The excited Moslems clasped de Gaulle’s hands and kissed them. Suddenly, there was a new cry, this time from the Moslems: “Vive de Gaulle!” “Algerie Algérienne.” A French officer standing next to me said: “That de Gaulle! He’s got more guts than this entire mob put together.”’” (Newseek, December 1960) “‘What do you think an artist is? He is a political being, constantly aware of the heart breaking, passionate or delightful things that happen in the word, shaping himself completely in their image. Painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war: The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away. Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.’” (Pablo Picasso) The “Liberty Loving Lion: Unexpected Company of Lionel Durand” is ingeniously composed, uniformly informative and entertaining, and often simply inspiring.

More than a biography, it’s an insightful look into the life of a journalist in the 40’s and 50’s in Europe and later Algiers. We Americans has such a narrow Hollywood view of that time and this book gives one a much-needed on-the-ground insider’s view of that era, using an excellent journalist’s words. It added much to my understanding of WWII and so many parts of the culture then and afterwards in France. Being an artist myself I was surprised and fascinated by the friendship between Lionel Durand and Pablo Picasso—including words from Picasso about what role an artist could play. Who knew that Picasso was an activist and a supporter of the la Résistance. The cover of the book is a personalized and signed hand-drawn Picasso “portrait” of Lionel Durand. This is the second book by Callahan and Suggs, following Revelation and Healing: A Father and Son Reunion, which details how Suggs, a forensic genealogist helped Callahan, an adoptee, uncover who and where his father had been. Fascinating. Both books.

It touch my heart

This powerful account of an adopted boy who, after growing up and late in life, launches a successful quest to learn who his father had been. Amazing discovery of a WWII hero.

Inspiring.