The Garden Gnome Liberation Front 4/15/00
When I finally made it to Paris last autumn, I realized a long-time dream. More than just seeing the history, beauty and ambiance of Paris, I got a chance to explore the country and fell in love with France. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it was the language (which grew increasingly nasal with each passing day), the pastries (most likely) or the general simpler and slower lifestyle. People there seemed to take their time and really enjoyed strolling on the streets and preparing their food. No matter. The fact was that I instantly felt comfortable in France. While participating in my favorite Saturday morning activity -sipping coffee and reading the paper in my local coffeehouse courtyard - one article in the front page section caught my eye and made me love the country even more.
France's Littlest Victims: Stolen Garden Gnomes excerpts:
PARIS -- Someone in France is again stealing garden gnomes, those cheery and fuzzy-cheeked symbols of smug suburban contentment. In an after-hours raid on a Paris park where 2,000 of the elfin figures had been assembled for an exhibition, members of a group calling itself the Garden Gnomes Liberation Front swiped a score of the scupltures last weekend. The unknown thieves, in a statement, demanded the "immediate closing of this odious exhibit, as well as the unconditional liberation of the garden gnomes still detained." Act now, they warned Paris authorities, or we will strike again. [....]Patrick Boumard, professor of anthropology at the University of Rennes and author of a study on the French relationship with the decorative sculptures, believes that gnome-napping [...] started out as a simple student prank but struck some profound chord in French life. [....] "For my paper, I went out and talked to people who have gnomes in their garden or on their lawn. . . . I often found surprisingly strong affective connections. Some owners, for instance, wash their gnome every day. Others take their gnome in for the night and put him to bed. Many people talk to their gnome as if it were their favorite child. These objects allow a regression into childhood without a visit to the psychiatrist. I call them the 'Freud of the poor.'" [....] In the summer of 1996, masked commando bands operating around the city of Alencon in Normandy staged nightly raids to "liberate" gnomes by taking the terra cotta, ceramic, or plastic figurines from people's yards and setting them loose in the forest, their supposed natural environment. (For obvious reasons, the image of ninja-clad French guys sneaking up to a house, quickly snatching hapless gnomes and plopping them - dazed and VERY confused - underneath some tree in the forest makes me laugh like a maniac. The people at the coffeehouse feared for my sanity and their safety.) [....] In one bizzare ritual, the garden statuary was made to symbolize the discontents of modern civilization. Eleven gnomes were hanged by the neck off a bridge in easter France, and a mock suicide note was left that said, "When you read these few words, we will no longer be part of your selfish world, where we serve merely as pretty decoration." [....] The opponents of gnome captivity eventually broke into two groups, the Liberation Front and the more "pacifist" Garden Gnome Emancipation Movement. . . . The removal of some of the figures from the show at the Bagatelle Gardens in Paris was the first action clained on the Liberation Front's behalf in three years. . . . Meanwhile, Boumard announced that the University of Rennes will hold a three-day conference in June to futher explore the complex relationship between the French and garden gnomes.
-- by John-Thor Dahlberg, Times Staff Writer
L.A. Times, April 15, 2000, page A2.
The article also included a picture of 2 middle-aged, slightly confused-looking men standing behind a throng of recovered gnomes, ranging from your garden-variety gnome with the red hat and wooden shoes to Snow White and a gaggle of dwarves. If my French was good enough to allow comprehension of the June conference, you know I'd be booking my next flight back to Paris. If anyone knows how I can become an honorary member of the Garden Gnome Liberation Front, please sign me up.