Paresse pour tous

Paresse pour tous i a fiction book where Klent narrates Emilien Long’s presidential campaign in France. Emilien, fictional nobel prize winner that reminds us of a few other French economists, sets to defend the right to laziness in the 21st century and proposes a three day work week that will end the current productivist framework. A reformist approach to utopia

This book is an excellent summer read because it is well researched and educative but it is still really light. It is also a great counter-balance to the increasingly gloomy news we are getting almost everywhere in the world…

The simple premise, a 15 hour work week, is the roots to a tree of radical change: More time to do things slowly, to nurture local communities, to take care of the earth and of those around us… Which leads to more sustainable lifestyles, less unnecessary consumption, and better mental health - which, by the way, reduces health expenditures!!

Through the diverse set of characters, Klent introduces many of the pressing themes of our times: From a permaculture adjacent farmer, to an open access IT expert, Long is surrounded by smart, passionate people - relatable characters.

During the presidential campaign, Long keeps telling himself and others that, as Leon Blum said in his 1936 campaign, gaining power is a different game from exercising it, and all his team works way more than 3 hours… but will they be able to slow down for real?

This book was also extremely interesting to read just after the French parliamentary election earlier this year… The alternative of the book is showing what we could have learnt from covid, when we realised that the threshold of the possible had been consutructed and imposed by neoliberal and productivist forces. An alternative that screams: “we can slow down”.

In 2024, the response is completely different. There was indeed a leftist alternative, but it was clearly one responding to the increasingly polarised and fragmented France we see now, one focused on the ever rising inequality that is actually a consequence of those rules we never changed…