Dégage !

 

Browsing this morning’s press, I came across this:

 

https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2026/10/14/burn-out-et-degagisme-dans-les-theatres-pourquoi-tu-vas-t-epuiser-a-gerer-le-titanic_6793786_3246.html

 

Burn-out et dégagisme dans les théâtres : « Pourquoi tu vas t’épuiser à gérer le “Titanic” ? »

Modèle économique en berne, hostilité de certains élus locaux, rébellion des équipes ou diktat des réseaux sociaux… La multiplication des départs anticipés et des drames personnels chez les cadres du monde culturel raconte un mouvement inquiétant

 

Intrigued by this neologism “dégagisme”, I put the matter to my chat-buddy Herr Sprachgeheimrat (or, in this context “Monsieur Philolog(iciel)”):

 

 

dj] "Burn-out et dégagisme dans les théâtres : « Pourquoi tu vas t’épuiser à gérer le “Titanic” ? » ---- dégagisme ?

 

AI: « dégagisme » désigne un mouvement ou une tendance politique et sociale visant à évincer, « dégager » ou chasser massivement les dirigeants, élites, ou responsables en place, souvent jugés déconnectés, inefficaces ou corrompus.

Dans le contexte de l'article de Le Monde intitulé « Burn-out et dégagisme dans les théâtres », Le rejet des directions en place : Une volonté (de la part des équipes, des syndicats ou du public) de pousser vers la sortie des directeurs d'institutions théâtrales jugés à bout de souffle ou contestés.

 

Ce phénomène s'accompagne d'une bureaucratisation outrancière (« labels, missions, reportings ») et d'une explosion des coûts qui étouffent la création artistique. La gestion de ces structures devient si lourde et conflictuelle que les directeurs se sentent épuisés (burn-out), avec l'impression de piloter un navire qui coule inexorablement (« le Titanic »)

 

 

Cf revolutionary vocabulary of the Arab Spring (where « Dégage ! » was the unifying cry against Ben Ali) into the institutional, subsidized corridors of French theater is quite remarkable.

What makes its application here so sharp is how it captures a shift from institutional reverence to absolute exhaustion. In the context of French culture, theater directors—especially at institutions like the Centres Dramatiques Nationaux

 

The collective response is no longer just dissent, but a desire to clear the slate completely—hence, le dégagisme.

 

dj] Yes, I was going to mention the Arab-spring use of “dégage”.  But what I gather from your account is that that use of a verbal imperative is actually the origin of the purely French term dégagisme, via what French linguists (as, Benveniste) called “délocutif”.  That is to say, memory of the original revolutionary-imperative use in Tunisia (and Yemen, etc) is implicit in the French nominal coinage.

 

AI] The Délocutive Mechanism at Work

In linguistics, a délocutive word is a noun or verb derived not from the baseline conceptual meaning of a root word, but specifically from the act of uttering a particular phrase or formula.

 

If critics had used a traditional word like limogeage (the top-down dismissal of an official) or contestation (protest), it would imply standard institutional friction. By using dégagisme, the article implies that the current anger in French theaters mirrors a populist revolt. It isn't just about wanting a new boss; it is an organic, collective cry of "Dégage !" aimed at an entire style of management and an obsolete institutional system.

dj] There are a great many Arabic dialect terms for ‘scram!’, ‘clear off!’; as,

 

<San`aa’> imšaw la-kum ! (pl.)  / riḥ lak (sg.)

<Aden> rīḥ la-kum !

<Gulf> inčabb !

<Gulf> ixis !

<Gulf> xûz `annī !

<Levant> ḥawwil `annī !

<Levant> fill !

<Lebanon> walli !

 

not to mention the Quranic ixsa’ ilayk (Q XXIII.108) / xasi’ta !

 

Which Arabic term did the Tunisians use in demanding the departure of Ben Ali, when they were using Arabic instead of French (or did they always just use the French, since it had frozen into a slogan?

 

AI] The Tunisians did not rely exclusively on the French « Dégage ! ». While that particular imperative became the iconic, frozen international slogan of the final days on Bourguiba Avenue, the street protests were linguistically plural, relying heavily on both Classical/Standard Arabic and Tunisian dialect (Derja).

 

When Tunisians demanded the departure of Ben Ali in Arabic, they used several distinct terms that operated at different stylistic and register levels:

The Pan-Arab Standard: اِرْحَلْ (Irḥal !)

The Tunisian Dialectal Vernacular: بَرَّا (Barra !)

 

In the heat of the protests, it was wielded as Barra l-fōq! ("Get out/Go up!") or paired with the dictator's name to mean "Get lost, Ben Ali!" It carries a distinctly intimate, local sting that irḥal lacks, stripping the ruling elite of their institutional distance.

 

The Shared Regional Dialectal Alternative: طِيرْ (Ṭīr !)

Historically, « Dégage ! » was the linguistic weapon of the French colonizer directed downward at the colonized. By turning that specific French imperative back toward Ben Ali's police state, the crowd executed a brilliant subversion.

 

dj]  Very nice.

 

I discuss the use and variations of “irḥal !” against President `Ali `Abdallah Ṣâliḥ in 2011  here:

 

    https://worldofdrjustice.blogspot.com/2011/03/arms-and-man.html