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| • In the mining area of Gafsa |
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| • In support of Salah Hamouri |
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| • First French atomic test |
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| • In a clinic |
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| In the mining area of Gafsa |
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| With a delegation we reached Tunisia. By car, we went south to Gafsa, the door to the desert. The next day, I was delighted to go to Redeyef , the rebel city, of which I had heard so much and where scene of riots since the beginning of the year had been violently repressed. |
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| The area is fertile in phosphate but the population does not profit by it except those that are close to the authorities. The people in an upsurge of misery have nothing to lose. Unemployment is massive. The great challenge of the Tunisian Regime, is to attack those who fight for human rights. Here, it is not terrorism. |
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| The police follow us everywhere but let us do what we want. The police roadblocks are passed without any difficulty. Being able to enter in Redeyef is apparently a feat because it is a city isolated from the rest of the world. |
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We have come to demonstrate our solidarity to the prisoners of the mining area before the trial begins. The population is pleased to see us among it and with it. It is known that international solidarity exists. What impresses most is to see these women who have a son or a husband in jail. The son of one of them, 22 years of age, was killed last June by a police bullet. |
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These women, with a rebellious dignity, bring to my mind the courageous Mothers of May in Argentina, at the time of the dictatorship. Each week, they were gathering on Government square in Buenos Aires to learn of the fate of those who had disappeared.
Every body is waiting the beginning of the trial. All indicates that severe sentences will be pronounced. Repression is the way the Tunisian Regime acts. A regime that benefits from the support of the European Union and above all, of France. As for the medias, they are strangely silent. |
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| In support of Salah Hamouri |
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| Being part of the committee in support of Salah Hamouri, I participated in a press conference organized in the Senate. |
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Salah is 23 years old. He is a Franco-Palestinian. He was born in Jerusalem from a French mother, a teacher of French, and a Palestinian, a restaurant owner in East Jerusalem. |
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Salah went to the « Brothers of Lasalle » School, in Jerusalem-East. He then studied in sociology at the famous Bethlehem University. In March 2005, he was arrested on his way to Ramallah. One month after his arrest, his family learned from the press that he was accused of conspiring with two other young persons against the rabbi Ovadia Yossef, the spiritual leader of a religious party of extreme right SHAS, under the motive that they had passed with a car in front of his house. After a three year prison term, Salah was faced with an odious blackmail which consisted in forcing him to « plead guilty » or otherwise receive a jail sentence of more than seven years.
He is the hostage of the Israeli occupation which passes judgement on those it oppresses. Today, Salah Hamouri, is in a jail in Galilee, in Gilboa, North of Israel. |
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Despite all the actions taken and the insurances given, nothing seems to happen. In the case of Salah Hamouri, there is an ear-splitting silence. Salah's mother has written to me. It is reassuring for her to know that I am defending her son. |
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| First French atomic test |
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It was on February 13 1960 at 7 : 04 a.m. in the Algerian Sahara, south of Reggane. The first atmospheric French nuclear test was called «Gerboise bleue» ("blue jerboa"). It was four times bigger than the one on Hiroshima. |
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I was invited to see the preview of a film by Djamel Ouahab, called « Gerboise bleue ». It is the story of the French soldiers and Algerian Touaregs who were the first victims of the first French atomic tests in the Sahara, from 1960 to 1966. The last survivors narrate their fights for the recognition of their sickness and reveal in what conditions the tests were really done.
Djamel Ouahab, a young Algerian, has made a documentary film that I found superb. The camera is on men united in the adversity, struck by History. Men however who speak of peace, solidarity and forgiveness.
The young Frenchmen sent on military service were not aware of anything. They were used as guiney pigs. The face of one of them was completely disfigured. Today, they have the feeling of having been betrayed and then abandoned by France.
Some Touraregs, deprived of training, have seen without taking precautions the intense light produced by the first test. They became blind. |
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| The population of the oasis are uncomplicated, worthy and proud people. They suffer in the greatest indifference and feel a profound injustice. |
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| French and Algerians are men wounded by History. They were the same way the victims of the negligence of the politicians. But they are united in the same tragic destiny brought by the radioactivity damages. An intimate relation that unites them to France and Algeria forever. |
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| In a clinic |
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It is an experience that a lot of people have to live one day or another in their life. Operated for cancer of the bowels, I submitted myself willingly to the different rites of preparation. I had no other choice! Among the clinical staff assigned to the operation, I was impressed by the anaesthesiologist who has the power to put me to sleep and to wake me up. Magique!
Sent to the intensive care unit surrounded by hoses that made me dependent on others. I got to know the night and day hospital staff who I greatly appreciate. The experience of Paul the Apostle at the beginning of the second letter to the Corinthians casts a bright light on my situation: « Are we in tribulation? It is for your consolation. Are we consoled? It is for your consolation ».
As the sufferings of Christ are sources for us of consolation.
What a marvellous lesson ! « God comforts us in all our distresses to enable us to comfort others in distress… » |
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| The surgeon came to see me every morning. He was very satisfied with the results. There will be no cancerous consequences and thus, no other treatment will be necessary. |
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| For the moment, he recommended that I walk. I thus walk in the corridors of the clinic making friends with the personnel who come from Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mali, Laos… A little more time, and I will be able to leave the corridors of the clinic to finally find , which is a lot better, the streets of Paris. |
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