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| • A March for Gaza |
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| • Race riot at Rosarno |
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| • A surprise |
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| • A courageous woman |
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| A March for Gaza |
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| A memorable adventure! Coming from 42 countries, we were 1,360 international demonstrators blocked in Cairo. The departure for Gaza has been forbidden by the Egyptian government. An opportunity to bounce and create a new situation from the Egyptian capital. We will take action to show to this immense city of Cairo (18 000 million inhabitants) our solidarity with the Palestinian people. |
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| In Gaza, the organizers of the « Gaza freedom March » had understood it right away : « The spectacular actions and very well covered by the press that you have undertaken in Cairo are much more efficient than the planned visit to the Gaza strip. » In Cairo, better than elsewhere, we will try to stir people's consciences. |
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| Even so, on arrival in the capital, we only had one idea: go to Gaza as fast as possible. This is why, on Sunday December 27, one year exact to the day of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, 300 French demonstrators gathered at 7 p.m. as scheduled in front of the French embassy. Standing with our rucksacks, waiting for the buses to take us to Gaza, at 10 p.m. we learned that the buses were not coming. |
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| Deception was written all over our faces. Something had to be done, right away. We decided to stop the traffic at this particular neuralgic area of heavy traffic. This action will have a great impact on the population. |
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| With our rucksacks and our tents, we occupied this very busy street. The cars stopped. Slogans were suddenly heard from all sides: « Palestine will survive » « Liberty for Gaza » « No to the blockade ». The Palestinian flags were held in one's outstretched arms. We sang feeling certain of a victory. The police arrived in great numbers, but did not charge. The chiefs were consulting each other as to how to act. We will accept to retreat onto the sidewalk of the embassy. It will be our place for the whole week. |
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| Guarded by young policemen of the antiriot team, day as well as night, we had to experience a mini blockade, to be subjected to the noise of traffic with deplorable sanitary conditions: no possibility to wash and the pollution was at maximum, a one hour and a half wait to go to the only W.C. available ... Seeing our determination to stay on the sidewalk, the ambassador lifted the obstacles. |
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| The foreign delegations staying at the hotel came to see us. Important people came to see us like Hedy Eptein, 85 years old, a survivor from the Nazi genocide, who came to congratulate us or a woman, rabbi from New York, happy to exchange with us. In the interviews that were asked of me, I referred to the « document Kairos of Palestine », a remarkable document written by Palestinian Christians, of which Michel Sabbah, who asked for the economic and social blockade on Israel: « We see in a boycott and the withdrawal of investments a non violent means to find justice, peace and security for all ». |
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Each day, we will take action, modest messages sent to the Egyptian population.
« Palestine will survive » « Liberty for Gaza » « No to the blockade ». |
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| Jacques Gaillot |
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| Race riot at Rosarno |
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| There was a race riot ten years ago at El Ejido in Andalusia. The hunt for Marocan and African immigrants had been astonishingly brutal: some 60 people were injured. Spain was under shock. I had participated in a delegation sent to El Ejido and I will long remember the despair in the faces of the immigrants. |
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Today, there is a hunt for immigrant farm workers in Rosarno, a small city of Calabre, in the south of Italy. The violent aggressions show the progress of inhuman conditions of these workers who have brought wealth to this area with the harvesting of mandarins. They are vassals in one's power, payed only 20 Euros per day and must accept to live with no running water, no electricity and no toilets. |
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| Racial prejudice has become a part of everyday life in Italy. The anti-immigrants party of the North League is responsible for this. The authorities do not condemn the acts of racial prejudice. They are content with leading repressive politics. |
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| As in El Ejido, the hunt for immigrants has been brutal. The habitants of Rosarno have built barricades, have brought terror, and wounded dozens with sticks and steel bars. These immigrants had to flee to survive. |
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| In different countries of Europe, protest meetings were organized in front of the Italian embassies. This is what happened in Paris. But it was impossible to get near the Embassy because the police had blocked all the surrounding streets. We had to meet a lot further from there. It was again an occasion to recall that the immigrants are human beings and have a right to our respect. By rejecting them, we disfigure ourselves. |
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| The immigrants are human beings and they deserve our respect. |
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| A surprise |
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| On the sidewalk of the Embassy of France, I was sleeping under Mourad's tent who was kind enough to have invited me inside. My glasses were there where I had left them in a precarious spot that I could not remember when I woke up. One lense of the glasses was scratched. On my arrival in Paris I went to the oculist, a charming woman, in an attempt to see better. She was welcoming and offered me a coffee that I found delicious. |
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| Putting a new lens in place takes some time. A good occasion to talk. Naturally, I talked about my trip: « I had just arrived from Cairo with three hundred French people, we have demonstrated our solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza that suffer from the Israeli blockade. » . |
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| « Israeli does not drop them completely, she said to me smiling, they always give them something. » |
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Surprised at her quick answer that seemed to solve the problem, I continued : « On December 27, we were in Cairo. It was the anniversary of the day of the Israeli aggression ». |
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| « When Israel intervenes, there is always a warning » she replied immediately. This time, I was breathless. I suddenly became aware that this woman was a Jew. She was giving me answers often heard in her environment. |
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| The glasses were ready. She put them on my face. |
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| « Everything becomes now clear to me. Thank you. » |
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| A courageous woman |
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Alycjia Tysiac belongs to the working Polish class. She won her case at the European Human Rights against Poland because the Polish authorities refused her to practice the abortion she had requested for serious health reasons, although this exception is provided for in the Polish Law. It was the first time! |
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| The whole of the Polish political class considers her act of accusing her country in a European Tribunal as inconceivable and scandalous. The Catholic Church did not appreciate her behavior. A smear campaign was launched against her. |
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| Alycja, who has practically lost her sight, lives with her three children, Julie is nine years old, and her husband is jobless most of the time. |
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| Today, Alycjia asked the baptism for her daughter, Julie, as she is the only one in her class who has not been baptized. Julie suffers from being rejected by her schoolmates. But baptism was refused. |
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| Breton women that had supported Alycjia in her combats promised her that Julie could be baptized in Brittany. They came to see me in Paris. Can I not accept to baptize her? |
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