Log-book: June 2000

Face to face with the young

The unfair double-punishment

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An Inter-religions meeting in Lyon

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Face to face with the young

The three days spent in Wurtemberg, Germany allowed us to make many contacts. I will remember definitely the meeting with high school students, they were more than a hundred (16-17 years old) with their principal and a few professors. Looking back I don't remember well their questions and their answers. The most important is elsewhere: a wonderful time of meeting and listening. We were together. Communication was running through like water in a river. A light breeze was blowing on our heart and mind. Seeds of freedom were profoundly provided waiting to sprout. We parted regretfully.

     

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An Inter-religions meeting in Lyon

I did not expect that our reunion with the Bishops would be troublesome. The media were going to change that. Their presence on my side was irritating. The Bishops ought to think, " That's happening again". The Protestants had foreseen that hijacking of the media. It is why some bodyguards accompanied me from the Cathedral altar up to the bus! Ridiculous! I was feeling like a prisoner transferred to another jail. I wonder if the fear of the media was not turning against those who developed that fear. In inter-religions meeting it would have been desirable to take time to enjoy together, as Orthodox Bishops did with me by opening widely their arms to me with great kindness.
 

   

 

     
   

The unfair double-punishment

Khalifa, an Algerian, is spending a jail sentence. When terminated he will be expulsed to Algeria because he is a foreigner. He will be punished twice, a double-punishment, that is jail + expulsion. At the request of a Committee from Bordeaux I participate to a meeting on double-punishment.
Khalifa arrived in France aged three. France has become his country. Married, with four children, he is living in Aubiers, a quarter of Bordeaux. The concern is remarkable for this well-known and appreciated family. A solidarity action is demonstrated in this quarter of a low standing. Every body is reacting and saying that a father of a family should not be separated from his wife and his children. The right to live as a family is requested by all people present during this memorable evening of discussions.

 

   

 

     
   

Limited operation

A hundred of militants (Tunisians and French) managed to enter the office of the Tunisian Direction of Militia in Paris. Their role is to watch over the Tunisian community in France and forbid it to have free expression by intimidation, threats and aggression.
The confusion was total. Militants were shouting: " Tunisian is a police State. Tortures are current practice. Liberties are suppressed…" This was unusual in this place, unbearable for disoriented and furious officials. Present TV media were actively filming the rush, the insults and the violence ironically trapping the militiamen into their behavior. These unusual images managed to cross over the Mediterranean Sea….
After this symbolic action I made a visit to Salpetriere Hospital to see Taouflik Ben Brick, a rebel newsman. He tells me that he is going to stop its hanger strike because his brother has been released. He feels better by seeing that the young, women, officials get over the taboo of fear.
 

   

 



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