Monthly Archives: September 2013

A tale of two old men

Once upon a time, there lived in the Southernmost and the westernmost parts of a continent far away from the rest of the world, two young men.  Both were born in the first decades of the last century, when the whole world was going through dire transformations, between the two great wars and with communication means experiencing more and more rapid developments.

Both were strong, clever and gifted with inquisitive minds, and wanted to do great things for their respective countries.  This ambition was quite understandable, since their countries and almost all of their continent were dominated either by a tiny national élite or by external, powerful countries, on the pretense that they knew better and consequently, had to provide civilization, superior religious beliefs and culture to the rest of the humanity.

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Éloge de la différence ou comment peut-on encore être Persan?

Je viens de finir la lecture de deux ouvrages intéressants, l’un assez récent, l’autre relativement ancien.  Il s’agit :

  1. De l’ouvrage collectif «Legenre humain : la science face au  racisme » écrit entre autres par Albert Jacquard qui vient de quitter ce monde et d’autres auteurs tels que François Jacob, Léon Poliakov, Charles Frankel, Colette Guillaumin, etc. Il a été publié en 1986;
  2. De l’essai de Condorcet sur «Réflexions sur l’esclavage des Nègre», publié en 1781, soit pendant le Siècle des lumières.

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Un ennemi de la liberté et de la justice

Qui que nous soyons, en chacun de nous sommeille un ennemi de la liberté et de la justice, si elles vont à l’encontre de nos intérêts personnels et immédiats. Le courage consiste à vaincre d’abord ces tendances internes, avant de s’attaquer aux atteintes à la liberté et à la justice dans nos communautés, sociétés, États, nations et finalement, au niveau international.

An enemy of freedom and justice

Whoever we are, in each and everyone of us lies an enemy of freedom and justice if – or – whenever they go against our personal interests. Courage consists in first vanquishing those inherent internal tendencies, before tackling social obstacles to the fundamental rights to freedom and justice in our communities, societies, States, nations and finally, at the international/global levels.