In the aftermath of regional and departmental elections in France, we can be concerned to see a big winner emerge: abstention, with a rate of almost 2/3. Democracy is the big loser. The formal and informal participation of citizens in political life, particularly through pluralist, participatory and regular elections, is a key dimension of democracy. It is never definitively won. Let us remember that democracy has almost always been acquired at the cost of fierce struggles in the history of societies.
We see it today in many parts of the world where democracy is being severely repressed, such as in Myanmar since February 1st. The military coup has so far caused the deaths of 873 people, including at least 73 children. More than 5,000 people are currently imprisoned, 175,000 people are internally displaced. After five months since the coup, with each passing day, hope fades further. The country is also sinking into an economic crisis: 600,000 jobs have been lost, with the poorest populations hardest hit. There are fears that the collapse of Myanmar could destabilize this region of Asia and encourage the rise of other authoritarian, violent and extremist powers.
In this context, the platform "Youth for Myanmar" promoted by about fifteen Catholic movements and non-violent organizations internationally in more than ten countries gives new life to the legitimate struggle to promote peace and democracy in Myanmar and throughout the region. The launch of this platform, in the presence of many bishops from Southeast Asia such as Bishop Joel Baylon, Bishop of Legazpi in the Philippines, will take place tomorrow, June 29. This launch supported by Fondacio Asia is also a way to mobilize the youth of the entire world, the future for a more humane and just world is in the hands of each of us.
It is on a note of hope that François is ending these two years of Carte Blanche on RCF.
I thank the entire team who welcomed me into the radio studios every Monday, and the director Raphaël who trusted me. Dear listeners, it was a joy for me to share these moments of complicity at the heart of the trying news of these last few months marked by Covid. In full sunlight as in the darker nights, joy “adapts and transforms, and it always remains at least as a ray of light that is born from the personal certainty of being infinitely loved, beyond everything” (Pope Francis, The Joy of the Gospel, §6). Joy is born from the taste for the other, in a shared concern.
In the joy shared at RCF, I wish you a good summer.
No responses yet