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 nearly 2/3. Democracy is the big loser. The formal and informal participation of citizens in political life, in particular 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 strongly suppressed, such as in Myanmar since February 1st. The military coup has so far caused the death of 873 people, including at least 73 children. More than 5,000 people are currently imprisoned, 175,000 600,000 people displaced inside the country. After five months since the coup, each passing day sees hope dwindle a little further. The country is also sinking into an economic crisis: XNUMX thousand jobs have been lost, the poorest populations are the hardest hit. It is feared 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 “Youth for Myanmar” platform promoted by some fifteen Catholic movements and non-violent organizations at the international level in more than ten countries gives new impetus 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 Mgr Joël Baylon, Bishop of Legazpi in the Philippines, will take place tomorrow, June 29. This launch supported by Fondacio Asia is also a way of mobilizing young people around the world, the future for a more humane and fairer world is in the hands of each of us.
It is on a note of hope that François you end these two years of Carte blanche on RCF.
I would like to thank the whole team who welcomed me to 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 months marked by the Covid. In full sun as in darker nights, joy “adapts and changes, and it always remains at least like 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 of the other, in a shared solicitude.
In the joy shared at RCF, I wish you a good summer.
