In this page will be listed the actions done to promote the cause, as well as some day to day events or some general reflections … While waiting to have a real blog, please send us your feedback below !

 

This afternoon, I went to distribute the flyers (here in French) at Bois Colombes near Paris between about 17:00 and 19:00 … It is a small town near Paris where there is an important North African community … I stayed before a supermarket where I distributed the flyers … There weren’t many people passing by … I explained the cause to a few persons ...

I found this interesting statistic from the Hammamet conference in Tunisia of the 25th of May where according to the Tunisian prime minister : Every point (1%) of growth in the countries of the south and east of the Mediterranean leads to a 0.2 to 0.3 point of growth in the countries in the north and conversely, every point of growth in the countries of the north leads to a 0.4 to 0.6 point of growth in the countries of the south and east !

Therefore, if the countries of North Africa spoke English, it would generate growth for the whole Mediterranean region !!! (cf. our home page for the explanation) Of course the same reasoning works for the other African regions concerned (West and Central Africa)

We finally answered all the emails on hold … Excuse us for the delay … I am dealing with some personal business these days … Keep on sending us your messages ! It is always a pleasure !

Tomorrow, our cause continues ...

June the 1st, 2010—Mutual growth

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This afternoon, I went to distribute the flyers (here in French) at Saint Denis near Paris between about 17:00 and 20:00 … There is an important North African community in that area … There was many people passing by and I distributed a lot of handouts … I had two conversations, one with a fellow from Algeria with whom we talked about many subjects, besides English as 1st foreign language, among which the preservation of the Kabile language in Algeria and the enhancement of the teaching and uses of Arabic in the Arabic world … The second conversation was with a Moroccan fellow with whom we discussed the obstacles to the reforms in the area … I also explained the cause to a few other persons ...

Tomorrow, our cause continues ...

June the 2nd, 2010—Saint Denis

June the 3rd, 2010—Sunny and hot !

Today, I had some personal issues to tend to … I am officially unemployed since last week and I had to go to the employment agency this morning … Then, in the afternoon, I went to distribute the flyers (here in French) at the Suresnes tram station near Paris between about 17:00 and 19:00 … I went there not so long ago, but because of the rain, I did not distribute much flyers … This time there was lots of sunshine and it was so hot that most of the time I had to find a shady place to stand in … I met a person I knew and we had a nice conversation about the cause and I had the chance to explain why speaking English was so important for the people of Africa from an economical and human perspective … We discussed also the injustices related to the policies that were preventing them from doing so … We have received two more support messages today ...

Some persons kept passing by over and over again …

Tomorrow, our cause continues ...

June the 4th, 2010—Grave Abuses again and again !

Today, when I was going to distribute flyers I found out that a number of flyers had been stolen from the box where I keep them at home in Paris !!!

Besides I heard that there were ways to redirect traffic to a dummy website … It might be the case for our website in some African countries … So if you are visiting our website often use www.anonymizer.com or equivalent or access it from a public space and change often … It is very important !

Later today, I went to distribute the flyers (here in French) at Gare du Nord in Paris between about 17:00 and 19:00 … Some persons kept passing by over and over again … I had a few conversations about the cause and several persons were quite supportive some said they would sign the petition and I had a good exchange with a person who was saying that there were other problems in Africa, on which I agreed, but I added that the language barrier was an important problem as well and that is wrong to impose any language on those people just because they cannot defend themselves ! I had another exchange with a nice lady who is helping Africans through a church and I told her that if those African people spoke English they would receive much more help from the developed world and that the language barrier prevents opportunities for aid and international cooperation as much as it prevents opportunities for business and development ! 

Tomorrow, our cause continues ...

June the 5th, 2010—Global English !

Today I went to distribute the flyers (here in French) at Porte de Clignancourt in Paris between about 14:00 and 18:00 … Some persons passed by several times … I had a conversation with a Tunisian fellow about the cause and why it is important and why the people should stand for it: For the government to have the support necessary to carry out the reforms … At a moment one person with the flyer in his hands and was passing by at a distance from me and ripped the flyer into pieces and threw them on the floor for me to see … I guessed it was intimidation since a few other persons snatched the flyer, crushed and threw it too … Another one showed me a crushed flyer in the palm of his hand when passing by … Anyway, afterwards, I had a good conversation with a nice lady about the cause, she was thinking it would be better to have Esperanto as a global language and I asked her what was wrong with English (besides the fact that the numbers of publications and of speakers of Esperanto are insignificant) … She said it was imperialistic but I answered that a language is only a means of communication and that you express all kind of points of view in a language … For example, countries like Cuba, Iran or North Korea all teach and use English although they are not big fans of the English speaking countries … Besides, English is already the global language and today the points of view of the majority of the countries in the world are expressed in English … The global debates about the global issues are done in English too and the non native speakers use English more than the native speakers ! Some even speak of Globish or Global English … I believe that the English language is an opportunity for all humankind ! I have experienced it personally when contacting development organizations from such different countries as Brazil, Norway, Japan, the Netherlands, Finland, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Canada … etc. Imagine the potential of doing business or receiving foreign investments in English for the African countries !

Next week, our cause continues ...

June the 7th, 2010—Constructive behaviour

Today I went to distribute the flyers (here in French) at Bibliotheque Francois Mitterand in Paris between about 17:00 and 19:00 …  It is a quarter where there is a big library, therefore there were many students going in and out of the subway station ...

Besides, I was thinking about the different problems of the African people (Tunisians in particular) and I thought about how we suffered a lot from our impulsivity and aggressive exchanges between each other … In daily life in Tunisia, people may go through several tense exchanges every day, at work, in a line, in a car jam or even just walking on the street … This produces a lot of nervous tension in people and between them and really poisons everyone’s life ! If we learned how to talk to each other, to respect everybody and have constructive and polite exchanges and conversations to solve our problems, everyone would profit from a happier and calmer life while all society would profit from a good spirit where people solve their conflicts peacefully and can work together constructively to do good and positive things together … !

Tomorrow, our cause continues ...

June the 8th, 2010—More Intimidations and the Assimilation plan

Today when going to distribute flyers, I found the box in which I had the flyers turned around !!! I am positive about it because I was putting marks on the side of the box everyday to have a proof if any flyers were missing … The marking were on the side of the corridor and I found them turned around !!! It is obviously an intimidation ! The police wouldn’t make a serious investigation about something like this (as it happened before) because nothing was stolen ! But it is clearly an intimidation ! Since they couldn’t steal my flyers anymore, they are trying to intimidate me !

Then I went to distribute the flyers (here in French) at Bastille in Paris between about 16:40 and 19:00 … There was a rally about legalizing illegal immigrants … At 19:00 I went to give the protesters flyers … Most of them were from Africa … Before that I had a vivid conversation with a woman who was saying that the cause was wrong ! But I told her that France too, like tens of other countries including all the European countries had made the sovereign decision to speak English in the interest of the their respective peoples ! Is that wrong ???? Is it right to impose French on the defenceless African people and to threaten them and terrorize them about it ???? I told her that I was ready to give my life for this cause without any hesitation ! And she told me “that’s how accidents happen” which is a threat actually !

The language issue is a symptom of a broader political plan to assimilate North Africa to France, it is literally the same thing as the former occupation, the only difference is that there is no army ! It aims to erase the local culture and to impose the French culture and the French language ! Until that plan is completely and fully abandoned we cannot and must not rest ! We must protect our cultural identity and our right to self determination even if we have to make important sacrifices ! Otherwise, we will wither away … An important aspect of the plan, is the will to separate the counties of North Africa from the rest of the Arabic world in the middle east in order to isolate us and to make us an easier prey !

We received three new support messages lately ...

Tomorrow, our cause continues ...

June the 9th, 2010—What happened yesterday !

Then I went to distribute the flyers (here in French) at Porte d’Orleans in Paris between about 17:10 and 19:00 … There were a few drops of rain … but it was fine ...

We received a new support message today ...

Tomorrow, our cause continues ...

To illustrate what happened yesterday, I took pictures of the box as it was before and after I discovered it yesterday ...

The first image is the one of the box as it is situated between the corridor to the right and the closet to the left (click to enlarge)

 

 

 

 

 

The second picture (click to enlarge) is a zoom showing the side of the box where the marking are (near the corridor) because I do a new marking every day …

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third picture shows the markings from inside the box

 

 

 

 

And this is the box as I found it yesterday (click on the picture to enlarge), it was turned around !!! With the markings on the side of the closet !!! This means that someone has gotten into my apartment and turned it around in a way that is obvious for me !!! I hope I made it obvious for you too !!!

After I found out that some flyers were missing the other day and started marking the level each day, they did this in order to intimidate me and try to scare me … proving they could get into my apartment any time ! This is not the first time this happens !

June the 10th, 2010—About universal values and specific cultures

Then I went to distribute the flyers (here in French) at Garibaldi near Paris between about 16:30 and 19:00 … I discussed the cause with a few persons explaining to them what it was about … I found a person with whom I had a conversation at the same place before and we briefly talked about a variety of subjects …

Afterwards, I was thinking about how the modernization of our countries and cultures is not in contradiction with universal values like democracy, freedom, human rights, equality and justice … A culture is first of all a spirit and a set of values as well as a heritage on several levels from our ancestors … Among all the things that constitute a culture only some specific social behaviours are in contradiction with universal values … If we abandoned or modernized by our own efforts and from our own perspective the old customs that are in contradiction with universal values we would not be in contradiction with our culture nor with our heritage but we would be seeking and building a better society and continuing our own cultural construction while improving our values and behaviours. We can achieve that either by incorporating universal values to our own society and culture like equality between men and women, freedom, fight against racism or we can also put forward and generalize the good values and behaviours coming from our Arabic cultural heritage that do already exist in our societies on a small scale like good manners, generosity or that did exist in the past and disappeared today like selflessness, devotion, honesty … !

Tomorrow, our cause continues ...

June the 11th, 2010—A wish for the world !

Then I went to distribute the flyers (here in French) at Puteaux near Paris between about 16:40 and 19:00 … Some persons kept passing by over and over again ...

Today, I would like to make a wish ! I wish that one day all humans will be able to live side by side with the same rights and the same dignity … I wish that one day all the decent and righteous men and women of this planet will come together to recognize the right of the weak and poor countries and people to live in peace as constructive and positive members of the community of nations and to be the sole masters of their destinies, managing their own matters without foreign interference and free to modernize their ancestral cultures and heritages … That day the world will cease to be a barbarian place were the strongest and the richest countries try to assimilate the weaker ones to be at last a civilized and humane place ruled by laws and reason where everybody shares the same universal values and ideals, where conflicts are solved peacefully in international institutions and where diversity is celebrated and every people can enjoy its own identity and live and share the beauty of its heritage with everybody else without being repressed by a stronger country trying to push its own culture and language on it

Tomorrow, our cause continues ...

June the 12th, 2010—English is crucial for economical development !

Today I went to distribute the flyers (here in French) at Porte de Clignancourt near Paris between about 16:00 and 19:00 … I had several conversations about the cause ! On one conversation I was explaining the advantages of English for the economy and the development of any modern and peaceful country by allowing access to technology, science and business opportunities that cannot be achieved otherwise … He was arguing about translators but investors won’t bother to try to find a translator  whom they have to trust in order to invest in the country, besides the expenses and the problems that might be generated … they will be keener on going somewhere else where they can talk directly with the workers and know what’s going in the country and the incentives and policies of the government in economical matters ... He then argued about other English speaking countries in Africa which are not developed ! But I told him that if, in a modern and peaceful country, you do not use English to access technology, science and foreign investments you cannot improve your economy … Besides in the African countries in questions the educational systems are broken and primitive and there is no skilled workforce … Besides, if a non English speaking country did all it did in English it would grow just by the additional connections that are made possible by the use of English ! Finally, you can see what the use of English has generated for the economies of many regions in the globe, for example Eastern Europe, the Middle East (Dubai in particular) and the new dragons in Asia like Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan ...

Beware that the attempts to demean the role of English in the economy are not neutral ! They are politically motivated to keep African countries speaking other languages !

I discussed with another person how English became the global language … I argued the geographical spread and diversity of English speaking countries … The multiplicity of those countries made English independent from any one country in particular and favoured its adoption because it is politically neutral (Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and North Korea speak English) … Today, the number of non native English speakers exceeded by far the number of native speakers making it the main medium of expression of the world ! It is an extraordinary progress for humanity to be able to communicate together in a common language !Afterwards I had another long conversation with another person in which we talked about many various subjects …

Next week, our cause continues ...

June the 14th, 2010—About the importance of being open !

Today I sent some more emails to a few more medias and I called two or three of them to check if they received my emails but no one was able to tell me if they did or not … Afterwards, I went to distribute the flyers (here in French) at a supermarket near Goncourt in Paris between about 16:40 and 19:00 … I talked about the cause with several pedestrians … Everybody was supportive and nice … Two people wanted to sign the petition on site because they did not have the Internet !

Afterwards I was thinking about the importance of an open state of mind for the people of the world ! Every people needs to modernize and care for its own culture, because it is its legacy and responsibility and if they don’t, their culture can be in danger of dying and disappearing ... But, besides that, they need to keep an open state of mind by knowing other cultures in the world in order to be able to connect with other people and to enhance their own cultural background and learn more cultural references … It also allows a dialogue and exchange between cultures where good influences and beautiful cultural productions are shared by everybody and finally, it prevents local people from being isolated or from being self centred because it allows to position one’s own culture in the diversity of cultures that exist preventing people from idealizing their own culture and becoming extremists about it or fascists or nationalists ….

Tomorrow, our cause continues ...

June the 15th, 2010—In North African press !

Today I sent some more emails to more medias … Afterwards, I went to distribute the flyers (here in French) at Barbes Rochechouart in Paris between about 16:45 and 18:50 … It is a neighbourhood where lives an important community from North Africa … I explained the cause to several pedestrians … I had a very nice conversation with a man I already met with whom we said how important it was for us to speak English … I told him that we have to stand for our rights and then hope for the best ... ! He told me that he saw an article about our initiative in an Algerian or Moroccan newspaper in Arabic named “week of the press” or something like that … I did not find it on the internet, unfortunately …

We have a new supporter from Togo and two new support messages ...

Tomorrow, our cause continues ...

June the 16th, 2010—Police brutality is not a fatality !

Today I sent more emails to more medias in Europe … Afterwards, I went to distribute the flyers (here in French) at Argenteuil near Paris between about 17:15 and 19:15 … It is a neighbourhood with an important North African community … I was in front of the local mall … I explained the cause to several pedestrians …

Afterwards, I was thinking about the things that could be improved in our African countries … and I thought about the security culture in our countries and its importance in our daily lives and in the well being of our citizens … Actually, today, a conversation between a police officer and a citizen or an interrogation in a police station is often synonymous with nightmare for the citizen which is often the victim of verbal and physical aggression from the authorities (abuses of power and police brutality are recurrent and police officers are never sanctioned for such behaviour) … This atmosphere makes the people feel insecure and oppressed ... If the authorities made more efforts to promote a police culture based on explaining the law to the citizens and to guide them in legal matters instead of automatically recurring to sanctioning and violence, it would create a better place to live in for all African citizens and it would restore the legitimacy of the authorities as peace keepers and protectors of the citizens, instead of them being the main source of insecurity … On the other hand African countries lack institutions that oversee and sanctions police abuses and abuses of power and when such institutions exist, the citizens do not know them or are prevented from filing complaints by solidarities within the security system … To summarize, the African citizens should be taught about the laws, about their rights and the procedures to protect them (today they don’t know any of it) and the authorities and the police  should provide information, guidance and assistance in the matter !

Tomorrow, our cause continues ...

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