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« Je suis Charlie » : stop mobilization!

Auteur: nadassfoto "Je suis Charlie" (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Auteur: nadassfoto « Je suis Charlie », manifestation suite au massacre de la rédaction du journal Charlie Hebdo » (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Is Charlie Hebdo attack new to social phenomena? What are the reasons behind Islamic terrorism? Is freedom of speech a western value? This article attempts to handle these tough questions by giving way to thinking outside the box into which mobilizers are forcefully pushing us.

What shocked me in Paris terror attacks was different from what afflicted a large part of the Occident. Even though much of what I experienced in my life as a free writer would make me identify with humanists and free artists in general, I see in social identification a great part of the problem.

I was stunned by the speed western society mobilized after the 7th of January attacks. This difference in attitudes is due to the fact that I had my secular upbringing in a widely religious society, and I learnt how to deliver, pass and code my messages and my divergent views in an environment that does not acknowledge individuality, human rights, and the freedom of expression. In contrast, Europeans and Americans, generally, think of human rights and freedom of speech as part of their cultural heritage rather than universal values, and tend to think of terrorism as rooted in another culture or other cultures. However, by thinking like that, they are likely to marginalize and exclude a considerable percentage of western citizens who come from oriental origins whether well integrated or not.

I wonder why all those muslims in France feel the need to defend themselves against putative accusation of terrorism as the French law does not convict people of terrorism unless they are complicit in it. In other words, if I were a French Muslim and I trusted the rule of law in France, why would I feel threatened if five million French Muslims turned to be terrorists?

Auteur: Bernard Blanc "Pau est Charlie, Béarn, Pyrénées Atlantiques, Aquitaine, France" (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Auteur: Bernard Blanc « Pau est Charlie, Béarn, Pyrénées Atlantiques, Aquitaine, France » (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

I wonder also why a parallel mobilization is taking place in the USA where more extremist reactions are coming out. Paris attacks are being excessively exploited by Obama’s opponents to denounce his policy regarding the Middle East and the Muslim world in general. Moreover, the talk about pausing Muslim immigration is witnessing a renewal. Such reaction is excessive when we realize that France has proportionately a much larger Muslim population than North America. I wonder also why a terrorist attack conducted by a small number of people triggers off such controversy in the American medias about a menacing third world war unless there is a desire to declare it. If we exclude the notion that this kind of mobilization is part of the preparations for this war (which is the worst possible scenario) and tend to think that occidentals are responding to the threat by highlighting a principal emblem of their culture (freedom of expression), then it is also not the best thing to do.

Auteur: Quentin Chandelier "Je suis Charlie" (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Auteur: Quentin Chandelier « Je suis Charlie » (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Occidentals should be very careful with matters of identity and should not overuse the slogan « I am Charlie » for the risk of becoming an alienating slogan as well as paving the way for a rivaling slogan « I am not Charlie » as long as they actually care about stability in and out of the Western world. I would like to bring the attention to the frustration Muslims might feel as a result of finding themselves constantly stigmatized as perpetrators of terrorism. Moreover, the reluctance or the failure at integrating Muslims is liable to lead the frustrated ones to succumb to the call of terrorists. Personally, I think of Islamic terrorism as a natural aggregate result of the failure of integration programs in the west, and the obvious unwillingness of the global powers to make peace in the Middle East.

I would like to direct the attention of those who are involved in the movement of mobilization that stressing certain values is actually a symptom of an imminent crisis because all the human values are consequently reduced to one highlighted value − in this case it is « freedom of expression ». Hitler relied heavily on two values (dignity and pride) to mobilize Germans. Likewise, Islamic terrorists prioritize the value of « martyrdom » to mobilize their recruits. Needless to mention also that to create a crisis is much easier than to solve it. Social identification is a capacity of our minds and a method to defend our identity against the outside world, but also a risky rejection and by extension, knowledge of the « other ». In fact, a Muslim who identifies with his prophet Mohammed is going through the same mental process by which a professor identifies with his/her titles and certificates and gets mad because a student addresses him/her without this title. Both Mohammed and the title work as sources of values. An original problem arises when this Muslim or that professor has no other sources of values to safeguard his/her self-image, and the second problem comes when individuals or the society shakes their self image constantly and pushes them to eliminate the sources of their trouble by murdering or rejecting their « offenders ». I do not pretend that I know all the details or the motives for the Charlie Hebdo massacre, but what I am sure about is that it is not new to social phenomena and if we broaden the scope of our social identification, we will find out that it is not more horrific than what is taking place all over the world.

Auteur: Franck Mée "Hommage" (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Auteur: Franck Mée « Hommage » (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

I think it is not reasonable to say that all of France or the western world has been attacked, and those who do so, are actually using the same logic that Islamists use when they say that Islam has been attacked. Really, by adopting this exaggeration for either assessing threats or evading them, occidentals give a justification for Islamists who would have more reason to talk about anti-Muslim attacks after all that chaos in the Muslim world and the overt intervention of different western powers.

If occidentals care about stability and freedom of expression inside their borders they have to work for stability, democracy and human rights outside their borders. By doing so, they would help Muslims and others criticize their own values, broaden their vision of their humanity and bolster their intolerance. By doing the opposite along with an insistent association between Islam and terrorism, they just push them towards radicalism.

Ibrahim Rami

Membre de la rédaction Neuchâteloise de Voix d’Exils

« Je suis Charlie » : arrêtez la mobilisation !

Est-ce que l’attaque contre Charlie Hebdo est un nouveau phénomène social? Quelles sont les raisons qui animent le terrorisme Islamique? Est-ce que la liberté d’expression est une valeur occidentale? Cet article tente de traiter ces questions difficiles en proposant un point de vue qui sort du carcan dans lequel les protestataires du mouvement «Je suis Charlie» nous enferment forcément.

Ce qui m’a choqué dans les attaques terroristes à Paris était différent de ce qui a affligé à une grande partie de l’Occident. Même si une grande partie de ce que j’ai vécu dans ma vie en tant qu’écrivain libre me conduirait à m’identifier aux humanistes et artistes libres, en général, je vois dans l’identification sociale une grande partie du problème de cette mobilisation.

J’ai été stupéfait par la vitesse avec laquelle la société occidentale s’est mobilisée suite aux attaques de janvier 2015 à Paris. Cette différence d’attitude est due au fait que j’ai une éducation laïque dans une société largement religieuse et j’ai appris comment livrer, passer et coder mes messages et mes points de vue divergents dans un environnement qui ne reconnaît pas l’individualité, les droits de l’homme, et la liberté d’expression.

En revanche, les européens et les américains, en général, considèrent les droits de l’homme et la liberté d’expression comme étant l’héritage de leur patrimoine culturel plutôt que des valeurs universelles et tendent à penser que le terrorisme est enraciné dans une autre culture ou d’autres cultures. Toutefois, en pensant de la sorte, ils sont susceptibles de marginaliser et d’exclure une partie considérable des citoyens occidentaux qui sont d’origine orientale, bien intégrés ou non.

Je me demande aussi pourquoi tous ces musulmans en France sentent la nécessité de se défendre contre l’accusation présumée de terrorisme, étant donné que la loi française ne reconnaît pas les gens comme terroristes, à moins d’y être directement impliqué. En d’autres termes, si j’étais un musulman français et que je faisais confiance à la primauté du droit en France, pourquoi devrais-je me sentir menacé si cinq millions de musulmans français se sont tournés vers les terroristes ?

Je me demande aussi pourquoi une mobilisation parallèle se déroule aux États-Unis, où davantage de réactions extrémistes se manifestent. Les attentats de Paris sont excessivement exploités par les adversaires d’Obama pour dénoncer sa politique au Moyen-Orient et dans le monde musulman en général.

En outre, le discours sur la suspension de l’immigration musulmane témoigne d’un renouveau. Cette réaction est excessive, lorsque nous nous rendons compte que la France a une population musulmane proportionnellement beaucoup plus grande que l’Amérique du Nord. Je me demande aussi pourquoi une attaque terroriste menée par un petit nombre de personnes déclenche une telle controverse dans les médias américains qui parlent d’une troisième guerre mondiale menaçante si ce n’est un désir de la déclarer.

Si l’on exclut l’idée d’une telle mobilisation en guise de préparatifs pour cette guerre (ce qui serait le pire scénario possible) et tendons plutôt à penser que les occidentaux font face à la menace en mettant en évidence l’emblème principal de leur culture (liberté d’expression) alors ce n’est également pas la meilleure chose à faire….

Les occidentaux devraient être très prudents avec les questions d’identité et ne doivent pas abuser du slogan «je suis Charlie» qui risque de devenir un slogan aliénant ouvrant la voie à un slogan rivalisant «je ne suis pas Charlie». Ce, bien entendu, pour autant qu’ils se préoccupent vraiment de la stabilité à l’intérieur et en dehors du monde occidental.

Je voudrais aussi attirer l’attention sur la frustration des musulmans qui pourraient se sentir par la suite en étant constamment stigmatisés comme auteurs potentiels d’actes terroristes. Personnellement, je pense que le terrorisme islamique est le résultat naturel de l’échec des programmes d’intégration dans l’Ouest, de la réticence évidente des grandes puissances mondiales à faire la paix aux Moyen-Orient et de la réticence ou l’incapacité à intégrer les musulmans, ce qui est susceptible d’amener les frustrés à succomber à l’appel des terroristes.

Discutons à présent des personnes qui sont impliquées dans le mouvement de mobilisation «Stop Charlie» et qui, en soulignant certaines valeurs, en font le symptôme d’une crise imminente où toutes les valeurs humaines sont réduites à une valeur mise en évidence. Dans ce cas: « la liberté d’expression ». Hitler s’était fortement appuyé sur deux valeurs : la dignité et la fierté pour mobiliser les Allemands… De même, les terroristes islamiques mettent la priorité sur la valeur de « martyrs » pour mobiliser leurs recrues. Inutile de mentionner également que créer une crise est beaucoup plus facile que de la résoudre…

L’identification sociale est une capacité de notre esprit et une méthode pour défendre notre identité contre le monde extérieur, mais aussi, par extension, un rejet risqué de la connaissance de « l’autre ».

En fait, un musulman qui s’identifie à son prophète Mahomed passe par le même processus mental que par lequel un professeur s’identifie avec ses titres et se met en colère parce qu’un élève l’aborde sans faire appel à ses titres. Comme le titre de professeur, le prophète Mohamed est une source de valeurs. Un problème initial se pose lorsque ce musulman ou ce professeur n’a pas d’autres sources de valeurs pour sauvegarder son image et le second problème vient quand les individus ou la société bouscule leur image en permanence en les poussant à éliminer les sources de leur détresse en assassinant ou rejetant leurs « délinquants ».

Je ne prétends pas connaître tous les détails ou les motifs du massacre de Charlie Hebdo, mais ce dont je suis sûr, c’est que ce n’est pas nouveau en tant que phénomène social et que si nous élargissons la portée de notre identification sociale, nous allons découvrir qu’elle n’est pas plus horrible que ce qui se passe partout ailleurs dans le monde.

Je pense que ce n’est pas raisonnable de dire que toute la France ou le monde occidental a été attaqué, et ceux qui le font effectivement utilisent la même logique que les islamistes quand ils disent que l’islam à été attaqué.

Vraiment, en adoptant cette exagération soit pour évaluer les menaces ou les élucider, les occidentaux donnent une justification pour les islamistes qui auraient plus de raisons de parler d’attaques anti-musulmanes après tout le chaos dans le monde musulman généré par l’intervention manifeste de plusieurs puissances occidentales dans cette région…

Si les occidentaux se soucient réellement de la stabilité et de la liberté d’expression à l’intérieur de leurs frontières, ils doivent aussi travailler pour la stabilité, le respect de la démocratie et des droits humains en dehors de leurs frontières.

En faisant de la sorte ils aideraient les musulmans et tous ceux qui critiquent leurs valeurs à élargir leur vision de l’humanité et à renforcer leur tolérance. En faisant le contraire et en associant de manière insistante l’islam au terrorisme, ils ne font que pousser les musulmans  vers le radicalisme.

Ibrahim Rami

Membre de la rédaction neuchâteloise de Voix d’Exils




New Year’s Eve and the war against terrorism

Auteur: Photo Grrrrr "Boom!" (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Auteur: Photo Grrrrr « Boom! » (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

A reflection about holidays celebrations in and out of Syria and why should we learn from the experience of a four-year-old child who was terrorized as fireworks resurrected flashbacks of horrible sounds and scenes of explosions from the time she was lying in a cradle.

Europeans are often surprised to discover that Christmas and New Year’s Eve are officially celebrated in Syria. Actually they are official holidays on these two occasions and many TV programs are usually devoted to their celebrations just like the two main Islamic festivals: Feast of the Sacrifice, (Eid al-Adha,) and Feast of the Breaking the Fast, (Eid al-Fitr). In contrast, there are many islamic and ethnic groups whose religious or national festivals are not officially recognized for different reasons some of which are religious and others are political.

However, I am not going to run the gamut of two complex phenomena: the complicated Syrian society or the equally complicated Syrian regime. What I am going to demonstrate instead is why it is becoming harder and harder to celebrate the usual holidays in Syria. The axiomatic response would be: «In wartime, there are no celebrations, save those of the awaited victory». Actually, that was the gist of Assad’s words when he came to «celebrate» the New Year’s Eve with his soldiers in Jobar, a district of Damascus. Probably, no one could deny a political acumen in his visit which aimed at lifting up the morale of his soldiers. There might be also little doubt that he is shrewdly playing the worldwide-played game combating terrorism. Ironically enough, the more he or others combat terrorism, the more it is rife and the less victories or celebrations are actually attainable. Instead of discussing politics, I feel like giving tangible evidence from my circles about our perseverance to sustain a mood for celebrations.

Auteur: thierry ehrmann “Abode of Chaos” (CC BY 2.0)

Auteur: thierry ehrmann “Abode of Chaos” (CC BY 2.0)

Personal tolerance and resistance of powerful trends

My nuclear family: my parents, my siblings and I, took from the onset of the Assad’s crackdown against the popular uprising in our city, Homs, a decision not to take part in any act of violence whatever polarization gets intensified in the Syrian society. Actually, our attitude was a practice and a way of life more than just a decision, and we were fully aware that our principles were not going to be appreciated because they inherently hold an undesirable political message in a highly mobilized society. Being a non-religious family and best described as humanists, the New Years Eve was the only festival that we were keen to celebrate despite all adversaries and lack of room for joy. It was always an opportunity to assure our solidarity and to renew and bolster our hope. Nevertheless, the regime’s demand to bear arms and the pressure on us escalated to an apex that eventually pushed us to seek peace in more peaceful countries. My brothers and I are particularly vulnerable as we can be forced by the Syrian military law to join the reserves.

I will sum up the reasons why it was hard to renew our hope for 2015 though we managed to exchange some wishes and say «Happy New Year». First, the big family has been divided as some have managed to come to Europe while the rest remained in Syria. Virtual meeting are possible but, nowadays, electricity is available for only two hours in the best-case scenario. This obstacle stands as the second reason, while the third was due to the fact that this festival occurs in the depth of winter when it is usually snowy all over the Syrian coastal region. As a consequence, the rest of the family left behind ran out of burning fuel used for heating homes and food and nothing was left but books. I should say that my family owns more than one thousand books. In fact, a part of the New Year’s Day conversation was to obtain my permission to burn my books. It is the second time that we engage in setting books on fire. The first time, my father burned only his Soviet books. I guess that I love books, but my passion for books is not strong to the degree that I would answer my parents with «no» even though a part of those books are my own publications. I do not deny a dilemma in this situation, but I said «yes». Finally, I have to mention why my brother and his family could not enjoy the New Year’s celebrations in one of the European countries. Their longing for scenes of joy had them get upstairs to watch the fireworks, but the four years old kid was scared as the fireworks recalled the horrible sounds and scenes of explosions she had been exposed to and vulnerable to almost since she was born. They tried hard to assure her that these fireworks are sort of games and harmless, but her screams and tears were more convincing than all the logic and wisdom on the earth. Her screams were like: «Go, go downstairs! We are going to die! Quickly! Let us go downstairs! Otherwise, we die!» She does not know other tactics for dodging missiles, explosions and «terrorism» apart from getting downstairs where the sounds of explosions are less powerful and where other family members used to combat «terrorism» and all the horror associated with it!

This little child does not differentiate between the western joy and the eastern misery, and for her, each of them is a source of horror! This little child thinks that fire is fire and explosives are explosives, therefore she cannot differentiate between them yet. Do we have to teach her that there are good explosives and bad ones? Why do not we learn from her innocence instead?

Auteur: Peretzp "US builds Neutron Bomb" (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Auteur: Peretzp « US builds Neutron Bomb » (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The American conception and approach of terrorism: should it be also global?

Beyond doubt, violence is an aggressive and intolerant action or attitude, and the reasons behind it are diverse. Violence, however, is widely used as defense against military intervention, oppression, persecution, inequality, greed, intolerance etc. Nevertheless, there is a powerful tendency in the west to think of terrorism as rooted in a particular ideology or as a specific trait of a population living in certain parts of the world. This tendency is reinforced mainly by American politics or the media which discourse sustain that putative association between terrorism and middle-eastern peoples. The American administration prefers to support dictatorships or repressive regimes in order to monopolize the massive exploitation of natural resources along with fostering deposits in American banks. Sympathy and willingness to cooperate with eastern peoples arises and comes into practice only when natural resources and capitals do not go to America like the cases of Iran or Iraq under Saddam Hussein for instance. I can understand the current American politics and propaganda which are heavily influenced by the Eurasian Geostrategy for the United States formulated by Zbigniew Brzezinski, who held the position of United States National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981. In his book, «The Grand Chessboard», Brzezinski regards the landmass of Eurasia as the center of global power and writes that no Eurasian challenger should emerge capable of dominating Eurasia and threatening America’s global pre-eminence. However, I do not advocate any European (or even American) convergence with the American propaganda which is devoted to indoctrinate that violence is rooted in islam or in the Middle East. The reasons why I do not support such disinformation go beyond the fact that I come from the Middle East, and that I hate being viewed as a potential holder of terror. I denounce it because it is inconsiderate to the consequences of political unrest in the Middle East. Actually, Europe is much more affected by political instability in its Mediterranean neighbors and has become the most vulnerable location to uncontrollable immigration. Such circumstances call for further collaboration within the framework of friendly relationships with the peoples of the Middle East.

Coming back to celebrations, I do not mean to say that Europeans should not celebrate the New Year’s Eve or other holidays in sympathy with Syrians or other peoples in the world. What I call for, instead, is a sense of sustainability for these celebrations, which could be replaced one day by a putative victory against terrorism. This kind of sustainability can be achieved by a holistic approach to crises and by dropping borders from our minds, because these borders prove one day after another to be meaningless, especially in the time of crises.

Rami Ibrahim

Membre de la rédaction neuchâteloise de Voix d’Exils




The future of the Middle East remains uncertain

Situation tendue au Maghreb et Moyen-OrientWith Protests from Tunisia to Egypt to Yemen and now to Libya and escalating to the rest of the Middle East, the turmoil in the Middle East is intensifying and the outcome of the increasingly bloody demonstrations remains unclear. Anti-governments protesters, pro-governments supporters, military and police are continuing to crash in the streets as dictators also continue to kill.

The Genesis

More than two months ago, a Tunisian fruit vendor struck a match and started a fire that has spread throughout much of North Africa and the Middle East. Muhammad Bouazizi’s self immolation prompted anti government protests that toppled regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and which has now spread to rest of the Middle East. A crowd which was estimated to be around 5,000 took part on Wednesday 5th January this year in his funeral procession to a cemetery near Sidi Bouzid. “Farewell, Mohammed, we will venge you. We weep for you today, but we will make those who caused your death weep » the crowd chanted. And yes indeed, they lived to their words and went to the streets to end the 23 years rule of former dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Then came Egypt’s turn and nothing could stop the fall of another dictator Hosni Mubarak

On Tuesday 24th January, two civilians and a police officer died when the police tried to disperse the unusually large anti-government demonstrations swept across Egypt, calling for the ouster of longtime president Hosni Mubarak. The protests in Cairo were reportedly the largest in the country this day, a date chosen by activists to emulate the recent uprising in nearby Tunisia. According to Aljazeera, the demonstrations were the largest in years, rivaling those held against the Iraq War in 2003 and in favor of free elections and civil society reforms in 2005.

Despite the Egyptian government’s cracking down and killing of opposition protesters, to shutting down the internet and cell phones, it didn’t stop people from carrying on with their revolution. Human Rights Watch (HRW) researchers said that they confirmed the deaths of 302 since 28th January, based on a count from eight hospitals in the cities of Cairo, Alexandria and Suez though no comprehensive death toll was given by the Egyptian government. These deaths instead gave the protesters more strength and determination to end Mr. Mubarak’s rule.  The people had become so bitter that they feared nothing not even death. And at that point, not even the greatest Imam, Pope or even Prophet Mohamed could have stopped the revolutionist from bringing an end to Mubarak’s 29 years of dictatorship.

On the other hand, it’s really surprising to see protesters stopping in the streets to pray. It gives an indication of one likely positive outcome of successful protests. And as the crashes got more intense, the protests took on a more Islamic flavor. This was obviously a bad news for Hosni Mubarak and his son Gamal who has been mentored to be his likely successor prior to the protests.

The pillar of peace and security and a Western nations key ally in the Middle East

It’s very clear that Egypt is the centre of peace and a key Western ally in the Middle East. And Mubarak has been a very dedicated and close ally of the United States and its allies.

Mubarak was an anchor of U.S. policy of stability in the region. The twin pillars of that policy support for pro-American regimes that share U.S. security interests and the pursuit of Israeli-Arab peace are now on shaky ground after his fall. Israel will probably conclude that if such entrenched Arab regimes can fall, making peace with a deeply divided Palestinian movement is anything but a sure bet.

Israel is keeping a wary eye on developments in Egypt with fears that an Islamist State takes over there and  would end three decades of cooperation between the two countries. The U.S brokered Camp David accords, signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1978, ended a generation of hostilities between the two nations and forged a relationship that has endured, in part, because of the stability of the Mubarak’s regime, which came to power after Sadat was assassinated in 1981 and in spite of deep animus among rank and file Egyptians toward Israel. Eli Shaked, Israel’s ambassador to Egypt from 2003 to 2005, predicted that “if the Mubarak regime falls, a new Islamist regime, hostile to Israel and Western nations, will replace it. There will be no democracy in Egypt” Shaked said. And “If there will be democratic elections in Egypt in the summer or in the very near future, (they) will be the first and last democratic elections in Egypt”. He concluded. While he recognizes that the causes of the upheaval in Egypt lie in economic and social strife, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he is concerned that « there is a possibility that an organized force will take advantage of the situation ». A new Egyptian regime will probably affect relations with Hamas, which controls the Palestinian territory sandwiched between Israel and Egypt, and may play up the harsh criticism among many sectors in Egyptian society towards Israeli policy. But some terrorism experts believe that extremist voices are being drowned out by the chants of the protesters in Cairo. CNN analyst Paul Cruickshank wrote that al Qaeda’s support base « already severely shaken by its barbaric excesses in Iraq and biting criticism from fellow jihadists, could narrow yet further”.

The future of U.S. policy and interests in the region will largely depend on who ends up in power, not just in Egypt but in the host of other Middle East countries on the verge of transformation. In a doomsday scenario, extremist Islamist factions in Egypt, Tunisia and even Jordan could come to power, killing critical diplomatic and military relationships, forcing the closing of the Suez Canal and allowing Iran fill the vacuum. That could even trigger a most dangerous war between Israel and Iran. Nobody expects that worst case nightmare to come through, however.

 Now all eyes are on Libya

Large protests are uncommon in Libya, where dissent is rarely allowed. But anti-government protesters have taken to the streets of Libya demanding the resignation of another dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Foreign mercenaries, Libyan Security and soldiers are killing everyday anti-government demonstrators in efforts to paralyse the insurrection.

Today, of course no one knows what is to happen next. One thing is however certain: it would be a great disaster for the Libyan people if the international public attention is chased away by the wave of the tsunami which has just hit Japan!

Shawn WAKIDA, membre de la rédaction vaudoise de Voix d’Exils