Francine Palant

Like all French people, we were marked and shocked by the brutal death of young Nahel. First of all, our thoughts go out to him and his family to whom we extend our sincere condolences. Obviously, we cannot remain insensitive to the circumstances in which this unacceptable death took place. Since this tragic event, we have been witnessing the expression of popular anger whose substance we understand, but whose form we cannot endorse. Coming for many of us from working-class neighborhoods, these feelings of pain and sadness, we also share them. But to this suffering is added that of assisting powerless to a real process of self-destruction. Violence solves nothing, even less when it inevitably and tirelessly turns against those who express it, their families, loved ones and neighbours. It is your property that you are destroying, your neighborhoods, your cities, your places of fulfillment and proximity. In this context of extreme tension, we cannot remain silent and our civic conscience encourages us to call for appeasement, awareness and accountability. That of social actors, parents, big or small brothers and sisters in our neighborhoods, who must work to restore peace to our cities. The "living together" to which we are attached is in danger, and it is the responsibility of all of us to preserve it. There are other peaceful and constructive ways to express yourself. It is in this that our energies and our reflections must be concentrated. The time of violence must end to make way for that of mourning, dialogue and reconstruction.