Days of November, the Association for Humanistic Judaism and secular Montpellier
Those who went into the room Petrarch were still reasonably sure what they were. Half an hour later, their identity had been shattered ... "communities, peoples and nations. Myths and Realities of Identity "was the topic of the evening. Mokaddem Salim, who approached the issue from a philosophical perspective - as expected of a professor of philosophy at the University of Montpellier - already found that Aristotle was using the principle of identity as a component of its logic. According Mokaddem there was talk of a fixed identity and unmistakable. But the professor of philosophy prefers the idea of an identification process to that of identity.
Thus, the philosopher Montpellier explained that the child is not born with an identity: he built more and that takes time. In this process, which leads from multiple undifferentiated identity, the human learns to recognize the other. Everything starts with the name - the name given to children before they are able to pronounce it. However, naming things the child learns to identify them.
But this process should never stop, freeze. Mokaddem reminds the audience a picture of Rene Magritte, a Belgian painter of the last century, which displays the title "This is not a pipe". The name is not the "thing" should not be equated with it. "It renders invisible much of the language of reality," said Mokaddem. Appoint, but it would also identify obscure what we do not name ... The real writer, said the philosopher with a glance at her neighbor, writer Janine Gdalia, knows full well that many, he is talking with several different voices, it does not exist as a writer in the singular . Life is a construction of identifications and "dis-identification" permanent, a process deemed not congeal into immutable identities, "eternal" - and it says Mokaddem is also valid for national identity.
Philippe Martel, a specialist in the history of the teaching of Occitan at the University Paul Valery, brought the discussion of the philosophical sphere at a more down to earth. "How can we be Occitan?", Was the main topic of his speech.
The French Republic has always wanted to guarantee the rights of the individual within the nation. However, between these two entities, there is nothing. No room for ethnic or national, therefore, other than the great community of the Nation, award-winning daily by its members, "says Martel based on the citation of the philosopher Renan.
This implies a liberation from the Ancien Regime, where people were locked in legal regimes that they had not chosen. But it says the historian of Montpelier, also leads to a fragmentation of society: a person naked and alone against the state.
In addition, next to the Jacobin ideal, there is a reality where the groups continue to exist, but without being recognized or solicitors. And if the French were all equal before the law, some were less than others: Martel spoke of prejudice against Southern, common in the first half of the nineteenth century prejudices that - with the French Empire - targeted Other targets: the inhabitants of the colonies.
Another national culture should be possible, a culture where all components are legitimate, and especially the different languages. Martel: "Religious diversity is less important - after all, the languages used for communication when religions talk to someone who does only rarely ..."
Janine Gdalia, director and writer of collection, focused on Jewish identity in France. She explained that French Jews are of Sephardic - so marked by exile (most of them came to France after the declarations of independence Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria) - or, alternatively, Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe, that is to say, the Holocaust survivors. According
Gdalia, we are talking about identity in successive layers. As a Jew, it is not quite "by" or "elsewhere" - an ambiguity which, however, may be fruitful ...
Thus, Janine Gdalia indicates that the status of secular Jew involves a very special problem. Unlike the believer, secular Jew does not find its "natural base" in religion. It raises the question whether we can really be Jewish and secular ...
In response to the question of the team People Montpellier a woman in her forties is very satisfied with the level of debate. It indicates that the intervention would have required Salim Mokaddem that focuses a lot, but that the effort would have been largely rewarded by the wealth of ideas presented. "I also enjoyed the humor of Philip Martel," says she.
A Gentleman of roughly the same age regrets little assistance: "If there were more media players, the press would have been better informed of the Days." Then He added: "If there was Regis Debray, for example, the tail had begun to return to Comedy". And yet, said an older gentleman, the quality of debate would not have left much to be desired - "even if the celebrities were local and not Paris."
The evening was organized by the Association for Humanistic Judaism Montpellier and secular in its "Days of November" together with "Sunburn", the Association France-Maghreb and Cultural Association and Identity Sharing - Berber Culture and Citizenship.
Photos and Text: Copyright Jorge Sexer & SudDesign
Copyright: Doris Kneller, 2009 
0 comments:
Post a Comment