Un debat sur l'identité nationale. Est-ce reellement une bonne idée?
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lundi, novembre 09, 2009
vendredi, décembre 05, 2008
Anything is possible (Ode to optimism)
I am following a Theatre Class. So-called Therapeutical Theatre. At least it is very entertaining and a breath of fresh air after a hard working day.
The last time I went, we had two improvisation plays, which both were very intense, emotionally speaking. I also found it very inspirational, because, with the two simple headlines given to the "actors", anything could have happen in these plays, which eventually gives me some Hope.
Why? Well, to some extent, it really shows that we are actively shaping the world and the relationships with the people around us. I would not have played the same way as the other actors, which would have led to another ending.
Besides, the feedback we get after each play, each exercise is particularly mind-boggling. This helps us realize that the perception people have of ourselves, our acts rarely correspond to what we expect. This can be good and bad. But we ought to keep that in mind. Often we prevent ourselves from acting in some ways because we think others would not help us or would simply disapprove our choice. Sometimes, they would, but sometimes they would not. It is hard to anticipate and guess, still, this means that sometimes we are the ones limiting our perspectives. Hence, some optimism would help, we have to play our game, bet and try.
The last time I went, we had two improvisation plays, which both were very intense, emotionally speaking. I also found it very inspirational, because, with the two simple headlines given to the "actors", anything could have happen in these plays, which eventually gives me some Hope.
Why? Well, to some extent, it really shows that we are actively shaping the world and the relationships with the people around us. I would not have played the same way as the other actors, which would have led to another ending.
Besides, the feedback we get after each play, each exercise is particularly mind-boggling. This helps us realize that the perception people have of ourselves, our acts rarely correspond to what we expect. This can be good and bad. But we ought to keep that in mind. Often we prevent ourselves from acting in some ways because we think others would not help us or would simply disapprove our choice. Sometimes, they would, but sometimes they would not. It is hard to anticipate and guess, still, this means that sometimes we are the ones limiting our perspectives. Hence, some optimism would help, we have to play our game, bet and try.
mardi, novembre 11, 2008
Haïti, Pays Hanté (Haunted Haïti)
Haïti, Caribbean island, 8m inhabitants. Known for being crippled with civil wars and poverty or for the Haitian Voodoo. Lately, the island made the headlines after the hurricanes that devastated the area, in August or September.
What is so fascinating and also so sad with this Caribbean island is the fact that Haïti was actually the second country of the Americas (geographically speaking) that obtained its independence after the United States. It happened in 1804 and look where the country is now... Yesterday's enlightment has aborted. The way I read history makes me think that the island successively generated, somehow, two leaders and then, nothing. The first one was Toussaint Louverture who led the slave riot against Napoleon. The second was Jean-Jacques Dessalines who took up the leadership of the Haitian people after Toussaint Louverture's death. Dessalines defeated Napoleon and eventually gave independence to the Haïtian people. It seems that ever since, nobody has born and stood up to bring this spark of leadership the country needed to give Haïti the opportunity to come back to life. As if the spring that created enlightened leaders had dried up after the Dessalines' assassination by his own peers.
I recall the election of the priest Jean-Baptiste Aristide at the head of Haïti in 1990. I was still very young at that time but was marked by the hope that the election of this single men, a priest above all, brought to the Haïtian people. Or at least it is what I saw with my childish eyes. Aristide did not succeed in instilling this something that Haïti needed (either by personal greed or other external circumstances) and the country fell again in its doomed decay, after Coups and civil riots.
In every reputed Western Business school (Note that I actually make a generality our of my experience of the French Business school which mimics the anglo-saxon world), being a leader, thinking as a leader, or at least acting as a leader, is presented as the panacea. This is what we are taught on the business side. But how do you truely become a leader? Same question for what I will call an "enlightened leader" in the positive assertion. For business, politics and social life alike, the question remains the same. The will of one person is not enough. Succeeding in being elected/chosen by others does not make the trick either, it is just a first (and of course significant) step. The challenge is not merely staying in place but effectively and continually bringing this so-much needed new life - not only hope- into the system, the society.
If one finds how to turn a so-and-so into a true leader. Well, let me know.
What is so fascinating and also so sad with this Caribbean island is the fact that Haïti was actually the second country of the Americas (geographically speaking) that obtained its independence after the United States. It happened in 1804 and look where the country is now... Yesterday's enlightment has aborted. The way I read history makes me think that the island successively generated, somehow, two leaders and then, nothing. The first one was Toussaint Louverture who led the slave riot against Napoleon. The second was Jean-Jacques Dessalines who took up the leadership of the Haitian people after Toussaint Louverture's death. Dessalines defeated Napoleon and eventually gave independence to the Haïtian people. It seems that ever since, nobody has born and stood up to bring this spark of leadership the country needed to give Haïti the opportunity to come back to life. As if the spring that created enlightened leaders had dried up after the Dessalines' assassination by his own peers.
I recall the election of the priest Jean-Baptiste Aristide at the head of Haïti in 1990. I was still very young at that time but was marked by the hope that the election of this single men, a priest above all, brought to the Haïtian people. Or at least it is what I saw with my childish eyes. Aristide did not succeed in instilling this something that Haïti needed (either by personal greed or other external circumstances) and the country fell again in its doomed decay, after Coups and civil riots.
In every reputed Western Business school (Note that I actually make a generality our of my experience of the French Business school which mimics the anglo-saxon world), being a leader, thinking as a leader, or at least acting as a leader, is presented as the panacea. This is what we are taught on the business side. But how do you truely become a leader? Same question for what I will call an "enlightened leader" in the positive assertion. For business, politics and social life alike, the question remains the same. The will of one person is not enough. Succeeding in being elected/chosen by others does not make the trick either, it is just a first (and of course significant) step. The challenge is not merely staying in place but effectively and continually bringing this so-much needed new life - not only hope- into the system, the society.
If one finds how to turn a so-and-so into a true leader. Well, let me know.
mardi, novembre 04, 2008
Democracy in the USA - Nov 4th 2008
A lot of ink has been used to discuss about Democracy in Africa, in Russia (see Courrier International "Et pourtant elle avance" ). Where does it stand? is it making any progress? We spend time discussing about how Russian Authorities have welcomed and given sufficient leeway to foreign observers, about the transparency of the vote counting or the existence of multipartite political system.
What about the USA? The States have been preaching democracy in Irak but what is happening in their own backyard? Well, since the 2000 elections and the runoff between Al Gore and Bush that ended with a decision of the Supreme Court while people were still recounting votes! 8 years ago, we can hear some unprobable and surrealistic testimonies (on BBC podcasts for instance or on Spanish TV) that the machines that counted votes in 2000 had not been changed, or that people that decided to vote earlier has encountered some problems with their votes recorded for other candidates or that a voting ticket is made of 7 pages and that voting for your specific candidate is a puzzle. Apparently people queue up during hours to be able to vote during a working day and some people just give up voting as they'd rather go to work. Who can we believe? Is it Democracy?
Tonight, we'll know who will run the USA, still a great power in this world. For weeks, Obama was given winner with 8 points ahead of Mc Cain in polls. Who will win this election? I can't help thinking of the French election in 2002, when Lionel Jospin, the left-wing candidate was given as the winner in polls... That year, Jacques Chirac (right-wing) won against Jean-Marie Le Pen, the right-wing extremist! Had people been too lazy to go and vote? Did people think before the election that everything was sorted and that they did not need to go and vote, was there a sort of conspiration to male the right-wing win?... I don't know although I think there must be some kind of combination of various factors of that kind.
So, is that what we will experience today/tonight? Well, although I'd wish Obama could win not only because he gave me the impression of having a presidential stature (at least more than Mc Cain) but also somehow for what his election would simbolize for Black people in the States, I truly fear that the "a priori" and fears of so-called Average American people might weight more than all of this. That's what this little video from the Guardian suggests, when a manager of an ethanol plant (supposed to be favoured by Obama's plan) compared the Democrat candidate to the Antichrist.
We'll see...
What about the USA? The States have been preaching democracy in Irak but what is happening in their own backyard? Well, since the 2000 elections and the runoff between Al Gore and Bush that ended with a decision of the Supreme Court while people were still recounting votes! 8 years ago, we can hear some unprobable and surrealistic testimonies (on BBC podcasts for instance or on Spanish TV) that the machines that counted votes in 2000 had not been changed, or that people that decided to vote earlier has encountered some problems with their votes recorded for other candidates or that a voting ticket is made of 7 pages and that voting for your specific candidate is a puzzle. Apparently people queue up during hours to be able to vote during a working day and some people just give up voting as they'd rather go to work. Who can we believe? Is it Democracy?
Tonight, we'll know who will run the USA, still a great power in this world. For weeks, Obama was given winner with 8 points ahead of Mc Cain in polls. Who will win this election? I can't help thinking of the French election in 2002, when Lionel Jospin, the left-wing candidate was given as the winner in polls... That year, Jacques Chirac (right-wing) won against Jean-Marie Le Pen, the right-wing extremist! Had people been too lazy to go and vote? Did people think before the election that everything was sorted and that they did not need to go and vote, was there a sort of conspiration to male the right-wing win?... I don't know although I think there must be some kind of combination of various factors of that kind.
So, is that what we will experience today/tonight? Well, although I'd wish Obama could win not only because he gave me the impression of having a presidential stature (at least more than Mc Cain) but also somehow for what his election would simbolize for Black people in the States, I truly fear that the "a priori" and fears of so-called Average American people might weight more than all of this. That's what this little video from the Guardian suggests, when a manager of an ethanol plant (supposed to be favoured by Obama's plan) compared the Democrat candidate to the Antichrist.
We'll see...
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