The Co-leaders of the Cooperative Region express themselves after the terrible events that occurred last Friday in the capital.
After the terrible attacks in Paris, our country is going through a difficult moment in its history. Our thoughts continue to turn to the victims, their loved ones, the witnesses, and all those whose lives were threatened. Their mourning is also ours.
We also want to pay tribute to the actions of the law enforcement, the rescue teams, the emergency responders, the healthcare staff, and public service agents.
The terrorists attack democracy, the foundations of our Republic. They also attack places that represent diversity and social intermingling. But we will remain standing.
Democracy must not retreat in the face of terrorism. We, the regional election candidates, have the mission to keep it alive. We suspended the campaign on the very evening of the events. We resume it with dignity, transforming our meetings into spaces for citizens to speak.
In the face of the terrorist threat, the response is first to defend and better protect our fellow citizens, which requires more resources from the State to combat terrorist networks, more resources for intelligence services, more resources for the police and justice. This must be done with rigorous respect for democratic freedoms and fundamental human rights.
The response is also to fight against obscurantism, ignorance, and inequalities, by rejecting amalgamations that make religions excuses for division. The fight against terrorism will also pass through minds, to emancipate our youth and combat at the source sectarian and deadly drifts. That is why we need more culture, science, education, and secularism.
The response is also international and geopolitical. All actions must be conducted in compliance with international law, with the aim of building peace. Beyond military operations, we must focus on addressing the world’s major disruptions, its inequalities, and injustices. The COP21, the Climate Conference taking place from November 30 to December 11, is also a decisive moment, a stake of peace. Terrorist and climate perils are linked, through dependence on oil, Daech’s financial resource.
Our state of mind must be to resist all totalitarianisms, all hatreds. It is by continuing the democratic debate, on all these issues, that we will hold firm, fraternal, and free.
Sophie CAMARD and Jean-Marc COPPOLA (Co-leaders of the Cooperative Region)
