Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-06-14-Speech-3-222"
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"en.20060614.17.3-222"2
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"Mr President, here we have yet another resolution condemning racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic acts, a resolution which is unfortunately justified given the exceptional and alarming levels of hate and intolerance that we have been seeing in the European Union for some years.
The facts are horrendous and they have been mentioned by previous speakers: racist attacks – all forms of racism taken together – are increasing dramatically. Article 2 of our joint motion for a resolution mentions the most recent ones: in Anvers, on 12 May 2006, Oulemata Niangadou was murdered because she was black, together with little Luna for whom she was caring. In France, Ilan Halimi was abducted, tortured and murdered because he was Jewish.
We could spend days discussing the causes of these barbarous acts. The first, in my view, is the fact that many of the arguments have become hackneyed. There are those who use the ‘we must not fan the flames’ argument. There are those who preach the infamous ‘quest for social peace’. There is also a certain culture of keeping quiet as well, increasing the sense of impunity felt by the perpetrators of these xenophobic acts, and above all there are the arguments that inflame people’s attitudes.
I shall give one specific example, though there are others, of this great tendency to resort to hackneyed arguments which paralyse people and prevent the public authorities from acting in good time. In 2004, in France, the advisory committee on human rights stated that anti-Semitism was the cause of half of the physical and verbal attacks in the country. Nevertheless, it has taken two years and the murder of Ilan Halimi for the French citizens to realise that a culture of anti-Semitism is proudly displayed in certain suburbs, amongst a minority, it is true, but a very active and particularly indoctrinated minority. Two years too late, two years that should have been spent speaking out, condemning, integrating and bringing people together.
My custom is to end on an optimistic note. I could, for example, mention Recital I and say that we must work towards educating people to respect others, to hold dialogue and to show tolerance. It is an obvious and essential duty: knowledge with a view to recognising the full wealth and differences of others.
I shall end, Mr President, by saying that, in order to contain the increase in racism, we must begin, to paraphrase Albert Camus, by daring to call things by their name, we must identify who is provoking them, and we must have the courage to face the truth."@en1
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