{"id":3863,"date":"2019-10-04T06:39:49","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T04:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sarahroubato.com\/?p=3863"},"modified":"2021-04-15T09:05:38","modified_gmt":"2021-04-15T07:05:38","slug":"greta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sarahroubato.com\/en\/lettres\/greta\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to Greta"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Greta,<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t tell if I\u2019m writing to a social phenomenon, a mediatic product, to the face of a new generation, the leader of a movement or to a girl who just sat in front of a parliament one day. And to tell you the truth, I don\u2019t care. I don\u2019t build my opinions on what people say. I only have opinions on what I witness, study and experience. But whatever \u201cGreta Thunberg\u201d is, it is now something that counts and to which we can address our concerns. This is not a letter of reproach or criticism, it is not about who you are or who you are not or what you pretend to be. Actually It is not about you. It is meant to nourish reflection and action.<\/p>\n


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\n\"\"\"\"<\/a>\u00a0Click here<\/strong><\/a> to read the French version of this letter<\/em><\/form>\n

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A week ago you were in Montreal facing half a million people marching For Climate<\/em>, in a city of 1,78 million people and country (although we should say province) of 8,40 million. In Paris, city of 10 million people in a country of 60 million, between 15\u00a0000 and 38\u00a0000 people marched[1]<\/a>. I have spent one half my life in Paris and the other half in Montreal, I know both cities and both people and I\u2019m not surprised by this difference. Even when looking at the numbers of people marching in Berlin[2]<\/a> or Brussels proportionally speaking, the country that claims itself to be a leader and symbol of fight for ecology would benefit from self-questioning. Last year, they were 100\u00a0000 in Paris to celebrate the French victory at the Soccer World Cup. Here is the reality, Greta : to most of our contemporaries, putting a ball in a net is more important than saving the planet.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It \u201cfelt good\u201d, didn’t it ? <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Still, it must have felt good <\/em>as you said in Montreal. But is resistance really about feeling good<\/em> ? <\/strong>Is it a product that we have to make attractive for people to join in ? Or is it about understanding the adversary\u2019s weak points and putting our comfort aside to be efficient ? Of course if both could be done, great ! But I don\u2019t remember any revolution being about people feeling good. Surely having the feeling that we are standing together is wonderful and necessary, but it is no more than the condition of the fight, not its purpose. What about the pleasure we could feel of having done something that is useful, even if it has cost us our security peace and comfort ?<\/p>\n

Our society has created individuals everlastingly running after their own pleasure, even in their revolts<\/strong>. How awkward. I wonder how many among this half million who marched last Friday with you stirred their coffees this week at break time with disposable sticks and coffee produced in massive monoculture plantations. I wonder how many had a banana from USA or blueberries from Mexico, as we in Europe have tomatoes or peaches from this land of desolation Almeria[3]<\/a> in Spain, how many went to buy some sprays to clean the house[4]<\/a>. How many use paper napkins and will be getting their Christmas presents wrapped up in beautiful coloured paper. How many plan their holidays in some country where they would consume restaurants monuments and hotels and then leave. And even those who watch carefully each of their steps couldn\u2019t stop using a smartphone, fill in the car\u2019s tank, use Google and Facebook, pay taxes to cities that keep lights on everywhere at night, send emails, buy electronic devices that contain metals extracted by little kids in African mines. For this is the inexorable truth : we are the children of this monster we are trying to fight<\/strong> which we call neoliberalism, massive consumption, endless growth. <\/em>Even the thousands of messages we send to organize any protest for the planet create massive pollution in some data center[5]<\/a> in no-man\u2019s lands.<\/p>\n

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Not only do we have to face the powerful few who are destroying natural habitats to exploit more resources, create and transport more manufactured goods in the pursue of their own greediness, but we also have to face our own reflection in the mirror, and acknowledge that at every minute of our lives, we are helping them, feeding them, making them stronger, in the pursue of our pleasure and comfort.<\/strong> Some believe that giving up this comfort would mean living in pain and restriction, or what people of the city call living a simple life<\/em>, when it is the other way round : it is not about reducing our fun and pleasures, it is about learning other ways of having fun and pleasure, which are not based on temporary pleasures calling for more needs, but of full rejoicing feeding the body spirit and soul. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Those who are already on this path may say it is unfair to blame ourselves, that the first ones to blame are the presidents of big companies and governments who help them. The thing is, in times of war we don\u2019t have time to sort who has more responsibility and leave the rest to later. Each individual should be able to bear responsibility for all humanity. <\/strong>When I get my recycling bag out once a month, and see the neighbour\u2019s garbage full of recyclable items and useless packaging, I cannot just go home and say to myself Well, it\u2019s not my business, everyone is free, each person walks his own pace.<\/em>\u00a0Am I not responsible\u00a0<\/em>to go and talk to my neighbour ?\u00a0For I couldn\u2019t tell my kids But I did my share, you know ! <\/em>Small steps are not enough, we all know that by now. But as long as individuals feed companies they criticize, believing they have no choice, no change will be possible. What we call the system <\/em>is not a secret monster imposing its rule on defenseless individuals. It is the pact that individuals make with a series of beliefs and their translation in the real world, run by a few.<\/strong><\/p>\n