Ladies and Gentleman:
First of all, thank you; thanks to everyone, to all those who have participated in one way or another in the launch of this platform, and especially to all of you, who have came to Paris.
In this act that we celebrate, we are taking a step forward and also significant, together. Thinkers, intellectuals, and those who at the time promoted the One of Us Federation.
Allow me in my first reflection to make a request: let’s us to value this initiative as it deserves, the one we simply put into action today. Because, among other reasons, it is new and even unheard.
In the first place, because it is not virtual, it is born from a reality: the organizations that have defended and defend life for decades in different European countries. Second, because this association and sum of thinkers encloses a vocation of permanence and continuity. It is not ephemeral, and does not end with the approval of a manifesto, neither with the act we are developing today.
This platform, in addition to the vocation of permanence, is willing to be present in public opinion, and in the media. It does not enclose itself, or only in strictly intellectual media.
We have a great challenge ahead of us, a great challenge that begins today. A challenge in front of the silence with which some try to condemn us, in front of the will that there is no debate today on the essential questions of the future of Europe.
The challenge of starting from scratch, of recreating in some way the origins of Europe, of the European Union, as a community of shared values of truth, not of lies, of seeking the cohesion of millions of Europeans by liberating intelligences through reason , of freedom, and of fidelity to human dignity.
The challenge of facing a civilization crisis, of the truth, of the individual consciences, of the reason, of the obvious, of the personal attitude, in short, to the need to face a crisis of the person.
The challenge is enormous, add and group people who do not seek for power, thinkers, who by their very nature tend to make the difference with others, one of its characteristics, the challenge of grouping thinkers who speak different languages, countries with its own history and culture, dedicated and specialized in very different subjects, from the Right to Science, to Philosophy. All of this magnifies the challenge.
The people
As in any project, this platform that starts today has and will have its key in the people that compose it. If the crisis is in the person, the solution will be in the person, starting with those who have the unique ability of thinking.
We have the privilege of having Remi Brague, as the main intellectual reference of this Platform, and especially in addition to his wisdom, determination and courage. But around Remi Brague today is a team coordinated by XXXXX XXXXX, which will be responsible for maintaining the link and relationships with all who want to join and collaborate with the Platform.
Likewise, a small group around Remi Brague will have the role of coordinating the operational aspects, the concrete actions and practices that are carried out. The autonomy of this thinker’s platform must be an essential element, so that authenticity is a determining feature of the initiative.
But in addition to a group around Remi Brague, it is necessary that in each country, a small nucleus of thinkers to be set up, charged with keeping this relationship alive with the Paris team, as well as energizing the intellectuals of their respective countries.
Priorities
But if people are the essence of this project, the next challenge that lies ahead is the choice of priorities. People and priorities from the conviction that due to our limitations, we have to choose very few actions that allow us to face them successfully. This document of priorities, of lines of action, must be the first responsibility of the team surrounding Remí Brague.
The priorities must start from the strength of our diagnosis, which is based on the growing disorder that we are going to suffer in the whole and in each of the countries of Europe. The more disorder, there will be more persecution of the ideas we defend in this manifesto settled in a Europe faithful to human dignity. Our platform of thinkers must be able to diagnose the next expressions and manifestations of the disorder that we are going to suffer, in the form of an Observatory of the Crisis, an Observatory of Values.
The debate, the cultural battle, is going to accelerate in our old continent, and we have to know how to choose the country, the place, the question, to take the floor at the right time and in the right place within Europe. In short, an observatory “One of Us”, able to prioritize the big issues for the coming years, and able to integrate thinkers capable of dealing with the problems that arise.
People, priorities and thirdly, universities or departments of Universities that we have to be able to involve in this task.
There will be no continuity and permanence of this platform of thinkers if Universities and young Europeans are not involved in this task.
The coordinating team of the Platform has to study the promotion and development of laboratories of the “One of Us” Platform. These laboratories or clinics are spaces in which a group of Bachelor and Master students, supervised by professors integrated in the Platform, will develop projects linked to the previously defined priorities
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We propose and will propose the signatures of collaboration framework agreements between “One of Us” and a series of universities, to start these projects as a pilot experience.
Ladies and gentlemen, our degree of unity derived from the situation and the knowledge of our limitations, should only be comparable to our level of European ambition, not in terms of power, but in terms of renewal, regeneration and refoundation.
Maximum humility and the greatest of ambitions to be present, not to resign ourselves, to know how to suffer the attacks and attacks of those we are going to be subject to, in the measure in which we emerge. Only the projects that have scope and moral strength have the necessary ambition.