Guillaume Morano: The fall of the Assad regime in Syria, “a real opportunity to rejoice”
Guillaume Morano, professor of philosophy, author of the philosophy book “The Chronicles of Daedalus”. Photo Samuel Coulon
For Guillaume Morano, philosophy teacher in preparatory class at the Montaigne high school in Mulhouse, the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad in Syria, which occurred on December 8, is “a real opportunity to rejoice”. “It's a bit personal, but not exclusively, because I taught at the French high school in Damascus for three years and I met my wife there, my child was born there, I have a lot of Syrian friends, there and in exile, he specifies. It was unexpected! Today, the situation may remain worrying, but it is no longer as desperate as under the old regime. There are degrees of evil. »
Author of several books on the place of new technologies in society, Guillaume Morano is neither technophobe nor technophile. And in his eyes, the year 2024 has hardly encouraged optimism, “between wars, climate disasters, COPs which lead nowhere…”. However, the philosopher further develops, “the principle of the new year is to rejoice almost without reason. Hope must still be maintained. » And added: “If it had to be reduced to reasons, it would be predictions. However, there is always in hope an act of faith that we can try to maintain, beyond Christianity, from a humanist perspective. Like love, hope has reasons that reason ignores…”
Myriam Wischlen Millasseau: that the great handicap “be taken into consideration”
Alsatian Myriam Wischlen Millasseau at the 2024 Paralympic Games. She was a referee for the Boccia events. Photo DR
Myriam Wischlen Millasseau, a Sélestadian president of the Jehm le sport association, a disabled multisport club for children and adults. In this capacity, she participated as a referee at the Paralympic Games. “I was staying in the village. Living these two weeks together was a great experience of cohesion. We saw that living together was possible.” She also expects a lot from Aurélie Aubert's victory in boccia, in terms of visibility for this sport, but also for the specificities of the major handicap. “I hope they will be taken into consideration. A trip for them means a lot of human resources, an assistant, a carer… So it has a cost.”
The stakes are high because it would allow this public to participate in the championships; money is still a barrier today. “Some of my players do not have the opportunity to have a professional career, to participate on a social level, to participate in politics. The only way for them to achieve their goals is through sport. I therefore hope that the authorities will address the problem and that this will allow athletes to knock on the doors of our associations.”
Myriam Wischlen Millasseau affirms that there are still reasons to hope, “because every week I experience exceptional things with the people who come to practice, to have fun. We see a social fabric being created with great values. People are in solidarity with each other. At the societal level, this may not be visible, but in our case, yes.” On the other hand, the president “does not hope for much” from the authorities, whether at the national or local level: “They are too far from the reality on the ground. Just to get a room for a boccia championship in Strasbourg, it’s difficult… We have no connection.”
Anne-Flore and Pierre-Luc Laemmel: agriculture, “a profession that still makes people dream”
Anne-Flore and Pierre-Luc Laemmel, with their little Lise-Lou, in Wilwisheim. Photo Simone Giedinger
Anne-Flore and Pierre-Luc Laemmel are market gardeners and poultry breeders in Wilwisheim, members of the Alsace Peasant Confederation. Their year 2024 was marked by a very humid climate and agricultural anger. “But we, on the farm, feel consumers are becoming more aware. And if the profession is in crisis (in six years, we have gone from 8,000 to 6,800 farmers in Alsace), it still makes us dream. Many people are interested in agriculture and want to become farmers. That’s a reason for hope! »
Another reason for hope for the couple: the ongoing debate on the idea of social food security. In 2025, an experiment in this area will take place in the Koenigshoffen district of Strasbourg. “It’s about allowing each citizen to have a budget allocated each month to have access to quality food with a system of contributions.” For Anne-Flore and Pierre-Luc, this would solve the problems at both ends of the chain: farmers who “don't earn their living” and “people who don't choose what they eat”.
They emphasize that around twenty organizations, “including our union,” are working on the Alsatian project. “As with social security at the end of the Second World War, it will be the eaters who will decide which foods will be approved. We are betting that consumers, once well informed, will make the right choices.”
Florian Kessler: “The year of the sea is important”
Florian Kessler has read and reread the play many times Rhinoceros by Ionesco, which he is directing on May 17 at the Guebwiller municipal theater. Photo Aurélien Gasser
Florian Kessler, a final year student at Deck high school in Guebwiller, has at least one personal reason to look forward to 2025. “It's the year I turn 18, a milestone that all young people wait for! Coming of age means new freedom and also more responsibilities. Another big change is the end of high school! » After “a lot of hesitation” about the choice of his higher studies, the young Meyenheimois, interested in the fields of diplomacy, politics and law, wants to believe in “a year of ambition and achievement”.
He is also keen on theater – he was even at the origin of a club to put on plays at the Deck, and was involved in the council of delegates for high school life (CVL) of his establishment . In this capacity, he notably took part in the citizens' climate convention, organized last April at the academic level. Florian Kessler is therefore delighted at the idea of 2025 being labeled “year of the sea”, with a series of events planned in France, in particular the third United Nations conference for the ocean.
“It’s very important to talk about it, but I’m waiting for action, it’s worth a thousand words!” For example, let us explain more in schools, colleges and high schools, the importance of the sea. We mainly remember that it feeds us or entertains us, and we pollute it, when it should be at the center of our concerns. So, we can believe in a year of change, and even if this is not the case, we must not lose hope! »
Doris Ternoy: the advancement of medicine, a reason for pride
Doris Ternoy, mayor of Breuschwickersheim. Photo Picasa
Opportunities for hope for 2025? “Not a bad question, it’s not that simple…” smiles Doris Ternoy, elected in 2020 at the head of Breuschwickersheim, a town of 1,300 inhabitants belonging to the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg. As mayor, she is impatient to officially inaugurate, on September 12, 2025, two important projects in her mandate, namely an after-school “worthy of the name” for 80 children, as well as a completely renovated multipurpose room, all in compliance with standards of sustainable development. “My speech is already ready,” she slips.
On a more personal note, Doris Ternoy is delighted with the birth next fall of the first child of one of her three sons, conceived by in vitro fertilization. “Our young people produce much less sperm and more and more of them suffer from infertility”, which this former chemical engineer attributes to the multiplication of pollutants in the environment, to Bisphenol A contained in the plastic of baby bottles “overheated in the microwave” and other endocrine disruptors, without forgetting “junk food in nurseries…”. On the one hand, “the stupidity of humans who are destroying the planet” and on the other, “the big steps forward and the excellent care that can make medicine in France proud,” she notes. . Not without regretting, more generally, that “everything goes so much faster to deteriorate than to move towards the positive”.
Véronique Laouer: on domestic violence, “let mentalities change”
Véronique Laouer, director of the association Solidarité femmes 68. Photo Vincent Voegtlin
“If there is still hope, it would be that mentalities change,” declares, at the outset, Véronique Laouer, director of Solidarité femmes 68, an association involved in the defense of women and children victims of domestic violence. .
“In my field, there are a lot of systems that exist. It's not like there's nothing there. But people don't use the tools because they aren't trained enough to do so. That’s what’s blocking.” She says she was confronted with a serious situation before the holidays: “Child Protection is just incredible! We are far from the mark and yet it is a service that is supposed to be up to date.”
Véronique Laouer explains that society, but also many professionals, do not yet understand what domestic violence is: “They think that it is a couple conflict, that it is absolutely necessary to patch people up with a dream of a world of Care Bears where everyone loves each other.
Does Emmanuel Macron's announcement on December 28 of the creation of a high commission for children constitute, for the director, a source of hope for 2025? “It all depends on who they put at the head of the structure; the associations are campaigning for it to be Édouard Durand. Because if it’s just to give someone a job and improve your image, it won’t be of any use.”
