After Tangier, Sète and Toulon, the Hermione arrived this April 12, 2018 in the port of Marseille, moored at the Quai de la Fraternité in the Old Port. She will remain there until April 15, open to visitors from the 13th, with an exceptional day organized by the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF), official partner of the 2018 voyage, on Saturday, April 14, around the theme "Migration, a Francophone reality, better protect better talk about it" at the Palais de la Bourse in Marseille.
A day dedicated to migrants
This April 14 will be an opportunity for the Francophonie to address the major current migration issues by focusing on the rights of migrants and by analyzing the view and discourse on migrants. The association "Cartooning for Peace" (drawings for peace), a network of committed press cartoonists, joins the IOF to promote intercultural dialogue, freedom of expression, human rights, tolerance and the values of living together. Ideas expressed through caricature.
Sharing common values
Aboard the Hermione, the 350 sailors of 34 nationalities share these values through the "Libre Ensemble" movement, launched in 2016 in response to the waves of attacks, radicalization and withdrawal. Whatever their culture of origin, they share an ideal of freedom, peace and solidarity that resonates strongly in the Mediterranean, the unfortunate subject of this migratory, political and security crisis, and in particular in Marseille, a city of welcome and passage for many migrants and refugees.
"In my country, I am a general practitioner in Cotonou at the Saint-Luc Hospital. I wanted to participate in this trip, because I love adventure. Everything that leads to the new, to the unknown and to discovery attracts me and I had never travelled on the sea before. This navigation made us go through all the emotions. When we arrive in a port where everyone is waiting for us we feel conquered and proud, at sea we sometimes feel very small and not very reassuredâ?¦
We learned to do things we had never imagined before with people we didn't know a few days earlier, including going up the masts with the boat moving and working together to get the ship to port.
The magic of this journey is to have the opportunity to reconnect with ourselves, because at sea we are isolated from the world, but it also forces us to discover others and to confront our cultural differences. We then understand that it takes everything to make a world and that we cannot refuse to live in this world because such and such a belief, or such and such a principle are not necessarily ours.
I will leave the adventure tomorrow totally refreshed. Because if we lost some energy with the sea sickness at the beginning (laughs), the atmosphere, the solidarity, the fraternity and the links we have made have given us much more. We leave with a greater openness of mind and a lot of vigor to bring to our community and our surroundings in our country."
Highlights on Saturday, April 14
The day "Migrations and living together" will be punctuated by several highlights. After the official opening in the presence of personalities and the Administrator of the International Organization of the Francophonie, Adama Ouane, a symposium will be held at the Palais de la Bourse in Marseille.
The association Cartooning for peace will present the exhibition "Tous Migrants!" which traces the complex journey of migrants through press cartoons from around the world, from the reasons that drive them into exile to their daily lives in their host country, and Plantu will lead a conference-debate at 11 am. Plantu, whose drawings are featured daily on the front page of the newspaper Le Monde, will be accompanied by the French cartoonist Red! who will lead a second conference-debate open to the public at 4:15 pm at the CCI.
