"All people are good. Everyone deserves respect and admiration. I have seen men suffer. Everyone needs love. If they are bad, maybe they have not met true love ... I also know that there are dark, demonic forces that sometimes seize men or peoples. But the love of God is stronger than hell. In love we find the courage to love men ..." - Patriarch Athenagoras
Dear friends,
I am delighted by your choice in honoring today, Abdennour Ali-Yahia, a true friend and the dean of human rights defenders in Algeria and beyond.
You know how his country is held close to our heart, as is its peace, prosperity and serenity. It was in pursuit of these values that we met Master Ali-Yahia. I dare say we have never left him.
When I first met him, he already had vast amounts of experience under his belt, whether that of the era of the struggle for independence and a new Algeria, or later, during his tireless efforts for human rights. Because of the choices he had taken, he had already paid a heavy price through imprisonment and deportation.
At that point, he could have already been satisfied with his career, or he could have given up due to the difficulties of this endless battle.
None of that. In front of me stood a man, neither broken nor saturated, a true combatant for humanity, full of the power and spirit of youth, fortified by deep and mature experience.
In truth, when you're with him you do not know whether to admire his vitality or to respect his wisdom; to follow his fiery passion or to appreciate his monumental patience. One should always do all of these.
As you know, together we tried to pull the country out of the violent crisis in which it fell, using the weapons of dialogue, debate and political concession. This honest and noble attempt was called at the time a "peace offer". You are all aware of what followed.
What I keep in my memory, and what I share with you tonight is the human strength and, I add, spiritual strength of Mr Ali-Yahia, who has always been there for those who were at his side, a further yet unavoidable reason for what I would call a gentle vigor and a compassionate assuredness.
Indeed, Master Ali-Yahia realized early on that war and violence are "the mother of all poverty" and therefore hate. He chose the spoken-word and trust in people, even in the dark and difficult times, when men become enemies. He has always resisted the spirit of the times, without lapsing into resignation, fear or contempt of the other, which seem to be the major diseases of our time. He is in this sense an example of what it means to remain "a man" even when there are no more men and when the inhumane dominates.
His ability to imagine a society not only more just, but where it is possible to live together, men and women of different cultures, religions, faiths, ideologies, ideas and different approaches, is an example to us all.
His actions, as we know, were not without effect but bore fruits in several different directions. His actions especially spoke to many hearts. We know: the only creative revolutions in history were born of the transformation of hearts.
A wise Christian who loved the East, Rene Voillaume, once wrote: "Perhaps we will return to an era in the history of mankind, the age of compassion amidst irresolution. It will therefore be more necessary than ever for us to offer intercession, communion [...] to beg mercy from God and to it spread it amongst all men. "
With these words I commend you on your choice for which I add my most respectful affection for Mr. Ali-Yahia, a rare man, a man of compassion even in times of helplessness, a real man because he interceded for others.
His lesson is that he forces us again and again to believe in man and in the future.
Message from Mario Giro, the Community of Sant'Egidio
11 Dec 2009
"Often ... our ears are offended upon hearing what is said by some people who, though enthused by by religious zeal, lack clearness of judgement and thoughtfullness in the way they see things. They see only the ruins and calamities in our current society; they are wont to say that our age has profoundly worsened over the past centuries; they behave as if history, the mentor of our lifetimes, had not nothing to teach them ... It seems necessary to say that we totally disagree with these prophets of doom who always announce disasters, as if the world was near its end." - Pope John XXIII