Paris Part Deux

On with the Parisian adventures.

While we were walking around on Saturday we stumbled on a protest against abortion. There slogan was 'Arreter le genocide des Francophones et Francais' meaning 'Stop the Genocide against the Francophone and French babies' A little overkill. People at the UN still can't decide if Darfur is a genocide, so for these crazies to start throwing around the word genocide was a little much. But, it's France. They have the right to protest.

Also, there's a new law in France that says you can fire kids below the age of 26 without notice. Obviously, us young people don't approve. Hence, there was a huge riot at the Sorbonne while I was there. It was actually kinda cool. I didn't get arrested, don't worry. But, it was the first time the Sorbonne had been taken over by students since 1968. I'll keep you updated on what happens.

While I was in Paris, it wasn't all play (although it mostly was). We had briefings on Médecins du Monde and UNESCO. The MdM representatives were really cool. They actually go to the field and tangibly help people by providing mainly medical assistance, but also some awareness and capacity building too. They are an orgainzation that I would want to work with.

UNESCO on the other hand...the presentation was less than interesting. The man that presented to us knew little about what was actually being accomplished in terms of positive advancements. Everything we asked about, like migrant rights, land rights, indigenous peoples, were not in their mandate and therefore, they weren't knowledgable. So, when we asked what exactly UNESCO does, we got a round about answer that left us more confused than before. Also, because the UN has this thing about remaining politically unbiased, which I can understand has benefits. But, other than making declarations and having countries sign and promise not to have child laborers, for example, they never reprimand a country. Just because a country ratifies something doesn't mean that it must abide by it either. Zimbabwe for example is continuously violating human rights and the UN does nothing. Not to mention the rest of the world, who is equally accountable. (P.S. the US isn't a saint in terms of upholding human rights either...) I left dissatisfied with what UNESCO stood for.

That was the one bad experience in Paris. And, for real, if that was the one, then my trip was a success!! There is still more to come, but tomorrow.