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Hommage à l’Abbé Pierre…

Sometimes the guilt is too big… When such a great man leaves us, how can we not assess the world we build and the fights we choose? There are certainly more important things in life than owning the latest gadget! But here, to some, the battle seems unequal… To who is always in transit, forced to be mobile or not, that gadget is a fetish, a transitional object, an anchor, and a life jacket. It is home.

Not everyone has the strength and the conviction of l’Abbé Pierre to do what he has done for over half a century: he, who worked for the homeless, candidly used the media to raise our awareness about what our society shamelessly produces. The actions, the revolts, the fights of this man bring to mind the art project of Michael Rakowitz: paraSITE. “paraSITE proposes the appropriation of the exterior ventilation systems on existing architecture as a means for providing temporary shelter for homeless people.” Surely I can’t innocently compare the work of a lifetime to a one or more-time art project. But it says one thing: EVERYONE has a role to play and has to play a role in the advancement of humanity.

Which means that the mobilists should not give up on technologies! It only means that they shall SHARE the advancements that our societies produce, constantly assess the superfluous from the necessary, and participate in building a knowledge society that everyone can benefit from. I do mean that we need to be consciously mobile, mobile-aware… aware for example that some reproduce in parallel life the same territorial division than in real life (beware… behind the avatar there is a human!).

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization offers an “Observatory Portal Monitoring the Development of the Information Society towards Knowledge Societies” that you, reader, might want to consult!