Associations work on a daily basis to resolve the tensions between generations, religions, neighborhoods, opposing points of view ... Here are some nuggets, drawn from these initiatives which, on a daily basis, give substance to living together.
Learn to exchange
And now, kindergarten! A pioneer in the development, now very fashionable, of public speaking, Eloquentia widens its furrow. The association, which is celebrating its 8th anniversary this year, plans to introduce the youngest schoolchildren to the joys of verbal jousting, in order to realize its utopia: a society of exchange. "People are afraid to discuss with others, because we never learned it at school, and because we are, with social networks, in the era of the punchline: the debate is assimilated to violence ”, underlines the founder of Eloquentia Stéphane de Freitas, also director of the documentary“ A loud voice: The Force of speech ”. The association, this year, will train 10,000 teenagers and students, with modules emphasizing public speaking, but also building critical thinking and caring listening.
Opening up to other religions…
"The social bond is not a service that is delivered expressly: it takes the time of the relationship," warns Samuel Grzybowski. With this precious fuel - time - Coexister, its association of “inter-convictional dialogue” between young people, works miracles: “In ten years of existence, we have allowed 50,000 improbable bonds of friendship, between people who do not would never have met elsewhere than with us, "he salutes. The 3000 "coexisting", as they are called, aged 18 to 30, meet almost every week, the time of a course of 40 meetings and as many opportunities to exchange on secularism, the place of religions and the stereotypes linked to each one, by assuming at the same time its own religious convictions and an opening towards other livers. The association also intervenes massively in middle and high schools. Its anti-prejudice workshops today reach a significant audience of 25,000 young people a year.
Senior but not on the sidelines
Retirement is that moment when everything becomes possible. It is also the one where everything stops, including these little moments of exchange between colleagues at the coffee machine. These “thousand occasions to know which app is in fashion at the moment, where to go out next weekend,” remarks Thibault Bastin. This young entrepreneur, after studying engineering in civil engineering, created with a promotional friend "Merci Alphonse", a site that offers to break the isolation of seniors, far from being all wealthy enough to spend their retirement to travel. Besides a platform for connecting active and retired people ready to share their knowledge, the site offers a free newsletter "which gives keys to understanding the new generations", he explains. To date, it has attracted 60,000 readers.
OUR FILE
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