CAIRO: In his poetic portrayal of the late Nadia Younes, Dr Bernard Kouchner, co-founder of Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders, MSF), inspired admiration for an Egyptian princess, as well as indignation for global inaction, at a memorial speech Wednesday at the American University in Cairo (AUC).
Younes was Kouchner s close friend and colleague. She passed away in the 2003 UN headquarters bombing in Baghdad after dedicating 30 years to furthering international humanitarianism through her posts at the UN.
Kouchner – also former special representative to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Kosovo – used thoughtfully-worded vignettes describing Younes s touch of tragedy and bravery.
He addressed the larger cause in which Younes was involved, the humanitarian spirit and active concern to fight against the savagery of men.
Leaving aside political correctness, he directed his anger at worldwide governmental inaction, highlighting Darfur, Rwanda, and Chechnya as places where massacres go unaddressed. We all supported it without a reaction.
Kouchner believes this silence is fed by the cleverness of men like Russian President Putin, who controls images and press coverage of Chechnya. He insisted that places far from the camera are neglected, as it is populations and not governments that drive reactions to injustice. When the images are disappearing, the indignation is disappearing, he said.
He was also critical that indignation is only felt for injustices that are physically or religiously close to home.
When one woman raised the issue of Palestine and audience clapped, he reacted with cool ire: Please! he said, What about the rest of the world?
Kouchner said that MSF is concerned with all patients of the world. All human beings are members of a single family.
MSF was founded in 1971 as a non-governmental organization to both provide emergency medical assistance and bear witness publicly to the plight of the people it assists, according to their web site.
Kouchner was also involved with legislation, such as UN resolutions allowing MSF the right to interfere in areas hit by natural disasters or similar emergency situations, as well as a resolution providing clearance to access victims.
He told The Daily Star Egypt that the people who brave such dangerous humanitarian hotspots have more than goodwill to offer. They also have specializations. He added that it was being political without being involved with a party. But mostly, he emphasized the human aspect.
He said: Deeply, you must be close to people. You must love the people, love to exchange .You must believe in people more than ideology.
AUC President David Arnold told The Daily Star Egypt that the purpose of the Nadia Younes memorial lectures is to focus on the issues and themes of Nadia s life, including humanitarian aid, tolerance and respect for human rights . [These are the messages] we want to instill in our students.
As Kouchner concluded: If you re not making any noise, no one will listen to you.
