The White Memory Line

After more than 1100 days of suffering and at least 200,000 victims of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it is more than ever time to embark on the path of dialogue and reconciliation. As United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres recently declared, “the future of humanity depends on investing in the mechanisms of peace, not war, yet global tensions are rising, the nuclear threat is growing and safeguards are eroding”.

How far will the infernal spiral of hatred, violence and destruction go ? This devastating madness is killing hundreds of thousands of people and their families. Are these sacrificed lives not enough for our leaders to put in place the necessary actions for a diplomacy committed to peace, as Gaël Giraud perfectly reminds us, “The world needs peace. Not a peace based on a balance of arms and mutual fear. The Ukrainian crisis may yet become a challenge for wise statesmen, capable of building a better world for new generations through dialogue”.

Against all perennial logic, however, the leaders of nations are making the opposite choice by reinforcing their military power to cope, according to their reading, with the deteriorating security environment. While defense budgets are skyrocketing, and arms production and sales are increasing exponentially, the funds available to implement solutions to build the common good and promote peace and the good of others are virtually non-existent.

However, the vast majority of people do not want war, but simply to be together, with their loved ones, to love each other in their homes, far removed from the domination projects of certain individuals whose power and fear of the other has annihilated all forms of common sense in their wounded hearts and souls.
History speaks for itself, there's no need to dominate or destroy to bring peace, it just doesn't work, and it's with this mantra in mind that White Memory Line was imagined, a plural space to invest in lasting peace and guard against the ravages of war.

Installed wherever the topography allows, along the 4300-kilometre border between the European Union, Ukraine and Russia, this corridor for peace is intended as a place of commemoration for the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians who died in the Russo-Ukrainian war. A space for remembrance and dialogue between nations that resonates with the natural, rugged and beautiful surroundings of a rich border stretching from Finland in the north to the southern Ukrainian tip of the Crimean peninsula.

Crossing nearly eight countries, including Russia, this porous border line, the length of which depends on the number of victims, is intended to remind us human beings, whatever our nationality or personal history, that barbarism has no place in the world, and that it's urgent to sit down together to talk and not be afraid of each other. This line, made of wood and draped in white cloth, reminds us all of our indefectible bond of interdependence and the need to remain united in the face of the horrors of war.

Mr. Putin may believe that he is, and I quote, “invested with a divine mission to defend Russia and guarantee its present and future sovereignty”, but there is nothing providential about invading and killing, let alone a missionary path. Love and peace, on the other hand, are divine in essence.

One thing is certain : it's time to take action and invest collectively and for our children in the peaceful future that everyone deserves, wherever they may be, in Europe, Russia or elsewhere.