Regis Debray uneasy about 'competition for remembrance'

In an interview with Jean-Marie Guesnois, French philosopher Régis Debray responds to a recent proposal from Nicolas Sarkozy to "entrust the memory" of a deported Jewish child to every primary school child [in France]. "As much as it is a duty to remember, abusing remembrance is counterproductive. I think [Sarkozy's suggestion] is abuse of remembrance because it gives emotion pride of place, whereas the aim of schooling is neither emotion, compassion, or brooding over the dead ... There is a risk of escalation, of one-upmanship, of a competition for remembrance. In France's big city suburbs this remembrance could soon prompt a demand to adopt Israel's victims in Palestine. Then there are Gypsies, Armenians, and above all black people ... Rather than unify, this initiative will, I fear, cause division along community and religious lines."

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