when a school textbook publishes the interview of the co-president of the Ecolo party
The start of the school year, usually, is September 1st, in Belgium. This year, however, it took place on August 29, since our school calendar has been redesigned. And it is surely because he was taken aback by this reform that the publisher Plantyn made a slight mistake in the new edition of his French textbook for use by secondary school students (13-14 years old), Tangram. Indeed, there is an interview on two whole pages with the co-president of Ecolo, Rajae Maouane.
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The one who is called a woman racialized by the authors of the interview retrace his career and summarize his three priority political battles: equality, have societal standards assessed ” and access to employment, before presenting his model in politics, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a young American politician ” who does not hesitate to get into the bacon of these old white males who try to dictate policy “. Because co-president Écolo says it bluntly: she wants Fight against discrimination and against a society where you are told to go home because you have a different first name “.
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It is obviously certainly for lack of time to complete this edition that Tangram did not then give the floor to an old white male engaged in politics, or even to each of the other party presidents. And that’s good, Paul Magnette (PS, Socialist Party), Maxime Prévot (Les Engagés, social democrats), François De Smet (Défi) and Georges-Louis Bouchez (MR, Reform Movement, center right) are all white males older than Rajae Maouane. As well as the other co-president of Écolo, Jean-Marc Nollet. Tangram was therefore spoiled for choice. Unless of course they have been contacted, but they have all been refused, outraged that one can consider giving the floor to a party president in a school textbook. In short, Rajae Maouane therefore finds himself the only politician interviewed in a school textbook. And that is really unfortunate.
Ethics, where are you?
Admittedly, the interview does not have the avowed objective of promoting environmental policy, since it serves as a support for a reading comprehension exercise, the students having to retrace the chronology of the various information which appears in the text. But Rajae Maouane nonetheless seized the opportunity to address young people who would like to go into politics: Do not hesitate to challenge us on social networks since we are now present on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and we are available “. Or, a little further: if you’re interested, contact me and we’ll have a drink “. But here again, these two unfortunate sentences have certainly escaped the co-president of the ecologist party: it was indeed an Ecolo deputy who had denounced last June as “ intolerable » the awarding of a prize from the Communal Socialist Union (the “PS de Huy prize”) to pupils in the last year of primary school in the communal schools of Huy. Proof, if any, of the keen sense of ethics in politics that usually drives ecologists.
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Editor Plantyn has since apologised, acknowledging a “ real mistake “, while justifying it by the fact that it contains ” relevant to evoke the career of this woman from the diversity “. An elegant way of recognizing a breach of equal treatment between them and old white males. As for the Minister (PS) of compulsory education, Caroline Désir, who had already sought the opinion of the School Pact Commission in July to check whether a PS price was acceptable or not, she declared to open an investigation to rule on the legality of the presence of a party president in a school textbook.
But in the end, is all this really useful? Why not just continue on this path? One could, for example, distribute to all pupils entering kindergarten a small satchel marked with the acronym of the Engagés, and organize a large liberal conference on the theme “Take your future in your hands now” when the children enter primaries. Because diversity and inclusion, I agree with Rajae, that’s the only thing true!