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The Métropolitain Un appel aux citoyens engagés – join us and help us!
The Métropolitain

Un appel aux citoyens engagés – join us and help us!

By Beryl Wajsman on June 18, 2009

We are proud to present you with our first year anniversary retrospective. It has been quite a ride.

We started the Métropolitain to celebrate individual spirit and initiative that seeks to free itself from the suffocating constraints of the culture wars. We have advocated for the restoration of the sovereignty of the individual over domains which the state should not have entered and on which it should not have legislated. We have opposed rule and regulation aimed at social engineering. We have helped the vulnerable. We have given so many who have felt marginalized for so long a sense of community by speaking across the language divide. And we have reminded Montrealers—so long imprisoned in Quebec’s mentality of self-doubt driven by a jealousy of others self-belief—that our unique multiculturalism and multilingualism needs a broader international vision that does not reflexively reject the liberal pluralism of those western nations from whose philosophical and historical traditions we sprang.

Nous sommes témoins d'une direction sans véritable gouvernail évoquant celle du politicien qui, lors de la Révolution française, est allé voir dans la rue quelle direction prenait la foule, pour qu'il puisse la mener. Le leadership implique l'audace. Le leadership s'astreint à la décision. Le leadership exige le dévouement. De nos jours, nous ne pouvons plus tolérer des dilettantes dans notre vie publique simplement parce qu'ils sont agréables et présentables. 

This paper seeks to raise the public discourse. We give voice to those who want dignity back in their lives. We advocate for an open, as well as a just, society.  And we want our city to be vraiment libre again.

Il ne suffit pas que les grands partis de pouvoir et de principes voient le succès électoral comme l'ultime fin. Leurs fonctions ne sont alors pas pleinement remplies ainsi. Cette question est sans doute insolite au sein de la politique Québecois. Pourtant, notre époque est insolite. Les défis intérieurs et étrangers sont insolites. Et ils appellent une vision et une vigueur renouvelées.

 Notre époque exige le constat des dures réalités et le courage des grandes décisions. Elle nous invite à des tâches déconcertantes et stimule nos volontés. Nous devons songer à un programme radical pour une réforme authentique. Radical n'insinue pas révolutionnaire. De nos jours, alors que Camus écrit  « qu'il est dur, qu'il est amer de devenir un homme, » radical ne signifie même pas nouveau. Çela signifie vrai. Et juste. Et la vérité et la justice ne connaissent de frontières ni dans le temps ni dans l'éspace.

We will continue to tackle all these taboos. We will not be limited by the stilted mindset in this country that seems afraid to express itself in either official languages. We who have come together in common cause on these pages are dedicated to the proposition that in Montreal we are indeed one community with no solitudes. Won’t you join us in this cause? For our work to continue, we need your moral and material support. Consider helping us with subscriptions and advertisements. This is truly a community effort. It’s about your dignity and it’s about your future.