Some human beings are
chosen by fate...
Pierre Martin
is one of them. He dedicated his whole life to peace and international
friendship.
With his death, on 22nd June 1998, pacifism and internationalism lost
one of its greatest supporters. He was born 86 years ago, in Chartres
(France).
This great activist
of the fair causes, who always refused the idea of taking a weapon
to kill other humans, was also a great intellectual. He was hiding under
his generosity and his modesty the talents of a competent multispecialist.
In turn, he worked as a sociologist, as an economist and as an expert
in co-operation. But first of all, the pacifism activist will remain during
all his life a true citizen of the world. Kwamé Krumah, first president
of independent Ghana, will nominate Pierre "Hero of Africa".
He was a graduate of Law and Economics as well as Sociology and Political
Science. Together with Paul Emile Victor (PEV), the specialist of polar
expeditions, he received an education in ethnology by famous specialists
such as Marcel Griaule, the reference in Dogon civilisation. Pierre, who
couldn't stand the cold, refused PEV's invitation to go to the North Pole.
Another time, because of a bad combination of circumstances, he didn't
participate in the Dakar-Djibouti expedition, organised by Griaule.
What is the height for a conscientious objector? It could certainly
be to become a war prisoner. What a destiny; imprisoned for his conscientious
objection, he becomes a war prisoner as the nazi hordes of Hitler's Germany
occupy France, 1940. His unwavering will for not using weapons brings
him to jail once more.
After the war, he will be elected four times in a row in the Council of
the "International of War Resistance".
1947, in his capacity as Service Civil International pioneer, treads for
his first time the African continent to lead a development work camp in
Kabily. On this project, he meets Mouloud Feraoun, a teacher in a village
nearby. This encounter enables Mouloud to publish his first novel "Le
fils du pauvre". After this rich experience, related in his first
book, "In Kabily, in the Trenches of Peace", published in Beyrouth
1953, UNESCO sends him on an educational mission for the Palestinians,
in the Gaza strip, in Egypt and Jordan.
Mahatma Gandhi had written him to advise him how to practice non
violence: first of all getting rid of any kind of fear, then struggling
without a break against all forms of injustice. The more Pierre practised
this non-violence, the more he wanted to meet Gandhi. In 1948 he decided
to reach India. He takes his old bike, "Gertrude", and start.
Once he arrives in Libya, he hears of the fanatic violence that killed
the Mahatma. Gandhi, the preacher of non-violence, has been killed.
He turns back and decides to settle down in Algeria to dedicate himself
to education. He applies for a teaching position in the Ouarsenis region
and gets it. There he can put into practice his methods of integral education.
Shortly after the earthquake in Orléansville (today Chlef), Pierre
is declared "Persona non grata" in Algeria; he goes back to
France where he meets Louis Lecoin. Together they found the pacifist magazine
"Liberté" and work on it for three years. This precious
contribution will lead, a few years later, to the legislation on conscientious
objection.
In 1959, he interrupts a study mission for UNESCO in Accra, to
join the international protest expedition in the Sahara, against the atomic
bomb tests. French authorities detain him in Ghana. He starts a hunger
strike in front of the French embassy in Accra. His action is unanimously
appreciated in Africa. Kwamé Krumah, Panafrican activist and first
Ghanaian president sends him this message:"Pierre, you are a hero
of Africa. Your name will be perpetuated among the future generations".
In 1961, he arrives in Dakar, Senegal, to deal with the co-operatives.
Named "Administrateur Civil Principal", he dedicates himself
to the improvement of the living conditions in rural areas, using co-operative
methods. In the meantime, he introduces the school co-operatives, and
develops them. In a remarkable study-work, "Whom does peanut profit",
he analyses the interests of a decadent rural capitalism, perverted by
dishonest middlemen and by a deterioration of the exchange terms.
In 1962, he anticipates his holidays to support Louis Lecoin in
France in his hunger strike, convincing De Gaulle of the necessity to
acknowledge consciousness objection.
Member of the "Congrès des Peuples", he founds the Senegalese
branch of the "Citizens of the World". During this vital decade
for Senegalese history, he trains, together with his wife Jacqueline Martin-Dumeste,
the first executives of this newly independent country. Jacqueline, in
Senegal since 1953, where she organised the first French scouts caravans
in Africa, becomes a teacher for mathematics in Dakar. She first works
in the technical high-school "Maurice Delafosse, then in the "Ecole
Nationale des Travaux Publics".
During their stay in Dakar, where they strike up strong and unfailing
friendships, they have their two children, Alassane and Abdou.
After Pierre's retirement in 1972, the whole family stops for a
few years in Algeria before settling down first in Grasse, then in Tourtour,
nice perched village in the French Provence.
Pierre, as we used to call him kindly and respectful, was an extraordinary
person. During all his life, he dedicated his energy, his intelligence
and his heart to this great cause which is Peace. He will remain as a
model for the future generations. The readers of his book "Candide
in front of the Moloch", as well as those undertaking researches
in the sources of pacifism, will discover a man who never gave up.
Pierre Martin was convinced that a real international and fraternal solidarity
is the condition for peace in the world. The depth of his friendship and
the tone of his sweet voice are kept alive in our memory. Great humanist,
he will always stay alive, thanks to the constancy of his commitment.
Malick M'Baye,
International Civil Servant at UNESCO
