Laidback Marseille

Touching the Lavender plants in the car-free zone

With the Lockdown greatly eased, restaurants and their terraces, shops big and small, reopened, there was still something different. The crowds. Vieux Port was not crowded as usual. Neither the terraces. This was Marseille without the tourists. A city that now delightfully felt laidback.

In the car-free zone near Vieux Port you could smell the scent of Lavender, with or without face mask. Pedestrians were impressed by these modest in stature but generous in fragrance plants of the countryside. The Capucins produce market was, as usual, pleasantly crowded, people buy rather fresh fruits and vegetables than the tinned ones during the Lockdown.

The current protests against racism reveal how slow human evolution is. How much patience can one have? The roots of the problem lie in European colonialism and its slave trade that happened from the mid-15th century onward. Slavery was officially abolished in the 19th century in the USA but was replaced by systemic racial discrimination continuing today and what today’s protests are voicing, also around the world. It is not only an American problem. It is about time for all governments to accept that there is only one human being.

The summer season has arrived. People are back on the beaches and in the parks. Children are happy and full of life again. And yet, the current pandemic remains a grave challenge for all people and all countries. Greta Thunberg is sceptical about the E.U.’s climate crisis policies and is convinced that climate change should be addressed with the same urgency as is being done with the coronavirus pandemic. I couldn’t agree more. Justice for All and justice for Mother Earth.