Report by Ms. Loréna Schlicht, AFCDRP–Mayors for Peace France
Lasséran is a village where peace is cultivated. The linchpin of this struggle is Michel Soriano, the mayor, who organised an event in the morning of the Armistice Day, 11 November. As the elected council members of the city and peace movement members from Europe were reading poetry, a ginkgo biloba tree was planted in a new landscaped area of the village. The tree is a child of one of the trees that survived the Hiroshima atomic explosion. In 2019, Michel Soriano received from the Mayors for Peace Secretariat some fifteen seeds, all of which grew into trees under the care of the municipal services of Auch. As was the case for Lanne-Soubiran and Sansan, the trees will be planted in communes that request one.
In his speech, Mayor Soriano commemorated the deceased family members of the soldiers of the commune who died in the First World War and called for facing the challenges confronting the humanity with concrete actions:
“We must turn away from religious and political figures who exacerbate differences. Peace is not a status quo, it is a concrete act”.
Photos: courtesy of the Mayors for Peace France–AFCDRP