The earth will cry

Where is this boy going? Where is he from ? A slender silhouette simply dressed in a sad brown shirt, he walks briskly, barefoot on cracked earth with gaping wounds. To her left, a boat taunts the walker who does not glance at her and seems to float above her. Too used to it, too desperate to be interested in it! Over the adolescent, over the thirsty earth, over the abandoned boat, the implacable blue sky reigns supreme.

We are in Iraq, between the Tigris and the Euphrates, in the region of Chibayish, one of the poorest. The lack of rain but also poor water management by the authorities, the construction of dams upstream of the rivers and the same drought in neighboring Iran and Turkey, have considerably reduced the flow of rivers. of the country, very hard hit by global warming. In its sobriety, in the simplicity of its construction – the sky, the ground, the beached boat and the boy – the photo tells the climate crisis that the world is going through. Thus Iraq, particularly tested and particularly disarmed to fight against global warming and to try to adapt to it.

We know the reports of international climate experts, the forecasts of scientists, the political decisions, the militant actions and our experience of exceptional climatic episodes… Here, in one image, the extent of the disaster is expressed. It makes us hear, together, the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. Silent cries which, more than the din of our political heartbreaks, should twist our eardrums and spur us to action.

Yes, I am convinced of it, the photos published in the newspapers speak and speak to us. With words, as much as words, in support of words. They can also cheat – let’s not be naive – and twist reality sometimes. But, thanks to the reporter photographers who go as close as possible to the dramas of the news – wars, natural disasters, poverty… – they allow us, like the pen of the reporter who writes, to approach us children, women and men who experience these dramatic events.

This chronicle of a journalist who loves words infinitely and, almost as much, photos stops today (not without a certain emotion, according to the established formula but quite sincere). She tried to read the images with you, to see in them what we do not always see at first sight, what the photographer has perceived (or perhaps not for that matter), what dazzles us, what moves us. The dramas often, more than simple happiness or everyday life, offer us magnificent photos. So that we carry them in our hearts, in our commitments, in our prayers perhaps.

With this latest column, a chapter in the history of your newspaper is closing. Dominique Quinio joined La Croix in 1975. By succeeding Bruno Frappat in 2005, she became the first woman to run a major national daily, and for ten years. The entire editorial staff expresses its gratitude to her and sends her warm wishes of happiness for the path that opens before her.