A Note from Anna Carugati: Not Again

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NEW YORK: Our thoughts and hearts go out to the injured, the families who lost loved ones and all who experienced the horrific attacks in Paris.

Just as we said less than a year ago, Je Suis Charlie, now we say with pride, Nous Sommes Tous Parisiens.

But we New Yorkers are also close to the rest of the Parisians, the ones who witnessed the appalling events from a distance or on television.

We know, all too well, that gut-wrenching, nausea-inducing mix of feelings that hits in alternating waves—shock, disbelief, helplessness, anger, sadness, fear, fury, vulnerability, rage—accompanied by the endless, unrelenting questioning, why, why, why? The news from Paris opened up all the wounds from September 11.

Each one of us must grapple to come to terms with the terror; there is no one way to do it. Of course, family, friends and loved ones provide the first zone of safety and comfort. There is very little consolation—in fact, only mounting incredulity and indignation—in realizing New Yorkers and Parisians belong to the heartrending and cheerless club of people who have survived terrorist attacks: a club whose membership extends to those affected by bombings in Bali in 2002, in Madrid in 2004, in London in 2005, in Mumbai in 2008, the shootings in Norway in 2011, most likely the recent downing of the Russian plane in Egypt, and so many others whom we don’t mean to slight by not mentioning.

We at World Screen are impacted by these tragedies like all other human beings. We don’t have answers, explanations or solutions. We live in a difficult, complex, too often dangerous world, where nations who value liberty and various freedoms—including that of the press—as inalienable rights are the most vulnerable to terrorism because of the very values they cherish.

As we find it difficult to focus on our daily tasks and deadlines, we are bound together by our shock, sadness and anger, and merely want to express our solidarity with our French colleagues and friends in this dark, painful time. This we know: liberté, égalité et fraternité will never be defeated.