Former deputy director of KEDGE Marseille and member of the trio that set up the school in LUMINY, Robert Crespo is now at the head of an ambitious project in the city of Marseille.

After 15 years of charitable work with LIONISME MARSEILLAIS, Club President, then Member of the Governor's Cabinet and creator ofan unprecedented liaison body which he manages with a small group of Lions from different Clubs, Robert CRESPO is disappointed by certain aspects of the movement...

Robert Crespo decided to create an independent Club, followed by most of the members who managed the newsletter he had set up.Humorously named l'Association ABAQUE (Association on which one can count and with which one must count), this Club pursued its action through a number of charitable works.It is entirely apolitical and secular, and made up of totally disinterested volunteers, which is its strength.

Realizing that these charitable works are but a drop in the ocean of need, its President and Founder turned his attention to the creation of projects with wider repercussions for all citizens. A number of projects have been proposed to the Marseilles municipal authorities. One example is a change in the direction of traffic to make it more convenient for Marseilles residents and more attractive for the city's tourist sites. The project was adopted by the Municipality of the 1st and 7th arrondissements.

Then the idea of a more ambitious project emerges:

To create a World Monument to Brotherhood in Marseille. This would be secular, totally independent of Catholicism and any other religion, and as much French as local. Equipped with a symbolism as important, if not more so, than the Statue of Liberty, this monument would represent the most important foundation of our Republic.

Paradoxically, this monument will be easier to finance because of its global symbolism. On the other hand, it could provide the city of Marseille with an extremely profitable annuity for life. Finally, the greatest interest lies in the dual purpose of this monument itself, namely:

1. To act as a major spur to all nations to realize that, without the rapprochement of peoples and the empathy of all, whatever their nationalityreligion and skin color, fraternity is the only weapon capable of helping us face tomorrow's dangers;
2. Of course, this monument will not be just another monument, but an "active" one. That is to say, it will be surrounded by buildings capable of housing the branches of all the major NGOs and World Institutions, so as to support, from Marseille, all actions that can be taken in the direction of World Brotherhood.

Robert Crespo concludes:"This Monument will not only benefit our city, it will also benefit our entire region, the whole of France and humanity. In our cosmopolitan city, as elsewhere, it will be an enormous factor of social cohesion, because it will become the project of ALL."