International Louis Braille Club


 

Appeal to join the International Louis Braille Club

In 2002 we celebrated the 150th anniversary of Louis Braille's death. This event provided the opportunity to remember once again the genius of Louis Braille, the revolutionary character of the reading and writing system he invented and the enormous debt we all have towards him. The least that we can do to pay him back is to keep his memory alive and declare the fundamental value, originality, modernity of Braille.

To reach these objectives, a museum was established at the Louis Braille birth place some years ago. For various reasons, which I will not mention here, the expenses for the running of the museum have been mainly met by the French Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted - FAF so far. For some time now Julien Aimi, FAF President, has been drawing the attention of the EBU Board to the museum's lack of resources, warning us about the risk of the museum being closed. The Board has repeatedly considered this issue and eventually the 7th EBU General Assembly, convened in Athens, Greece, has agreed that Louis Braille's memory does not pertain to France nor Europe only, but to the entire world.

It was therefore agreed to set up an International Louis Braille Club (see statutes). Members of this club should mainly be organisations of the blind and/or partially sighted wanting to preserve the memory of Louis Braille and the value of his reading and writing system. The aim of the Club is to ensure regular financing of the museum located in Coupvray, promote initiatives aimed at highlighting the pedagogical and didactical value of Braille and encourage the formation of national clubs for the promotion of Braille.

The running costs of the museum amount to roughly 70,000 euros per year. In my capacity as the Second Vice-President of the European Blind Union I was given the task to "knock at the door" of your organisation in order to explain to you that it is important to join this club, paying a yearly subscription fee which will be calculated according to your organisation's financial resources and should not be less than 1,000 euros in any case.

I appeal to your interest in international affairs and special sensitivity to culture issues and I am sure that you will not say no.

When I accepted to make this request, I have committed myself personally and I have also engaged the national association that I have the honour to represent, the Italian Union of the Blind. In the last six years, the Italian Union of the Blind has contributed remarkably to the maintenance of the museum with the following donations :

Year 1998 : 4,660 euros
Year 2000 : 2,500 euros
Year 2001 : 7,533 euros
Year 2003 : 10,000 euros

The last contribution was the product of the efforts of the Italian Braille Club established by the Italian Union of the Blind and other organisations of and for the blind operating in Italy.

Expressions of interest in joining the International Louis Braille Club should be forwarded to :

Mokrane Boussaid, EBU Office Director
58 avenue Bosquet, 75007 Paris (France)
Tel : +33 1 47 05 38 20
Fax : +33 1 47 05 38 21
E-mail : ebuoffice@euroblind.org

I hope I have given you all the necessary information, I count on your solidarity as I am confident that you will agree on the high value of trying to preserve the Louis Braille memorial.

Tommaso Daniele
EBU Second Vice-President


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STATUTES

Article 1 - NAME

The name of the association shall be "International Louis Braille Club" (in these statutes called "the Club").


Article 2 - MEMBERSHIP

The Club shall be composed of National Braille Clubs which can become members by paying an annual membership fee, whose amount is determined - from time to time - by the Board of the Club.


Article 3 - OBJECTS

The objects of the Club are :

a. to support the Louis Braille Museum in Coupvray, France ;

b. to organise every year on World Braille Day 4 January an event aimed at making governments and the general public aware that the Braille writing and reading system is still relevant and valuable ;

c. to publish an annual newsletter on the activities of the club ;

d. to undertake any other initiatives capable of promoting, spreading and supporting the use of the Braille writing and reading system among visually impaired people.


Article 4 - The BOARD

Subject to paragraph 2 of Article 6 below the Board of the Club shall consist of the Officers of the European Blind Union (EBU).


Article 5 - LOCATION

The headquarters of the Club shall be in Paris, France, at the EBU Office.


Article 6 - INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

1. Both within Europe and elsewhere in the world the Board shall encourage the formation of national Louis Braille Clubs with objects similar to those of the Club.

2. The Board may make provision for ensuring that national Louis Braille clubs formed in countries outside Europe are represented on the Board by individuals appointed by them.

3. The Board shall take steps to ensure that the finances of the Club are properly and economically managed.

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MEMBERSHIP LIST


World Blind Union


Bulgaria


Canada


Croatia


Czech Republic


Denmark


Finland


France


Germany


Greece


India


Italy


Luxembourg


Norway


Poland


Spain


Switzerland


United Kingdom


USA


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