Édition N°2, 2021-2022 by Le Zadig

JEUDI 23 DECEMBRE 2021

SCIENCES PO PARIS, CAMPUS DE MENTON

#26 | LA CRISE FRONTALIERE BIELORUSSIE-UE

UNE AFFAIRE ORCHESTREE ? - FELIPE BOITARD X AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

ELIANA SEROUSSI

CARICATURISTE CO-REDACTRICE EN CHEF

#40 | POURQUOI LA CANDIDATURE D’ERIC ZEMMOUR EST UN DANGER? - SAMY EL MALOUI

#32 | RUGBY : UN SPORT DE BRUTES?

- SOLENN RAVENEL

2021-2022

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table of contents p. 4

A Look Inside the Lesvos Refugee Camp

p. 8

New Law Prohibits Bosses From Contacting Employees After Work

p. 10 Being an Activist Far From Home p. 12 Bolsonaro’s Brazil p. 14 Voting in Favor of Human Rights Restrictions p. 16 The Snatched Pens of the Roma Children p. 18 French Dispatch Review p. 20 Gurnah and Naipaul at the Afrocynical Crossroads p. 22 Les Etoiles de la Reconnaissance p. 24 RED (Taylor’s Version)

p. 26 La crise frontalière Biélorussie-UE

p. 30 Mémoire et Tradution Autour du Premier Califat

p. 32

Rugby : un Sport des Brutes ?

p. 34

Is Gendered Language Still Relevant?

p. 36

Quelle est l’ampleur de la Mafia en Europe?

p. 38

How can you have power?

p. 40

Pourquoi la Candidature d’Éric Zemmour est un Danger ?

p. 42

Octobre Rose

p. 43

November ÉDITION N˚2 | DECEMBRE 2021

Reflection: A look inside the Refugee Camp in Lesvos and why you should be wearing a Solidaritee T-shirt LILINAZ HAKIMI

GUEST COLUMNIST

I struggle with the idea of what a home is. It is a question we get asked a lot in new and social situations. Where we are from or where our home is. They seem like two very different questions. Even last year, we were asked what we define as a home for a friend’s video project. What a privilege, to sit here and contemplate what I define as my home. What a privilege to even have so much around us and in our lives to have to think about such a concept. For many asylum seekers in Lesvos, their home is a 120 x 80 x 15 cm tent with a huge UNHCR logo slapped on the side. For them, home is an unstable structure that cannot endure rain and snow or cool them in the heat of summer. In the summer of 2021, in order to not only complete my 140 hours of volunteering, but to also get involved with a meaningful cause, I volunteered in a refugee camp in Lesvos, Greece. After years of behind-the-scenes work fundraising

and working with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to learn more about the global refugee crisis, I found that this was an opportunity to work on the ground and see the reality of the very people I hoped to help. I worked with Euro Relief, the largest NGO presence in the Lesvos camp. Euro Relief is an NGO responsible for aiding the Greek government alongside the refugees to ensure the smooth distribution of food, shelter, and medical/psychological needs. This NGO had a constant flow of volunteers. Some stayed for three months to a few years and had more permanent leadership positions, while others would pass through for one month. Most volunteers were there due to their faith; they hoped to dedicate their time to helping those who have faced immense hardship. Rather than reflecting on the NGO itself, which to an extent eased the brutal nature of the camps, I will focus on its work and my experience in the camp. At first sight, I was not surprised by the camp itself. After learning about this crisis and doing research, I was exposed to documentaries and pictures of refugee camps in the Middle East and Europe. My first thought entering the camp was, “this makes sense. This is what a refugee camp looks like.” However, the appearance on the outside, the faces passing by from tent to tent, held much more sorrow, depth, hope, than what I was prepared for. As I passed by more and more of the asylum seekers, I began adjusting and growing accustomed to what I was seeing. We see these things, we get desensitized to them. It is like walking by a homeless individual. The first few times, your heart aches, you give them money, you think about them for hours after. Yet, as you grow up, and you pass

by more and more homeless people, you start ignoring them. You start feeling as though they are just a part of this world, and your pity will do nothing. You begin disassociating them from their condition only to lessen the guilt of not handing them the dollar they so desperately need. That is how the first week felt. The first week was like that for me. At first, seeing the kids barefoot running around in the

rubble and dust stung my heart, but soon it became a norm. My experience differed from most if not all the volunteers in that the sight was not my main source of understanding towards the refugees. The general work volunteers did was very straightforward. We moved families to tents tent to tent to create space for construction, checked on tents to

ensure the residents were still there, and answered all questions the asylum seekers (or people of concern, as they were called) had. However, within my arrival, my language skills were noticed, and as a native Farsi speaker and a fluent French speaker I was often pulled out of my job to go help the information point (a stand where we answered the asylum seekers’ questions) and social care team with translation work. The job of the social care team, which I found extremely admirable, was checking on the most vulnerable asylum seekers or POCs and trying to find solutions to their issues. This ranged from medical needs, psychological needs, housing changes, to legal aid referrals. Originally they only asked me here and

there to help. By the middle/end of my first week, they asked to have me as a permanent translator since I could both translate well and also relay the sentiment and emotions presented by both parties. They were in desperate need, and seeing as most translators were residents of the camp (POCs) I felt as though it was my duty to help. After all, I went to this camp ready to provide anything I could

to make the suffering of these individuals a tiny bit less. They were adamant about checking and double checking on me, to make sure I could do it and that I was okay. The first day of full day translating was mentally draining. One of my first cases I encountered involved this Congolese woman, who appeared 50 years old, but was only 25. She had a kidney stone and a hernia. She was in immense pain. On my first full day of translation work, we returned to her and I learned her story. The social care worker I was helping needed to know whether she had been sexually assaulted in the past in order to get her aid provided by a certain NGO. That was one story, and she told it as such a “matter of fact.” Being assaulted by her boss, being told if she tells his wife she would be killed, and then being blamed for his death. This 25-year-old woman had endured so much pain. I heard similar stories day in and day out. I heard of the 19-year-old Afghan girl’s multiple miscarriages as she sat there proudly showing off her newborn. I heard of the Iranian father who lost his wife to the regime after he fled the army. His sixyear-old daughter basically knew nothing outside the dusty paths and broken down tents of the camp. I spoke to an older mother, illiterate, who was thrown into an interview with a few days to prepare. Her daughter had received her papers, but her epleptic son had not. They were all waiting for one another. I met a young Congolese mother of a newborn whom we were trying to help. She had achieved the success story that everyone is on about: getting asylum and being able to leave. Yet she did not want to leave. She and her baby had nowhere to go. Meanwhile, her sister wanted to smuggle herslef to Athens, where she would likely be taken into prostitution and abused by human traffickers in the region. I met an Afghan father who fought me tooth and nail to move from a small tent to a small, smelly, bug-infested room. He wanted his new-

born to live in a place with walls. Right before I left, I visited him again. He was trying to kill the bugs one by one but he was beyond proud of his painting project to give the ugly, depressing concrete walls a dash of color. I even met the baby, who had no idea what a place she was born into, but I know she will be in good hands given her father’s drive and passion.

The stories go on. The rapes, the killings, the Taliban, the Iranian regime, the Turkish authorities are all stains in these people’s stories. My heart grew heavier the more I heard, the more I translated, and the more I yearned to reduce the pain that these kind, giving, and beautiful people had endured and continue to endure. Learning more about the legal workings and the lack of legal aid to help their cases frustrated me even more. Unless you can pay for a lawyer, you are stuck. If you run out of money for your lawyer, you are stuck. I used to think, “how dare anyone not want to help these people?” and “how dare anyone judge their migration here?” It is not like these people wanted to leave their homes. They did not choose to end up in a continent where they would be treated as less. They did not want to leave their families behind for “a better life.”

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They left because they had to. They left because the Taliban killed their parents and they feared for their family. They fled Iran because the government would never grant them asylum and health services or education for their children. They fled because, in the cells of Turkey, they were beaten and abused. They fled because they had lost their homes. Now they sit there, for almost two plus years, waiting for a foreign government to care enough to deem them a refugee.

They await a chance to start a new life, one in which they can finally, after years of suffering and chaos, live in peace. This was an eye-opening experience for me. I do not think I have and did as much as I nearly can for these people, but they welcomed me in their community. COVID-19 had little impact on our work. We wore masks yet went inside tents and shared tea with the asylum seekers. I love this aspect. It was a community feeling, being able to chat and be welcomed into the small spaces they had to call home. I was praised by them for translating so well, for getting their messages across, and for trying to show how much our NGO cared for them. I tried to help by breaking down the linguistic walls that create distance between individuals from different cultures. In the process, I would get asked how

long I had stayed in camp. I got asked by these little Afghan girls that befriended me how much school I missed when I left Iran. I was afraid to admit that I did not face the suffering they did. I felt it would create resentment. To my surprise, being someone from their region who did not endure their struggle did not bring about resentment, but rather pride. They viewed me as a success story that they could achieve (even though my life was determined just out of luck, as is someone lucky enough to be born in Europe or the US for example). These very little girls, no older than 12, are to this day the kindest, most mature, and well mannered children I have ever met. They harbored no

spoke English and would translate to the NGO volunteer, they would yell at me, the NGO worker wearing the red vest. I never took it personally. I understood completely where they were coming from. Yet no matter what, my service could not change the pain of their past, and despite my best efforts, my service could not truly help their trajectory of leaving Lesvos. I think what I learned and what I need to change are one in the same. The point is not to feel sorrow or guilt. The point is not to read this and brush it off, or read this and feel sad about not being more involved. Although it is human to share in the pain, I think it is more important to think ahead. WE all as students need to think ahead. The question we must ask is not “What do I want to do as a job?” but

“How will I in my career help others?”

bitterness, they harbored no hate, and all they wanted was to enjoy their moments while being giving to their community in the camp. I will forever admire and look up to those four girls for the side of humanity that they showed me, the side we forget exists when working in such a horrible and hopeless place. My service for the asylum seekers provided someone they could open up to, have a cup of tea with, and feel heard by. My service allowed them to argue against being moved to a worse tent in their native language. Instead of yelling at a fellow Afgan who

I wonder that everyday now because, just as you send off internship applications and do your readings for classes, this should be a part of your life. Rather than letting this be a devastating experience for me, which I will admit I still have to process, I want to draw strength from it. I have learned the importance of knowledge and seeing the reality of a situation. Everyone also kept telling me not to get too attached to the asylum seekers but it is hard not to feel for or bond with people who lived in or passed through your country. I found by not creating a “me versus you” narrative, I was able to help much, much more.

I now know the inner workings of legal aid in these camps, a cause I was fundraising for previously. It is through fundraising and spreading awareness with Solidaritee, a campus association, that I am hoping to stay involved. Hearing and seeing the exact NGOs Solidaritee donates to directly in the field showed me what these asylum seekers really need. They need to get out, and they need legal aid to do so. Join this fight, whether by buying one or 10 t-shirts, volunteering at the border with Sciences Po Refugee Help, educating those around you and donating, or studying and finding a voice in this world to create a larger scale change. Choose to care, every day, no matter how good it can feel to numb yourself.

Painting References: Sunset Refugee Artwork: completed at refugee camp in Lesbos Child Refugees Artwork: Marius Ghita https://www.artmajeur.com/medias/standard/m/r/mrsght/artwork/12598268_r-c-1.jpg?v=1568278592 Other image references: https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/11/06/23/46/ immigration-1804471_1280.jpg https://miro.medium.com/max/1000/1*rStTsN6t6sbB2F634ZpRCw.png

Choose to care. ■

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NEW LAW PROHIBITS BOSSES FROM CONTACTING EMPLOYEES AFTER WORK: IS IT TIME TO NORMALIZE A HEALTHY WORK-LIFE BALANCE? AYŞE-LARA SELÇUKER

COLUMNIST

An article published in August 2020 revealed that more than 4.7 million people work remotely at least half the time in the United States, with 16 percent of companies fully remote globally (Global Workplace Analytics). Even with the return to a semi-normal, in-person life, for a considerable amount of the workforce, the workplace is still their desk, their bed, their dinner table — only so far from where they eat, sleep, and do it all over again. Approaching two years of living online, it is strange that more policies have not been adapted to accommodate remote workers, which is why the new landmark Portuguese law prioritizing online workers’ rights and utility expenditures is so important. While the rest of the world has been particularly slow in adapting to remote life and its alterations to everyday life, many European countries have already either implemented or drafted (but not yet passed) similar measures. “Citizens of France, Spain, Belgium, Slovakia, Italy, the Philippines, Argentina, India and more, all currently enjoy ‘the right to disconnect’ – or abstain without punishment from working and communicating with their employers during designated rest periods” (Matei). Indeed, in as early as 2013, Germany banned employers contacting workers outside of contracted hours, and many of the country’s largest employers have even instituted policies to limit the number of emails received outside of working hours since (Matei). Nonetheless, while Portugal isn’t the only country modernizing its labor laws, Portugal is the first country to alter its remote working rules as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic (Bateman). The Portuguese law was introduced after the European Parliament did not pass a proposal to give workers the “right to disconnect,” of which most Portugal lawmakers had voted in favor (Bateman). Portuguese labour minister, Ana Mendes Godinho said that “remote working has great advantages provided we control the disadvantages,” adding that “the pandemic accelerated the need to regulate what already needed to be regulated” (Littlejohn). Indeed, working hours have skyrocketed across the globe with the implementation of remote working. With the absence of hours spent in traffic and commuting in general, it has become easier

to sit in the same chair for hours, working for much longer (and arguably with less distractions) than before. For example, the “average working day has increased by three hours in the U.S. since mid-March, when more companies around the world had started to practice working from home due to the widened spread of the coronavirus” (McKeever). The same survey found that in the U.K., France, Spain and Canada, people are typically working for two more hours a day since that date (McKeever). While there is a variation across countries for the increase in time spent working, people have indubitably spent more time in the majority of countries around the world, making the Portuguese law and similar “disconnect laws” particularly important.

“for employees who are sick, immunocompromised, or parents of young children, remote work has opened many doors”

Many have found it difficult to remain remote-workers, however, online work has actually come with many advantages for some. In fact, for employees who are sick, immunocompromised, or parents of young children, remote work has opened many doors. While companies have started the transition towards in-person workplaces, Portugal has included in the law that remote work must remain a mandatory option for workers. According to the law, remote working must be by “mutual agreement between employer and employee and based on contracts setting out the hours and the location of work” (Wise). While workers can refuse to work at home without giving reasons, companies must “justify in writing why they cannot satisfy an employee’s request to work remotely” (Wise). The law has also left room for parents taking care of children of ages eight and younger, giving them the right to work at home without asking for their employer’s permission. If both parents are eligible to work remotely, they are obligated to switch between periods of working at home (Wise). Given that the law states that remote access to work must remain as an option, it also elaborated that employers must provide the “necessary tools for getting the job done at home” (Matei). Indeed, employers will be “required to meet the additional costs remote workers incur at home, including communications, energy and equipment maintenance, and any upgrades to their internet connections required for work” (Wise). While the repercussions for breaking the laws are associated with serious fines, the laws do not apply to companies with fewer than 10 employees. The strict laws were specifically implemented to make Portugal a haven for “digital nomads,” and will “add to existing tax breaks designed to attract tech entrepreneurs and other potential investors” (Wise).

The law combines implementing a healthier work-life balance across the country with improving its economic condition and opening it up to foreign investors. Setting a pioneering example of how working-hour restrictions could potentially lead to economic growth and not the traditionally assumed stagnation, the idea that bosses may not be able to contact their employees after their working hours is revolutionary, and could completely change traditional assumptions around work-life balance, ameliorating mental health problems that have arisen as a result of general social isolation.• SOURCES Bateman, Tom. “Portugal’s Remote Working Law Is a ‘Game Changer,’ but What’s Changed?” Euronews, 11 Nov. 2021, https://www.euronews. com/next/2021/11/08/portugal-makes-it-illegal-for-your-boss-to-textyou-after-work. “Latest Work-at-Home/Telecommuting/Remote Work Statistics.” Global Workplace Analytics, 16 Oct. 2021, https://globalworkplaceanalytics. com/telecommuting-statistics. Littlejohn, Georgina. “Portugal Makes It Illegal for Bosses to Text Staff out of Hours.” INews, 15 Nov. 2021, https://inews.co.uk/news/world/ portugal-illegal-bosses-text-staff-out-of-hours-covid-pandemic-changeshow-work-1301933. Matei, Adrienne. “Portugal Banned Bosses from Texting Employees after Work. Could It Happen in the US?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 15 Nov. 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/ nov/15/portugal-boss-texts-work-us-employment. McKeever, Vicky. “Coronavirus Lockdowns Are Making the Working Day Longer for Many.” CNBC, CNBC, 3 Apr. 2020, https://www.cnbc. com/2020/03/30/coronavirus-lockdowns-are-making-the-working-daylonger-for-many.html. Wise, Peter. “Portuguese Law Bans Employers from Contacting Staff out of Hours.” Financial Times, Financial Times, 15 Nov. 2021, https://www. ft.com/content/fdedbf6e-5844-45b0-b53a-7ee2fce6b969.

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A WORLD AWAY: Being an Activist Far From Home CAMERON STERLING

COLUMNIST

As likely evidenced by the rest of the articles in this issue of Le Zadig, Sciences Po Menton is home to a wealth of politically engaged young people. In our home countries or départements, many of us have spent years engaged in activism, working hard to improve life in our communities. Now, we have all made the choice to leave home and come to Menton to study politics. We have disengaged ourselves with the act of politics, instead choosing to interact with them academically. In this article, I will profile three different student’s experiences with this process, exploring what it means to be a community activist abroad. Riwa Hassan (18) originally comes from Chouf, a city in the South of Lebanon. During her Junior year of high school in 2019, she studied abroad in the United States through the Kennedy Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Program. She credits her experience away from Lebanon as genesis for her activism. To quote Hassan, “when the revolution happened, I was in the US. It was sad for me because I felt that this was the movement that I had always dreamed of, but I was not there.” The struggle of being away from home showed Hassan how important Lebanon was to her, and was ultimately the reason that she became involved in political activism. Coming back to Lebanon, Hassan recounts being on the ‘front lines’ of the August 6th protests, facing tear gas, witnessing tragedy, and nearly being stabbed on a bus. But now, Hassan is abroad again at Sciences Po in France while Lebanon experiences what many refer to as the “mini civil war.” On this, Hassan describes that “it is at these moments that I am most worried. That I want to be home the most. Though I post on social media, I feel separated from what I talk about. It’s all collapsing but I can do nothing. It is never enough.” Further, she says that

being in a country where the standard of living is worse, experiences such as electricity shut offs, having to stock food, and not having hot water feels all the more tragic. Though Hassan feels that she cannot be involved to the same measure while in France, she still feels that she can be engaged through social media, whether it be through social media or mutual aid. Mutual aid, to Hassan, is something that she believes can only come from abroad. Recently, a close friend had medical issues in Lebanon. It was that friend’s connections abroad advocating for her and the setup of a GOFUNDME that paid for her surgery.

“when the [Lebanese] revolution happened, I was in the US. It was sad for me because I felt that this was the movement that I had always dreamed of, but I was not there.” As the economy reels from recent crises, the Lebanese diaspora is an important source for this type of aid as the economy reels from recent crises. Yet, Hassan maintains that aid can only go so far: the structural changes that are sought by much of Lebanon can only come from within.

The other activist that I sat down with, Sara Kovacheva (18) of Pazardzhik, Bulgaria has a different experience. In her country, Kovacheva is concerned by her government’s failure to protect human rights, citing issues such as violence against women, poverty, homophobia, transphobia, and corruption as her reasons for outspokenness. Kovacheva is particularly disturbed by hate crimes against the LGBT community. For instance, two girls who were not dressed traditionally were beaten in a park by a 30year old man, leaving them with broken jaws and other serious corporal damage. In reaction to such abuses, Kovacheva says that “though I don’t have much power as an 18 year old girl. What I do is go to protests, share on social media, and influence my friends who wouldn’t be involved otherwise.”

that I left Portland in good hands. I have a community there that is continuing to work really hard to achieve what I was working towards.” Though, like Hassan and Kovacheva, she also feels disconnected from them being so far away, lamenting that “even if they’re doing everything well, it’s hard not to feel a little bit like I abandoned my home.” Even though she cannot engage with environmentalism in Portland the way that she used to, Westlund’s experience differs from Hassan and Kovacheva because unlike their country-specific activism, environmentalism is an issue that spans nations. She hopes to become more involved with local groups that are planning climate strikes and local initiatives.

Kovacheva differs in her perspective from Hassan because she does not believe she can effectively advocate for change from abroad. When asked about being away from home, she asserts that “when I’m in France, I don’t think that I am able to engage in the same way. I still share on social media and post about the protests. But I cannot be there the way I want to be and I cannot be involved the way I want to be involved.” Also in contrast to Hassan, Kovacheva also does not feel as though her experience living in another country has affected her view of issues at home.

To all three of the women that I interviewed, activism is a lifelong commitment. All of them view the study of politics as a means of engaging further with issues in their local communities. As Kovacheva puts it, “just because I left Bulgaria does not mean that it is erased from my mind. I want to get an education to go back and fix the problems that I left behind.”

“I cannot be [in Bulgaria] the way I want to be and I cannot be involved the way I want to be involved.”

Hassan, being from a MENA country at a school that focuses on the region, puts an interesting twist on this line of thinking. She believes that being that much of the student body intends to work in the region to a capacity, her presence here can help educate and shape a generation of leaders that will (hopefully) affect positive change in the Middle East.•

The third activist that I interviewed is Lena Westlund, an 18 year old from Portland, Oregon in the United States. Her activism has centered around environmentalism, organizing protests, press conferences, planning demonstrations, meeting with elected officials and working on community outreach. One of the primary issues that she worked on was blocking Zenith Energy’s Portland Terminal, a facility intended to transfer crude oil from dangerous trains to ships. In contrast to her classmates, Westlund expressed that “I feel

“I feel that I left Portland in good hands. I have a community there that is continuing to work really hard to achieve what I was working towards.”

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BOLSoNARO ’S BRAZIL A Presidency on the Edge – What Could Go Wrong? GEORGIA MCKERRACHER

COLUMNIST

Whether a politically intrigued Brazilian or an everyday global citizen, it is indisputable that the majority of the world has heard of the ‘Trump of the Tropics’ : the infamous Jair Bolsonaro. Elected in October 2018 with a 55.2 % margin, the former right-wing army captain’s time in office has been consistently riddled with controversies. Not only before taking the presidential position did Bolsonaro clash with ‘progressives’ over his conservative views vis-à-vis homosexuality and women’s rights, but the initially ‘fringe’ politician has used his time in office to praise former dictatorships, state his position in favour of torture, and support police forces’ use of violence upon citizens- to say the least. What exactly are politicians, non-governmental organisations, rights commissions, and democratic polities denouncing when they state that “Brazil is considerably worse off than when [Bolsonaro] took office?”

say the least; but what exactly is it that the self-professed “messiah” of Brazil has done, and what are the almost-biblical democratic rights violations that his government has threatened to continue to commit?

Firstly, let’s get the contextual facts down on paper. The political character of Bolsonaro can best be seen in his controversial, erratic response to the current pandemic which he has used as a strategic means of downplaying the undermining of democracy that his administration has pursued since day one of governance. However, when speaking of Brazil’s ‘Covid response,’ one could equally ask, “what response? What disease?” According to Bolsonaro, it is no worse than a “little flu.” Masks can actually be “harmful,” and those who use them are simply “sissies.” Furthermore, in a “bizarre political rant,” the president went as far as to posit that vaccines may turn people into crocodiles, or result in women growing beards. In short, any sane individual can simply assume that a politician Labelled by political opponent Ciro with this attitude toGomes a “little tropical wannabe Hitler,” wards a pandemic places Bolsonaro has only really proven to their country on a path uphold this reputation in recent months. to inevitable collapse. However, is this Currently, the president is under investi- conservative, controversial discourse at gation for human rights violations – not its core simply a political façade attemptonly as a result of a Covid-19 response ing to detract attention from another key that left over 610,000 Brazilians dead, issue faced in Brazil - the fundamental but also a subsequent 32 rights abuses erosion of democratic rights, values, and outlined in a recent October Amnesinstitutions? ty International Report. Hence, it is beyond doubt that Bolsonaro’s political Under the bleak shadow of the pandemic, motivations are seen as questionable to Bolsonaro has made unceasing attempts to centralise executive power, relentlessly challenging Brazil’s “fragile” democratic

institutions. Some critics have even gone as far as to posit that Bolsonaro’s manipulation of the system will not cease until martial law is installed, and authoritarianism grips Brazil. These perpetual attacks on the system have occurred in almost all possible manners, touching every sphere of the Brazilian political landscape in one way or another. Perhaps the most notable and overt attack has been upon the legitimacy of the Brazilian judiciary– perhaps one of the last institutions intact with a degree of independent autonomy that has the potential to undermine Bolsonaro’s political agenda, according to Human Rights Watch Directo José Miguel Vivanco. This can be seen in the fact that the judicial system remains self-directed enough to

slander Bolsonaro’s “anti-democratic, illegal, and intolerable practises.” Perhaps further reasons for Bolsonaro’s targeted attacks on the courts are due to the fact that judicial institutions are currently supporting comprehensive investigations into the supposed ‘fraud’ of electronic voting systems. Taking a leaf out of Trump’s books, Bolsonaro had attacked these voting systems as fraudulent and used these ideas as justification for his anti-democratic claims in September,

stating only “God will remove [him] from power.” The president has repeatedly signalled intentions to cancel the 2022 elections based on these uncited claims of possible electoral fraud. Thus, in an attempt to counter accountability for democratic rights violations, Bolsonaro has turned the entire political and legal sphere into his despotic, dictatorial playground. However, the very fact that the judiciary has had to render itself a seemingly politicised institution to denounce the executive branch in itself inherently symbolises the exponential fragmentation of the Brazilian system and that Bolsonaro’s aims to disintegrate public perceptions of governmental unity are actually being successful. Yet, if the judiciary were to remain quiet concerning Bolsonaro’s conduct, would this be any better where the Supreme Court is perceived to

have a duty to hold the executive to account? Regardless of how the judiciary reacts to Bolsonaro’s anti-democratic dalliances, the Brazilian governmental system may be inevitably doomed. Furthermore, the President has overtly and effectively attempted to censor Brazil’s independent media and civilian access to social media to denounce governmental actions. Shockingly, Bolsonaro’s administration also succeeded in passing laws blocking social media access to

regime critics, fundamentally undermining freedom of speech, and going as far as to seek jail time for 16 such critics as of September 2021. Bolsonaro’s administration has also actively sought the restriction of civil institutions’ access to information, integral to providing comprehensive intelligence to fulfill the necessary democratic accountability checks and balances inherent in the Brazilian system. Yet again, Bolsonaro’s actions actively counter the Brazilian institutions and pose an overt threat to the health of the democracy. Qualms regarding Brazil’s executive reliance on the armed forces have also been raised by scholars and politicians alike, labelled a systematic “politicisation of the military.” In June 2021, a cabinet reshuffle facilitated increased ministerial support for the intended passage of legislation designed to extend executive prerogatives. While these aims thus far remain somewhat unfulfilled, the current Minister of Defence, Braga Netto, remains a dangerous regime loyalist with far-right conservative ideals. He embodies the cross-over of the civic and political spheres that Brazilian Army regulations actively aim to denounce: despite positing that there can be no such crossover of political and military affairs, Bolsonaro’s presidency has been characterised by an ongoing blurring of these boundaries, even using the military to support personal political demonstrations and speeches in early 2021. Some suggest that this politicisation may lead to a total rupture of the Brazilian system, with Australian academic Flavia Zimmerman flagging that this politicisation may deliver an ”irreparable blow to Brazilian democracy.” Superior Military Tribunal president-general, Luiz Mattos, stated that “those attacking the government” are only “tightening the rope” around Brazilian democracy’s neck.

Thus, it is clear that Brazilian democracy has found itself in a great deal of trouble during president Bolsonaro’s time in power. The judiciary has been attacked and in an act of defense has had to result to politicising itself against the regime, democratic rights of freedom of speech and access to information have been actively undermined, and the military has become dangerously intertwined with the regime. Experts are naming this an “unprecedented crisis” in Brazilian democracy. However, some hope lies in the reactions of the people of Brazil. Despite retaining a great deal of support in regional parts of the nation, anti-Bolsonaro rallies have been proliferating as the leader’s popularity lies at an all-time low. However, to be successful in overthrowing the leader, democratic institutions must make it – albeit in tatters- at least to the 2 October 2022 elections. Alternatively, as many have posed a real threat, revolution may take place. Regardless of what happens, Bolsonaro realises he has three alternative pathways for the future – “being arrested, killed, or victory.” Ironically, perhaps this is the most truthful statement the man has made all through his time in administration.

References

Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil’s Firebrand Leader Dubbed The Trump Of The Tropics”. BBC News, 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45746013. “Bolsonaro Sees Three Options For Future: Prison, Death Or Victory”. Aljazeera.Com, 2021, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/29/bolsonarosees-three-options-for-future-prison-death-or-victory. “Bolsonaro’s Most Controversial Coronavirus Quotes - France 24”. France 24, 2021, https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210619-bolsonaro-s-most-controversial-coronavirus-quotes. “Brazil Chief Justice Says Top Court ‘Will Not Tolerate Threats’”. Aljazeera.Com, 2021, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/8/brazil-chief-justice-saystop-court-will-not-tolerate-threats. “Brazil’s Bolsonaro: Only God Will Remove Me From Power”. BBC News, 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-58479028. “Interview With Flávia Bellieni Zimmermann : The Amazon Rainforest Fires”. Australian Institute Of International Affairs, 2021, https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/interview-with-flavia-bellieni-zimmermann/. “1,000 Days Of Bolsonaro And Brazil’S Grave Human Rights Crisis”. Amnesty International, 2021, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/10/ mil-dias-bolsonaro-grave-crisis-derechos-humanos-brasil/. lall, Louise. “Bolosonaro Says Covid Vaccine May Turn People Into Crocodiles In Bizarre Rant”. The Independent, 2020, https://www.independent.co.uk/ news/world/politics/bolosonaro-covid-vaccine-brazil-crocodiles-b1776753. html. Zimmerman, Flavia. “How President Bolsonaro Used COVID-19 To Erode Brazil’s Democracy”. Opendemocracy, 2020, https://www.opendemocracy.net/ en/democraciaabierta/project-authoritarian-bolsonaro-pandemic-erosion-democracy-brazil-en/.

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Voting in Favor of Human Rights Restrictions — or simply filling a legal gap in the combat against terrorism?

Switzerland’s Federal Act on Police Measures to Combat Terrorism

ventive measures against someone that telligence service. Professor of law Evelyne seems to pose a terrorist threat. Municipal- Schmidt countered that with the fact that ities, cantons and the federal intelligence in the intelligence service the definition is service can now inform the federal police if tied to a legal ‘Chapeau,’ which determines such a person is known of. The police then ‘imminent threat’ as a danger to “life and has the right to oblige the named person limb or freedom of another person.” Withto regularly contact the police station, out this addition, the law leaves room to enabling the police to assess the danger arbitrary interpretation and application. posed by the suspect. If the police come to the conclusion that the person is an According to the Office of the High ComLENA SCHULTHESS ON BEHALF OF imminent terrorist threat, further measures missioner for Human rights, this not only COLUMNIST AMNESTY may be taken quickly. These measures entail violates international human rights stan[Sample Article Text] in Arno Pro (Regular) Size 11,5: contact restrictions, travel and movement dards, but sets an international precedent On June 13th 2021, the Swiss peoAnd that was when he realized: The flame that burns twice bright limitations, house arrest, and, lastly, deporfor theassuppression of political dissent. In ple voted on a popular referendum burns only half as long. And, well, when it stops burning, it may betation. It is only imposing house arrest or her statement, the UN human rights expert on the Federal Act on Police Meacome like muddy water. But muddy water is sometimes best cleared undertaking deportation that the police Fionnuala Ní Aoláin emphasised that this sures to Combat Terrorism. The law by leaving it alone. But maybe it’s not muddy water, be careful; even is even more critical when it comes from nominally aims to prevent terrorism, need judicial permission for, the rest may salt looks like sugar.directly Yet whether it’s truly salt or sugaraor muddylike wa-Switzerland who used to be be executed by the police. country the measures it introduces, howter, just remember: Everytime someone or somethingknown steps up forand holding other countries acever, have led to great controversy. says orThe shows who they are, the world becomes a better, more in-for their human rights abuses. By most criticized aspect of the Act is the countable While strongly supported by Swiss teresting place. Except that is not the case for puppets. Puppets are authorities, the extended applicabil- broad new definition of terrorism it is based legalising any detention without crime on just puppets, notofficial interesting like saltterrorism or sugar oris muddy on. In the documents, thewater. basis And of possible terrorist threat, Switity of the term “terrorist” has been puppets can only be free if they learn to love their strings. Butimplicitly don’t referred to as: zerland gives legitimacy to other heavily criticized by Human Rights go around afraid that you’re a puppet bound to your strings now; we countries that use arbitrary definitions of “the aspiration to influence Organisations such as Amnesty and suffer more in imagine than we do in reality. And the reality is that terrorism to detain political oppositionarUNICEF. Five independent UN or change the federal order, the universe works in mysterious ways. Be open. Learn as much as ies. human rights experts have furtherwhich is realised orchange facilitatyou can. Sometimes you can’t the path a roller coaster takes, more written an official letter to the but thated doesn’t mean it isn’t fun. And sometimes by threatening with orif it’s not fun, well, When I asked a board member of Zurich’s Swiss Authorities under the name you have to take one step back and two steps forward.Youth ■ Green Party about his personal committing severe crimes, of the Office of the High Commisperception of the Act, he also raised this sioner for Human Rights, calling for or the spreading and end articles with ■ to indicateofitfear has finished. concern on a national level. Depending amendments to the law that would terror.” on one’s interpretation of what “aiming at make it compatible with human It is criticized that this violates human influencing or changing the federal order” rights. The propositions were not rights in various ways, one of them being means, everyone who advocates for new taken into account and the people that a person may be punished without orders could be seen as a potential terrorist, voted in favor of the law with a mahaving committed any crime, on the mere which may go as far as to include climate jority of 56.6%. presumption of them doing so in the future. activists or experts that demand a system Karin Keller Sutter, a member of the Swiss change. Karin Keller Sutter rejected this The Act’s purpose was to take Federal Council and advocate of the law, issue, by saying that Switzerland is not a argued that the definition referred to in the police state and that the state can be relied Act is not new, as it is already used in the in- upon to not misuse the law. However, the

limitation of this power should be guaranteed by the law and not by the simple trust in a government. A further delicate point of the Act is the extensive power given to the police in issuing the measures. Apart from house arrest and detention, all punishment may be ordered by the police without any consultation of the judiciary. It is specifically designed for cases where there is not enough evidence to open criminal proceedings. The ramifications of this were explained in an open letter from several Swiss law professors, published by Amnesty Switzerland. They state that the new law entails a shift from the presumption of innocence to a presumption of danger, a change that is highly incompatible with Switzerland’s democratic legal order. When I asked Dr. Sara Razai about her stand on this point of the law, she emphasised that human rights should be supreme in every case, which includes the right to a fair trial for terrorists – not to mention ‘possible terrorists.’ She furthermore added that the legalised direct intervention of the police and the unclear definition of a terrorist might make the law more susceptible to being wielded for discriminatory purposes. This may be specifically understood in the light of racial-profiling, which under the Act cannot be reviewed by the judiciary. Apart from the disproportionate power given to the police and the dangerous broadening of the term “terrorism,” the Act has been critiziced for the young age from which the new measures are applicable. House arrest can be imposed on anyone over the age of fifteen, while all the other measures are already applicable for children from ages twelve and up.

According to UNICEF, the Act corrupts article forty of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, that ensures “the right of every child alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child’s sense of dignity and worth” and the “desirability of promoting the child’s reintegration and the child’s assuming a constructive role in society”. UNICEF states that instead of promoting the reintegration of the child, the Act fosters its criminalisation. This may have serious psychological long-term consequences and isolates the child rather than changing its path. This stands very much in contrast to Karin Keller Sutter’s explanation that it would save children from being radicalized from an early age on. UNICEF furthermore criticizes that the duration and early use of house arrest as a preventive measure goes against article thirty-seven of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, that allows detention for children only as the last possible measure and for the shortest time adequate. The Federal Act on Police Measures to Combat terrorism was deemed incompatible with International Human Rights laws and the Rights of the Child. Law professors, NGOs concerned with human rights, UNICEF and UN human rights experts have asked Switzerland

to not implement the Act in its current form. Still, the law was democratically approved by an overwhelming majority of 56.6%. In my personal opinion, this is one of the most critical aspects of the issue: while human rights are abused in a high number of countries in which governments can barely be restrained from doing so, the people have explicitly given their approval in this case. This shows a concerning shift in priorities: the fear of terrorism overshadows the supreme value of human rights and leads to a decision-making based on primitive fears instead of legal certainty. When asking Dr. Sara Razai for her explanation for such a dogmatic shift, she referred to the very human fear of the unknown and inexplicable, as terrorism is arbitrary and indiscriminate. The lack of rational understanding of terrorism, and specifically Islamist terrorism, in the Western World leads to draconian measures. She states that the state does indeed have a positive obligation to deal with potential terrorist incidents, but should do so in a way that is compatible with human rights, as they should enjoy superiority at all times. The UN high commissioner Fionnuala Ní Aoláin would agree with Dr. Razai: she explains the re-shift in priorities as a “loss of faith in the rule of law to protect them in face of terrorist attacks”. However, she maintains that this is in no sense a legitimization of states to restrict human rights. In contrast, she quotes Aharon Barak, who said that “it is the great challenge for democracies to have to fight with one hand tied behind their backs.” She emphasises that the protection of human rights and effective counter-terrorism measures are not mutually exclusive objectives, but should be seen as complementary and mutually reinforcing interests of any democratic society.

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Separate and unequal: The snatched pens of the Roma children ANNIE WONG

COLUMNIST

ON BEHALF OF

AMNESTY

‘He who opens a school door closes a prison.’ If Victor Hugo sees the school that it leads to for Romani children, he might agree that opening the door would not make a difference. For Romani children who suffer from stigmatisation and segregation throughout their education, schools have continuously failed to provide them with the social ladder that the community so desperately needs to escape from their plight of poverty. With a population of 12 million, Roma is the largest ethnic minority in Europe. Waves of migration from Northern India dating back to the 12th century brought them to the Balkans. Since then, the group has formed diasporas all around Europe. Despite the long history of settlement in Europe, they are still seen as outsiders due to their nomadic nature. It is evident in that they are still widely addressed by the racial slur ‘gipsy’ that carries with it the connotation of illegality. It is the stereotypes against Romani children that the systemic discrimination in education systems is built on. The anti-Roma prejudice has fuelled what is called ‘white flight.’ Even when most Romani parents would prefer sending their children to a more diverse environment, they are unable to afford the long commute, and their children often end up in schools in the nearby community. The high percentage of Romani children in the school was seen as undesirable for many non-Roma parents as Romanis are associated with a higher dropout rate. Fearing that their children would study in a Romani-majority school, many typically removed their children to private schools, which effectively barred Romani children from enrolling in due to the high tuition fees. As the vicious cycle perpetuates itself, the Romani-majority school soon turns into a Romani-only school, effectively segregating the Romani children from mainstream education.

Nowhere else is the phenomenon more pronounced than the case in Šarišské Michaľan, a village in Slovakia. In 2012, the landmark decision Centre for Human and Civil Rights v Primary School with Nursery Š.M found the separation of Romani children from non-Roma children in the village guilty of violating the principle of equal treatment and ordered for an immediate desegregation. Yet, almost ten years after the judgement, Romani children there continue to study in the suboptimal conditions created by the local Roma-only school, which is built of materials that resemble shipping containers. In the freezing winter of Slovakia, they fail to provide children with sufficient heating to combat the climate. The poor learning environment was the least concerning part of the issue. It is the physical separation of the community from high quality public education that contributes to the low literacy rate. Most teachers in these schools are unable to speak dialects of Romani. Ill-adapted to Slovak, the language of instruction and the separation from other Slovak children prevents them from acquiring the language level needed to secure a job.

It does not have to be this way. The removal of the stigmatization can start by providing the children with early childhood education. According to the study conducted by the Constantine the Philosopher University in 2018, only 50% of the Roma children in Slovakia have access to preschool compared to over 80% for non-Roma children. Despite the mandatory education provided by the Slovak authorities, starting from six in principle, there has been a lack of institutional response to address the obvious barrier to preschool for Romani children: poverty. Various NGOs, including the Wide Open school which works with Spišský Hrhov, provide Romani children under five with inclusive learning environments and teachers who are trained to speak Romani and understand their special educational needs. It has been proven to be successful in raising the educational standard for Romani children, which is the first step towards the eradication of the stigmas. The entangled causes and effects between intergenerational poverty, child marriage, segregated education compound into what we see today in treatment towards the Romani community — ostracisation and marginalisation. In an unironic cliché, addressing the educational gap would be the first step towards a truly equal and inclusive society. •

All these factors created the self-perpetuating cultural myth that Roma people prefer to steal than to work hard.

LUNIK IX, ONE OF THE LARGEST ROMA SLUMS IN SLOVAKIA

ROMA SLUM IN JAROVNICE REGION

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there has been a lack of institutional response to address the obvious barrier to preschool for Romani children: poverty.

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“

All these factors created the self-perpetuating cultural myth that Roma people prefer to steal than to work hard. The more entrenched is this stereotype, the harder it is for Roma people to find a job to support their families, the more likely they are to be trapped in destitute conditions. For their next generation, poverty becomes the reason why they need to drop out of school before they can get the education they will need to find a hand-tomouth job. One in three Roma is unemployed, and 90 percent live below the poverty line, according to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Human Right.

“

Worse still, the prevalence of child marriage further disadvantages girls in the field of education. More than half of Roma girls are married before the age of 18 according to an ethno-graphic research conducted by UNICEF in 2017. The causes are many-fold, including poverty and the widely accepted patriarchal practice in Romani society. After marriage, the bride lives in the husband's family, which alleviates the financial burden of raising the girl. On top of that, the honour of the bride lies within her virginity in Romani culture — more reason to marry the girl early. Once married, the expectation of the woman’s role in a household would squash the hope for a girl to receive any further education. It explains the gender gap in literacy rate — 75% for Romani girls and 80% for boys.

Wes Anderson came back with a new film, and as with every Wes Anderson film, everyone loved it. But whether it’s actually any good is a bit less obvious. Unfortunately, upon closer look, the miraculously symmetrical shots and disgustingly posh and loveable characters appear far less fresh. The general question to be asked is whether Anderson’s romantic depiction of wealth and opulence has not stopped emulating sympathy and innocent goodness, and started annoying with its cynicism. Both before and after its release, the film has been described as an ‘ode to journalism.’ It is true, the reflections on the journalistic profession are the motive that links the three otherwise hardly similar vignettes. We have thus three archetypes: a sophisticated art critic (Tilda Swinton), a laid back, slightly cynical political commentator (Frances Mcdormand), and an enigmatic, self-absorbed reporter with a million anecdotes, mirroring personas like Geraldo Rivera ( Jeffrey Wright). Anderson is careful to maintain the balance between developing a storyline in each vignette, and painting a portrait of its main characters, who, being journalists, are also the storytellers. When envisioned this way, the narrative might be a nod, even unintended, to Hunter S. Thompson and his Gonzo genre. The archetypes being oversaturated is, of course, not a flaw. But do they constitute a good satire? Do they provide witty commentary? This is uncertain. After the brief introduction of “The French Dispatch,” the eponymous magazine which serves as an outlet for all por-

trayed creators, comes time for the first story: Tilda Swinton as an blasé but distinguished art critic who describes her history with an art brut prison artist. The passage is extremely uneven. Beautiful prison mise-en-scène, and a captivating romance between Lea Seydoux’s and Benicio del Toro’s characters are countered by a narrative overflowing with artistic clichés, from a basic commentary on the meaninglessness of contemporary art to a pretentious, greedy art dealer. The satire’s main axis is the clash of the uber-wealthy art world with the destitute prison settings and demographics. But the observation that contemporary art consumers are detached from reality is Netflix-worthy. “The French Dispatch” fails to ridicule the trope of a madman-artist, or rotten art world, in a manner that hasn’t been done many times already. The second vignette describes Frances McDdormand’s character ‘infiltrating’ the environment of student revolutionaries, led by Timothee Chalement as Zefirelli. The revolutionaries are portrayed as particularly gullible, coming from good, innocent, idealist or rather delusional houses. Here, Anderson explores two themes. From the first moments of Zefirelli’s presence on the screen, one can recognize a

pastiche of the 1960s French New Wave. It is noticeable in the tweed jackets that the students wear, their hairstyles, and the constant sitting in cafés. Everything they say is a manifesto, and everything is political. Accordingly, the passage is a very obvious depiction of the May 1968 protests. The viewer can smile when he understands the analogies, such as the ban on visits in dorms or the occupation of universities. The storyline is undoubtedly wholesome and a romantic vision of the

events, where the power struggle between the strike and the government is played out as a chess game, and the organizers of the strike eventually abandon it to make love. But the message the chapter conveys on the inevitable fate of social movements is far from romantic, and it even leans towards cynical. Although it does occasionally hit the spot when satirizing the dogmatism and lack of pragmatism of ever too idealistic students, it portrays all the revolutionaries as le Gauche Caviare, treating politics like a game (hence the chess analogy), and willing to quit when

MOVIE REVIEW they have something better to do. This, of course, foreshadows the return of the status quo. Furthermore, the revolutionaries seem to need a guide and an intellectual motor, personified in the figure of McDormand, who amends their manifesto rather out of boredom and pity than conviction. This portrait strikes as particularly patronizing and cynical in the age of resurging youth social movements. The vision of abandonment of politics in favor of sex is defended as a joyful apotheosis, but wouldn’t a truly romanticized version of events involve a victorious revolution? The students’ efforts are defined by their worthlessness, and in juxtaposition with the first short story, it is clearly visible what is the only thing that bears agency in Anderson’s universe: money. The final chapter, in which Jeffrey Wright’s flamboyant reporter, apparently based on James Baldwin, describes how he witnessed the kidnapping of the

police captain’s son, and his subsequent rescue, thanks to the culinary skills of the captain’s personal cook. Here perhaps, Anderson’s love of sophistication em-

STANISLAW NACKLICKI

COLUMNIST

bodied by social elites is visible the most. A provincial police chief who uses the services of a personal chef evokes repulsion is easily associated with corruption. Of course, in “The French Dispatch,” he is of noble character, and his employee, the chef, nearly sacrifices his life for the captain’s son. Not out of goodness, but out of natural devotion of those permanently higher in social hierarchy. We probably should be happy we left this kind of organization of society behind, not nostalgically sigh over it. This critique does not imply that the film is dull or uneventful. Every chapter of the film entertains. Every chapter has witty elements and references that indulge the viewer. However, one cannot repel the thought that something is simply off. Anderson’s aesthetics are far from minimalistic. They frontally attack the beholder, are very easily engaging, and make it difficult to look away. But at this point, they are boring. How symmetrical can a shot get? How many different pastel shades can we see in five minutes? When the storyline is less diversified, a consistent color palette and scenography are deeply compelling. Anderson seems to be aware of the fact that what is considered as his style of filmmaking might here be perceived as nothing more than a repetition. That’s why he

introduces such treatments as alterations between black and white in the first chapter, successful only to a limited extent. Three separate plot-wise stories, with an additional introduction and conclusion, are by far too overwhelming, and feel simply cheap and unnatural. The structure itself seems as if it was drafted carelessly. We have the textbook introduction, three short pieces that truly could be arranged in any order, and a conclusion. The combination of makeshift structure and the massively overloaded plot and cinematography made “The French Dispatch” feel as if it was made out of plastic. Image Sources https://tickets.thefrenchdispatch.com/videos/ https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/film/2021/10/ wes-andersons-the-french-dispatch-is-impossibly-accomplished-and-a-bit-boring https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-french-dispatch-review-wes-anderson/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffewing/2021/10/22/ review-the-french-dispatch-is-an-uneven-but-stunning-experimental-love-letter-to-the-literary-arts/amp/

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Naipaul and Gurnah Gu at the afrocynical Cross

“The world A is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it,” Bend in the River starts scathingly:

before Naipaul begins a damning tale of a post-colonial African society. A man resentful, seeking to beat the English at their own language, Naipaul’s contempt for the Third World comes out in full force, disguised as a relentless realism. Derisive of all who try to make the world in their image, Naipaul writes the world in his image instead, punishing all those who wish to exalt the decolonised world for its victimhood or the empire for its virtue. And twenty years after his own Nobel Prize for Literature (2001), comes Abdulrazak Gurnah with his own, the most recent prize. It is here they meet, the Indo-Trinidadian turned British Naipaul and the Zanzibar-born Gurnah, at the crossroads of cynicism. Both of them escaped their birthplaces, of which both were colonies, the lower middle-class Naipaul running away to Oxford on a scholarship while Gurnah fled the Zanzibar Revolution and arrived in Britain as a refugee. While Naipaul could barely acknowledge Trinidad as his homeland, Gurnah’s Zanzibar is everywhere in his writing. Both write about East Africa and those who inhabit the lands, still not whole but becoming.

R ADS

KAREENA MANYAR

COLUMNIST

“Africa was my home, had been the home of my family for centuries. But we came from the east coast, and that made the difference. The coast was not truly African. It was an Arab-Indian-Persian-Portuguese place, and we who lived there were really people of the Indian Ocean. True Africa was at our back. Many miles of scrub or desert separated us from the upcountry people; we looked east to the lands with which we traded—Arabia, India, Persia. These were also the lands of our ancestors. But we could no longer say that we were Arabians or Indians or Persians; when we compared ourselves with these people, we felt like people of Africa.” -- Naipaul vindicating that there is no Africa, no single African, only plural identities. There cannot be one victimhood if there is no singular origin.

“There cannot be one victimhood if there is no singular origin.” Today’s narrators write the world in their intellectual image. They can only conjure blasé, half-formed characters, whose existence serves not to realise the world but the prescriptions of the narrator. Naipaul and Gurnah pierce this literary narcissism with blistering realism. Gurnah’s Yusuf, in Paradise, at the beginning of his enslavement, worries most easily about the silver rupee he swiped from his father’s pocket, concerned about being found out, forgetting to wonder if his separation from his parents was to be permanent. The reality of subordination, of subjugation, is one surrounded by banality. The mundanity of familial intimacy disguises the horrific sale of Yusuf by his father to his uncle. One can hardly contradict this comforting intimacy to become self-conscious, and up till the end, Yusuf ’s self-consciousness remains incomplete, as is reminded to us by his calling of his owner with the more intimate “uncle.”

There is no simplicity in their answers to the problem of postcoloniality. They are cynical in their portrayal of the possibility of liberty. For Naipaul there is too much inherent pandemonium, modernity an impossibility, and for Gurnah there is no subjugation without tacit complicity. There is no single source of virtue, not in the pre-colonial world or in the post-colonial world. Today we might call their minds “colonised,” their works too ambivalent. When today’s diaspora, now self-conscious, looks back, they run to rescue that which proves modernity, whatever that gives parity with the ambiguously defined yet firmly resented West. In doing so, they create the virtuous yet exiled (post) colony, ensuring its legitimacy depends on its relative outsidership. They look back, picking all that assuages their shame, that which justifies a victorious rebirth. But the (post)colony does not require their shame, as Gurnah and Naipaul reveal to us.

all which is indubitably whole. There is no legitimate representation without organic indigenous self-awareness: the diaspora cannot import their new anticolonial sensibility and vocabulary, acquired not through a genuine struggle for self-awareness, but through the Naipaulian determination to prove oneself among all that was established and legitimate.

“There is no legitimate representation without organic indigenous self-awareness” And here lies the juncture where Naipaul and Gurnah meet -- one where honesty about the (post)colony’s fate requires the acceptance of indigenous complicity in subjugation, a complicity that can only be overturned from within. History as destiny makes for tragedy, and Gurnah and Naipaul, in spite of their many divergences, take care to illustrate this. “No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one’s existence--that which makes its truth, its meaning--its subtle and penetrating essence.” -- Joseph Conrad in Heart of Darkness, the book that both Naipaul and Gurnah reflect on in their own writings on East Africa.•

“All that I know of our history and the history of the Indian Ocean I have got from books written by Europeans. If I say that our Arabs in their time were great adventurers and writers; that our sailors gave the Mediterranean the lateen sail that made the discovery of the Americas possible; that an Indian pilot led Vasco da Gama from East Africa to Calicut; that the very word cheque was first used by our Persian merchants—if I say these things it is because I have got them from European books. They formed no part of our knowledge or pride. Without Europeans, I feel, all our past would have been washed away, like the scuff marks of fishermen on the beach outside our town.” -- Naipaul’s narrator (Salim), who is unable to comprehend East Africa without Europe. Today’s defensive diaspora, thinking of themselves as flung into the “West” just like Naipaul and Gurnah, make the same mistake of Naipaul’s narrator. They cannot comprehend their homeland without “Europeans” and the latter’s judgement. Adopting a posture of faux-optimism, there is only proto-modernity to be found in the homeland. Yet, as Gurnah and Naipaul reveal cynically, there is no such clarity to be found, a slave can call his slave-owner “uncle,”, reminding us of the brutality of precolonial slave trade in the Arab world, while Naipaul’s Salim can only resentfully wax on about an unself-conscious people. Even if Naipaul’s realism betrays a prejudice brought on by shame, it reveals the only disposition that can do justice by the (post)colony: one that is cynical of all that is complete and harmonious,

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LES ÉTOILES DE LA RECONNAISSANCE Cela fait bientôt un an que le Guide Michelin a décerné, ou retiré, ses étoiles aux restaurants les plus prometteurs. Après avoir été l’objet de multiples critiques, et notamment après avoir délesté le restaurant de Paul Bocuse d’une étoile après sa mort, le livre rouge reste une référence dans le milieu de la gastronomie et ce, partout dans le monde. Synonymes de prestige, ces étoiles forment l’idéal d’une multitude de chefs et de cuisiniers. Mais à quel prix ? RIME BEN ABDERRAHMAN

CHRONIQUEUSE

Les illusions perdues Le 24 février 2003, le chef trois étoiles Bernard Loiseau se donne la mort après, semble-t-il, une appréciation du Guide Michelin qui le rétrograde de 19 à 17/20. Ce suicide donne l’illustration de ce que la dictature de l’excellence culinaire suppposée du Michelin peut imposer comme pression aux cuisiniers. Les étoiles, renouvelées chaque année, sont une source indéniable de stress, jusqu’à ce que certains chefs refusent cette distinction. De Joël Robuchon à Alain Senderens, les récompenses du Guide, en instaurant une pression permanente, la perte d’une étoile constituant l’humiliation d’une consécration perdue, sont déclinées. C’est ce que Joël Robuchon explique à l’Express en 2009 : “Je ressens beaucoup moins de pression avec vingt-cinq étoiles aujourd’hui qu’avec trois il y a quinze ans, expliquait-il à L’Express en 2009. Quand j’étais à la tête de mon restaurant de l’avenue Raymond-Poincaré, je courais sans cesse après la per-

fection, je ne manquais jamais un coup tionale ne s’applique pas qu’au moral de feu, je guettais les critiques gas- des chefs, mais se traduit de fait par tronomiques... (...) Il fallait que j’arrête une montée des prix du menu. L’adcette vie harasdition se fait sante, j’avais Le Michelin détient en plus coûteuse, peur de finir et la clientèle, effet un pouvoir parfois comme les coplus riche. pains du métier démesuré qui engendre Selon OliviAlain Chapel, er Gergaud, Jean Trois- de graves dérives déon- c h e r c h e u r gros, Jacques au LIEPP tologiques. Pic, morts préSciences Po maturément et profesà force d’avoir trop tiré sur la corde.” seur d’économie à Kedge Business Alors que la cuisine est déjà un milieu School, l’addition augmente de 25% des plus éprouvants psychologique- à 30% après la distinction qu’avant. ment, une angoisse supplémentaire, Les produits sont bien évidemment dans le dessein d’être constamment plus raffinés, sophistiqués et le souci au sommet, n’est-elle pas insouten- du détail se fait plus important. Mais able ? Le Michelin détient en effet un la cuisine se referme sur une certaine pouvoir parfois démesuré qui engen- élite sociale. Élément de culture, elle dre de graves dérives déontologiques. est monopolisée. Il en est ainsi du luxe, Et les chefs, eux, se font les prison- de l’art de vivre à la française, accaparé niers d’un idéal motivé par une course de manière quasi exclusive. Ce pourtoujours plus absurde à la notoriété. quoi un restaurant se voit décerner sa distinction ne peut même pas être apprécié de la plupart. De la culture certes, De la gastronomie à l’élitmais une culture au galbe du privilège. isme ? Le prix de la reconnaissance interna-

À l’ombre des étoiles Les cuisiniers, quant à eux, vivent leur travail au rythme des humiliations, des intimidations, des

semaines au double des heures légales de temps de travail, et ce, pour un salaire à peine plus élevé que le Smic. Du Meurice au George V, les palaces, comme les plus petits restaurants étoilés, les conditions de travail se font précaires. Les contrats, indiquant souvent 39 heures par semaine - le temps de travail légal selon la convention collective - sont bafoués : le personnel travaille entre 60 et 80 heures. Les heures supplémentaires n’étant pas rémunérées. Les extras, eux, sont payés de façon pitoyable 10€ de l’heure. Et

ces entorses au code du travail s’épanouissent dans un désert syndical dont les patrons se réjouissent. Libération a recueilli en 2018 les témoignages de nombreux cuisiniers de ces palaces français et monégasques. Au-delà des heures supplémentaires non payées, les cuisiniers s’épuisent au rythme des intimidations et de la pression. Un ancien de chez Anne-Sophie Pic assure : «Dès que tu ralentis cinq minutes, les chefs te mettent la pression. On a très peu de reconnaissance. Il y a des sous-chefs qui prennent ton truc, ils te regardent et ils le mettent à la poubelle. Un nouveau avait raté sa purée, il a voulu se justifier, le chef lui a dit : “Goûte ta merde”, il a admis que c’était pas bon, le chef lui a répondu : “J’ai toujours raison, maintenant tu manges tout”, et il l’a fait, 1,5 kilo de purée.» Ces conditions de travail, aussi difficiles soient-elles, sont majoritairement acceptées. Il s’agirait d’un mal nécessaire. Les personnes estiment que la reconnaissance ne se mérite qu’au prix des règles du jeu imposées. Lâcher, c’est être faible, et être faible, c’est ne pas être assez passionné. La violence physique, si elle est de moins en moins prégnante, reste une réalité des cuisines étoilées. En Écosse, Tom Kitchin, devenu

le plus jeune chef étoilé en 2006 a été accusé il y a quelques mois de violences physiques et de harcèlement sur son personnel par deux anciens cuisiniers. Conditions de travail délétères, coups, brimades, cris. Tout autant de violences verbales, psychologiques, physiques, systémiques commises par des chefs célèbres et d’autres personnalités du secteur. La cuisine subsiste un milieu marqué par la hiérarchie, le machisme, la méprise, le fait de vilipender et de rabaisser continuellement les commis. Tout cela se traduisant par un turnover élevé. Rares sont ceux qui s’éternisent. Un ancien du George V affirme auprès de Libération que «En une année, la moitié des visages change». Les cuisiniers vont et viennent, mais ne restent pas. Les étoiles, elles, sont toujours là. Le guide Michelin a bien évidemment contribué à faire de la gastronomie française un élément de patrimoine notoire. Mais dans un secteur peu contrôlé, qui se laisse emporter par les ambitions, le cycle infernal n’est jamais loin. Les étoiles sont à des années-lumières de la réalité de la cuisine, et les désillusions se fondent dans les apparences. ■

Musical pasts and legal presents ISABEL CRONIN

COLUMNIST

Over two years have passed since Taylor Swift first announced her intentions to re-record her first six albums;moving into November of 2021, the phrase “Taylor’s Version” defines a new (and old) ownership of two beloved albums, Red and Fearless. But what does it mean to be breaking release records with the same songs we first heard almost ten years ago, and where does the music industry go from here? In June of 2019, Ithaca Holding’s acquisition of Big Machine Label group was announced to the public-- Big Machine being Swift’s record label. In a distressed post on an official Tumblr page, Swift described her concern over the deal, saying that she was being stripped of her life’s work and that her musical legacy was “about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.” The $300 million sale transfered Big Machine Label groups assets, including the master rights to Swift’s first six albums, to the company of media titan Scooter Braun, with whom Swift has had a long standing feud. The post also lamented the negotiations with Big Machine Label’s Scott Borchetta, citing that she was not offered the opportunity to purchase the rights to her albums, but permitted only to “earn” them back through future contracts with the label. Merely two months later, in an act of artistic ownership, Taylor Swift announced her intent to re-record and

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re-release all six of her albums affected by the sale in August of 2019, beginning with the album which propelled her to stardom, Fearless, originally circulated in 2008. Timing plays a key role in the ability of artists to rerecord their work. Most contracts stipulate a period of three to five years during which an artist is not permitted to circulate new editions of an existing composition. For Swift, these clauses likely expired on an album-by-album basis , rather than through the period of thirteen years over which the Big Machine Label contract extended. Legality also comes into play in the distinction between copy rights. Master recordings, the final songs released to the public and played on the radio, are typically owned by a label as an asset against the costs of promotion and production. Composition rights however, which include the melody, lyrics, and artistic features of a song, are typically held by songwriters and producers. Swift holds a fairly unique advantage in the factors to rerecord, as her status of lead songwriter on all of her albums ensures that she holds the composition rights to her songs. Thus, she can re-record her previous discography and distribute them under a new label without the consent of the master recording’s owners. Such practice is not unheard of in the industry. Prince, Def Leppard, and many others

have taken on the task in the wake of disputes with their labels. Swift herself was even given the idea to re-release her previous works by fellow artist Kelly Clarkson. But unlike Swift, these major re-recordings have occurred before the era of digital music. As digital streaming has grown to dominate music consumption, the desire to re-record represents an opportunity to expand revenue for artists and labels alike. The profits once made from CD and record sales are difficult to imitate with the fraction of cents earned by individual streams. A 2015 analysis of major platforms Spotify and Pandora found that record labels reap 73% of the profits generated by streams, with artists themselves typically receiving only 11%, and 16% directed towards songwriters and producers. For an artist to own rights to their master recordings is not only a matter of economic incentive, but emotional as well. In the case of Taylor Swift, the loss of thirteen years worth of labor to a fraternizing figure of an industry foil was reason enough to take initiative for both artist and fan base. Many bonafide “Swifties” are familiar with the circumstances surrounding Braun’s ownership of her discography, and have responded accordingly by utilizing only Taylor’s Version track on social media

platforms. Swift even cites the community as a motivation towards owning the new masters. “[T]his is my only way of regaining the sense of pride I once had when hearing songs from my first six albums and also allowing my fans to listen to those albums without feelings of guilt for benefiting Scooter,” she writes in an open letter to Shamrock Capital shareholders, who acquired Swift’s master recordings from Scooter Braun and Ithaca Holdings in late 2020.

technology develops, the processes by which the music industry conducts its business must alter as well. In the age of social media and streaming, artists are no longer forced to rely on labels to propel them into the limelight with traditional promotional tactics. Perhaps they will no longer be anchored to customary copyright divisions either. ■

The success of both Fearless and Red (Taylor’s Versions) have already demonstrated the ability of re-releases to compete with their originals. Within 24 hours, Red (Taylor’s Version) obliterated records across the Spotify platform, who designated it as the single-day most streamed album by a female artist. The massive debut also allowed Swift to claim the single day title of most streamed female artist. Such figures indicate an economic and social trend favoring future artist initiatives to issue new masters, and the industry has already begun to respond accordingly. Universal Music Group, with whom Taylor Swift has been signed since 2018, recently announced its initiative to extend the period between initial release and re-recordings, moving the wait time from five years to seven. The question must also be asked of whether other artists will follow in the footsteps of Swift, especially those with high profile legal disputes like Ke$ha, who has sought to leave her contract with music producer Dr. Luke for several years. For Swift and her fans, the designation of “Taylor’s Version” carries immense sentimental value, being able to reclaim a career’s worth of lyricism from profit driven industry figures. For the music industry, it represents an opportunity for revolution in artistic ownership. As

ÉDITION N˚2 | DECEMBER 2021

La Crise frontalière Biélorussie-UE : une affaire orchestrée ? FELIPE BOITARD

CHRONIQUEUR

Le 16 novembre, des affrontements ont éclaté entre des réfugiés bloqués et des gardes-frontières polonais à la frontière, les troupes tirant des canons à eau et des gaz lacrymogènes pour les réprimer. L’impasse à la frontière entre la Biélorussie et la Pologne, où des milliers de migrants étaient coincés dans une forêt froide, est différente des autres crises de migrants que nous avons connu ces dernières années. Des images de migrants - principalement du Moyen-Orient, qui se sont rendus au poste frontière Kuznica-Brushi via la Biélorussie, essayant de forcer le passage en Pologne et étant dissuadés par des tuyaux d’arrosage – attirent l’attention internationale. La crise a attiré l’attention en raison de son instrumentalisation politique par le président de Biélorussie. Afin de déstabiliser l’UE, en représailles aux sanctions et à la non-reconnaissance de sa présidence. Depuis juillet 2021, il a autorisé l’accès et aidé des milliers de migrants (majoritairement provenant d’Iraq, d’Afghanistan et de la Syrie.) désireux d’atteindre les pays les plus riches et démocratiques de l’UE pour demander l’asile et échapper aux terreurs et aux dangers de leur pays. Cela signifie que la Biélorussie aide à traverser l’une des trois frontières de l’UE qu’elle possède avec ,la Lettonie, la Lituanie ou la Pologne. Une tâche accomplie en accordant un visa facilitant l’acquisition du visa touristique pour venir en Biélorussie et traverser. Récemment, la situation s’est aggravée à la frontière, le nombre croissant de

migrants qui s’installent dans la zone et tentent de traverser la frontière se heurte à la violence des forces polonaises. Mais le 8 novembre la situation s’est aggravée sévèrement avec l’arrivée de plusieurs migrants aidés par l’autorité bielorusse qui les a encouragés, les a même forcés à traverser la frontière polonaise. Certain migrants temoignent que les autortiés bielorusses leurs ont donner des pinces pour pouvoir passer la barrière métallique contruite par les polonais. Mais quelle est la réalité derrière cette crise qui d’un coup prend de l’élan sur la scène internationale en Europe. Cette crise est-elle apparue normalement ou a-t- elle été accélérée ou même orchestrée ?

Le contexte de cette revanche politique Bielorusse Il est important de comprendre que la crise migratoire prend racine dans le mépris politique et la volonté de revanche… Les actions du gouvernement biélorusse semblent être en représailles aux sanctions économiques imposées par la communauté internationale en réponse au régime autocratique de Loukachenko. En août 2020, les autorités biélorusses ont réprimé les manifestants exigeant la démission de Loukachenko à la suite d’élections «truquées». Les dirigeants de l’opposition affirment que jusqu’à 30 000 personnes ont été détenues dans le cadre d’efforts visant à réprimer les manifestations. Les États-Unis et l’Union européenne ont refusé de reconnaître la légitimité de Loukachenko en tant que président

AU NOM DE

AMNESTY

et, en septembre 2020, ont imposé une série de sanctions visant les responsables biélorusses avec des gels d’avoirs et des interdictions de voyage. L’UE a poursuivi cela avec deux autres séries de sanctions en novembre et décembre 2020. Après de nombreux piratages d’avions comme celui du vol Ryanair transportant Raman Protosevich, un journaliste dissident et ancien rédacteur en chef de la chaîne d’information Telegram Nexta, ainsi que 132 autres passagers en mai 2021. Les autorités biélorusses ont arrêté le journaliste et son partenaire avant d’autoriser le l’avion pour continuer jusqu’à sa destination. L’UE a qualifié cet acte de piraterie aérienne et a interdit aux transporteurs biélorusses d’accéder à son ciel et a réduit les importations des principaux produits de base du pays, notamment les produits pétroliers et la potasse, un ingrédient d’ engrais. Tout cela illustre pourquoi Loukachenko prend les mesures qu’il prend en instrumentalisant les migrants duMoyen-Orient. Malgré tout, le président Biélorusse nie publiquement l’orchestration de la crise des migrants. Mais, toutes les preuves fournies précédemment démontrent le contraire. La crise migratoire est une affaire orchestrée sous prétexte de mécontentement politique et de mépris émotionnel face à sa non reconnaissance politique par l’UE. L’aide aux migrants à traverser la frontière de l’UE pour demander l’asile et une vie meilleure a de multiples conséquences et de nombreux pays ont réagi de manière très inhumaine et forte.

ÉDITION ÉDITION N˚1 N˚2| |NOVEMBRE DECEMBRE 2020 2021

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et sont piégés dans les tirs croisés entre la Biélorussie et l’Union européenne. Quel sera l’avenir de la situation?

La réaction européenne à la présence migratoire clandestine En réponse, certains pays ont fortifié leurs frontières avec la Biélorussie comme la Lituanie qui a instauré l’état d’urgence pour faire face à l’augmentation du nombre de migrants. La Pologne a également renforcé sa frontière et empêché des centaines de migrants de traverser avec des méthodes très dangereuses comme le réservoir d’eau et les gaz lacrymogènes. La Pologne a également déployé sa police anti-émeute à la frontière. L’UE a fortement manifesté sa solidarité avec la Pologne, la Lituanie et la Lettonie. Et ces derniers sont en discussion pour une autre série de sanctions contre la Biélorussie. Cela dit, et les migrants ? La question à l’examen semble être ignorée par l’UE et la Biélorussie. Qu’arrivera-t-il aux milliers de migrants qui n’ont nulle part où aller et devront subir les rudes conditions hivernales? 8 migrants seraient déjà morts à cause des conditions météorologiques. L’UE ignorera-t-elle la condition des migrants simplement parce qu’elle n’a pas lieu sur le territoire de l’UE ? Tout cela illustre l’hypocrisie de l’UE. Une organisation qui peut critiquer ouvertement et imposer des sanctions mais face à une situation comme celle-ci décide de garder le silence et de ne pas aider les vraies victimes,les migrants. Les migrants ont été instrumentalisés

Malgré un appel téléphonique entre Loukachenko et la chancelière allemande par intérim Angela Merkel, les négociations déclenchées par Vladimir Poutine auprès de l’UE semblent ne pas mener à grande chose. Certains spéculent une aggravation de la situation migratoire pour continuer à faire pression sur l’UE et diminuer les sanctions sur la Biélorussie ou même les lever. Tout ceci nous permet de prendre du recul sur cette situation politique et en tire certaines analyses sur le jeu politique en Europe, la volonté politique et l’individualité de la politique ont conduit les politiciens à instrumentaliser la vie de milliers de familles qui cherchent une vie meilleure et veulent échapper aux terreurs de leur pays. Ces politiciens s’en prennent à ces individus, leur donnent de faux espoirs et les amènent à devenir fous et les laissent piégés en Europe sans nulle part où aller. Laissant des individus bloqués sur un continent dont ils ne parlent pas la langue ou ne comprennent pas la culture. Et en plus de cela, l’UE n’est pas en mesure de répondre contre l’État biélorusse. Tout cela illustre l’hypocrisie et l’inefficacité de la politique dans l’UE, une institution remplie par la fierté et l’intérêt personnel au lieu de réparer et d’évaluer réellement la situation dans laquelle les politiciens se retrouvent, en évitant le problème en raison de leur fierté et de leurs motivations égoïstes. La situation va-t-elle s’améliorer ? ou l’UE continuera-t-elle son cercle vicieux de sanctions qui se heurtera à l’aggravation de la crise des migrants ? Loukachenko sera-t-il capable de mettre de côté sa volonté vindicative ou les migrants continueront-ils à être instrumentalisés et à hurler quand ils ne seront plus nécessaires ? La dualité d’usage pour les migrants illustre l’inhumanité de la

politique européenne. D’une part, ils sont constamment diabolisés et victimes de la stricte frontière de l’UE. Mais d’autre part, sont utilisés dans le but de démanteler l’UE. Dans tous les cas, ils sont victimes de la manipulation et des intérêts personnels des politiciens et la solution devrait principalement se concentrer sur eux et non sur la volonté économique de Loukachenko.

Une mise à jour depuis le début de ces événements La Commission a proposé un ensemble de mesures temporaires d’asile et de retour pour aider la Lettonie, la Lituanie et la Pologne face à la situation d’urgence à la frontière extérieure européenne avec la Biélorussie. Les mesures permettront à ces États membres de mettre en place des processus rapides et ordonnés pour gérer la situation, dans le plein respect des droits fondamentaux et des obligations internationales, y compris le principe de non-refoulement. Les propositions s’appliqueront pour une période de 6 mois, à moins qu’elles ne soient prolongées ou abrogées, et s’appliqueront aux ressortissants de pays tiers entrés irrégulièrement dans l’UE depuis la Biélorussie et se trouvant à proximité de la frontière ou à ceux qui se présentent aux points de passage frontaliers. Parmis ces mesure voici les points les plus importants: • Les 3 États membres auront la possibilité d’étendre la période d’enregistrement des demandes d’asile à 4 semaines, au lieu de 3 à 10 jours actuellement. Les États membres peuvent également appliquer la procédure d’asile à la frontière pour traiter toutes les demandes d’asile

• L’Initiation d’une procédure de retour : les États membres concernés pourront appliquer des procédures nationales simplifiées et plus rapides, y compris pour le retour des personnes dont les demandes de protection internationale ont été rejetées. • La procuration et la distribution de matériel d’accueil : les États membres concentrent les conditions d’accueil sur la couverture des besoins de base, notamment un abri temporaire adapté aux conditions météorologiques saisonnières (l’hiver), de la nourriture, de l’eau, des vêtements, des soins médicaux adéquats et une assistance aux personnes vulnérables.

Espérons que les mesures proposées par l’Union européenne aideront à apaiser la situation et adressent directement les migrants instrumentalisés et victime d’une pression politique orchestrée par la Biélorussie. ■ References https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehindu.com%2Fnews%2Finternational%2Falexander-lukashenko-the-autumn-of-the-autocrat%2Farticle32419778. ece&psig=AOvVaw0BsKkgOCLbfreKBuJlhN2t&ust=16399 82472700000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCLDCnfig7_QCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAO https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Flag_of_Europe.svg/640px-Flag_of_Europe.svg.png https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/11/17/world/17belarus-poland-explainer1sub/17belarus-poland-explainer1sub-mobileMasterAt3x.jpg https://cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/ reuters/Q6KMTW7SKVILZM5AR4HLYZQZTI.jpg

ÉDITION N˚2 | DECEMBRE 2021

YACINE GHEDDAS

CHRONIQUEUR

La mémoire d’une période idyllique

Le dimanche 29 juin 2014, lorsque l’Etat islamique en Irak et au Levant a déclaré avoir rétabli le califat, plusieurs musulmans se sont indignés. En effet, ce califat bâti sur la violence et l’intolérance ne correspond pas à l’idée communément admise du califat et notamment des quatre premiers successeurs du prophète Muhamed (Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman et Ali). Cette période est souvent présentée comme un règne de califes « bien guidés ». Ce fut un temps idyllique de rectitude spirituelle et de bonne gestion des affaires des musulmans. Une parole attribuée à Muhammad permet aussi de mieux comprendre le qualificatif de « bien guidé » : « Ma communauté sera dans la voie droite pendant trente ans, ensuite elle tombera sous le régime de la royauté ». Pour les savants musulmans spécialistes des traditions (hadith), cette période correspond à un « âge d’or » au cours duquel la communauté des croyants musulmans (oumma) fut dirigée par les plus éminents compagnons Expansion du premier Califat du Prophète. Ce prétendu âge d’or de l’Islam sert, au passage, de En 2014, lorsque Daesh a déclaré avoir rétabli le califat, plu- référence aux musulmans conservateurs et notamment les salafistes pour justifier une application rigoureuse et sans ambiguïté des sieurs musulmans se sont indignés. En effet, ce califat bâti préceptes religieux. sur la violence et l’intolérance ne correspond pas à l’idée communément admise du califat et notamment des quatre premiers successeurs du prophète (Abou Bakr, Omar, Oth- L’histoire au service de la vérité man, Ali). Cependant, quand on plonge dans l’histoire des A vrai dire, moi aussi j’adhérais à cette vision puisqu’il s’agit de celle premiers temps de l’islam, on se rend compte que la vérité qui m’a été enseignée à l’école. Simplement, durant le confinement, historique ne s’éloigne pas vraiment de la réalité actuelle. je suis tombé par hasard sur un livre dans la bibliothèque de mon père à savoir les derniers jours de Mahomet de Hela Ouardi et sa Je vais essayer, dans cet Essai, de vous présenter d’une suite les califes maudits. Hela Ouardi revient sur cette période de manière synthétique et non exhaustive quelques points esl’islam en s’appuyant sur les sources de la tradition. Elle souhaite sentiels pour comprendre cette période fondamentale dans remettre sur la table la vérité historique et surtout humaniser ces l’Islam en me demandant : Comment mémoire et histoire califes dits « bien guidés ». Elle dit dans l’introduction : « Racons’opposent-elles concernant les 4 premiers califes de l’Is- ter l’histoire des premières années de l’islam est une manière pour lam ? moi de réanimer une mémoire collective fossilisée par une amnésie Alors que la mémoire suppose un lien affectif au passé et générale et confisquée par des forces obscures qui, sous couvert de est par définition subjective, l’histoire est avant tout une glorification du passé de l’islam, l’ont transformé en machine de procédure de vérité fondée sur l’objectivité. guerre. »

Qu’en est-il alors de la vérité historique ?

L’histoire du début de l’islam est une histoire profane et non pas sainte, fondée sur des rapports de force, des compromis, des trahisons et des mensonges. Il y a une vérité indéniable, l’islam est né et s’est développé dans la violence qui a toujours pris la forme de guerre civile et notamment lors de la succession du prophète. En 632, le corps du prophète est encore chaud et ses compagnons se déchirent déjà le pouvoir. C’est le fameux épisode de la Saquifa des Banu Saida. Abou Bakr prend le pouvoir et entame les guerres d’apostasie ; guerres fratricides entre musulmans. Il exclut la famille du prophète du pouvoir et surtout déshérite Fatima, la fille du prophète, qui en meurt de chagrin. Il est au passage le seul des 4 califes bien guidés à mourir de mort naturelle. Umar, Othman et Ali ont tous été assassinés violemment soit par des non-musulmans soit par des musulmans. Sans parler bien sûr du règne de Ali marqué par une guerre civile de 5 ans appelée la grande discorde qui est à l’origine de la scission des sunnites et chiites. Contrairement à la tradition, il n’y avait pas un consensus général autour des califes. Il s’agit de despotes absolus qui ont privilégié la raison d’État sur la rectitude spirituelle. Certains d’entre eux comme Abu Bakr vont même jusqu’à inventer des hadiths et des versets pour confirmer leur opinion. Or Muhammad pressentait cette division et souhaitait concilier dans un testament les indications de sa succession mais on l’a tout simplement empêché de le faire. C’est l’épisode de la calamité du jeudi ou du testament refoulé. Cependant, il faut se rendre à l’évidence que le mensonge et la trahison sont une nécessité historique. Le califat est une création dans l’urgence historique d’une situation de vacance de pouvoir. Il fallait trouver une solution pour que la communauté ne soit pas disloquée.

mations compromettantes. La version idyllique n’est pas le fruit des livres de la tradition mais d’une certaine lecture de ces livres. Elle a suivi par une sacralisation de cette vision et momification. De plus, avant cette période, il n’y avait un consensus concernant la liste des premiers califes. A l’époque omeyyade, Ali n’était pas considéré comme un calife. En effet, les omeyyades se sont accaparé le pouvoir à la suite d’une révolution sanglante contre Ali. Ce dernier n’a d’ailleurs été intégré à la liste des « bien guidés » que tardivement, au IXe siècle. En outre, les chiites considèrent que les trois premiers califes ont usurpé le pouvoir au détriment de Ali, seul successeur légitime de Muhammad. Ces éléments sont les symptômes révélateurs de la relation problématique que l’Islam entretient avec l’écriture et la mémoire. Comme aucun document qui date des premiers temps de la religion naissante ne nous est parvenu, le trou noir laissé par le texte absent a permis l’écriture voire même la réécriture de cette Histoire suivant des volontés politiques. En conclusions, la maîtrise de la mémoire est un enjeu de pouvoir qui n’est pas propre à l’histoire de l’Islam. Créant des liens avec un passé présenté comme prestigieux, l’écriture de l’Histoire correspond toujours aux “besoins de légitimation de tout pouvoir politique”.•

Histographie des premiers temps

Les califes n’ont pas demandé à être sacralisés et ils n’étaient sans doute pas considérés comme tels par leurs contemporains. En effet, le concept, le récit et la dénomination de « califes bien guidés » ont été créés postérieurement, par la dynastie abbasside. Une mystification tardive pour légitimer des pouvoirs en place confrontés à ses propres divisions et à la splendeur des empires passés. Cette histoire est une construction du IX et Xème siècle soit deux siècles après les faits. Les abbassides qui ont pris le pouvoir en 750 suite à une révolte contre les omeyyades ont réalisé ce récit comme une parabole. La période des califes bien guidés s’oppose à celle de la dynastie des Omeyyades qui se sont accaparé le pouvoir. Les abbassides se réclament donc de cette première génération. Cette vision a été ancrée dans la mémoire collective des musulmans appuyée par un clergé conservateur qui confisque l’accès à l’écriture de l’Histoire. Alors que, chose exceptionnelle, les textes canoniques de la tradition se caractérisent par une liberté de ton et contiennent des infor-

Feuillet du livre “Hamla-i Haydari” (11e. siècle)

ÉDITION N˚2 | DECEMBRE 2021

Rugby : un sport de brutes? SOLENN RAVENEL

En novembre, les équipes du XV de France féminine et masculine ont disputé leur tournée d’automne, affrontant pour les hommes l’Argentine, la Géorgie et les All blacks, et pour les femmes l’Afrique du Sud et les Blacks ferns. Et nos Bleu(e)s ont brillé par leur talent, les deux équipes ont gagné leurs 3 matchs ! Les Françaises en finissant sur 2 victoires face aux Blacks ferns, championnes du monde en titre. Les Français, après avoir fait peur à tous les supporters avec 2 matchs gagnés mais pas aboutis, ont défait les Blacks en passant 40 points (score final : 40-25) ! Les Français ont fait tomber de nombreux records : les bleus battent enfin les blacks après 12 ans (dernière fois en 2009), le match marque la plus large victoire de l’histoire des 13 victoires françaises, et jamais les bleus n’avaient marqué autant d’essais face aux blacks ! Avec cette victoire historique le rugby se retrouve dans tous les journaux, et il n’est pas rare d’entendre certains lecteurs conclure à la fin de l’article « De toute façon le rugby c’est un sport de brutes ». Si ce présupposé n’est pas rare, est-il vrai ? Et si le rugby pouvait vous donner une leçon de vie ?

CHRONIQUEUSE INVITÉE

Si tu n’y connais rien au rugby, si tu as déjà regardé quelques matchs et que tu as l’impression que je me moque de toi, continue ta lecture, je te laisse le loisir de garder ton opinion à la fin de cet article !

Avant toute chose, pour toi, jeune padawan de la planète ovale, j’aimerais t’expliquer rapidement les règles. Accroche-toi ce n’est pas si compliqué ! Le rugby c’est :

Et à la fin c’est soit c’est Toulouse soit la Nouvelle Zélande qui gagne (ou pas !). Une fois que tu sais ça, tu sais presque tout sur le rugby et tu es prêt pour la suite.

Premièrement, connais-tu la ville de Rugby en Angleterre ? Non, et c’est normal. Mais c’est dans cette petite ville de province que naît la légende du rugby. Selon la légende, William Webb Ellis, étudiant au lycée de Rugby, aurait, lors d’un match de football pris la balle avec ses mains et aurait couru dans le but pour y déposer la balle. Je sais qu’à ce moment-là tu te dis : en quoi va-t-elle me convaincre que le rugby n’est pas un sport de brutes, il vient d’un non-respect de la règle ! Ce à quoi je répondrais que cette histoire reste une légende, et que si l’invention du rugby, comme celle de nombreux sports, reste floue, la planète de l’ovalie s’attache à cette légende. L’attachement des Hommes à des histoires, des légendes, des mythes ne montre-t-il pas leur humanité même ?

fait leur apparition dans le rugby mondial. Le respect des normes et leur capacité d’adaptation à la société ne serait-il pas l’illustration même d’une société humaine ?

De plus, si le rugby est né de cette transgression de la règle, le sport s’est ensuite petit à petit normé : limitation du nombre de joueurs sur le terrain (il pouvait y avoir jusqu’à 200 joueurs au départ), création du fameux ballon ovale, passes en arrières, mêlées, jusqu’à aujourd’hui avec la création de nombreuses règles pour la sécurité des joueurs. Mais comment faire respecter ces règles si le modèle de chaque jeune est le non-respect de celles-ci ? Peut-être en créant une échelle de valeurs plaçant les règles du rugby au-dessus de celles du football, ce qui pourrait expliquer le sentiment de supériorité des supporters du ballon ovale sur ceux du ballon rond. Peut-être aussi par la création de règles si complexes que même les joueurs ne les comprennent pas tout à fait. Cela étant, chacun s’accordera à dire qu’il existe un respect des règles et de l’arbitre qui est au centre du sport. Un respect des règles qui n’enferme pas au conservatisme, en effet, on observe de nombreuses évolutions dans les règles. Cette année par exemple, 5 nouvelles règles ont

De plus, si le but du rugby est d’aplatir la balle derrière la ligne de but, il faut savoir dépasser l’équipe en face, qui dès que tu as le ballon, se jette sur toi pour te faire tomber. A terre, tu ne peux compter que sur tes coéquipiers pour continuer à jouer, et lorsque l’on est venu à ton secours, tu te relèves pour aller aider à ton tour, celui qui est alors à terre. Si tu m’autorises cette métaphore un peu simpliste, un match c’est simplement la vie : tu tombes, tu te relèves grâce aux autres, et lorsque tu es debout, tu aides tes amis à terre à se relever. Quel sport peut aussi bien t’apprendre la résilience ?

Je ne vous apprends rien, mais le rugby est un sport d’équipe. Et comme tous les sports d’équipe, il nous apprend la solidarité, et l’entraide pour gagner. Mais le rugby c’est bien plus que cela. Une équipe de rugby c’est 15 joueurs, oui, mais c’est surtout des gros, des plus légers, des grands, des petits, des qui courent vite, des qui sautent hauts, des qui sont forts, des qui savent taper la balle au pied… Chaque joueur est différent, chaque joueur à sa place et sait ce qu’il apporte à l’Équipe. Cela n’est-il pas la plus belle leçon d’acceptation ?

a du sens. En Nouvelle Zélande, le Haka, danse des guerriers maoris que font les All blacks avant chaque match, est l’incarnation même de cette force primitive de la Terre. Si vous n’avez pas encore vu de Haka, précipitez-vous sur internet, et même à travers la distance temporelle et celle de l’écran vous ressentirez cette force primitive que les rugbymans vont chercher dans la Terre, et peut-être si vous regardez le match qui suit vous pourrez ressentir cette force dans laquelle puisent les rugbymans néo-zélandais pour gagner si souvent. Dans ce monde où la priorité est de sauver notre planète, le rugby peut alors nous aider à apprendre à l’aimer. Alors finalement, le rugby est-il vraiment un sport de brutes ? Bon c’est vrai, peut-être un peu, mais ce n’est pas pour ça qu’il est inaccessible, ou insignifiant. Le rugby c’est aussi une communauté de passionnés, qui de Wellington à Édimbourg en passant par Johannesburg et Toulouse, parlent le même langage, partagent les mêmes valeurs et le même amour pour ce sport. Cela étant, mon avis n’est sûrement pas objectif, et le débat reste ouvert. ■

Enfin, le rugby est un sport qui aime la Terre, et, alors que notre planète a besoin d’être sauvée, ce dernier argument à un écho particulier. Que ce soit le « rugby clocher » du sud de la France, ou celui mondialisé des All blacks, le rugby est fortement lié à la Terre. En France c’est celui des campagnes, celui de ceux qui habitent sur le terrain de leurs ancêtres, ceux pour qui la terre, leur terre,

ÉDITION N˚2 | DECEMBRE 2021

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Is Gendered Language Still Relevant ? +

AVA GORDON

COLUMNIST

In the past decade, the discussion on sexuality and gender norms has rapidly evolved. Widespread acceptance of sexualities other than heterosexuality has only just started to become a reality, with gay marriage being legalized in America six short years ago. Even more recent has been the discussion surrounding gender: what is gender? Does gender reflect your biological sex, or who you feel you are, regardless of biology? With the concept of gender being reassessed, reevaluated, and restructured, one large question comes to mind: how will languages cope? This is a vague question, I’m aware. That being said, the vagueness of this question is due to the variety of factors that exist within a language which might bring it into conflict with the changing perspective on gender. As more and more people begin to push for gender inclusiveness or gender neutrality (or both) in written and spoken forms, language is going to have to develop to accommodate this social change. On a broad scale, the World Bank published a series of studies done on the effect gendered language has on gender equality. The publication, titled “Gendered Languages May Play a Role in Limiting Women’s Opportunities” recounts how researchers at the Center for Global Development documented and published a study concerning 4,334 languages - which comprised 99% of the world population - in an attempt to compare the effects on gender equality that gendered languages have as opposed to non-gendered languages. The findings of this study revealed that gendered languages, which compose around 38% of the world population’s native tongue, have significant effects on gender inequality. The researchers found that “grammatical gender is associated with a nearly 15 percentage point gap in female labor force participation relative to men, even after controlling for various geographic and economic factors that could be driving the difference” (“Gendered Languages May Play a Role in Limiting Women’s Opportunities”). Furthermore, the researchers found that harmful attitudes towards women, such as the idea that “men make better business executives than women do” are much more prevalent in societies which employ gendered languages, with both women and men agreeing with this statement, among others. The research ended with the conclusion that language is much more impactful on the culture of a society than previously thought.

grammatical gender is associated with a nearly 15 percentage point gap in female labor force participation relative to men Gendered Languages May Play a Role in Limiting Women’s Opportunities - World Bank Group

language is much more impactful on the culture of a society than previously thought.

It is important to note that during these experiments, the difference between language and culture was clearly distinguished in order to ensure that the results were reflective of the gender neutral shift in language, not a shift in the overall culture of the country (Tavits, Pérez). Sweden has proven that by adopting gender neutral pronouns, the attitude of Swedish speakers can also be shaped towards more tolerant views surrounding gender equality and LGBTQ+ acceptance. In conclusion, though language typically changes much slower than culture or societal norms, it is important to keep in mind that gendered language has an irrefutable influence on how we interact with the society around us. •

il e lle

To zoom in on a few examples of the mingling of gender and language, I want to reference Semetic languages. For people whose native language is a Romance language or Germanic language, the method of verb conjugation in Semetic languages may be a bit fascinating. Verbs are conjugated based on the gender of the subject. In Hebrew for instance, if the subject is “I,” then the verb will be spelled (and pronounced) differently in order to indicate that the subject is either a female or a male. Similarly, in both Arabic and Hebrew, the word “you” and the conjugation that follows it both change depending on the gender of the person being referred to as “you.” This rule applies to all subject pronouns in Arabic in Hebrew, though the gender for “I” only changes in Hebrew. As demonstrated, the backbone of verb conjugation in these Semitic languages relies on the ability to identify the gender of yourself or the subject you are referencing. With more and more people pushing for gender neutrality in language, it is hard to imagine how Semitic languages would restructure themselves to accommodate this. That being said, it is important to note that the push for gender neutrality is Western-biased, and this trend occurring in the West may not have the same appeal or effect in other parts of the world.

l l e il elle le

l le il ell e il el l e il elle il elle il ell il e il e l l e

It is hard to imagine how Semitic languages would restructure themselves to accommodate [gender neutrality].

i elle i l ell e

le il

il l e i e e l l l l e il e

elle il elle

i l ell e i l elle

Another language worth examining is Swedish. Swedish has employed a gender neutral pronoun - “hen” - in order to totally eliminate gender bias when referring to someone. Though the pronoun “hen” had been proposed as a gender neutral alternative since the 1960s, the word was only officially added to Sweden’s National Encyclopedia in 2012 and the dictionary of the Swedish Academy in 2014. Of course, there is the question of whether or not introducing a gender neutral pronoun into the Swedish lexicon was really effective in changing the way Swedes view gender. A series of three studies was performed in Sweden in 2019 in order to assess the successfulness of “hen,” with impressive results. The three experiments found that language is indeed significantly associated with attitudes towards gender and gender roles. Furthermore, the study found that the usage of gender neutral pronouns, such as “hen,” played an important role in decreasing an individual’s subconscious bias towards men and increasing tolerance towards members of the LGBTQ+.

Tavits, Margit, and Efrén O. Pérez. “Language Influences Mass Opinion toward Gender and LGBT Equality.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 116, no. 34, 2019, pp. 16781– 16786., https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1908156116. World Bank Group. “Gendered Languages May Play a Role in Limiting Women’s Opportunities, New Research Finds.” World Bank, World Bank Group, 7 Feb. 2019, https://www.worldbank. org/en/news/feature/2019/01/24/gendered-languages-mayplay-a-role-in-limiting-womens-opportunities-new-researchfinds.

ÉDITION N˚2 | DECEMBRE 2021

Quelle est l'ampleur de Le 17 novembre 2021, pour la première conférence de « Comprendre la mafia », nous souhaitions trouver un thème pouvant introduire les enjeux liés à la criminalité organisée sans se focaliser sur l’Italie auquel l’on réduit trop souvent la portée de celle-ci. C’est ainsi la dimension européenne que nous avons choisie avec la question suivante : quelle ampleur de la Mafia en Europe, une main invisible ? Les révélations de “Openlux” en début 2021 ont ainsi mis en lumière la présence de comptes en banque liés à la mafia calabraise la Ndrangheta mais aussi de la pègre russe dans les banques du Luxembourg. Un livre de Madeleine Rossi paru récemment nommé La mafia en Suisse montre bien la porosité des frontières européennes traversées aisément par la mafia et l’infiltration européenne de la mafia calabraise. De nombreux autres exemples concernant sa présence en Europe peuvent être donnés. Néanmoins, plus que la présence de certaines mafias italiennes en Europe, les réseaux criminels européens sont multiples et si les mafias sont reliées, ces groupes sont avant tout nationaux. Enfin, la Côte d’Azur sur laquelle nous nous trouvons est un excellent exemple de la manière dont la mafia importée et les groupes criminels locaux peuvent collaborer et agir sur un territoire. Le conférencier Tommaso Giuriati que nous remercions encore pour sa venue était présent .Tout d’abord Tommaso Giuriati, est un chercheur franco-italien qui a grandi entre Rome, Paris et la Corse. Diplômé en Sciences sociales de l’Università degli studi di Roma Tre et ayant fait son master à l’université d’Aix-Marseille en “sociologie des mutations contemporaines”, il soutiendra sa thèse de doctorat menée à l’université de Corse Pasquale Paoli. Sa thèse porte sur le thème suivant:

“Le grand banditisme “corAU NOM DE so-marseillais” et sa répres- AZRA ERSEVIK CHRONIQUEUSE INVITÉE COMPRENDRE LA MAFIA sion après la fin de la French dont le dynamisme et l’efficace collaboraConnection (1981-2006)” En plus de ces nombreuses qualifications tion a permis de promouvoir cet événeuniversitaires, Tommaso Giuriati est un ment au mieux mais surtout d’y contribuer membre éminent de Demains libres, asso- activement par une enquête de Claire ciation de lutte contre la mafia en France Loilier et d’Azra Ersevik. Le matin même associée à Libera dont il fut président pen- de cette enquête plusieurs documents dant plus de 2 ans. Il a récemment partic- ont disparu au sein de la mairie de Menipé à CHANCE dans le cadre de son en- ton, le nouveau maire Yves Juhel a porté gagement auprès de Demains libre. Une plainte pour « disparition de document initiative européenne pour instituer une », il a principalement accusé les anciens collaborateurs de Jean Claude Guibal. Au culture de la légalité en Europe où il défendra sous peu le mani- total, nous avons interrogé 14 personnes, feste rédigé par les personnes ayant pris de profils différents : des commerçants, part au projet devant le Parlement eu- des étudiants et des habitants de Menton. Nous les avons interrogés sur leur expériropéen. Lors de cette conférence, la présidente de ence avec la mafia et leurs opinions à prol’association « Comprendre la mafia », pos des liens de cette dernière avec l’adIssey Baravian-Nin a posé plusieurs ques- ministration de la côte d’Azur. Les résultats tions à Tommaso Giuriati tel que : Qu’est- de cette enquête sont très intéressants. Les ce qu’on entend lorsqu’on parle de mafia différences entre les réponses des com? En quoi est-ce différent de la criminal- merçants et des habitants sont flagrantes. ité organisée ? En Europe, quels types de Dès que le mot « criminalité organisée criminalité organisée retrouve-t-on le plus » était prononcé, les commerçants se re? Ou encore par quels outils peut-on com- ferment tous. Ils nient fermement toute prendre le phénomène de la criminalité présence de la mafia à Menton et toute affiliation à un mouvement mafieux. Ils organisée en France ? Les réponses de Tommaso Giuriati étaient manifestent une grande sympathie pour très diverses par exemple d’après l’indica- l’ancien maire et martèlent qu’il était une teur de la présence de crime organisé dans personne exemplaire, qui n’a jamais eu un tous les pays du monde ; la France se place quelconque contact avec la mafia. Tous, à à la 58ème position et l’Italie à la 53ème l’exception de deux vendeuses qui admettent qu’il y a position. Déconstruisant Enfin, la Côte d’Azur sur laquelle des problèmes ainsi l’idée d’une nous nous trouvons est un excellent avec la mafia et immunité de la exemple de la manière dont la mafia italienne, france quant-aux importée et les groupes criminels évoquent des p h é n o m è n e s locaux peuvent collaborer et agir « affaires » qui auraient mafieux. sur un territoire. touché Jean Claude Guibal Nous remerpendant sa cions aussi “La Fabrique Politique”, association étudiante, présence à la mairie. Plus jeunes que les

la mafia en Europe,

une main invisible?

ses actions et évoquent la saleté et le mau- sur la présence d’une mafia, italienne ou vais état de la ville quand les autres nous française, à Menton. parlent des efforts de Guibal pour développer la vie culturelle et sa gentillesse envers Pour conclure cette conférence a permis les petits commerçants.Les habitants, eux, d’introduire les enjeux liés à la criminalité ont des réponses bien différentes. «Bien organisée et de montrer à quel point le susûr qu’il y a une mafia à Menton. Personne jet de la mafia est actuel. Le phénomène ne vous le dira mais plein de commerçants mafieux touche tous les citoyens euse font racketter », nous ropéens: la «Bien sûr qu’il y a dit une habitante. Un auprésence de tre habitant nous confie une mafia à Menton. Per- ces réseaux sonne ne vous le dira mais que Giovanni Tagliamencriminels plein de commerçants se to, un membre éminent de ne se limite font racketter » la mafia Camorra a habité pas à l’Italà Menton, et nous parle ie. Ce sera la d’une affaire très intéressante à Beausoleil. première de nombreuses conférences à Le maire de cette commune à côté de Mo- venir qui permettront de lever l’omerta naco, Gérard Spinelli, s’est toujours op- évidente qui existe sur le sujet ! posé à la construction de la tour Odéon. Et soudainement, il accepte. Une enquête en 2009 aboutit à sa mise en examen : il est accusé d’avoir reçu 650 000 euros de la part de la mafia italienne pour laisser faire le chantier. Le dénouement de l’histoire ? Il a été blanchi, et la mafia jamais inquiétée.Au sujet de Guibal, des étudiantes nous disent qu’elles sont convaincues que l’ancien maire a déjà collaboré avec la mafia, et ajoutent que « la mairie, c’est un royaume. Tous ceux qui sont de son côté font ce qu’ils veulent ». Si toutes ces réponses montrent une chose, c’est la place immense de l’omerta

ÉDITION N˚2 | DECEMBRE 2021

How can you have power ? ON BEHALF OF

PHILOSOPHILCAL SOCIETY

SO C I

SE L

E C O GN R I

ON TI

Let’s define power as self-recognition. Self-recognition constitutes a “vital human need”. Need of recognition roots in childhood as soon as the child can say “I”. From that moment, self-consciousness rises and immediately faces what Hegel calls “struggle for recognition”. Let’s bring out a concrete illustration: Charles is five. For one year, he has known how to speak and is now using the “I” pronoun. Through his parents, Charles begins to realize his social position and his power of decision. When Charles feels he needs attention (such as when he is hungry), he cries, expecting one of his parents to come to him. This constant presence allows Charles to go out and discover the world fearlessly, as, when he returns home, he knows he will find love and protection. Charles’s need for recognition is fulfilled. When growing up, he will develop maturity and self-confidence that will help him to succeed in his career, and in his private life. In The Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), Hegel highlights that only through recognition can a human being be constituted as a self. It implies that to define yourself, you need interpersonal relationships. For children, this need for a relationship with their parents is crucial to build cognitive schemes that will influence vision of themselves and building of their identity.

It is all about seeking eternity. You may have noticed that life is absurd – Camus may have helped you to see that. “Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.” At first, we strive to find meaning and recognition in nature (by believing that if we behave well, we will be rewarded in the future), yet nature responds with cold indifference. Hence, we look out to find social recognition: but sometimes, even society responds with cold indifference. The New York Times studied how 353 college athletes from various sports reacted after being injured. They found 51% exhibited symptoms of depression and 12% became moderately to severely depressed. When having lost what made them unique, i.e. impressive physical capacities, athletes feel they have lost their identity and lack of confidence. (Notice how mental health reflects physical health). You are willing to remain unforgettable because you cannot accept your existence to be contingent. Tragic fate of Kenny McKinley demonstrates how essential society is for humans. In September 2010, American footballer, wide receiver for the Denver Broncos, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He had grown despondent following a knee injury; being a football player was his only identity. McKinley illustrates the dangerous case of a man who lacked other pillars to define himself.

ON I T

Power through Self-recognition

Power through Social recognition

R E C OG N I

Sciencespistes may be curious about this second question. Yet, this article addresses every human being. No one is here on earth to suffer from domination. Everyone is willing to be free, i.e. to express themself, to act independently and to create. We may define power as this capacity, leading the ability to influence people or exercise control over them --in a good or bad way--. Do you remember when, as a child, you played the majestic king fighting barbarians, or a queen ruling over your siblings? Even back then, you sought power. Warning! This article won’t provide any recipe or readyto-use instructions to reach out power. Philosophy means “love of wisdom” and is, in principle, the opposite of dogma. We shall hence learn what some found from their empirical studies and what theories they drew from those curiosities.

CARMEN GUINTRAND

GUEST COLUMNIST

!Content warning! The following article contains material that may look like low-cost nudging… sorry and have a good reading. Children stop calling themselves using third pronoun approximately 1 year after learning how to speak.

Power through Soft skills

French language makes a distinction that English language does not, between “Pouvoir” and “Puissance.” So far, we have argued that to exercise power over people, knowledge and experience are necessary tools. Yet, “l’habit ne fait pas le moine”3. Take two professors of the same age, holding the same Phd, teaching in the same institution (randomly… Sciences Po). All else equal, one may still have an impact on students that the other does not have by simply being more charismatic. Here comes Baruch Spinoza. His concept of “Puissance” highlights the power of representation, which is subjective. What

D AR

SKIL LS

+ FT SKILLS

Hence, we necessarily exercise power over people. Establishing such a relation of power creates a hierarchical relation between the dominant and dominated. Yet, this relation is not always harmful. In The Gay Science, Nietzsche argues about two ways to exercise power over people: You can make people feel your power in a crude way – and a dangerous way, since they may seek to revenge themselves2; You can make people indebted to you, which is usually a preferable way to feel your sense of power – and thereby you extend your power, since those you benefit see the advantage of rallying you. This is the whole story of Julius Caesar. The military hero successfully led a Roman army for nine years in Gaul. In addition to his military strategy skills, Caesar took care of his soldiers, which led them to show deep loyalty towards Caesar: they knew he kept them alive, and they trusted him completely. Their blind faith in Caesar led them to betrayal of Roman law. When their general ordered his troops to cross the Rubicon, soldiers entered Rome. This story, although very old, illustrates how strong power is when its legitimacy is based on hard skills. Caesar is what Thomas Caryle calls a “great man”-- a highly influential and unique individual. His natural attributes--superior intellect, heroic courage, and extraordinary leadership abilities-allow Caesar to make history. Yet, power is not only a question of quantity – stock capacities and concrete abilities; there exists an entire qualitative and subjective part of power.

makes you more charismatic is your ability to invent yourself in a relationship. One may not have power, but rather creates his power by establishing a trustworthy and stable relationship.Being trusted results in being perennially listened to, which eventually leads to being powerful4. Therefore, power also stems from “soft skills,” or your ability to create a quality relationship.

Power through Hard skills

Summary of our practical philosophy lesson of the day

You already have more or less power but are always aspiring to get more5. To answer your quest, it is necessary to define yourself, but for that matter, others such as family, friends, society, and muses play an essential role. Concurrently, having power is not only about how much you know and how much you can; quality of social relations is as much, if not more, essential in the matter of power. Founders of Sciences Po blazon already knew this lesson6. Having read Machiavel, they allied the lion’s power with the fox’s trick. Follow our mascots and you will grow power. This lesson being learnt, now please, forget it. Forget it to be authentic. Otherwise, you won’t get it. Remember this quote from Star Trek – maybe stocked in your mind without having watched the film: “Great men do not seek power. They have power thrust upon them.”• Taylor 1992, “The Politics of Recognition,” KANT, E. (17). Anthropology from a pragmatic point of view.

Once upon a time, Karl Marx. For A2 in French: “clothes don’t make the man”! 5 Notice that “obedience” comes from the Latin ob-audire, meaning “listening to”. 6 Remember the “non-satiety” characteristic of humans from economic class. 7 Fun fact: Sciences Po administration borrowed (or stole, depending on who is talking) the blazon to the sports association in the 1930s. 3 4

ÉDITION N˚2 | DECEMBRE 2021

POURQUOI LA CANDIDATURE D’É Et voilà. Nous sommes arrivés à ce qui sem- absolument être inhérent au jeu politique. blait encore appartenir aux sphères fantas- Aller vers un pluralisme sans réflexion inmatiques des plus chimériques quelques tellectuelle, sans cadre régulateur, c’est mois auparavant encore. La France voit donner lieu à toute sorte de dérives qui ont l’ombre réactionnaire se renfermer sur démontré leur dangerosité à travers l’Hiselle, en étant le théâtre de l’émergence toire. C’est faire une réelle oblitération de d’un phénomène politico-médiatique, la teneur du propos de Éric Zemmour qui Éric Zemmour, au discours catalyseur sont, qu’on le veuille ou non, dangereuses de tensions sociales, religieuses et eth- pour la France (et c’est un euphémisme). niques. L’extrême-droite toque à la porte Ainsi, la parole est décomplexée et s’agrège de l’Élysée, porté par un élan sondagier ef- allègrement aux thèses xénophobes qui farant, stigmate d’une société pétrie de l’in- désignent celui qui est différent, qui vient térieur par ses maux éternels et l’une des d’ailleurs comme le problème à éliminer plus grandes crises socio-économique qu’a à qu’il faut jeter l’opprobre dans l’espace connu ce pays dans son histoire. Une ques- médiatique de manière quotidienne. La tion conthèse du Aller vers un pluralisme sans réflext r a d i c to i r e grand remà ce propos ion intellectuelle, sans cadre régu- p l acem ent , émerge alors, lateur, c’est donner lieu à toute t h é o r i s é presque sorte de dérives qui ont démontré par Renaud logiquement Camus, avait leur dangerosité à travers l’Histoire. : n’est-ce pas notamment le pluralisme, si cher à notre démocratie, inspiré le terroriste du tristement célèbre qui est ainsi respecté ? Le respect voudrait attentat de Christchurch qui avait fait 51 que l’on laisse toutes les opinions s’exprim- morts. Elle est reprise et diffusée dans l’eser, sous peine d’être catalogué dans une pace de débat public, comme grille d’analtout autre sorte de régime, dérivant vers yse de l’évolution de la société française en l’autoritarisme voire le totalitarisme. Le instituant ainsi une peur tenace et fourmilpolémiste a largement utilisé la sentence lante au sein des individus. En définitive, dans son argumentaire et ce fut même le c’est bien cela le danger du discours d’Éric propos préliminaire de son débat avec Zemmour : cette vision pessimiste et catJean-Luc Mélenchon où il répondait au astrophiste d’une France « envahie » par pourquoi de sa présence face à une figure des forces voulant l’acculturer. Cette peur importante de la gauche, par ses mots : « créée artificiellement favorise alors le prole débat, c’est la démocratie. » La revendi- pos évangélique d’une solution apportée cation paraît alors somme toute légitime sur un plateau par un homme qui aurait voire nécessaire : pourquoi laisserions la solution, après avoir passé des années à nous s’exprimer certaines idées plutôt que analyser la France. « L’ignorance mène à d’autres ? La raison est pourtant simple : se la peur, la peur mène à la haine, et la haine mettre dans ce schéma d’analyse schéma- conduit à la violence. » disait le philosotique serait totalement fallacieux et osons phe Averroès et force est de constater que utiliser les termes adéquats, une ouverture la sentence fait office de juste prédiction. vers un simplisme qui n’est pas souhaitable En visant un électorat excédé et qui n’est aux regards des enjeux et du sérieux qui doit pas forcément le plus instruit (bien enten-

du, le ton n’est pas méprisant mais uniquement factuel), le postulat idéologique s’impose dans les esprits et mène inévitablement à l’installation d’un ressentiment féroce envers une partie de la population, qui serait incompatible avec une certaine image de grandeur de la France. Cela permet de se pencher sur un autre aspect de la construction idéologique de l’extrême-droite : un récit national transfiguré, qui au nom d’un patriotisme galvaudé, vient mettre en avant uniquement les aspects brillants du passé (et il y en a beaucoup, à n’en point douter) mais en mettant de côté ou en réécrivant, par le biais du révisionnisme, certains chapitres moins reluisants. Vichy, talon d’Achille dans l’histoire française, connaît alors une nouvelle forme au-delà du vide traditionnel institué par le général de Gaulle qui l’avait formellement déclaré « nulle et non avenue » au sortir de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. La période est réhabilitée, durant laquelle les Juifs français auraient été sauvés par un maréchal Pétain soudainement auréolé d’une grandeur d’âme qu’on avait peu l’habitude de lui attribuer. L’éducation est le fer de lance d’une Nation et l’histoire, si elle est instrumentalisée, contribue à instaurer un confusionnisme qu’il faut absolument éviter. La colonisation regagne également sa portée « civilisatrice » en omettant les exactions et les douleurs enfouis tout en éloignant leurs reconnaissances et les excuses, qui ne répareront jamais toutes les blessures mais qui permettront d’avancer d’un grand pas dans l’approche de ces périodes déchirantes. Au-delà de cela, la propagation d’un besoin artificiel de se replier sur soi et de voir la France comme un ensemble homogène qui n’admet aucune disparité est un écueil. Elle fut tout au long de l’histoire le lieu d’un brassage culturel remarquable. Le nom

ÉRIC ZEMMOUR EST UN DANGER SAMY EL MALOUI

CHRONIQUEUR INVITE CHEF DES CHRONIQUEURS FRANCAIS

MÊME EN DÉMOCRATIE?

même du pays vient d’un peuple ger- et ultraconservatrice. Ses accointances manique ayant conquis la Gaule au VIème avec des figures comme Vincent Bolloré, siècle, les Francs. La prééminence de lui permettant d’avoir une large tribune l’idée d’une communauté nationale où les médiatique depuis une dizaine d’années Français ne vivent pas ensemble mais côte ou encore Nicolas de Tavernost, PDG de à côte crée des conflictualités infructueus- M6, montrent les liens privilégiés noués es à un moment de l’histoire où il s’agit de avec cette caste des ultra riches. Ces ats’unir, pour faire La précarité explose, les inégalités so- taches fondent face aux prob- cio-économiques sont à leur pic, la son programme lématiques qui crise sanitaire fait des ravages mais é c o n o m i q u e menacent réelle- l’on voudrait nous faire croire que le néolibéral, qui ment ce pays. La principal problème est l’immigration n’est qu’une pâle précarité explose, et la place de l’Islam dans ce pays. copie de semles inégalités sopiternels procio-économiques sont à leur pic, la crise grammes de la droite traditionnelle alliant sanitaire fait des ravages mais l’on voudrait politiques d’austérité à recul des droits des nous faire croire que le principal prob- salariés en passant par la non régulation lème est l’immigration et la place de l’Is- étatique qui favorise la loi du plus fort. Son lam dans ce pays. Éric Zemmour méprise désir de reculer l’âge de la retraite et sa vices problématiques sociales qui touchent sion de l’État-providence montre bien cette la majorité du peuple français en étant le alliance entre un protectionnisme culturel candidat porté par la bourgeoisie française et un néolibéralisme féroce, qui favorise le dans sa tradition mercantile, nationaliste rejet de la globalisation d’un point de vue

culturel et civilisationnel mais son acceptation d’un point de vue économique. Il se veut le point d’union entre les classes populaires et bourgeoises, faisant la négation de l’antagonisme de classe et plus globalement de la lutte des classes pour assembler ces dernière dans une perspective nationaliste. Cette stratégie n’est pas nouvelle et est l’une des caractéristiques des régimes fascistes du XXème siècle. Elle permet de neutraliser les discours sociaux venant de la gauche et de créer une ligne directrice idéologique commune, qui se veut au-dessus des clivages sociaux, à savoir le rejet de l’étranger. Le discours, belliqueux au possible, est par ailleurs hostile à la substantifique moelle même de la démocratie avec l’un de ses fondements : l’État de droit. L’essayiste avait déclaré : « Quand peuple s’exprime, nos juges, Conseil Constitutionnel et autres, Cour de Justice, Cour européenne des Droits de l’Homme, doivent se taire. » Par le mépris assumé de

ÉDITION N˚2 | DECEMBRE 2021

ces institutions chargées de veiller au re- l’énonciation d’idéaux de plus en plus chospect de la loi (et sa conformité aux prin- quants permet ainsi peu à peu de relativiser cipes de la République) qui est l’entité qui le caractère extrême des propos antérieurs permet de vivre au sein d’un corps social et de le légitimer. Prenons une situacohérent et permettant le vivre-ensem- tion “imaginaire” : un homme politique ble, le Rubicon est franchi. Par l’idolâtrie qui déclare qu’il est préférable de laisser d’une vision de la souveraineté populaire mourir de froid les migrants aux frontières sans limite et décrite comme parfaite, la créerait, à raison, un énorme scandale mais dictature de la majorité se met en place. cette proposition rendrait l’idée de juger Les minorités, parties constituantes de la pénalement différemment les étrangers ou Nation, ne sont plus protégées La société française n’a pas de supprimer par les contre pouvoirs institu- besoin de la discorde et de l’AME (Aide tionnels et les droits fondamen- la stigmatisation banalisée M é d i c a l e taux hérités de la Révolution provenant d’une sphère médi- d’État) bien française de 1789 sont brisés. atico-étatique hégémonique. plus acceptQuand un discours politique est able. Le prepernicieux envers la substance même de la mier exemple, pouvant paraître totalement démocratie et les principes inaliénables de surréaliste au premier abord, a pourtant la République, comment peut-on encore bien eu lieu. Julien Odoul, porte-parole justifier cela par le pluralisme ? Comment du Rassemblement National, avait claireces idéaux s’assumant pleinement comment sous-entendu cette idée sur le plame xénophobes, sexistes, révisionnistes, teau de BFM TV le 11 novembre dernier, peuvent être considérés comme pérennes lors d’un débat sur la crise migratoire à au sein d’une démocratie moderne et du la frontière entre la Pologne et la Biélopays qui se revendique pays des droits de russie. L’être-humain moderne raffole de la l’Homme ? Les explications sont plurielles polémique et s’enquille d’une certaine cu: l’acceptation et la banalisation de certains riosité morbide en se nourrissant du condiscours dans l’espace de débat public par flit. Le discours clivant et sensationnaliste la médiatisation exacerbée et de son in- attire et dans cette démarche de recherche stauration graduelle dans les moeurs en est d’audience, le discours d’extrême-droite, un exemple concret. C’est alors l’idée d’un celui qui choque, celui qui rebondit sur concept allégorique, la fenêtre d’Overton, nos plus grandes peurs, attire et crée des qui exprime quelles sont les idées accept- émulations. Sous cette forme de catharsis ables au sein du débat démocratique dans où les individus expirent leurs plus grandes une société donnée. Des causes légitimes animosités, du fait de la frustration engencomme les revendications environnemen- dré par l’incompétence politique globale tales et féministes étaient encore perçues d’un clivage gauche-droite traditionnel comme le fait d’une grande radicalité il y désuet et de la crise économique, les disa encore quelques décennies, pour devenir cours qui semblent apporter une quelaujourd’hui, à raison, des aspects fonda- conque note d’espoir sont accueillis avec mentaux des délibérations politiques. L’ex- soulagement. Il ne faut plus transiger sur trême-droite s’est emparé de ce paradigme le caractère diviseur et conflictuel de ces pour imposer ses schémas de pensée de idéaux au nom de l’idéal démocratique, car manière fort habile. Le propos d’Éric Zem- c’est précisément là toute l’ambivalence du mour aurait profondément choqué l’opin- raisonnement. C’est porter au pouvoir de ion publique quelque temps auparavant, et manière démocratique des forces qui ont ces éléments de réflexion sont désormais vocation à l’effacer, à écraser les minorités tellement prégnants dans l’espace de débat et à s’imposer sur les particularismes au public qu’il ont bénéficié d’une sorte de nom d’une homogénéisation ethnique et banalisation. Aller dans la surenchère par identitaire utopique. Le propos de cette

production écrite n’a en définitive pas seulement vocation à être un pamphlet à l’encontre d’un schéma d’idées nauséabondes mais se veut une réflexion et une réponse à ceux qui revendiquent à tout va le bien-fondé d’un concept trouble, le pluralisme, sans vraiment le comprendre. La société française n’a pas besoin de la discorde et de la stigmatisation banalisée provenant d’une sphère médiatico-étatique hégémonique. Ce n’est qu’une stratégie de diversion, qui permet ainsi d’éviter de parler des problématiques qui touchent la société française dans sa chair, les inégalités socio-économiques, de la crise environnementale, de la faillite des services publics et plus récemment, de la crise sanitaire. La réparation de ces plaies implique un combat, qui se révélera certes complexe à mettre en place et dont nous ne verrons peut-être que peu ou prou les résultats positifs, mais il est nécessaire de le mener. Sans chuter dans la facilité de la division et dans le même temps, obvier à la rhétorique ultranationaliste et néolibéral, qui ne tend qu’à semer la discorde et la paupérisation des esprits et des corps sociaux.

Octobre Rose LA LUTTE CONTRE LE CANCER DU SEIN

AICHA YAHAYA

CHRONIQUEUSE INVITÉE

AU NOM DE

LA FEMINIST UNION

Le Bal s’est ouvert dès le 3 octobre avec la course contre le cancer du sein organisée par la Feminist Union mais aussi le Bureau des Sports (BDS). Le but ? Pouvoir vous faire passer un bon moment tout en se rassemblant autour d’une cause qui nous est chère

L’été prend fin à Menton, mais pour la Feminist Union les festivités ne font que commencer !

un spectacle épatant offert par le groupe de belly dance, de quoi motiver tous les volontaires présents. Marcher ou courir, là n’était pas le plus important ! Le vent et le ciel nuageux n’ont pas suffit à décourager nos participants déterminés qui se sont lancés sur un parcours de 40km dans les rires et l’entraide, un moment fort qui marque l’esprit de l’octobre rose à Menton : savoir compromettre la joie apporté par un rassemblement chaleureux avec la part de sérieux qui entoure la cause défendue. Et pour les plus réticents à l’effort physique, venir assister à la course était aussi une option !

Car il est important de rappeler que le cancer du sein est l’un des cancers les plus répandus au monde et surtout le premier parmi les femmes avec près d’une femme sur 8 atteinte au cours de sa vie*. Des bilans lourds qui ont poussé à agir et mener cette collecte de fonds.

Les deux associations n’ont pas fait les choses à moitié entre les stands de sensibilisation pour en apprendre plus sur le dépistage du cancer du sein, ceux de ravitaillement qui se composaient de boissons et gâteaux faits maison ou encore un stand de goodies généreusement fournis par l’Institut du Cancer de Montpellier !

“Organizing Octobre Rose has been one of my most beautiful projects as Breast cancer is a cause that I really care about.”

“Pink October is the occasion for celebrating the little but giant fighters that these women are”

- Cloe Azria, Co-Présidente de la FU, Vice-présidente du BDS

- Samanéa Rousseau, Présidente du BDS

La course s’est ouverte tout en douceur mais surtout en rythme avec

Grâce à tous ces efforts, un total de près de 800€ a pu être rassemblé à l’issue de

cette course, des fonds reversés à la Ligue Contre le Cancer et qui serviront à financer la recherche et la lutte contre cette maladie qui fait aujourd’hui encore de nombreuses victimes, une grande fierté pour chacun d’entre nous qui espérons construire un futur plus heureux pour toutes lespersonnes atteintes et même les femmes en général ! Encore un grand merci aux leaders des deux associations qui ont mené à bien ce projet et fait de cet après-midi un événement inoubliable de ce début d’année. Des remerciements qui vont aussi aux participants qui se sont donnés à cœur joie et dont la bonne humeur n’a cessé de rayonner tout au long de la course ainsi qu’à l’Institut de Montpellier pour ce soutien qui nous a été d’une grande aide. Un après-midi placé sous le signe de l’espoir et du ruban rose qui sonne le début d’une année riche en événements du côté de la Feminist Union! ■

PHOTOS PAR LA FU (FEMINIST UNION)

NOVEMBER November wastes no time unsettling brittle bones Or brittle leaves on trees that shed grief in piles Not half as low as the blues painting moonlit mornings And glinting afternoons spent paralyzed in untraceable lowness, Hostage to a breath that inhales me with daggers. In my chest The fraughtness of silence is broken only by screaming ink. A metaphor best kept for my parents who resent tattoos because ink always Reminds them that November departed their parents and left their skin as memory. Grief rests in the hammocked wrinkles of their smiles While welding daggers into life near the craters soothed eyes make. Despite the sharpness in our bellies, They’ve remembered me how to hold a friend’s hand in a November of loss And how to hold a friend’s hand who doesn’t know loss, Or anything else brittle and so forever as this month That stops the clock to stow away time in my doing of all things. Except for my rest, stubborn daylight—and alone. In November, I surrender thanks for the helluvit, so Gratitude’s doors don’t close on love when she decides to enter again.• YUSEF BUSHARA

COLUMNIST