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Sports Recap — January 2023 < Back January Sports Recap By Hugo Lagergren January 31, 2023 Football The January player transfer window has now closed. Some teams splashed the cash, while some were more restrained in their approach and waiting for the summer window to do most of their serious business. Perhaps the most significant news to come out of the January window was Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr FC following his departure from Manchester United, where he had a falling out with several management figures, including manager Erik Ten Haag. Ronaldo has signed for two and a half years, extending his playing career until June 2025. The contract is reportedly worth a whopping 150 million USD per season. Ronaldo returned to the field as Al Nassr lost 4-5 to Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), reuniting him with his old rival. The Telegraph described the match as “the sordid final chapter of our era’s greatest football rivalry.” Questions have been asked of Chelsea FC and their possible violation of Fédération Internationale de Football Association’s (FIFA) Financial Fair Play regulation. Since U.S. billionaire Todd Boehly acquired the team last May, Chelsea have spent nearly half a million GBP on transfers. FIFA caps club spending at 105m GBP per season, and Chelsea have spent over four times that amount in the last six months. However, transfer fees are spread across the length of their contract. Chelsea recently signed Ukraine’s Mykhailo Mudryk for an eight-and-a-half-year contract and a hefty price of 88.5 million GBP, with other contracts ranging from five to six years. Arsenal have continued their impressive run at the top of the Premier League table by beating Manchester United 3-2 after a scintillating performance by Bukayo Saka. Fans are increasingly confident that this season will end their 19-year wait for a Premier League title. RC Lens closed the gap to current league leaders PSG by three points as PSG lost 1-0 to Rennes. OGC Nice are looking for a replacement for veteran Dante, who is likely to retire at the end of the season. Nice, who have had a poor start to the season, are looking to bolster their team in hopes of stronger performance. Tennis Novak Djokovic defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas to win the 2023 Australian Open, equaling Rafael Nadal's all-time record of 22 Grand Slam titles. The title marks his 10th Australian Open win, the most of any tennis player. Speaking after the match, Djokovic stated that it had “been one of the most challenging tournaments I’ve ever played in my life”. At the age of 35, Djokovic has shown no sign of slowing down in recent years, as he remains one of the most difficult players to play for the new generation of tennis players. Formula 1 Teams have started to announce the launch dates to showcase their cars for the 2023 season, with Red Bull being the first to launch their car on the third of February. The rest of the launches will follow in the next fortnight. Steve Nielsen has been appointed as Sporting Director of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. This job switch from a high-ranking Formula 1 job requires him to oversee race-control operations, which have been at the heart of recent controversies, including during Max Verstappen’s first title-winning season. Boxing Youtuber/boxer/rapper KSI announced his ambition for Misfits Boxing, his promotional company, and their partnership with DAZN boxing to become a serious fighting arena. KSI defeated Faze Temperrr only a minute into the first round, after which he spoke passionately about his event's potential to compete with major fighting institutions such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship. His fight reportedly accumulated an impressive 300,000 pay-per-view buys. Rugby With the Six Nations tournament approaching, England Rugby fans will have been relieved to hear that Captain Owen Farrell has been cleared to play. He was handed a four-match ban after a high tackle during a league match against Gloucester.

< Back Climate Headaches: Dispatches from Wales By Gruffudd ab Owain March 30, 2024 Prior to the election of Vaughan Gething as new First Minister in March, the first black leader of any country in Europe, the political sphere in Wales has been hit by a turbulent period, with two major issues regarding climate change. The first was the fierce opposition to the Welsh government’s Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS). Its parliament, the Senedd in Cardiff Bay, saw the biggest turnout to a protest on its steps since its inauguration in 1999 on Feb. 28, 2024. The devolved parliament holds powers over a select number of policies, including agriculture, while the UK Government in London reserves responsibility over policy areas such as justice, policing, and defense. The Labour Party has been in government for the entirety of the Welsh parliament’s 25-year existence. The Senedd didn’t garner law-making powers until 2011, owing to a referendum in which 63.49% voted in favor, yet only reached the height of public awareness following its Covid lockdown policies, which differed significantly from those of the Johnson administration in London. In another referendum, the Brexit referendum, Wales voted with England to leave, in contrast to Scotland and Northern Ireland, by a margin of 52% to 48%. Oxford University research attests that this swing towards leaving was due to retired people who moved over the border from England. ‘Genuinely Welsh’ areas, as described by the researcher Daniel Dorling, voted firmly to remain; areas where agriculture is prominent, albeit not exclusively. It is worth noting that Wales benefitted hugely from the EU’s Rural Development Funding, and the SFS is partly a replacement for that scheme and partly a response to the fact that agriculture accounts for 12-14% of overall emissions in Wales. It requires farmers to plant trees on 10% of their land, a policy which the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) claims will cost 5,000 jobs nationally. The thousands present were also voicing concerns regarding the spread of bovine TB in cattle, and policies pertaining to preventing river pollution. The situation has prompted a rare and unexpected, if modest, boost to the Conservative Party’s fortunes in the country, a party who hasn't been at the top of the political tree there since the 19 th century. They have been accused of hypocrisy, however, in claiming to be the voice of farmers after leading Wales out of the EU and its funding scheme. Their young Welsh-speaking MS Samuel Kurtz led the party’s presence in what he described as ‘the proudest moment of my life’ , later quoting from the patriotic song ‘Safwn yn y Bwlch’ and its lyrics “together we will stand” on his X account. The Tories’ leader in Wales, Andrew R.T. Davies, who doesn’t speak Welsh, proudly shared a video of himself shaking hands with protesters while ‘Yma o Hyd’ was playing in the background, a song which, ironically, has explicitly anti-Tory lyrics. A recent poll projected that the Tories would only hold on to two border constituencies at the next General Election, after winning an historic 14 Welsh seats at the 2019 General Election. It must be said that changes to constituency boundaries will see Wales lose 8 of its 40 MPs at Westminster; nevertheless, this collapse in support is certainly reflective of a broader UK-wide mood. After months taking up the mantle of criticizing the Welsh government’s 20mph rollout, they have finally been handed a different policy to attack. They have been more vocal on the issue than the third biggest party, the left-leaning nationalist Plaid Cymru, who find themselves in a somewhat awkward position, rather clumsily described by previous leader Adam Price as ‘co-opposition’, of cooperating with the government on a select number of policy areas, nonetheless excluding the SFS. This will come as a partial relief for the Tory Party, amid turmoil in the rest of the UK in an election year, not least due to a series of historic by-election defeats. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak finds himself grappling with challenge after challenge, attempting to appease the right of the party to avoid losing votes to the resurgent Reform Party, without facing backlash from those to the center. He was forced to remove the whip of MP Lee Anderson in February, who said that “Islamists” have “control” over London and its mayor Sadiq Khan, calling his comments “wrong” but not Islamophobic nor racist. Sunak himself was seen posing with some farmers and Welsh farming personality Gareth Wyn Jones on a rare visit to the north, alongside protesters holding bright yellow ‘No Farmers No Food’ placards. These posters have appeared widely in the country, even in schools, with their simple message. Less well-known, however, is the NFNF campaign’s connections with anti-net zero stances, including extreme conspiracy theories. Wyn Jones compared the potential job losses to those of the miners under Margaret Thatcher exactly 40 years ago, comments that Plaid Cymru’s Llŷr Gruffudd later echoed at the protest. That said, some sympathize with farmers and are indeed disgruntled by climate change policies, with comments appearing on social media platforms along the lines of ‘Wales is too small a country, it cannot make a difference in tackling climate change’. One protestor told The Guardian that “a more pressing thing than climate change is Mr Putin. We’re teetering on the edge of world war three. This is about food security. We should be self-sufficient.” The quality of political debate in Wales is often poor, succumbing to simplicity. Some farmers have even demanded to eradicate the Welsh parliament altogether, with graphics saying ‘we can live without politicians, we can’t live without farmers’ doing the rounds on Facebook. However, farmers risk losing broader public support in Wales for cozying up to unpopular anti-net zero and anti-Senedd stances, along with the equally unpopular Conservative Party. It seems all rationality has been too easily lost in the debate regarding the SFS. Anthony Slaughter, leader of the Wales Green Party, who have no representation in parliament, implied on the Sunday Supplement radio programme that the government’s demands were not unreasonable, given that trees already cover 6-7% of Welsh farmland. He sympathized with farmers, however, for the policy’s ‘top-down’ implementation and lack of consultation, echoing similar comments by fellow independence-supporting Plaid Cymru. Consultation was open up to March 7, 2024, with the government pledging to seek compromise. A consultative vote in the Senedd on scrapping the SFS saw 26 votes in favor by Labour MSs and 26 votes against by opposition parties. This triggered a rule forcing the deputy presiding officer to vote, and his vote with the government meant that the proposal didn’t pass. As this saga rolled on, so did the election for the leadership of the Welsh Labour Party, and thus of the next First Minister. Incumbent Mark Drakeford announced in December that he would step down after the election of a new leader in March. Only two candidates, Vaughan Gething (Minister for Economy, was Minister of Health during the pandemic) and Jeremy Miles (Minister for Education and the Welsh language), were up for election. The former, who succeeded with 51.7% of the vote, became the first First Minister from an ethnic minority, while the latter would have been the first openly gay First Minister. The election was criticized for lacking a female candidate, given that the Welsh parliament became the world’s first legislative body to achieve 50:50 gender parity in 2003 . Miles is the only Welsh speaker among the two, and his firm pro-devolution stance and willingness to “always fight Wales’ corner” [my translation] would have made him a headache for Plaid Cymru in opposition. Gething was seen as the candidate closest to UK party leader Keir Starmer. He also garnered support from prominent members skeptical of devolution, such as Neil Kinnock. The election, which balances members’ votes and trade union nominations, was hit by turmoil in this sense as an unknown rule change by the influential trade union Unite, deemed Miles ineligible for the union’s nomination. Furthermore, it became obvious that there was no mechanism within the party’s One Member One Vote system to prevent members from voting more than once. It then emanated that Gething’s campaign for election had received an unprecedented and eye-watering £200,000 donation by the Dauson Environmental Group; for context, Mark Drakeford only raised £25,000 for his successful campaign for election in 2018. It arose later that the group was awaiting Welsh government approval for a solar farm on a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Likewise in 2018, Dauson Environmental Group’s director, David Neal, received a suspended prison sentence for illegally dumping waste on a conservation site. Wales is already significantly behind its climate targets, and with February bringing criticisms of Welsh Labour’s nevertheless flawed SFS and UK Labour reversing their £28bn green investment pledge if they were elected to Westminster, the obstacles to climate policy are surmounting. And for as long as the almost proverbial phrase that you could stick a red Labour rosette on a donkey in Wales and it would still win, it seems that the pace required for meaningful, lasting change is rapidly becoming unmatchable.

Aujourd’hui encore, l’art, parce qu’il est un instrument de contestation pacifique qui revêt une efficacité prouvée, est un objet soumis à une menace de musèlement que la population algérienne n’a de cesse de défier. < Back L’Expansion de l’Art Engagé en Algérie By Raja Madani April 29, 2022 “C’est pourquoi il faut que les artistes, les écrivains et les savants, qui ont en dépôt certains des acquis les plus rares de l’histoire humaine, apprennent à se servir contre l’État de la liberté que leur assure l’État” - Pierre Bourdieu À l’occasion de la Semaine des Arts ayant récemment eue lieu à Sciences Po, cet article s’intéresse à l’utilisation de l’art comme moyen d’engagement politique, en prenant pour angle d’étude la place prépondérante occupée par l’art engagé en Algérie, dans la quête de liberté et dans la manifestation des espoirs. Trois ans maintenant. En un vendredi ensoleillé de la fin du mois de février 2019, la jeunesse algérienne avait gagné les rues des villes principales du pays pour protester contre l’éternelle reproduction d’un système politique qui l’étouffe. Ce moment de symbiose qui a progressivement réuni les multiples spécificités de la population a donné lieu , par sa répétition chaque mardi et vendredi, à celle que l’on qualifie aujourd’hui de « révolution du sourire », ou autrement dit: de Hirak. La population algérienne, encore très marquée par la violence extrême qui l’a touchée au plus près lors de l’épisode de la décennie noire des années 90, a dû s’armer d’outils lui permettant de faire circuler en puissance ses revendications, tout en plaçant la paix en véritable maître mot du mouvement. L’art est alors apparu comme le moyen de combiner ces objectifs. L’art et la dénonciation, des éléments qui s’auto-génèrent Paroles extraites du chant de supporters, devenu chant de manifestants algériens, lui-même inspiré de la chanson de lutte des ouvrières des rizières de la Vallée du Pô Bella ciao : « La Casa Del Mouradia » , Ouled El Bahja. نقولوا جازت، حشاوهانلا بالعشرية » « Le premier {mandat}, on dira qu’il est passé. Ils nous ont eu avec la décennie {noire} فالثانية الحكاية بانت "La Casa Del Mouradia » Au deuxième, l’histoire est devenue claire, La Casa d’El Mouradia {= commune à Alger} فالثالثة البلاد شيانت مالمصالح الشخصية Au troisième, le pays s’est amaigri. À cause des intérêts personnels « فالرابعة البوبية ماتت، ومازالت القضية Au quatrième, la poupée est morte… Mais l’affaire suit son cours ». Via le mouvement de protestation du Hirak sont nés au sein de la société algérienne des artistes qui ont su puiser dans leur inspiration de quoi servir la cause de la dénonciation. Le mouvement s’est présenté pour chaque algérienne et chaque algérien comme une véritable occasion de développer une fibre artistique jusque-là peu encouragée. C’est par exemple le cas de Liasmine Fodil, habitante de la ville de Tizi Ouzou, qui a vu dans le mouvement du Hirak l’occasion de se reconvertir en photographe, afin d’être d’une utilité à la communauté des insurgés. Elle expliquait il y a quelques mois son choix au média Web Arts Résistances par un devoir d’information et de mémoire envers les futures générations : « Je sentais que c’était urgent de dire que ça se passait partout et pas seulement dans la capitale. {…} Dans quelques années nos photos seront des archives, elles montreront comment des citoyens anonymes se sont mobilisés » . Parmi les talents méconnus révélés par le Hirak, on retrouve également Mohamed Kechacha, chanteur de chaâbi: un genre musical algérois. Ce dernier s’est fait connaître par son vidéo-clip intitulé 1000 milliards , en référence aux rentes pétrolières du pays. Enfin, et surtout, la foule en elle-même a constitué un corps d’artistes à l’unicité foisonnante. Par la création de chants et de slogans, de pancartes, de danses, ou encore de peintures : de semaine en semaine, l’expression artistique a su se développer au fur et à mesure que le mouvement évoluait. En parallèle à ce foisonnement de nouvelles voix artistiques du Hirak, des artistes algériens affirmés de plus longue date ont su faire de leur art un instrument en faveur de la lutte pour la liberté et la démocratie en Algérie. C’est ainsi qu’en 2019, dans son célèbre titre intitulé « Liberté », le rappeur Soolking chantait le ras-le-bol des algériens envers le caractère sans issue de leur système politique. Il a fait de son morceau une véritable ode à la liberté, à laquelle il aspire pour l’Algérie. Mais impossible d’évoquer la combinaison du mouvement de contestation du Hirak avec l’art sans avoir une pensée particulière pour les caricaturistes. Sous le ton de l’humour, ces derniers ne manquent jamais d’exposer leur point de vue et de partager avec les Algériens des dessins de presse toujours plus engagés. De cette manière, des dessinateurs de presse comme Le Hic, Nime, Dilem ou encore Slim, en n’ayant de cesse de mêler art, humour, et conscience politique, se sont érigés en véritables symboles d’une autodérision voilant à peine un sens profond. Un phénomène enraciné Bien qu’il ait connu un essoufflement particulièrement important avec l’épisode sanglant de la décennie noire, il serait erroné de croire que l’art engagé était inexistant avant sa montée en puissance au moment du Hirak. On a en effet tendance à oublier que ce dernier a joué un rôle considérable dans la construction et la consolidation de l’identité nationale algérienne dans la période 1952-1970. Face à ce constat, l’historienne Anissa Bouayed, dans son ouvrage L’art et l’Algérie insurgée. Les traces de l’épreuve : 1954-1962, s’est donné pour mission de traiter la Guerre d’Algérie à partir des productions artistiques de peintres internationaux et algériens. De Issiakhem, à Khadda tout en passant par Fares, l’autrice de ce livre d’art particulièrement novateur tend à expliquer que «l’’œuvre est sans doute au-delà de toute catégorie englobante. Elle rend compte dans un condensé fulgurant, des positions critiques majeures contre la guerre, et des aspirations à la liberté, à la fois en dénonçant la torture dans plusieurs tableaux et en représentant les manifestations algériennes » . Une menace de censure qui demeure Le 16 décembre 2019, l’artiste bédéiste Nime a été condamné à un an d’emprisonnement pour ses dessins politiques. Le 10 août 2020, c’est le journaliste et activiste Khaled Drareni qui a été condamné à trois années de prison ferme pour des activités liées à son métier. Plus récemment, le 4 janvier 2021, le jeune artiste Walid Kechida a été à son tour condamné à trois ans de prison ferme. Pas plus tard que dans son rapport annuel 2021-2022, l’organisation de défense des droits de l’Homme Amnesty International dénonçait l’arrestation et la détention de « centaines de militants politiques et de la société civile, ainsi que des journalistes, simplement parce qu’ils avaient exprimé leur opinion ou fait leur travail » . La liberté d’expression se voit alors particulièrement menacée en Algérie ces dernières années et les artistes n’en sont pas moins épargnés. Aujourd’hui encore, l’art, parce qu’il est un instrument de contestation pacifique qui revêt une efficacité prouvée, est un objet soumis à une menace de musèlement que la population algérienne n’a de cesse de défier.

< Back Double Earthquakes Devastate Turkey and Syria: What You Can Do To Help By Ecesu Basara February 28, 2023 On the morning of Monday, February 6, at around four a.m. local time, the ground shook in Turkey. It shook so hard that even residents of Israel, Lebanon and Cyprus claimed to have felt the trembling. Authorities determined that the quake’s magnitude was 7.7, and its depth was 10 kilometers, which made its impact much more intense. The following day, another earthquake of a 7.6 magnitude struck at 11 a.m. and added to the ruin. As of Monday, February 13, the death toll stands at over 35,000, and it, unfortunately, keeps rising every day. When the initial earthquake rocked Turkey in the early morning, most people slept in their homes. Since many of these structures were not built to withstand such powerful earthquakes and collapsed, trapping people within, the extent of destruction and loss of life was tremendous. Search and rescue efforts are still being conducted in the Kahramanmaraş cities that were most impacted by the two earthquakes. As of now, more than 80,000 people have been injured, and it is estimated that 70,000 more are out on the streets for fear of their homes’ infrastructure. The Minister of National Education, Mahmut Özer, announced that classes in the earthquake zone will not resume until March 1 and decided to close all universities in Turkey until the next academic year to use dormitories as temporary housing for survivors. Since this last decision, university students and academic personnel have expressed their anger about the shutdown; one petition signed by over 76,000 people on the Change.org website states: “We can find different solutions for the people affected by the earthquake, do not distract us from our education, do not limit our opportunities. The number of university students enrolled is 8,196,959, while the number of students using the state dormitory is 678,763. Since there are many accommodation opportunities for earthquake survivors, we DO NOT ACCEPT the deprivation of more than seven million students!” Many are suggesting that the nationwide university closures serve to minimize reactionary research efforts into the role of government neglect in the post-earthquake destruction of Turkey. Because of government carelessness before the natural disaster, contractors were allowed to utilize inappropriate materials and disregard fundamental seismic guidelines when determining how to build homes. As temperatures reach a chilling -10°C in some affected areas, international organizations and the Turkish government scramble to aid those in need. However, the first response effort in Syria remains much more complicated; the country, ravaged by war, is not receiving equal help as Turkey. They do not have appropriate equipment or search and rescue teams, and civilians often find themselves alone in rescue efforts. In the West, most are hesitant to donate to Syria as they do not trust that their donations will reach the people in need. If you would like to help, you can either donate through the Thracian and Anatolian Student Association (TASA) (all information is on their Instagram @tasamenton) or donate directly to the “Ahbap” organization, which is not affiliated with any political or religious groups and publishes their financial reports. TASA in Menton recently held a fundraising bake sale and has been collecting donations since the earthquake hit Turkey and Syria. When faced with a situation this severe, it is imperative to remain cognizant of our chosen course of study. Our specialization in the Middle East entails a collective duty — we must band together to support this region in which we are all so invested.

Society that carries out capital punishment must think very carefully about the policy’s potential consequences. Taking an innocent person’s life is a grave enough reason to put someone to death, but shouldn’t there be accountability for those who sentence innocent people to the death penalty? < Back Execution in Missouri and the Death Penalty Ema Nevřelová October 31, 2024 My mother grew up in communist Czechoslovakia. She would often tell me the story of her first official act of free will. During the first months of 1990, Amnesty International was collecting signatures to petition for the abolition of the death penalty in the former Czechoslovakia and, at the age of 18, my mother signed it. For my mother, freedom lies in the ability to act and to stand up for what you believe in. In her view, the value of a person’s life is too high to risk the possibility of executing someone innocent—she would feel partially complicit if she did not protest. Three months later, in May 1990, former Czechoslovak President Václav Havel pressured the government and the death penalty was abolished. U.S. citizens have not unilaterally pushed the abolishment of the death penalty; support for capital punishment has historically fluctuated. A recent Gallup poll demonstrated that only 53% of Americans favor the death penalty. In Gallup’s research from 2022, there is an even greater disparity between Democrat and Republican party members: 35% of Democrats and 77% of Republicans were in favor of the death penalty. Unsurprisingly, typically “red” states such as Texas, South Carolina, Alabama, Idaho and many more have the death penalty, although it is not exclusive to states supporting Republicans. Meanwhile, California, a “Blue” state, still has not abolished it. But the current Governor of California, Gavin Newsom has put a hold on executions. There is no federal mandate on the capital punishment, meaning that the employment of the death penalty in the U.S. is determined at the state level. The State Attorney General has the final say, and if a prisoner wants to appeal outside of state, their only option is the U.S. Supreme Court of Justice—which does not review many death penalty cases. The death penalty also is also influenced by the forces at the federal level; it became infamous during Donald Trump’s presidency, during which a total of 13 executions were carried out—the highest number since 1896. However, apart from Trump’s presidency the federal death penalty is rarely carried out. The Gallup research helps to step out of the narrative that the supporters of the death penalty have some inherent characteristics or evil traits. While there is a trend among different political parties, there is no consistent definition of a person favoring the death penalty. However, the indisputable fact of procedural and systematic issues make scrutiny over the death penalty all the more important, especially given the irreversibility in case of wrongful conviction. Recent news about executions of Travis Mullis, Emmanuel Littlejohn, Alan Miller, Freddie Owens and Marcellus “Khalifah” Williams in the span of a week brought such discussions to the forefront of the U.S. social media discourse. Being Czech, I was surprised that 5 executions in one week are in fact not the everyday reality of the U.S., as it last happened in 2003. The execution of Marcellus “Khalifah” Williams was publicly opposed, as some people believed him to be innocent in the murder of Felicia Gayle, for which he was convicted. His case highlights two key issues with the death penalty: the closure myth and systemic racism. The closure myth is a commonly held belief that by executing the murderer, the family of the victim will get a closure. Surely, some families do, however the process of a murderer receiving a death sentence is lengthy and there is a lack of mental health and financial support. Often, it leaves the families of the victims struggling even after the execution, delaying the process of closure. In this case, Governor of Missouri Michael L. Parson, who appealed on certainty, indirectly used the closure myth by stating : “Withdrawing the order allows the process to proceed within the judicial system, and, once the due process of law has been exhausted, everyone will receive certainty.” Given the external factors influencing the family (financial and health issues) it is not surprising that a study by Eaton and Christensen from 2014 concluded that co-victims (family members of the victim) “expressed their views on closure in various ways’’ and those “who did mention closure were evenly divided on whether they felt the execution provided closure or not.’’ This deconstructs the narrative that execution is the only way to provide closure for co-victims and while it can put their minds to rest there are more usually aspects preventing them from doing so. However, the family of Felicia Gayle, the murder victim, approved , together with the court, for Williams to enter an Alford plea , a plea where a defendant can maintain innocence while accepting a plea bargain and allowing Williams to be re-sentenced to life in prison. However, the state attorney general’s office opposed and blocked the decision by appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court. Presumably, when it comes to closure and justice for the family, it is not the family who decides, but rather the system does it for them without even taking the family’s position into account. The second issue arising during Williams’ process of appealing the death penalty was the selection of a jury. In an emergency appeal made to the U.S. Supreme Court before the execution of Williams, his attorney declared : “Of the seven Black venirepersons (out of 131 in total), the trial prosecutor [St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office] used peremptory strikes against six of them. His reasoning for excluding one of those venirepersons, Venireperson 64, was that he “reminded” him of Mr. Williams. He thought the men looked similar and that boy had ‘piercing eyes’ (App. 89a).” Later, the Supreme Court of Missouri found this reasoning to be race-neutral. A parallel can be drawn between the reasoning given by the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office of “piercing eyes”and of some white people complimenting black women’s hair while touching them without consent. On the surface it may seem innocent and “race-neutral,” but upon the addition of astriking imbalance of power, it becomes awfully clear that there are not many things in life that are race, gender or otherwise neutral . The selection process of jury pools is often based on registered voter lists or on driving licence holders, although other factors may apply. There is, however, no obligation to adapt mechanisms to achieve an equal representation of the community that the jury represents. Looking at the American justice system and racism in general, a 1990 study on Death Penalty Sentencing concluded that a “synthesis of the 28 studies shows a pattern of evidence indicating racial disparities in the charging, sentencing, and imposition of the death penalty […].” Furthermore, this study suggests that if a victim is white, the likelihood of the defendant receiving the death penalty is higher. This is disturbing on several levels including the fact that it implies the lives of Black people have lesser value when it comes to the severity of the penalty. The Innocence database is run by the Death Penalty Information Center, which records cases of people who have been sentenced to death but have been exonerated before the execution. Out of the 200 recorded cases, 108 wrongfully convicted people were Black, 21 were either Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Latinos or Asians. But these people are far away from being just numbers. This becomes evident in the case of Timothy Howard and Gary James, who spent 26 years in prison for bank robbery and murder as they were convicted in 1976 and freed only in 2003. On average, there is at least one person wrongfully convicted every year. It is true that the list of wrongful convictions ends in 2014, but it would be naïve to expect that it is because judges suddenly became infallible from then on. The Innocent database does not include people who have already been executed but could potentially be innocent. The Death Penalty Information Center provides a list of people who were executed and are now believed to be innocent, although according to the Center: “Courts do not generally entertain claims of innocence when the defendant is dead.” These statistics and the real human beings behind them tell heart-wrenching stories of a system failure that is irreparable. Even if we look at the cases of people who have been convicted because they were truly guilty, there are still aspects to the death penalty that make it morally questionable. Firstly, in the U.S., it is illegal to sentence a person with intellectual disabilities to death, yet mental illness is not included even though the American Bar Association states the following: “In short, the ABA finds that individuals with severe mental illnesses or disabilities present at the time of the crime should not be subject to capital punishment.” This is an unsurprising reflection of how U.S. society still views mental health. Mental health issues are weaponized when convenient—in the U.S. context, young school shooters are often portrayed as anomalies to a perfectly functioning system of gun control, without considering or acknowledging the dire situation of mental health struggles among young people. There is also this narrow-minded approach leading some to believe that mental illness is only used as an excuse, where in reality living with mental illness can be challenging to a level that people who have never experienced it can hardly imagine. The second problem is with the execution itself, as the preferred method of execution in the U.S. is death by lethal injection. There are recorded instances where the needle was administered incorrectly or the person executed was struggling to breath for tens of minutes to an hour before dying. Coming from the Czech Republic, a country which abolished capital punishment almost 35 years ago, the faulty procedures seem as vengeance, close to torture. Should society’s goal be to follow Hammurabi’s law “eye for an eye,” or should we let murderers sit with the horrors of their actions while not risking an execution of innocent people? Williams’s case should be a reminder that the death penalty is not a punishment standing on its own, rather there are external factors such as racism, lack of focus on mental health and the potential for false conviction. Society that carries out capital punishment must think very carefully about the policy’s potential consequences. Taking an innocent person’s life is a grave enough reason to put someone to death, but shouldn’t there be accountability for those who sentence innocent people to the death penalty? The answer is not simple and even if the U.S. were to abolish capital punishment, it does not put an end to the debate about it. Circling back to the example of the Czech Republic, although capital punishment has been abolished, we have only recently (in 2023) gotten to a point where the percentage of people opposing capital punishment is higher than that of its supporters. Yet, support for the death penalty is at 42 % and had we not had the constellation in which the capital punishment was abolished, Czech people might have had to face the same moral dilemma the Americans are facing today. And while my mother does live in a society without capital punishment and does not have to battle her conscience, the polarization on the topic has not vanished.

“If you want to eliminate values from past societies, you have to eliminate the artists.”, reflects Prince Norodom Sirivudh of Cambodia, in the 2014 documentary “Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll”, recounting the systematic erasure of music from Cambodian society under the brutal regime of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. < Back “When They Tell You to Sing, You Just Sing.”: The Khmer Rouge’s Musical Manipulation of Cambodian Society Loowit Morrison November 10, 2025 “If you want to eliminate values from past societies, you have to eliminate the artists.”, reflects Prince Norodom Sirivudh of Cambodia, in the 2014 documentary “Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll”, recounting the systematic erasure of music from Cambodian society under the brutal regime of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. “[A]rtists are influential. Artists are close to the people,” says Sirivudh. Music is inherently political, used for centuries as a mechanism of control and mobilization. Throughout history, music has shaped public opinion and regime legitimacy by both producing and limiting access to music. From 1955 until 1975, Cambodia’s music experienced what is known as its “Golden Era.” Thanks to increasing global communication, the rise of clubs, bars and nightclubs, and the United States’ Armed Forces’ radio , Cambodian music became infused with Western, Latin and Afro-Cuban pop influences, creating a distinct style of modern music. Traditional Cambodian styles were electrified; garage and surf rock took root in Cambodia’s art scene. Stars such as Sinn Sisamouth, Ros Sereysothea and Pan Ron gained massive popularity. Cambodia’s musical backbone was not only thriving — it was vital to the nation’s social life. A mere 17 years after gaining independence from France, Cambodia entered into a period of civil war. In 1970, an American-backed coup ousted Prince Norodom Sihanouk’s regime as part of their larger war against communism. Sihanouk fled to Beijing, becoming a figurehead for the rising Khmer Rouge, a group of communist insurgents. The years that followed were marked by tensions between communist guerrilla fighters and Lon Nol’s anti-communist government. 1973 saw massive devastation at the hands of U.S. bombardment. The civil war came to an end in April 1975, when Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge toppled Lon Nol’s government and seized the capital, Phnom Penh. 1975 was declared “Year Zero” by Pol Pot’s regime and the country was renamed “Democratic Kampuchea”. The regime, stretching from 1975–1979, was marked by a radical strategy of agrarian communism and strict isolation. Civil and property rights, religious practice and Western influence were completely eradicated, and urban citizens were forced into the countryside to labor in agricultural projects. Any intellectuals, artists or elites were sent to work or killed. Cambodian society was effectively “decapitated.” As part of the eradication of artists, musicians were among the first targets of the Khmer Rouge. All music, other than propaganda of the Khmer Rouge, was banned in an effort to eliminate “old” identities linked to Western culture. At the time, Cambodian musical culture was deeply influenced by the French colonial period, beginning in the 19th century. French colonizers brought Western instruments and genres to Cambodia, infusing Cambodian music with Western designs. The Khmer Rouge, in opposition to anything Western, sought to destroy this Westernized musical identity and create a “new,” yet staunchly traditional, Khmer identity. Although the majority of existing music and musicians were destroyed by Pol Pot’s regime, part of the strategy to mobilize the new Khmer identity was through music. The Khmer Rouge’s re-education program rearranged traditional hymns and melodies, such as basak and mohori , to serve their ideologies and push forth the new agrarian society. Despite the fact that most musicians were targeted in the regime’s early days, others were recruited by the Khmer Rouge to serve as regime musicians. Touch Chhatta recounts that the only “reason I survived was because I knew how to play music.” Chhatta was enlisted by the Khmer Rouge to serve in a band that played at meetings, at which music was played with only traditional instruments, including the khim , tro , and takhe . Chhatta describes that at the beginning of the regime, he purposefully memorized the propaganda music, maximizing his utility to the regime and thus his chances of survival. Children were also recruited by the Khmer Rouge as musicians. “We were like a blank piece of paper. When they tell you to sing, you just sing,” describes Chhom Charvin, who was a child singer under the regime. Easily persuaded and indoctrinated, children were the perfect candidates for the Khmer Rouge’s new musical strategy. “Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll” presents footage of the Khmer Rouge’s child singers in a performance, reenacting farmers, chanting “the day is hot and dry / smoke is coming from the earth / but we can take it / we are resilient / we serve Angkar until results are produced.” Undying loyalty to serving the new, agricultural and communist state is conveyed curtly through lyrics, fashioning a new emblem for the nation of the laboring and nationalistic child. Music was also used as a mobilizing tool. Thida Buth, who was a child during the regime, remembers that in the work camps, the national anthem would blare over the speakers each morning, at 4am. The first lyrics are “the bright red blood spilled in the lands of kampuchea / our motherland / the blood of our good workers and farmers / of our revolutionary soldiers / of both men and women / we will make our Motherland / the most prosperous, magnificent, wonderful!”. Every day in the Democratic Kampuchea began with music -– propaganda music. Music which was manufactured specifically to promote the idea of a new nation. The musical construction of Democratic Kampuchea contains a dual nature: one of radical return to tradition yet a complete transformation of society. The Khmer Rouge attempted to erase the existing musical culture in Cambodia while simultaneously promoting a musical culture that was ‘traditional’, thus blurring the line between “new” and “old”. This phenomenon highlights the contradictory nature of the Khmer Rouge regime, which attempted to use old, traditional Khmer music to promote a new, revolutionized identity, which in and of itself reflected a traditional past. Whether restoring an “old” or creating a “new” identity, it is clear that music was a critical tool employed by the Khmer Rouge to carry out their transformation of society. Despite the supposed “eradication” of music in Democratic Kampuchea, it was frequently mobilized by the Khmer Rouge to legitimize their regime and build the foundation of a new national identity. Music, as any form of art, is fundamental to the skeleton of society. Music transmits values, histories and identities; its mobilization by elites in society has the power to structurally, radically reshape what a country is, how it functions and what it stands for. Despite the weaponization of music by Pol Pot’s regime, when the Khmer Rouge fell on January 7, 1979, music was what revived Cambodian society. Sieng Vanthy, a Cambodian singer, was one of the first to return to the capital city of Phnom Penh, which had been emptied at the start of the regime. With much of the nation hesitant to return to the city, Vanthy describes that she sang “Oh, Phnom Penh” on the radio, in an attempt to reassure the displaced that it was safe to return. “Oh, Phnom Penh” seeps with yearning, nostalgia and memories of a place once called home. The first lyrics state, “Oh, Phnom Penh / For three years / I never stopped missing you / We were separated / and my heart was broken.”, and later, the song says, “the Cambodian soul lives on / Oh, Phnom Penh / I meet you again.” While music may have been a tool of manipulation in the Khmer Rouge regime, it was also a unifying factor. Music is what brought Cambodians back together to collectively rebuild their nation physically and culturally. In spite of their efforts, the Khmer Rouge was not able to abolish the musical roots that run through Cambodia. Music continues to flourish, decades after the country was musically sanitized. Dengue Fever, a band formed in the U.S. in 2001, brought Cambodian music back to the global forefront. Lauren Yee’s 2016 play, “Cambodian Rock Band,” recounts the story of a Cambodian American woman and her father, a survivor of the genocide, exploring a history of music and memory. The revival of music in Cambodia is a testament to the nation’s ability to overcome a difficult past and to their cultural resilience. Photo Source: Emile Gsell, Picryl

< Back Chemical Weapons Used on Pro-Palestine Students at Columbia University By Selin Elif Kose February 29, 2024 On Jan. 19, students from Columbia University assembled in front of Low Library for a “divestment now” rally. The pro-Palestine protest was organized by the Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which is a coalition of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). Howev er, after the protest, multiple students reported a putrid smell on their clothes, followed by physical symptoms including nausea, headache, and burning eyes for ten students, three of whom later sought medical care. Yet, the administration stayed silent which was quite unusual as Columbia sends alert emails for even small crimes like robberies around campus. Lacking administrative support, the Columbia University Apartheid Divest took the matter into its own hands and started an internal investigation into the incident by collecting testimonies, photographs, and videos from the students at the protest. According to the results of this inquiry and medical reports from hospitals, protestors were sprayed with skunk water, which is known to be a chemical that smells like “sewage mixed with rotting corpses,” and has been used by Israeli soldiers on Palestinians. This chemical was developed by the Israeli company Odortec and is marketed as non-lethal and non-toxic, yet high doses of this can produce severe physical symptoms and, at worst, may even prove lethal. The attackers were students from the School of General Studies who were also former Israel Defense Force soldiers dressed in fake keffiyehs to mix with the crowd. It was later revealed that one of the attackers also had been previously reported as calling Palestinian and pro-Palestine students “terrorists” and “Jew killers” but was not sanctioned. After four days of silence, on Jan. 23, Interim Provost Dennis A. Mitchell issued a statement saying “After the Department of Public Safety received an initial complaint late Friday night, the University immediately initiated steps to investigate the incident, and has since been actively working with local and federal authorities. The New York City Police Department is taking the lead role in investigating what appear to have been serious crimes, possibly hate crimes.” This vague statement faced serious criticism as it lacked transparency and simply did not identify the details and the sides in this incident while also not proposing any alternative safety measures for students. However, this is not the first time the Columbia and Barnard administrations failed to protect the pro-Palestine students on campus and their rights. Notably, three weeks after the Oct. 7 attack, the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Barnard College released a statement on their official website declaring their stance on the conflict and said, “We support the Palestinian people who have resisted settler colonial war, occupation, and apartheid for over 75 years while deploring Hamas’s recent killing of Israeli civilians.” Just two days later, this statement was removed from the website by the Barnard administration without prior notice. This violation of academic freedom and freedom of expression in Barnard sparked protests in other American universities. Yet, Barnard refused to take a step back and altered their policies on political activity, website governance, and campus events, expanding their power to decide what is and isn’t considered permitted political speech and gaining the final say on everything published on the Barnard website. The censorship and limitations on freedom of speech were further followed by the banning of student organizations, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) by University Director Minouche Shafik in November. This was the reason why Columbia University's Apartheid Divest was created in the first place. The New York Civil Liberties Union has publicly announced that they will be suing Columbia if they will not lift the suspension of SJP and JVP by March 1. The investigation by the NYPD still is ongoing but the victims are still frustrated by the lack of response from their university. The students who were hospitalized because of skunk spray shared that the Columbia administration refuses to reimburse their medical bills. This whole situation remains highly concerning both for student safety and the future of freedom of expression on campus.

Dès le premier jour où j’ai pris mes fonctions de “Head of logistics”, j’ai tenté à maintes reprises de m’esquisser une image du portrait de ce voyage tant attendu. Pourtant, me voilà une semaine revenue sur les rives de la côte d’Azur, et je peux me permettre d’affirmer avec certitude que les petits moments où je m’autorisais à rêvasser de ce voyage étaient encore loin de ce qui m’attendait. < Back Babel Initiative 2022 ou la Découverte du Pays du Jasmin By Morgane Abbas March 31, 2022 Dès le premier jour où j’ai pris mes fonctions de “ Head of logistics ”, j’ai tenté à maintes reprises de m’esquisser une image du portrait de ce voyage tant attendu. Plus les jours passaient, plus mon imagination était nourrie. Plus les jours passaient, plus l’angoisse de la préparation laissait place à l’excitation du départ. Finalement, plus les jours passaient, plus ce qui n’était qu’un lointain mais ambitieux projet devenait réalité. Pourtant, me voilà une semaine revenue sur les rives de la côte d’Azur, et je peux me permettre d’affirmer avec certitude que les petits moments où je m’autorisais à rêvasser de ce voyage étaient encore loin de ce qui m’attendait. En effet, est-il réellement possible de s’imprégner d’un pays sans avoir touché son sol, respiré son air, goûté à ses délices ? Sans avoir senti son parfum, parlé à sa population et découvert ses paysages ? Pas vraiment. Et puis, ce qui fait sûrement la beauté d’un tel voyage, c’est qu’en réalité, même avec toute l’exactitude avec laquelle mes chers camarades de Babel Initiative et moi-même avons pu l’organiser, c’est peut-être les petits et grands imprévus, les activités décidées sur le tas, les bouts de conversation volés avec les chauffeurs de taxi, les passants, les enfants, les marchands du souk, les serveurs qui on en fait la beauté. En somme, voyager de telle sorte, c’est suivre son programme tout en se laissant guider par les surprises que le vent voyageur a à offrir… Lundi 28 février: Après une arrivée plutôt musclée à l'aéroport de Tunis-Carthage, il était temps pour ce premier jour de laisser place à la découverte de la belle capitale tunisienne. Ainsi, s’est d’abord naturellement organisée la visite de l’imposante avenue “حبيب بورقيبة ” (“Habib Bourguiba”), d’ailleurs au croisement avec l’avenue «محمد الخامس» (“Mohamed V”), elle aussi grandiose. L’avenue émane de la place du 14 janvier 2011, rebaptisée en hommage à la révolution des printemps arabes (bien que le terme ne fasse pas consensus). Elle est marquée par sa grande horloge et la statue du leader Habiba Bourguiba. Cette rue en elle-même permet d’avoir un important aperçu historique et culturel de la ville. De par son son majestueux théâtre municipal construit au début du siècle dernier et marqué par la forme de ses courbes, ses incalculables cafés et restaurants, ses magasins, ses luxueux hôtels, ses banques et ses arbres alignés qui rappellent dans une certaine mesure l’avenue des Champs-Elysées, cette avenue est un dynamique centre de vie. Plus intéressant encore, elle amène directement sur «ساحة الاستقلال» (“la place de l'indépendance"). Une place pas spécialement grande en superficie, mais qui ne l’empêche pas d’être un concentré de monuments historico-culturels et un passage obligatoire pour quiconque s’affirmant touriste à Tunis. Ainsi, en son plein centre s’érige la statue d’une des plus grandes figures qui fait la fierté du peuple tunisien depuis le quatorzième siècle : le sociologue, philosophe et historien Ibn Khaldoun. On retrouve à ses deux extrémités d’un côté l’ambassade de France en Tunisie, de l’autre, la majestueuse cathédrale Saint Vincent de Paul. Puis, en continuant un peu, nous sommes finalement arrivés sur les souks de la fameuse «مدينة» (“la vieille ville”). C’est donc la que notre balade s’est naturellement poursuivie, et nous avons déniché parmi les petites ruelles un magnifique restaurant, «فندق العطارين» (“funduq al attarin") où nous avons pu goûter pour la première fois aux délices de la cuisine tunisienne. L’après-midi, il s’agissait d'assister à une conférence organisée en partenariat avec le Global Institute 4 transitions avec quatre invités d’honneur: l’historienne Sophie Bessis, le philosophe et anthropologue Youssef Seddik, la journaliste Myriam Belkadhi ainsi que l’écrivain, acteur, réalisateur et metteur en scène Raja Farhat. Cette dernière a eu lieu au sein du magnifique palais «دار الأصرم» (“dar alasram”), absolument époustouflant de par ses luxueuses pièces et ses décorations. Il s’agissait alors, notamment dans le cadre des projets menés par les chercheurs, d’écouter ces quatre invités sur des sujets aussi larges que la place du dialecte tunisien dans la sphère publique et la politique, la pertinence de la notion de “tunisianité” ou encore l’évolution de la place du religieux à travers les générations… Mardi 1 mars: À une vingtaine de kilomètres de Tunis, nous voilà maintenant à Sidi bou Saïd, un village qui ne laisse aucun voyageur indifférent. En tout cas, c’était sûrement l’un de mes endroits préférés. Malgré le temps qui n’était pas au rendez-vous, il est difficile de ne pas être séduit par cet endroit que l’on surnomme “le petit paradis blanc et bleu”, qui m’a d’ailleurs rappelé dans une certaine mesure la ville montagneuse marocaine de Chefchaouen qui porte les mêmes couleurs. Sidi bou Saïd se situe néanmoins au bord de la mer, et on confondrait presque la couleur des vagues avec celle des murs des habitations, des cafés et des restaurants. Le village offre une dualité de couleurs réellement agréable pour les yeux. Nous avons donc passé une bonne partie de la journée à visiter la demeure du baron Rodolphe d’Erlanger, peintre franco-britannique de renom ayant vécu entre la fin du XIX ème et la première moitié du XXème siècle. Cette dernière est un joyau luxueux qui regroupe des jardins magnifiquement conçus et ornementés, des pièces réhabilitées pour exposer les travaux du peintre, orientaliste et musicologue ainsi qu’une série de salle dédiées à l’exposition d’éléments culturels à l’instar d’une myriade d’instruments de musique issus du monde oriental, certains étant d’une rareté et d’une ancienneté remarquables. Cet impressionnant palais porte finalement le nom de «النجمة الزهرة» (“l’étoile de Vénus") et il fait désormais office de Centre des Musiques Arabes et Méditerranéennes (CMAM). Également, je peux facilement affirmer que ce mardi fut la journée de découverte gastronomique par excellence. Deux noms s’érigent alors: le «لبلابي» ou “lebalbi” d’un côté, et le «بمبلوني» ou “bambalouni” de l’autre. Le premier est composé principalement de pois-chiches, de pain, de thon et d’épices diverses lorsque le second est un beignet frit et saupoudré de sucre. Je dois avouer avoir eu une petite préférence pour le sucré, car bien que le “leblabi” soit délicieux, je n'étais pas encore habituée au goût très prononcé de la harissa. Pour finir, quoi de mieux que d’apprécier un bon «شاي بالنعنع», un thé à la menthe sur les hauteurs du “café des délices” qui offre à celui qui s’y rend une vue panoramique sur la mer. Mercredi 2 mars: Les équipes de Babel ainsi que celles de “Shadow Babel (sciencespistes ne faisant pas partie de l’association mais ayant effectué le voyage avec nous) se sont rendues sur le site archéologique de Carthage, qui figure au patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO depuis une quarantaine d’années maintenant. Cependant, je n’aurais pas la prétention d’affirmer que nous avons visité l’ensemble du site tant celui-ci est vaste et dispersé. Ainsi, parmi les endroits notables à visiter, on retrouve notamment le quartier Magon, le musée Paléochrétien, les thermes d’Antonin, le Tophet de Salambo, les Villas romaines, le théâtre romain ainsi que l’amphithéâtre. Nous nous sommes principalement attardés sur deux d’entre eux. D’abord, ce que l’on appelle «المنازل الروماني» ou “les villas romaines”: un ensemble de vestiges d’habitations romaines situées aux alentours de la colline de l’Odéon, dont la plus célèbre et la mieux conservée demeure sans hésitation “ la villa de la volière ”. J’ai trouvé cette partie du site archéologique de Carthage agréable à visiter pour se ressourcer. Cet endroit est un mélange de vestiges, de ruines, de végétations dont une présence remarquable de fleurs jaunes qui semble lui donner une dimension hors du temps et de l’espace. C’est également un endroit qui réserve quelques surprises. Quel fut alors mon étonnement lorsqu’en m'éloignant du groupe quelques minutes et en m’embourbant dans quelques passages étroits, par simple curiosité, je suis tombée par hasard sur une magnifique construction architecturale: la mosquée «مالك ابن أنس» ou la mosquée “Malik Ibn Anas”. Dans un second temps, l’équipe s’est dirigée vers «حمامات أنطونيوس» ou “les thermes d’Antonin” qui constituent un ensemble thermal remarquable de par sa superficie et sa conception, le plus grand du continent africain. Ces thermes, qui datent du IIème siècle après Jésus-Christ, sont le résultat des actions de deux grands empereurs romains : Hadrien et évidemment l'empereur Antonin le Pieux qui a donné son nom au site. Pour finir, les activités sur le tas dont je parlais en introduction, c’est précisément ce que nous avons expérimenté ce mercredi soir. Amira, notre camarade qui a aussi fait office de guide et traductrice pendant le séjour avec Nour, nous informe que l’orchestre national de Carthage donne dans la soirée un concert de musique de films dans le fameux théâtre de l’avenue “Habib Bourguiba” évoqué quelques lignes auparavant. Nous avons donc sauté sur l’occasion et la majorité d’entre nous a passé une soirée fantastique bercée par le son des violons, violoncelles, flûtes, percussions et autres merveilles musicales. L’orchestre, dont j’ai été frappé par la dimension intergénérationnelle, nous a fait voyager au cours de la soirée au sein d’une myriade d’univers tous différents les uns des autres: de Marvel à Harry Potter en passant par Pirate des Caraïbes ou Inspecteur Gadget, il y en avait pour tous les goûts ! Finalement, un moment totalement improvisé qui s’est avéré être l’un des plus savoureux. Jeudi 3 mars: Si je puis me permettre d’utiliser un mot du jargon des jeunes, la journée du jeudi fut plus “ chill” et je n’aurais donc pas autant de contenu à exposer. Bien que le groupe fut plus dispersé, chacun vacant aux occupations qui lui plaisait, une bonne partie d’entre nous n’a pas résisté à la tentation de retourner une seconde fois à Sidi Bou Saïd. Nous nous sommes donc retrouvés au bord de la mer et à notre agréable surprise, nous avons passé l’après-midi à discuter, du moins à essayer de communiquer avec un groupe d’enfants tunisiens qui s’avéraient être présents au même endroit et en même temps. Sans Nour et Amira, la communication fut plus compliquée mais nous avons pu nous immiscer complètement dans le dialecte tunisien sous le rire amusé de la bande de copains. Ensuite, nous nous sommes livrés à une partie géante de volley-ball et je dois dire que l’on s’est bien amusés, même si le niveau de l’écrasante majorité reste à déplorer (camarades, vous pardonnerez mon réalisme parfois cru). Vendredi 4 mars: Moment unique du voyage: qui dit vendredi dit “Day-trip” avec un guide présent exprès pour nous ! Journée physiquement fatigante certes, mais de loin l’une des plus enrichissantes, puisqu’elle nous a permis de traverser en quelques heures plusieurs endroits iconiques de la Tunisie. Et bien que le bus qui nous attendait 7 heures pétantes ait pu se dresser comme une épreuve infranchissable pour certains au vu des soirées arrosées de la veille, l’expérience n’était pas regrettable. Premier arrêt: la ville de Testour, un exemple flagrant de la manière dont la trajectoire des pays du Maghreb et de l’Espagne ont été intrinsèquement liés au cours de l’histoire. En effet, Testour est une ville andalouse par excellence puisque la ville, telle qu’on la connaît aujourd’hui, a été fondée peu de temps après la Reconquista qui toucha le Sud de l'Espagne au XVème siècle, par une partie des populations musulmane et juive chassée de cette région. C’est donc réellement au XVIIème siècle que la ville a pris forme. Cet héritage andalou et judéo-musulman est clairement visible, notamment via l’unique Grande Mosquée de Testour. Unique pour deux raisons: d’abord, ses aiguilles tournent dans le sens inverse, et ses chiffres sont aussi positionnés dans le sens inverse des horloges classiques. Encore plus surprenant, on y observe clairement deux étoiles de David qui incarne le judaïsme. La symbolique est donc forte et rappelle que les deux religions arrivaient à coexister de manière pacifique et unie. Deuxième moment fort à Testour: la visite de la maison de «حبيبة مسيكة» (“Habiba Msika”), diva tunisienne morte assassinée à 27 ans par son amant Eliahou Mimouni pour des motifs qui demeurent encore flous. Sa maison est maintenant convertie en centre culturel, on y revient notamment sur sa vie, son parcours et sa fin tragique. Après un passage assez bref au souk de Testour, l’activité physique était au rendez-vous puisque nous avons effectué une randonnée improvisée dans la nature au sein de paysages montagneux à quelques dizaines de kilomètres. Il s’agissait principalement de profiter de la verdure que la nature avait à offrir et du déjeuner en plein air que l’agence de voyage nous avait préparé. Puis, dernière activité de la journée mais pas des moindres: la visite de l’époustouflant site archéologique de Dougga. Ce fut ma visite préférée du voyage. Joyau du patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO depuis 1997, il se veut à lui tout seul être un mélange harmonieux des héritages civilisationnels carthaginois, numide, romains, libyco-puniques et byzantins. Il est important de souligner que c’est le site archéologique romain le mieux conservé d’Afrique du Nord. Nous étions donc en capacité d’observer les ruines du capitole, des habitations, des bains publics, de l'impressionnant théâtre où se déroulaient les activités culturelles… Cette visite m’a marquée parce que personnellement, je ne pouvais pas m’empêcher d’imaginer toutes ces populations qui se sont succédées, influencées mutuellement, et qui étaient présentes sur ce même territoire où je me trouvais des milliers d’années auparavant, en train de construire l’histoire de la Tunisie. Cet article ne saurait être complet sans y inclure le retour d’autres membres ayant pris part au voyage… Lilinaz Hakimi (présidente de Babel Initiative): “Being president of Babel Initiative 2021/2022 was a mix of terrifying , exciting, fascinating, learning on the job and compromising experience. It has been a wonderful year with the team. I think that first of all, on a general basis, the work we did as a board was incredible and exceeded my expectations. As a president, I was a bit unprepared because our previous leaders didn't leave behind much, because of Covid and other restrictions, we didn't really get the association intact. It was kind of dying out and it was our job and our year to fight this association that is the oldest one in Menton campus and history. At first, it was a bit difficult because I think that struggling off with some of the unknown, but having a partner as Leon as a vice-president did make it all better and made it all feel much more manageable. Then, having a team as amazing as the one that we had as a board revived it. The passion, dedication and drive brought by every single member of Babel is what made this year’s trip and this years’ initiative so wonderful. It would not have happened without this. On the other hand, we have our researchers who have been nothing but dedicated to their research. They were here to do on-the-ground research and they took this opportunity seriously. They did a wonderful job while we were in Tunis. For me as a president, I could watch the board take the benefits of being in Tunis after all their hard work and on the other hand, see the researchers exceeding my expectations in the level of dedication and drive. They were committed to what they were doing and they weren’t here just to mess around. Even though I knew the board was amazing, the way that the trip came out, the events we didn't plan, the free day-trip, dinner, the conference… I couldn't have imagined how it would look like until I actually experienced it. It was the work of 30 board members who worked during the whole year. Even during the roughest times having such a team was almost like having a small family, it made it all worth it. I am excited to see what this association does next year and where Babel is going to be taken !” Amira Zargouni (pôle culturel): “C’était fantastique. Déjà, c’est très rare de faire des voyages universitaires où personne ne se fait cambrioler, où personne ne tombe malade la première semaine. C’était juste des moments magnifiques mais surtout successifs, ce que j’ai adoré. C’est difficile de choisir un moment préféré, mais j’ai adoré voir les yeux de chacun en découvrant une nouvelle nourriture ou un nouveau street-food. Également, un de mes moments préférés était lorsque l'on a tous mangé du “leblabi” à Ould el Bey, au cœur de la Marsa. Tout le monde venait entre deux heures de boulot, et nous nous étions là, tous ensemble en train de manger, c’était incroyable. J’ai été très chanceuse parce que beaucoup de personnes de l’équipe parlent arabe, même s’ils sont encore en train d’apprendre. Je n'étais pas toute seule, il y avait également Nour et ça s'est très bien passé. Cela m’a fait bizarre car d’habitude c’est le vol que je fais toute seule, ou je ne connais personne dans l'avion, alors que là j'étais hyper-bien entourée. Pareil chez moi, cela m’a amusée d’avoir des gens dans ma chambre. Aussi beaucoup de fierté, parce que c’est l’occasion d’être la mini-ambassadrice pour le coup, je vous ai fait faire ce que je fais en un mois, en une semaine.” Ishan Nathaini (pôle logistique) : “Tunis was more than a research trip to me. It was about interacting with locals, imbibing myself into the tunisian culture (getting a tunisian haircut done), and most importantly creating new bonds with some Mentonese people I had never spoken to on campus. Tunisia is a country which felt just like my home country, India, except the signs were in Arabic. Everyone we spoke to was so welcoming, providing us with some really tasty Makloub (a Tunisian specialty) for free as tourists. In summation, it was an experience worth remembering. I can’t wait to go back to Tunisia again, but this time fully immersing into the culture and learning Arabic!” Virginia Barchiesi (pôle des chercheurs) : “Traveling to Tunisia with Babel as a member of the Board has been an extremely enriching and exciting experience. I have been able to learn more about the heritage and the culture of this amazing country through the eyes of our Tunisian board members as well as thanks to the incredible on the ground work of our dedicated team of researchers. From the enchanting ruins of Carthage, to the rooftop sunsets at the Medina and the sweetness of Bambalouni, Tunisia has been a whirlwind of memorable delights. A top highlight for me has been immersing in the local Friday market of Testour. Hearing a language we mostly wouldn’t understand, sharing a glimpse of a daily life so different from what we are used to, yet so similar, a whirlwind of different sensations made me feel completely and fully in that moment in time and place, present. A trip we surely won’t forget.” Celeste Abourjeili (membre de Shadow babel) : “What Babel was doing was super cool and the research projects seemed really interesting. I really appreciated the effort of Babel to include Shadow Babel into the events. Going to the theater was fun and free, which is cool and I think it was nice to be able to join the big group while being able to have a smaller group. Overall, I really loved the experience of Shadow Babel.” Voilà, je crois avoir déjà beaucoup bavarder. Je rajouterais simplement ces quelques mots. Existerait-il finalement une meilleure sensation que celle de voir se réunir de manière si harmonieuse les efforts, émis pendant plusieurs mois, d’un ensemble d’individualités, qui s’expriment de la manière la plus flagrante et surtout naturelle, au cours d’une semaine petite par la durée mais pourtant si grande par l’expérience ? Parce que oui, je reste intimement persuadée que voyager est l’une des plus belles opportunités que la vie a à offrir, parce que c’est la façon la plus parfaite d’appréhender l’autre comme son parfait égal tout en mettant en valeur sa différence. Voyager, c’est enfreindre la loi de la distance pour embrasser celle de l’humanité. Voyager, c’est aussi apprendre à connaître ses camarades de travail sous un autre angle, en nous rappelant par la même occasion que notre perception de nous-même et des autres est si partielle et petite. En tout cas, si Ibn Battûta disait lui-même que “ voyager vous laisse d’abord sans voix, avant de vous transformer en conteu r”, j’espère alors avoir pu être à la hauteur de cette maxime. Je souhaite finalement adresser mes chaleureux remerciements à la présidente de Babel Initiative pour l’année 2021/2022, Lilinaz Hakimi, ainsi qu’au vice-président Leon Oberreiter, qui ont fourni un travail acharné de longue haleine remarquable pour que ce voyage ait lieu ainsi que tous mes autres camarades du board: Nour Chérif, Amira Zargouni, Ecem Olanca, Garance Cointepas, Lucile Bourrin, Nikola Avramovic, Virginia Barchiesi, Ishan Naithani, Wang Di ainsi que Frida Hellen. Ces remerciements s’adressent également à l’ensemble des chercheurs qui se sont investis dans ce projet qui ont rendu cette expérience unique : Aya Abdoh el Marrakchi, Zineb Bel Mahjoubi, Anis Karrakchou, Nadine Zaki, Bianca Carrera Espriu, Ella Mae, Viktoria Iskina, Vasco Queiro, Stanislaw Naklicki, Sienna Bertamini, Markus Vaher, Luca Utterwulghe, Lenora Dsouza, Kareena Maniyar, Benjamin Vitenson, et Alicia Barker Astrom.

< Back The French Visa Process Proves To Be Unequal for Sciences Pistes By Catarina Vita September 25, 2022 The blue of the Mediterranean peeking out of the classroom window, the strong yet nurturing smell of lemonade and kebabs, and the endless stairs unite the diverse students from Sciences Po. In the buzz of “where are you from?” and “where do you live?” since Integration Week , there is only one question left unanswered in every small talk session: “how did you get here?” On the rare occasion that this question gets explicitly asked, the usual responses range from five-hour train rides to two overnight plane trips. However, modes of transport do not adequately characterize how students really got here: bureaucracy, immigration, and, of course, visas. From Morocco to the United States, it is known that being an international student requires not only unique academic recognition and unforgettable letters of recommendation but patience and the means to navigate the bureaucracy of French immigration. Students have distinct experiences due to their origins and nationalities in the visa-clinching process. Three 1As from Australia, South Africa and Indonesia have agreed to talk anonymously about their immigration processes. When I asked the Australian student about their visa process, I heard sighs and saw an expression of distress. “Basically, I’m a Finnish citizen, so I shouldn’t have needed to get a visa in the first place. However, because my European passport has expired, I had to apply to get a visa in France.” They submitted their visa application three months before integration week, and their Australian passport was sent away with it. Yet, two weeks before they left for Menton, the visa was nowhere to be found. During these few days of disorder and stress, 300 euros were dedicated exclusively to the visa office. “I had no choice but to cancel my visa application, so I could at least retrieve back my Australian passport before I leave.” After reacquiring their passport, they crossed the world from Perth, Australia, to Paris, France, to renew their European passport. “I went through all this trouble to apply for a visa, and I couldn’t even get it at the end.” This friend and colleague, who went through the grueling Sciences Po admissions process, had an experience that highlights the notoriously unsatisfactory French immigration and bureaucratic processes. Thankfully, they are here now, but undergoing this stressful process and having 300 euros of expenses causes study-abroad-related trauma. An Indonesian English track 1A had similar horror stories during their visa quest. They forwarded me a four-page document with all the elements required to obtain a French visa. The items ranged from proof of proficiency in the French language to a CV and a motivational letter. On the first page of four, the guiding document warns, “Missing document = incomplete file = high risk of visa refusal and lengthen the visa issuance process.” One WiFi glitch while submitting the visa application or one misinterpretation of the directions in the guide would be practically synonymous with the annulment of your studies at Sciences Po. On the South African side, the immigration process was less demanding. Our interviewee, an English track 1A, described the privilege of being a South African and a Belgian citizen. “I was born in Belgium, but I’ve lived in South Africa my whole life, so my identity is enough to get to Europe at any point.” As our conversation progressed, we reflected upon how the spiraling labyrinth of becoming an international student in France is cut in half by having a European Union-approved document. Amidst my friend’s many notable reflections on this matter, one direct quote struck me the most: “That’s actually a really big problem because if I only had a South African identity, I probably wouldn’t be here right now.” My friend’s comments raised a relevant point about how privilege is not limited solely to economic resources or education. In the French visa process, certain identities are advantaged over others. Sciences Po’s Menton’s diversity imbues the city with rich stories and unprecedented experiences. Besides undergoing the sciencepiste admissions process and graduating high school with excellence — which is hard enough for a teenager — the French immigration process also needed to be confronted. For some of us, losing the battle with the visa office resulted in a denial letter; this one, not from Sciences Po, but the French government. Hopefully, raising awareness about the disparity among nationalities during the visa process will end this unequal treatment. Only then can the responses to the question “how did you get here?” merely refer to means of transportation.

When I first announced to my family that I would be doing my parcours civique with Care4Calais, a British organization that provides non-food items to refugees, most of my relatives acted as if I was about to become a war photographer in Sudan. Despite them, I managed to not have any image of Calais in mind before actually arriving. So what was Calais really like? < Back Calais: Between Migration and Solidarity Ema Nevřelová September 25, 2025 As I wrapped up my first year in Menton and embarked on a 16-hour train ride to the very north point of France, Calais, I had an intuition that the experience would be life-changing. If the first year of Sciences Po had taught me anything, it was definitely how to find ways to leave Menton, and France in general. So, the prospect of having to spend an extra month in France for my parcours civique was probably as thrilling as sitting through four hours of Jean-Pierre Filiu’s Question of Palestine . Painful, but somehow worth it in the end. War zone or just a regular town? When I first announced to my family that I would be doing my parcours civique with Care4Calais , a British organization that provides non-food items to refugees, most of my relatives acted as if I was about to become a war photographer in Sudan. Despite them, I managed to not have any image of Calais in mind before actually arriving. So what was Calais really like? Maybe it was the breeze of fresh air when I left the crowded, non-air-conditioned carriage of my train, or perhaps it was the image of finally having a bed to sleep in that made me instantly fall in love with my new short-term home. When I got out of the train station, I mostly could see young male migrants sitting on nearby benches.. Some of them I later recognized as I started volunteering. Contrary to the well-intentioned warnings from my family members, they were unfettered by my presence and were more interested in conversations with their friends. Give North of France a chance While dragging my suitcase around town, one of the first things that caught my eye, was Hotel de Ville de Calais. This breathtaking building towers over the rest of the city highlighting the striking contrast of once a wealthy region with today’s reality, because the rest of the city centre essentially resembles a ghost-town. For context, the North of France has historically profited from coal and textile production. During the economic recession in the 1970s the region took a hit. The main source of wealth was coal and textile but both of the industries started diminishing as the coal ran out. Not to mention, that the region was, and still remains, underfunded by the government. In 2015, for example, around 18.1 % of the city’s population lived below the poverty line. The average for France at the time was 14.2 %. Its portrayal in the media as a city struggling with migrants did not help its image, especially as the town mostly profited from tourists from the UK. Despite the dismal situation some of the citizens find themselves in, they still feel empathetic towards refugees. For example, the owner of the restaurant Mirador said : “I don't blame the migrants, they aren't aggressive and I do feel sorry for them, but I want to retire. My restaurant has been on the market for two years, but not one person has expressed any interest. I am 70 years old and penniless. Here in Calais, we are all on our knees.” Coming to Calais, Mirador was one of the first places I saw and thought of having lunch at. But as I learned on Google maps it was closed as well as most of the other restaurants in Calais. As someone who experienced France, mainly in Menton, where shops are open even on Sunday due to the number of tourists, this was a shock. The only place I could eat my lunch at on Monday was a fast-food place, the chain called O’Tacos. One of the first discoveries I made during this “life-changing” journey was that the French have their own tacos. Ema Nevřelová 2025 The House of Horror I chose to stay in a house that accommodates some of the volunteers for Care4Calais. That being said, I did not expect the place to be luxurious—I have stayed in my fair share of hostels to know better. However, the fact that the place did not have walls or more specifically plaster-covered the insulation was a little concerning. Not to mention the occasional mold. Yet, there is no better bonding topic than paying 20 euros per night for a housing that was almost, quite literally, falling apart. Still, as someone privileged enough to be able to afford it, it was really the least I could do to contribute to the economy of the city. Elitist friendships To make up for all the things the house did not provide, I got to live under one roof with people so like-minded and funny as were my housemates. Most of them volunteered with me, making it feel like a coincidental summer camp. Somehow, this experience managed to cure my absolute dread of summer camps. Collective dinners, ice creams on the beach, hour-long walks home, beers in La Betterave (the best bar in Calais) not only made us closer but allowed us to share tough days at work, our personal life or the stupidest little things you can imagine. In a true non-elitist nature, the people I became the closest with were mostly students from other Sciences Po campuses. Whether it was the proximity of our beds or internalised elitism, having people of roughly the same age to share Calais with, turned out to be a necessity. Because hardly anyone can grasp the magical dimension of playing football in heavy rain with the refugees. Ema Nevřelová 2025 Even your brother could be staying in the ‘Orange squat’ One thing that immediately caught the attention of many volunteers in Calais is how many young boys were living there. The idea of sending my 16-years-old brother across several countries without knowing if he survives the journey makes me nauseous. Not to mention that behind each of these boys is usually a family that made a lot of sacrifices to send him on the way. Yet, these people are still often treated as less than an annoying mosquito you are desperately trying to get out of your house. The “real” house these young men live in is called the ‘Orange squat.’ Hearing from people who have, it is inhabited by about 500 people living in tents. The toilets inside are not in the best condition. When I was leaving Calais an unofficial source claimed that Orange squat will likely be evicted some time in September. It belongs to a private owner, who decided— apparently with the light push from the city council— to take the place back. In reality, this means that the boys will go through brutal police eviction. The police will take all their possessions and they will be boarded on buses and driven outside of Calais towards government-run facilities. For NGOs operating in Calais, it means that they have to stock up as many tents, sleeping bags, and other necessities as possible. Working for Care4Calais definitely made me understand how Sisyphian their work is. Waiting as a lifestyle What I realized during my parcours civique is that the life of migrants is full of waiting. Whether it is waiting to save enough money to make the journey to Europe, or waiting for the asylum claim to be processed, to mundane things like waiting in line for food, clothes, showers, or whatever else they need. Every time I now find myself grumpily waiting at the post office in Menton to send my letter, I remember that having to wait occasionally is a privilege. In this fast-paced era waiting often feels like a punishment but seeing people having to wait for everything that I can buy in under 10 minutes truly made me understand the real-life consequences of all the privileges I have. Despite the waiting, most of the men and women I met remain positive. Whether they were filming Tik Toks, dancing or playing football, they seemed to enjoy every moment to the fullest. I often come back to many of the interactions I had. Once I was distributing clothes and shoes to women and children, and I encountered a young pregnant woman with her son who could not have been more than one-years-old. When we found shoes that were her size, she was overjoyed. “I can run fast again from the police,” she said laughing. The ability to joke in spite of the horrors she must have been through amazed me and horrified me at the same time. Ema Nevřelová 2025 But what about migration? The reason I did not start my article by focusing on the situation of the refugees is because Calais is so much more than just a politicized space exploited in the anti-immigration discourse. It would be easy to say that its citizens are radicalized nationalists. Especially as in the 2024 parliamentary elections, the region of Pas-de-Calais elected a candidate from the Rassemblement national—a nationalist party that was led by far-right Marine Le Pen until 2021. As always, reality is much more complicated. In 2015 France24 interviewed inhabitants of Calais and it turned out despite their preference for far-right parties they feel solidarity with the refugees. In fact, some of the Calais population provides housing , food, clothes and whatever else is needed despite dealing with poverty themselves. Between the UK and France On a political level one of the issues that refugees face is a lack of safe routes. Asylum seekers coming to the UK have no other possibility of applying for a visa than physically arriving in the country on a small boat or by lorry but even this is persecuted and extremely dangerous. On the other hand, the Ukrainian asylum seekers have had the opportunity to apply for asylum from outside of the country under the ‘Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme.’ This shows how much the system in place is rooted in racism. Being white and European changes the dynamics of migration completely. Yet, the UK and France refuse to take accountability for essentially trapping people in Calais because of their policies. Their newest policy is called the ‘one in, one out’ scheme agreed between Sir Keir Starmer, the UK Prime Minister and Emanuelle Macron, the French President. Essentially, it means that for each person the UK deports back to France, it will accept another person who has not yet attempted to cross the channel. As of September 19th, the first person of Indian nationality has already been deported under the scheme. What will be the fate of Calais in the future remains unclear. But whether you are looking to cleanse yourself of Menton, learn more about refugees and their lives, or just desperately need a parcours civique, Care4Calais offers all of that and more. I believe that with every volunteer that comes to Calais the city becomes less of a politicized crossing point and more of a place of solidarity and community that I experienced.

Enfants de la débauche, amants de la culture, partisans de l'hédonisme, ce message vous est adressé. < Back Association Feature: Sciences Alcoolémique By Victor Wauters March 31, 2022 "Ô vous qui avez cru, les boissons enivrantes, les jeux d'argent, les stèles et les flèches divinatoires ne sont qu'une souillure, l’œuvre du diable. Écartez-vous de lui, afin que vous réussissiez." -Texte saint non défini "Boire du vin et étreindre la beauté vaut mieux que l'hypocrisie du dévot." -Omar Khayyam Enfants de la débauche, amants de la culture, partisans de l'hédonisme, ce message vous est adressé. Vous vous reconnaitrez car ces traits bousculent la conformité sociale qui règne et ne passent donc jamais inaperçus. Vous vous reconnaîtrez aussi car c’est le cœur qui parle et rien n’est plus fort que le lien entre deux âmes connectées. Nous ne sommes pas des alcoolistes radicaux, nous ne sommes pas non plus des fous inconscients, ni même des dangereux toxicomanes, mais plutôt des illuminés de la vie et de tout ce qu’il y a de plus beau, touchés par l’inspiration divine et éclairés par la lueur interne et éternelle de la folie carpe diemienne. L’alcool, pour reprendre les mots de Braudel, est “un voyageur clandestin infatigable”, qui parcourt un chemin accidenté, truffé de fanatisme, d’interdits, de morale hypocrite et accusatrice, qui abreuve les sillons qu’il trace de rêves et de comptes des milles et une nuits. Trop longtemps, ce mode de vie a été répudié, dénigré, traité de souillure par des pseudo-dévots aigris, mais safi , khalas , la reconquête titubante mais insoumise est en marche. Levez vous, bien droits, avec fierté! Ne vous cachez pas, nous savons qui vous êtes, cela serait de fuir le devoir qui vous appelle. Ne soyez pas des alcooliques anonymes mais plutôt des bon-vivants assumés! Vous savez aussi qui nous sommes, car les bruits courent et se répandent comme une traînée de poudre dans ce petit village perdu. Mais n’ayez pas peur, nous vous tendons la main, nous vous tendons un verre aussi, un verre de cette potion divine. La potion de tous les possibles. La grandeur et la décadence sont une science, alcoolémique, que nous explorerons ensemble et dont nous serons les pionniers. Que cet opium éthylique devienne la religion du peuple! Nous vous tendons la main, d’une main ferme et sûre d’elle, qui n’a de but que de lier les humains entre eux, de les faire se rejoindre pour former une communauté unie, un groupe d’illuminés heureux, pour danser entre nous, alcoolistes, la valse à trois temps des alcools de nos vies. Une équipe de 16 tarés, certains diront, ou de 16 personnes inspirées, passionnés, mais surtout 16 personnes unies par des liens indéchiffrables aux yeux de ces moralisateurs aigris et cyniques. Remontons à la source de cette fontaine de jouvence. Il fut un temps, à Menton, ou la conscience collective ne reconnaissait pas l’importance de ce Call of the Wild intrinsèque à l’humain, ou du moins, elle ne la reconnaissait pas à sa juste valeur. Voyez cela comme une Jahiliya de la sobriété. Il aura fallu que trois fous goûtent à ce liquide d’outre-monde, qu’ils s'imprègnent de ces effluves de rhum dans leurs voix qui chantent, qu’ils touchent à cette vision a mi-chemin entre le mirage alcoolisée et la rêverie mystique pour que le campus sème la voix de la raison en faveur du murmur de l’instinct. Il fallait transmettre ce message, impérativement, éclairer, émouvoir. D’abord avec les moyens du bord armés un petit appartement et un grand cœur, de petits groupes mais de grands verres, de petits moyens mais de grandes rencontres. A coups de pas de danses chaloupés, de discours biscornus et d’amour mutuel, ils ont entrepris ce projet. Un an plus tard, 13 personnes rejoignent le navire à la conquête de nouveaux horizons, des vignobles du sud de la France aux champs de citronniers de Campanie, en passant par la cuisine marocaine. Ces moussaillons des mers d’alcools sont là pour vous guider dans votre voyage sensoriel. L’idée n’est pas de libérer un déferlement de pulsions alcooliques, mais plutôt de vous faire découvrir l’amour de la vie, d’une autre manière. Les grands démagogues vous ont parlés de conquête de l’espace, inutile d’aller aussi loin, nous vous parlons de la conquête de vous mêmes, des sensations que votre corps vous procurera, des idées foudroyantes que votre esprit fera naître. Prenez le temps, ou plutôt trouvez le temps, de nous rejoindre, le temps d’un soir ou les temps de plusieurs verres, pour embrasser la vie et vous délecter de ce breuvage qui vous fera goûter au paradis. Ce liquide miraculeux de ceux qui vous donnent envie de vivre car oui, cette boisson c’est de l’eau de vie. Laissez nous vous guider sans crainte dans cet univers salvateur mais résolument pieux régi par une autre temporalité et une autre divinité, puisque le génie sort de la bouteille. Goûtez à une nouvelle réalité! Si nous ne pouvons pas arrêter la débauche, c’est qu’elle constitue un pilier fondamental de la nature humaine. C’est la victoire de l'éthanol sur l’obscurantisme car l’ivresse illumine! Vin sec et mat!

It cannot be questioned. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has become the first hybrid war in history — taking place on the ground and online. < Back How Russians Are Using Cyber Warfare against Ukraine By Isabella Hehl Dalla Zuanna March 31, 2023 The use of cyber warfare in the Ukraine War is both underreported and of unprecedented magnitude. As Ukraine has been a cyber battlefield since the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War on Feb. 20, 2014, the amount of cyberattacks dramatically increased since the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. Yet, their efficiency and severity have been called into question recently, as it seems that in the last year, Russian cyber attacks have become less effective. However, especially following the Ukrainian cyber response, it cannot be questioned that this war has become the first hybrid war in history — taking place on the ground and online. Internationally, there is little common knowledge about the Russo-Ukrainian War before the invasion of 2022 and about the role of cyber attacks in this conflict. In fact, these have been some of the most vicious and disruptive cyberattacks seen in the world. The first malignant onslaught in 2014 targeted the Ukrainian central election commission. This was the first presidential election after Ukraine’s revolution for independence from Russia, and as a result of Russian interference, far-right candidate Dmytro Yarosh won by an overwhelming margin. The purpose was to support the Russian narrative that Ukraine was secretly controlled by neo-Nazis.When the Russian media broadcasted the news of Yarosh’s win, the Russian public only saw the narrative propagated by their government despite Ukrainian hacking accusations. In 2015, Sandworm, a notorious group of Russian hackers, took over Russia’s cyberwarfare attacks in Ukraine, targeting their media, power grid, and government agencies. This was the first time in history that hackers triggered a blackout, during which they destroyed hundreds of computers, turned off the backup power supply, and even bombarded government agencies with fake phone calls to worsen the chaos. While this blackout only lasted six hours, it had a clear goal: to terrorize Ukrainians. Sandworm continued its attacks, and in 2016, it led to the Kiev power plant hack, in which government agencies and national financial organizations were attacked. As a result, terabytes of information were lost and another blackout ensued. The state’s entire financial plan for the year was wiped. As an escalation of 2015’s attack and as an attempt to cause physical harm, Sandworm disabled safety systems in this transmission so that when Ukrainian operators came to turn the power back on, there would be a current overload that would cause explosions and injuries. Fortunately, a small mistake in Sandworm’s attack prevented this from occurring. In 2017, Sandworm’s infamous NotPetya attack unleashed the NotPetya malware, which contained a data-destroying piece of code. To execute this plan and spread the malware, Sandworm accessed civilian information through national institutions such as hospitals, and Ukrainians across the country received ransom threats that demanded money to retrieve their now encrypted documents. However, even if they paid the ransom, they would not retrieve their data, as the goal was not necessarily to make money but to damage IT systems. This worm later spread across the border, and impacted companies all over the world, such as Maersk, FedEx, Mondalez and Merck. As a result, thousands of shipments across the world were disrupted, and billions of dollars were lost. These attacks did not stop with the Russian escalation of the Ukraine War in 2022. Immediately before the Russian invasion in February, there was another cyber attack during which hundreds of computers were broken. Although it has not been confirmed if this was because of Sandworm, it can be assumed that the goal was to disrupt communication before the Russian military began their invasion. Arguably, cyber-attacks have contributed to the war in two main ways since 2022: decreasing communication and trust. At the start, Russia launched multiple relatively effective cyberattacks against Ukraine, targeting the country’s ability to communicate. However, the impact of these attacks dimmed, and seems to make little difference now. Furthermore, on both sides, each government has taken national civil action to take down each other’s websites, spreading misinformation and decreasing civilian trust in their governments. Perhaps, the reason why recent attacks have had less of an impact can be attributed to two main reasons: Russian brutality and incompetence, which seemingly have prevented Moscow from properly leveraging acquired cyber intelligence, and secondly, the resilience of the Ukrainian state and cyber-infrastructure, developed as a result of years of vicious Russian cyber attacks. Overall, it seems as though cyber warfare seems to be much more effective and resonant in periods of mild peace rather than full-scale war or other active military campaigns. Furthermore, Russia seems to be struggling with how to effectively launch such attacks and has instead benefited much more from non-cyber intelligence, such as human agents, imagery and signal intercepts. Ukraine has responded with its own version of cyber tactics through social media, where it uses Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and more to rally international support, which may have helped garner sanctions against Russia. These have also been accompanied by strong Ukrainian encouragement to boycott Russia, which has resulted in certain Russian athletes being forbidden from participating in certain international competitions. Even companies such as Apple ceased the export of their products to sale channels in Russia. While such methods are not significant enough to impact Vladimir Putin, it certainly influences Russian citizens, which is also highly important. Moreover, Ukraine invested in its own use of cyber warfare and established its own IT army on day three of the Russian invasion. Only several days after its creation, it already consisted of over 277,000 volunteers, many of whom were underground hackers who had been implored by Ukraine to put their skills to good use. Ukraine used its IT army to cause chaos and disturbance in Russia by giving it tasks to implement certain campaigns. For example, task number one stated that “we encourage you to use any vectors of cyber and DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks on these resources,” naming resources that were business corporations such as Gazprom, banks such as Sberbank, and state organizations such as Moscow State Services. These tasks were often translated into English to encourage hackers from all over the world to participate in this digital warfare effort. This was a highly unusual form of hostility raising a lot of insecurity in other countries and the cyber world: if a hacker from a country outside of Ukraine, for example, Germany, were to be found hacking a Russian company, would Russia see it as an act of aggression by that country? However, even with these doubts, thousands of international hackers volunteered and participated to complete new tasks that were posted every several hours, already from the beginning of the invasion. The goal of this mission was to cause as much chaos and inconvenience as possible for Russia. While taking websites offline will not change the war, it will help garner a public international image that is anti-Russia and will force Russia to undertake additional efforts, money and energy to fight on the digital front. Last September, Ukraine’s IT army even collaborated with Anonymous, a decentralized hacktivist collective known for its cyberattacks against multiple governments, government agencies and the Church of Scientology, to hack Russia, showing how international the digital war effort has become. Other hacktivist groups that have volunteered to participate in the Russo-Ukrainian War are notably AgainstTheWest, BlackHawks, GhostSec and RaidForums Admin on the pro-Ukraine side, and Free Civilian, The Red Bandits and Gamaredon on the pro-Russian side. Overall, most volunteer hacktivists have joined the Ukrainian effort, showing the effectiveness of their media campaigns and cyber warfare methods. Concerning the Ukrainian use of cyber warfare to destabilize and hinder Russia, Ukrainian SciencesPiste Anna Hazolyshyn explained, “We have to use every possible way to protect and defend ourselves, and cyber security is just one of the aspects of that. And although to some people it may seem unnecessary, ultimately it contributes to our victory.” She went on to explain that the Russian cyber-attacks taking place since 2014, while perhaps serious, have had less impact on Ukrainian morale than is often assumed: “Russia was really trying to use these fear tactics to spread chaos and feelings of fear, but luckily Ukrainians became good at filtering the information and to not get emotional and fearful of hypothetical threats that were never proven to be true. The fact that even I, as a general citizen and a person who reads the news, the fact that I don’t remember the threats (of 2016’s Kiev’s power grid attack) being of such significance also tells us that they weren’t successful.” In conclusion, the first hybrid war shows previously unused forms of cyberattacks and targeted digital warfare in parallel to traditional military and nuclear efforts. While it cannot be questioned that these new cyber methods have had a great international impact, it still must be asserted that the latter is much more significant. Although cyber warfare plays a role in this conflict, it is only secondary and cannot unleash the same amount of death and destruction as armies, bullets and bombs. Nevertheless, Ukraine’s impressive digital developments could still continue to be a significant war effort, and if efficiently improved, could maybe even make a real difference against a digitally weak Russia. However, the most important contribution to the war is international support: Hazolyshyn stated that “many people in the West really don’t think that events happening in Ukraine and Georgia can affect them because it’s on the other side of the world.” However, Russia has been leading cyberattacks against Western countries as well, such as the U.S. and U.K. This war, therefore, involves us all. As stated by Hazolyshyn, “it is not just about Ukraine. It is about global security and democratic security.”

October’s association events, summarized for you. < Back October Associations Recap By Celeste Abourjeili October 31, 2021 Cinementongraphe x SPRH “Capernaum” movie screening In a collaboration, Cinementongraphe and SciencesPo Refugee Help hosted a movie screening-turned-fundraiser featuring the Lebanese film “Capernaum” on Wednesday, October 10. Debate Society drunk debates In its second annual drunk debate on Saturday, October 9 the Debate Society kicked off its season discussing the topic of hookup culture in Menton. The opposing side (arguing against hookup culture) won, led by 2A Ada Baser and 1A Felipe Boitard. The society’s drunken spectators eventually ended up at Bastion, and those who lasted till the end of the night found themselves at Sablettes. Philosophical Society discussions The brand new Mentonese Philosophical Society, led by a team of six, kicked off its first year with two insightful events. On October 3, it organized a discussion on personal ethics at student house Soundproof, and on October 24, an investigation of the alt-right at student house Brothel. TASA movie screening The Thracian andAnatolian Student Association screened the mini-documentary “Coğrafya Kader” (Geography is Destiny) on Saturday, October 9 which features the wife Selahattin Demirtaş, a politician in the HDP who is currently incarcerated. Later on, the group discussed the status, treatment, and rights of Turkish Kurds. Amnesty movie screening On Sunday, October 10, Amnesty International held a screening of the movie “l’État du Texas contre Melissa” (the state of Texas vs Melissa). The movie discussed the case of Melissa Lucio, a mother charged with killing her daughter. Melissa was charged with the death penalty and is currently on death row. The movie focuses on the ambiguity of the case and the lack of a concrete story and evidence regarding the crime. The movie was chosen in remembrance of the abolishment of the death penalty in France 40 years ago and focuses on the danger of the death penalty when ones guilt is not fully sure. Environnementon Spa Night Following midterms for 1As and many 2As on Saturday, October 16, Environnementon hosted a spa night at 1A-run student house Gar Hira. Students were able to unwind with face masks and by making their own healthy and sustainable deodorant. La Fabrique Politique: Politiquerie La Fabrique Politique a organisé sa deuxième politiquerie le dimanche 17 octobre. C'était l'occasion fortuite pour échanger idées, réflexions et propositions sur un thème à la couleur chaude, “la cancel culture : une censure bénéfique?” Les participants se sont engagés dans un débat de plus d'une heure, ponctué par deux passionnants et éloquents plaidoyers. Babel Museum The Babel initiative presented the Babel museum: an event to highlight the past trips of the Babel board and researchers on Friday, October 22. The event included the Babel wall, now located in Espace Étudiant, with pictures of these different experiences. Videos showing off the immersive experience of past Babel trips alongside an off-campus MENA bake sale perfectly kicked off the Babel initiative’s cultural events. BDE Halloween Fair As one of the many Halloweekend activities, the Bureau des Élèves held a Fall Festival on the SciencesPo Menton campus on Thursday, October 28. Students were able to play games such as bean bag toss, ring toss, pin the hat on the witch, etc. and partake in activities like pumpkin painting after a few stressful weeks of midterms and projects. SSA: Homesickness The Student Support Alliance hosted an event on homesickness on Thursday, October 7 filled with cozy vibes and autumn treats. The group talked about what it means to be away from home for them, and about the parts of home that they carry with them. October Rose Run (BDS x FU x RacingClub) In a mega-collaboration, the Bureau Des Sports, Feminist Union, and Racing Club brought awareness to the battle against breast cancer on Sunday, October 3. UNICEF On Sunday, October 10, UNICEF held a yoga session on Sablettes to kick off Mental Health Week and help students unwind. The session was led by 2As Lilinaz Hakimi and Daniel Santana.

Long ago, Palestine was at the heart of the intoxicating idea of Arab solidarity. Now, it struggles to retain its legitimacy in an increasingly splintered SWANA region. In light of warming relations with Israel across the Arab world, it seems as though Palestine’s last true allies are deserting. < Back The Fairytale of Arab Unity: Israeli-Arab Ties Strengthen By Lara-Nour Walton November 29, 2021 Once upon a time, an anticolonial fervor bound the Arabic-speaking countries together. Once upon a time, the Arab Enlightenment, Al-Nahda, prompted the espousement of Nasser’s and Gadaffi’s quixotic, pan-Arab ideals. Once upon a time, the Palestinian plight was something other Arabs, a people all too familiar with the consequences of colonial pursuit, could relate to; still fresh in my great-grandmother’s mind 50 years later was the sound of bagpipes from the British occupation in Egypt. But, the SWANA region has become fragmented over the years. The memory of occupation is far more distant among the newer generations, and solidarity with Palestine has only diminished as a result. This dwindling support is evident in regional pro-Israel policy shifts. Until recently, there had been bad blood between the Gulf States and Israel. Saudi Arabia, especially, had remained a staunch supporter of the Palestinians — in 1973, it even enforced an oil embargo against the U.S. for backing Israel during the Yom Kippur War. This demonstration of Saudi’s past willingness to jeopardize its valuable American alliance proved its loyalty to the Palestinian cause. That is why the world was stunned when late last year, Saudi Arabia appeared to be open to normalization with Israel. This paradigm shift followed the signing of the Abraham Accords, which afforded fellow GCC members, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, normal diplomatic relations with Israel. During his rule, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud refused any normalization until Israel restored the 1967 borders. But his son, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, who has taken over from the King almost entirely, is not as attached to the Palestinian cause as his father. His desire to appease the West and safeguard his Kingdom’s regional hegemony against Iran undoubtedly informed his choice to normalize ties with Israel. The potency of U.S. influence cannot be understated when analyzing the diplomatic reordering of the SWANA region. In September 2020, Sudan joined the Abraham accords with the promise that the U.S. remove it from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism and lift sanctions. Similarly, Morocco’s December 2020 move to join the agreement was largely predicated on Washington’s conditional pledge to affirm Morocco’s claim over the disputed Western Sahara. In effect, Palestinians, according to Ahmad Majdalani , member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee, feel abandoned “by the Arab nation(s) leaving them to remain locked in an untenable status quo.” As a result of U.S. sway in the region, SWANA diplomatic decisions are almost always made at the expense of Palestine. Consequently, Israel is rewarded for conceding nothing. This trend has continued, this time in Jordan. Despite a 1994 Peace Treaty , the Hashemite Kindom’s relationship with Israel has been tenuous over the past two decades, largely due to King Abdullah’s sympathy for Jordan's sizeable and ever-growing Palestinian population. At the core of Jordanian foreign policy has been the demand for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with an East Jerusalem capital. Under former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jordan-Israel bilateral relations grew icy. However, one of the top priorities of the new premier, Naftali Bennet, is to thaw those relations. In his bid to do this, he and Jordan engaged in what Gidon Bromberg, Israel’s director of the regional environmental group EcoPeace Middle East, said is the “largest water sale in the history of the two countries.” This water deal stipulates that the H2O-deficient Kingdom is set to receive double the amount of fresh water from Israel than it had before. But, to Jordanian English Track 1A, Sami Omaish, this deal is far from magnanimous. “Israel diverts water from the Jordan River. It is hypocritical that they steal Jordanian water and then sell it back for Jordanian money.” However, Jordan’s top envoy does not seem to be phased by this apparent injustice. He reported that he and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid intend for this to be the first in a series of deals towards “a just and comprehensive peace” between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom. On the same day as the water deal, Jordan accused Israel of committing war crimes for the forced eviction of Palestinians from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. But despite Amman’s frequent condemnations of Israeli human rights abuses, there is little to no firm action to match its threatening rhetoric. Perhaps it is simply advantageous for a country in drought to be chummy with one of the world’s leaders in desalination. Or maybe King Abdullah seeks diplomatic realignment with Israel to maintain the $1.5 billion in annual aid from pro-Israel lawmakers in Washington. Regardless of the reasoning, Jordan’s support as one of Palestine’s most devoted advocates is waning. Palestine found a home in what senior associate member of Oxford’s St. Antony’s College, Hussein Agha, calls the “Third World Movement,” a period during the mid-20th century characterized by pushes for liberationism and anti-colonialism. However, according to Agha , “many of the Palestinians’ former Third World allies (like India and Vietnam) have chosen economic self-interest in place of ideological commitment.” Long ago, Palestine was at the heart of the intoxicating idea of Arab solidarity. Now, it struggles to retain its legitimacy in an increasingly splintered SWANA region. In light of warming relations with Israel across the Arab world, it seems as though Palestine’s last true allies are deserting.

Several nations have decided to refuse to send government officials to the 2022 Beijing Olympics in protest of human rights violations under the current Chinese regime. Are these efforts futile or worthy of further support? < Back Is the Boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics an Effective Diplomatic Tool? By Luca Utterwulghe December 30, 2021 The 2022 Winter Olympic Games, set to take place in Beijing, China this coming February, has become a spotlight for diplomatic contention. The United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada have established what Time called a “diplomatic boycott,” meaning that the aforementioned countries will refuse to send government employees to the games. Nonetheless, athletes from each of these countries will be sent to Beijing. The last U.S. boycott of an Olympic Games took place amidst the Cold War, as the Games in Moscow took place during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. This time, boycotting nations are openly criticizing the detention and human rights violations of China’s Uyghur ethnic group as well as the Chinese government’s repressive measures taken to quell the protest movements in Hong Kong. Moreover, the boycott emerged in light of the recent disappearance of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai after she accused Zhang Gaoli (former Chinese vice premier) of sexual assault. The boycott thus reflects the mounting international concern regarding the abuse of fundamental rights under the current Chinese government. There is no clear consensus on the effectiveness of the boycott, however. French President Emmanuel Macron, for instance, has dismissed the American strategy as a politicization of the Olympics devoid of “useful effect.” Macron has instead worked with the International Olympic Committee to ensure the safety of athletes, demonstrating the divergence in the French and American approaches. In the U.S., opposition to the boycott has come largely from Republicans in government who are promoting more aggressive measures, such as withholding athletes from attending the Games. Sienna Bertamini, a first year student at the Sciences Po Menton campus who lived in Hong Kong for most of her life, suggests that, “as a form of soft power, the Olympic Boycott does very little… in terms of combating the human rights violations occurring in China.” Bertamini further notes that “China places a larger emphasis on hard power threats” and that “militaristic strategies are a greater risk to their regime,” indicating that a boycott may be little more than a performative measure. However, because strong, multilateral measures require more cooperation and consensus, the boycott may, as Bertamini states, “be the most Western countries can do without overtly shifting the global balance of power, ie. through military interventions or economic sanctions.” What does this boycott mean for the future of Chinese-American foreign relations? A New York Times article noted that “while boycotts may not change policy, they do run the risk of reprisals.” A Chinese government publication has already demanded that China initiate a retaliatory boycott against the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. This boycott may initiate a series of tit-for-tat soft power sanctions and may well escalate as more nations determine their respective courses of action.

Middle Eastern states’ hesitant and fearsome response in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine can be explained by the region’s vulnerability caused by extensive trade ties with both parties involved and Russia’s regional power in the area < Back MENA Neutrality in Response to Putin’s Invasion By Stanislaw Naklicki April 29, 2022 Two months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we gradually grasp a clearer view of the global impact of the war. Middle Eastern states’ hesitant and fearsome response to the invasion can be explained by the region’s vulnerability caused by extensive trade ties with both parties involved and Russia’s regional power in the area. Policy experts delineate a grim image of the possible impact of the war in Ukraine, which might partly explain an apparently cynical and pragmatic response from countries with a strong collective memory of the horrors of war. Middle East/North Africa (MENA) states have found themselves in a crunch. Russia is an important trade partner for most of them. Egypt, Maghreb, and Gulf countries depend heavily on Russian wheat exports. Ukraine is also a large exporter of wheat, but besides trade, involvement in the war presents political power imbalances. The UAE can allow itself to anger Ukraine. Russia, not so much. However, it is not Ukraine itself that puts the regional states in an awkward limbo of not supporting, but not condemning. The same states that depend on Russia for imports entertain strong relations with the United States. USA’s unconditional support for Ukraine is what makes MENA states want to appease both sides. Unsurprisingly, Algeria, Iran, Iraq, and Morocco either abstained or were absent from the UN vote on the condemnation of the Russian invasion. Earlier, on the 27th of February, perhaps thrown off-guard, UAE abstained from the condemnation vote within the Security Council. The primary danger for the governments and populations in the region is the disturbance of wheat imports. Russia and Ukraine are respectively the largest and fifth-largest exporters of wheat in the world. Egypt, the largest wheat buyer in the world, imports 80% of its wheat supply from Russia and Ukraine. The war caused unsubsidized bread price rise of around 50%. Subsidizing bread, which has been an untouchable constant in Egypt since immemorial times, is now going to become significantly more costly. As indicated by the Fondation Méditerranéenne d’Etudes Stratégiques and the Economist, this may lead to social unrest and riots. Rising bread prices have already been a trigger for upheaval in Egypt, like in 1977. Besides Egypt, countries that are particularly vulnerable are those that suffer from an unfortunate combination of lack of hydrocarbon resources and heavy dependence on Russia and Ukraine for agricultural products. Among them is Palestine, which, while sharing the economic hardships brought upon Israel by the war, will be the only entity responsible for its population’s food security. These countries are joined by states already suffering severe crises, like Lebanon, where the Beirut Explosion has destroyed the main grain silos, Syria and Yemen. Interestingly, Israel is similarly cautious with many Arab states in its diplomacy. States such as Egypt have been flirting with Russian protection for years now, hosting annual ministers’ meetings. However, Israel is the iron ally of the United States, and its unequivocal support has at times dictated American foreign policy. To America’s regret, Israel had been slow to accuse Russia of its crimes, rejected Ukraine’s appeal for equipment support, and offered to act as a mediator. Israel itself is in an uncomfortable position following the invasion. However, there are actors that aim to emerge as winners of the current situation. First of all, the OPEC member states. Oil prices have hit their 10-year high. The countries that are going to benefit from this the most are the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Libya, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq and the UAE. Algeria in particular is looking to move its alliance network in the direction of the West by delivering cheap gas in return for infrastructural investments by countries like Germany. Its pipelines to Italy and Spain will help in that. Furthermore, since the eyes of the international community are focused on Ukraine, regional powers might be looking to advance their interests. Up until now, Turkish President Erdogan has been getting closer with NATO, although still maintaining decent relations with Putin. Duality on this scale is unthought of in Europe, where one must, at least symbolically, pick a side. This limbo, however, might be actually a calming factor: by avoiding contradictory declarations with neighboring states, MENA states are preventing further rise of tension in an already heated region of the world.

The Ummah is not fulfilled without the campus cheer team. Beyond [being] a sport, the Um-Miauu fosters an immaculate spirit rendering cheer sessions the highlight of my Menton quotidian.” < Back ‘The Highlight of my Menton Quotidian’: Reflections from the Campus Cheer Team By Lilou d'Inca April 30, 2022 Picture the cliché, Netflix-series archetype of the cheerleader: she is shaking a pair of pom-poms with an artificial smile incessantly stamped on her lips; her pretty face conceals nothing but a frivolous, flighty personality; and the “sport” she practices is little more than a light-hearted introduction to the “real” games in sports tournaments. If you have not yet witnessed our unmissable Christmas show and BDE performance, the Sciences Po Menton cheerleaders are as far as possible from such a typecast. Yes, our cheerleaders are indeed incredibly smiley and ebullient — in the gym, on the stage, and even in their daily lives — but not because they are shallow; rather, because they are proud to boast the skills, lively character, and decidedly united spirit of their team. And, no, their bonds have not just been forged (or ruptured) by the permanent scars they share — from a stunting practice that dramatically ended with stitches for 1A Angeliki Vytogianni to the countless nose bleeds and bruises resulting from a few failed pyramids and backflips. The so-called “Um-Miauu” has also reinforced itself over the past eight months thanks to the unyielding dedication of its captains, 2As Frida Hellen and Nikola Avramović, whose vibrant, bubbly personalities have fostered the team’s intrinsic dedication and energy. Avramović affirmed, “the [most apt] word to describe the cheer team this year is motivation. I know it’s quite common to say, but we really have a team which is consistently up for anything and everything. Very often, I have found myself super energized after training, no matter how shattered I could have been before it, simply because of the energy our cheerleaders bring.” Hellen agreed that the team is “an energetic and resilient group [that] shows support for each other and pushes through the many challenges we have faced together this year as a team.” Such enthusiasm is not only shown by the captains, but by all cheerleaders. 1A Lise Thorsén said, “The Ummah is not fulfilled without the campus cheer team. Beyond [being] a sport, the Um-Miauu fosters an immaculate spirit rendering cheer sessions the highlight of my Menton quotidian.” Cheerleading is indeed an integral part of its athletes’ routine since training is organized twice a week in the College Vento gymnasium and by the sea at Bastion — yes, even on the most piercingly windy nights. With such frequent sessions, a significant obstacle for the team has become, according to Avramović, “ensuring that everyone could make time in their busy schedules to attend practice. Many elements of cheer require the group to function as one, which is both marvelous for a motivated team, but also a huge drawback if even one member of the team is missing.” Hellen added that, “practicing and teaching each other stunting skills and dance routines for minicrit” requires all athletes to be present at practice, hence why “the biggest challenge has been to find a way to make the time demand feasible with everyone’s crowded schedule, as well as the lack adequate training facilities in such a small town.” Speaking of facilities, Hellen and Avramović had to display utmost perseverance and creativity to complement the team’s drive and maintain the team’s professional appearance. “After Minicrit [was] canceled for two years, Nikola and I started almost from scratch with no equipment and little experience,” said Hellen. “We faced material and consequently institutional challenges, to say the least,” added Avramović. Due to poor financing and the overlap between the Sciences Po optional sports courses, the captains relied on their Um-miauu’s original initiatives to subsidize the purchase of pom-poms. As 1A Felipe Boitard — the team’s darling gossip boy — explained, “the cheer team turned to the students on campus and organized a fundraising auction, where members of the cheerleading team would auction out a date experience with them. Dates varied from making pizza with Viola to going on a scooter adventure to Italy with Greta. The night was filled with high-intensity auction battles between friends and potential love interests to get a date with a cheerleader! With the help of all the students who showed up in support of the lovely cheerleaders, the team made much more than was expected and was thus able to buy the supply for the pom-poms. As much as it did not get the official support of the campus, cheerleading is what brings life to the campus with their energy and enthusiasm, succeeding in gaining the support of the students on campus and funding their road to Minicrit!” Cheerleading will play a central role in the upcoming intercampus competition in Nancy alongside other sports including football, volleyball, thèque, and more. The Menton cheerleading team is thrilled to perform the fruit of its effort and resilience in an eight-minute upbeat, acrobatic choreography. In Hellen’s words, “the [personal evolution] of each member with regards to their dancing, gymnastics, and stunting skills, as well as the solidarity and hype among the athletes, continues to blow my mind, and I am beyond excited to show everyone the product of our hard work at the end of May.” Avramović said, “However cliché it sounds, it was thanks to the cheer team’s enthusiasm that we felt confident to fight for what the team needed. I am certain this has left our team much more tightly bound than ever, and really drives us to carry the Menton spirit at minicrit!” As per Thorsén’s words, Menton cheer is “not only a perfect creative outlet outside academia, but it has also most definitely equipped me with motivation and cheerfulness —” values which she looks forward to displaying in Nancy. Thus, allow yourself to be transported by the cheer team’s entrancing dance battles and hypnotizing canon movements. But, above all, remember to appreciate the unified and enriching fusion of cultures, personalities, and backgrounds that will emerge from our dances, from the unique and friendly community that is Sciences Po Menton cheerleading team!

Besides our ambitions to keep students informed and to make room for our photographers and journalists to exercise their talents, the Menton Times also has a mission to give a voice to all students on campus. < Back Letter from the Editor By Celeste Abourjeili September 30, 2021 Dear SciencesPistes, Welcome to the first ever (teaser) issue of the Menton Times ! I am beyond excited to see where the Menton Times team of 2021-2022 will take this newspaper and where it will settle for future generations of Mentonaise students to come. The goal of the Menton Times — and its parent organization Menton Policy Review (MPR) — is to get information to students in a quick and reliable manner. With that goal in mind, the Menton Times is proud to publish news monthly and on a consistent schedule. Journalism, in its many forms, is a pillar of democracy. Journalists are empowered to dictate the global narrative and shape public sentiment. As students of politics, and as citizens of the uncensored world, we have a duty to support free press and enjoy as much news content as our students are willing to produce. With that, I gladly announce that the Menton Times is committed to reporting breaking news, whether as part of our monthly issues or as social media publications. The Menton Times is also thrilled to bring photojournalism to the Menton Campus. Besides our ambitions to keep students informed and to make room for our photographers and journalists to exercise their talents, the Menton Times also has a mission to give a voice to all students on campus. By that I mean that the Menton Times is glad to report and maintain archives of campus affairs via our photos and articles. We also look forward to working in collaboration with other associations and guest contributors to make more voices heard and to tell the stories of the SciencesPo Menton community. I encourage all SciencesPistes to give it a try — there are no qualifications for story-telling. Finally, I started the Menton Times in order to bring conventional news reporting to Menton. This traditional but modern newspaper hopes to serve the SciencesPistes in Menton, and to that end, I welcome you to a wonderful year of reporting! Happy reading. Celeste Abourjeili Editor-in-Chief The Menton Times Chers SciencesPistes, Bienvenue à la toute première édition du Menton Times ! Je suis impatiente à l'idée de voir où l'équipe du Menton Times de 2021-2022 va emmener ce journal et où elle s'installera pour les futures générations d'étudiants mentonnais à venir. L'objectif du Menton Times - et de son organisation mère Menton Policy Review (MPR) - est de fournir des informations aux étudiants de manière rapide et fiable. Avec cet objectif en tête, le Menton Times est fier de publier des nouvelles mensuelles et selon un calendrier cohérent. Le journalisme, sous ses nombreuses formes, est un pilier de la démocratie. Les journalistes ont le pouvoir de dicter le récit global et de façonner l'opinion publique. En tant qu'étudiants en sciences politiques, et en tant que citoyens d'un monde où nous pouvons nous exprimer, nous avons le devoir de soutenir la presse libre et de profiter d'autant de contenu que nos étudiants sont prêts à produire. Sur ce, je suis heureuse d'annoncer que le Menton Times s'engage à rapporter les informations de dernière minute, que ce soit dans le cadre de nos numéros mensuels ou des publications sur les réseaux sociaux. Le Menton Times est également ravi de mettre en avant le photojournalisme au Campus de Menton. Mais outre nos ambitions de tenir les étudiants informés et de permettre à nos photographes et journalistes d'exercer leurs talents, le Menton Times a également pour mission de donner une voix à tous les étudiants du campus. Je veux dire par là que le Menton Times est heureux de couvrir les actualités du campus par le biais de nos photos et articles. Nous sommes également impatients de travailler en collaboration avec d'autres associations et chroniqueurs invités pour faire entendre plus de voix et raconter les histoires de la communauté de SciencesPo Menton. J'encourage tous les SciencesPistes à essayer - il n'y a pas de qualifications requises pour raconter des histoires. Enfin, j'ai lancé le Menton Times afin d'apporter des nouvelles conventionnelles à Menton. Ce journal traditionnel mais moderne espère servir les SciencesPistes de Menton, et à cette fin, je vous souhaite de profiter pleinement de cette merveilleuse année de reportage ! Bonne lecture. Céleste Abourjeili Rédactrice en chef Le Menton Times

On Feb. 22, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) ruled that the decision taken in 2019 by Sajid Javid, then Home Secretary, to strip Begum of her British citizenship was lawful. < Back British Teenager Who Joined ISIS Stripped of Citizenship By Hugo Lagergren March 31, 2023 Shamima Begum, 23, lost her appeal against the British Government’s decision to strip her of her British citizenship. This judgment has reignited the debate surrounding the repatriation of foreign nationals who joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). On Feb. 22, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) ruled that the decision taken in 2019 by Sajid Javid, then Home Secretary, to strip Begum of her British citizenship was lawful. In a statement published by SIAC, the commission stated that despite “credible suspicion that she had been trafficked to Syria” for the sole purpose of being sexually exploited by ISIS militants, the decision remains at the discretion of the Home Secretary under United Kingdom law. Begum left London with her two friends to join ISIS in 2015. She was only 15 and remained at the center of media attention since she was discovered in a Syrian refugee camp by Times journalist Anthony Loyd in 2019. After making headlines as the “ISIS bride,” she implored with the British government to return. Yet , shortly after hearing her pleas, Javid made the decision to strip her of U.K. citizenship. Thus, Begum, who at the time was pregnant with her third child, was left to fend for herself in Al-Hol camp in north-eastern Syria. The commission’s ruling prompted many to reevaluate the U.K. government’s ability to strip people of their citizenship. Under the British Nationality Act of 1981, the power of citizen deprivation comes under the purview of the Home Secretary. Since 2010, the U.K. stripped over 250 nationals of their British citizenship, placing them second in the world forcitizen deprivation, behind Bahrain. Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all human beings are entitled to nationality. Article 15 states that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality” asstatelessness can bar access to basic resources such as healthcare or education. Downing Street has tried to argue that Begum is eligible for Pakistani citizenship. However, Pakistani officials have stated that she would not be accepted as a Pakistani citizen, with the Foreign Minister going as far as to suggest that she could face the death penalty should she arrive in Pakistan. Furthermore, the Home Secretary’s apparent indifference toward the impact of online grooming and radicalization on young, disenchanted people has called many to reevaluate U.K.’s proclivity for citizenship strips. Under British law, children aged 10 and above are deemed responsible for their actions (excluding Scotland as of 2019); this is considerably lower than most European countries. In the last decade, politicians and activists alike have begun questioning the benefits of having such a low age of responsibility, with some believing the model, which was introduced by Labour in 1998, to be stagnant and outdated. The decision, delivered by Sir Justice Jay, reveals a disconnect between the U.K. and its European neighbors in how to deal with the families of ISIS fighters who hold European citizenship. Where the U.K. has disowned its citizens, France, Germany, Denmark and Spain have repatriated families and brought them before the relevant judicial authority. Begum, a self-proclaimed “Bethnal Green girl,” has been a polarizing figure in British society since her re-emergence in 2019. Since her first interview with Anthony Loyd, Begum has given numerous interviews in which she recounts her story. What has remained unclear from these media appearances is whether she feels remorse for her actions. In an interview with Sky News, she said, “I think a lot of people should have sympathy towards me for everything I’ve been through,” which many people interpreted as teenage entitlement and impatience. In addition to this, in a series of interviews with the BBC, she seemed to be unaware of the magnitude of joining a terrorist group, which incurred the wrath of the public, especially from the Conservative camp. Additionally, there is a very blatant attempt to “westernize” her appearance to appeal to the British public. This reinvention has caused many to question the sincerity of her regret or whether she is manipulating public opinion to be allowed to return to the U.K. Despite the severity of her actions, many have argued that she should be repatriated on the basis that her crimes came as a result of online grooming and radicalization for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Sir Justice Jay, who delivered the verdict on Begum’s appeal, expressed his concern regarding the Home Secretary’s “apparent downplaying of the significance of radicalization and grooming in stating that what happened to Ms Begum is not unusual.” He noted that “the idea that Ms Begum could have conceived and organized all of this herself is not plausible.” Indeed, the story of how and why she joined ISIS is one of an impressionable girl of Bengali heritage living in a society that she said did not accept her. “I didn’t feel British or Bengali. I didn’t feel Bengali because I didn’t want to be Bengali, and I didn’t feel British because I feel like I wasn’t able to be British, even though I wanted to be.” In 2014, Begum turned to Islam after her best friend, Sharmeena Begum (no relation), converted. She claims that she converted to feel accepted by her friend. “I didn’t want them to give them a reason, to like, exclude me from the group.” In the same year, the Islamic State established their so-called “caliphate” after successfully capturing territory in northern Syria and Iraq. Their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was proclaimed caliph and “leader for Muslims everywhere.” The establishment of an ‘Islamic State’ in which Islamic law reigns supreme has long been a goal of jihadists. Thousands of jihadis converged on the “caliphate” At the height of its power, ISIS militants numbered around 30,000. Today, we have come to know ISIS through its ultra-violent propaganda videos. However, according to Shiraz Maher, Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization, only around eight to nine percent of their propaganda output was the sensationalized gruesome images that the public is familiar with. Many of the videos produced by ISIS’ depicted vibrant scenes where families and individuals could live prosperous lives. Sharmeena Begum was the first out of the group to travel to ISIS-controlled territory. Very shortly after, she managed to convince her three friends to join her in the supposed “Islamic Utopia.” Shiraz Maher makes the point that the barrier to radicalization immediately becomes much lower when someone you know is involved. Additionally, Shamima Begum admitted that there were others whom she was in contact with online who attempted to convince her to make the journey to Syria. In February 2015, Begum and her two friends, Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana, decided to embark on the treacherous journey to meet up with their friend ISIS territory. By 2019Begum’s two friends are presumed dead, and Sharmeena Begum is believed to be back with ISIS militants. Very little is known about the four years that Shamima spent in Raqqa. Accusations have been made, notably including that she helped fabricate suicide belts for ISIS militants. However, she denied ever taking part in the terrorist group’s day-to-day operations. Begum “does have some very big questions to answer,” says Andrew Loyd. Nonetheless, some serious allegation have been raised about the behavior of the U.K. government regarding its treatment of Begum and its pattern of nationality deprivation, with many citing skin color and religion as deciding factors. Tim Farron, ex-leader of the Liberal Democrats, commented on the News Agents’ podcast, “I understand the anger at her, but that she has lost her passport — if she was white and she was called Sharon from Manchester, and she had done something like that, if wouldn’t even occur to the government to take the passport off someone who was obviously British.”

Palestine is often discussed as a geopolitical conflict. Yet it is fundamentally a feminist issue. Palestinian women face violence due to the genocide Israel is committing, seen through reproductive violence and healthcare deprivation. This leads Palestinian women to be disproportionately affected by different forms of violence fundamentally shaped by the occupation < Back The Question of Palestine as a Feminist Issue Elly Loiseau March 15, 2026 Palestine is often discussed as a geopolitical conflict. Yet it is fundamentally a feminist issue. Palestinian women face violence due to the genocide Israel is committing , seen through reproductive violence and healthcare deprivation. This leads Palestinian women to be disproportionately affected by different forms of violence fundamentally shaped by the occupation. Despite these realities, their experiences rarely occupy a central place within mainstream feminist discourse. Western feminism has historically focused primarily on gender as a field of inequality, often detaching women’s oppression from the broader political and colonial structures that shape it. The case of the Palestinian people forces us to address the intersections of gender, race and imperial hierarchies, revealing the limits of feminist frameworks that fail to address colonial domination. The gendered consequences of occupation become particularly visible in the examination of Israeli policies and their effects on Palestinian women’s reproductive health and access to medical care. If Western feminism seeks to confront violence against women globally, then it cannot ignore Palestine, where occupation produces forms of gendered violence. A clear example of gendered violence under occupation can be seen in Israel's attack on reproductive health infrastructure, including hospitals and nutrition programs—a colonial strategy of genocide, often described as “reprocide”. It is defined as the systematic destruction of reproductive capacity and therefore is a gendered form of violence. In the eyes of Israel, the size of the Palestinian population has served as a demographic threat, framed as an issue of national security. The assertion of Israel is that to maintain superiority over the Palestinians, Israeli Jews must demographically surpass the Palestinians to perpetuate control over the state. Through this, we see reproduction politicized. In 2023, it was reported that 50,000 women in Gaza were pregnant, with an average of 183 births a day, of which approximately 15 percent involved complications. In July 2025, there were reports of Israel preventing baby formula from crossing the blockade and mothers unable to breastfeed due to malnutrition. Additionally, Israel has targeted not only hospitals but also aid locations, forcing many women to give birth without medication. Moreover, the performance of Cesarean sections is sometimes done without sterilization or anesthesia, with women being forced to leave hospitals shortly after birth due to a lack of hospital space. The United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, Reem Alsalem, states that “What is happening to Palestinian women and girls is not collateral damage of war,” but rather “It is the intentional destruction of their lives and bodies, for being Palestinian and for being women.” Israel’s treatment of Palestinian women has equated them to manifestations of nature needing to be tamed and controlled, thus using women's bodies as strategic sites of violence in conflict as a tool of genocide. However, the use of healthcare as a mechanism of control is not limited to contemporary events. Historically, Israeli policies have systematically restricted Palestinian access to medical services, reflecting more than institutional neglect but also the ideology of colonial governance. Underlying these policies is the enduring perception of Palestinian population growth as a demographic time bomb. Israel has successfully established conditions for reproductive health to become a tool of control over the Arab Palestinian population. Research conducted in the Ramallah district in 1981 cited an infant mortality rate of 91 deaths per 1,000 births, which stood in contrast to figures from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, which reported rates of 14 deaths per 1,000 births among Israeli citizens. In parallel to today's situation, malnutrition was pervasive and pregnant women were revealed to have high levels of anemia due this. The average expenditure of health services by the government within occupied territories did not exceed $30 per person, whereas Israeli citizens averaged around $350 per person. Through the Israeli civil administration, Palestinians are made dependent on the few health systems that are made available to them. During the 1987 Intifada, Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin reduced the number of hospital beds in Israeli hospitals available to Palestinians, which, as Elise Young in her book “Women and the Israeli Occupation” claims, was to ensure further loss of life. Such policies illustrate how healthcare infrastructure has long functioned as a mechanism of political control within the occupation, producing conditions that disproportionately endanger Palestinian women and children through gendered burdens of reproductive care and labour. Within Israeli detention centers, women are subjected to severe sexual and gender based violence. The extent of the violence is given through graphic accounts from human rights organisations documenting forms of sexual humiliation and violence directed specifically at Palestinian women prisoners. Reports find that pregnant women are handcuffed while they are giving birth. Fabrizia Falcione, a women's human rights officer for the U.N., notes that when commenting about the situation, “the rights of Palestinian women prisoners are recognized, but not respected.” This comment resonates not only with the treatment of Palestine by Israel but also with the way Palestinian women are addressed internationally. They rarely occupy a central place within mainstream feminist discourse, reflecting a broader pattern within Western feminism which historically has framed women of the Global South as a homogenous group of cultural victims rather than political subjects shaped by colonial power structures. The case of Palestine reveals how structures of discourse show which women’s suffering is recognised within feminism. For decades, Western political discourse has framed Israel as a liberal democracy defending itself against a hostile environment. This framing has shaped not only political debate but feminist narratives. Within these narratives, Palestinian women are often portrayed as victims of their own societies and culture. This shifts attention away from the structural realities of Israeli military occupation while simultaneously dehumanising Palestinian men as inherently oppressive. Accordingly, we see this repeated tendency of scholars to use cultural explanation to justify conflict in the Global South, diminishing the central importance of historical contexts that shape situations faced by women of the Global South. Scholars Valerie Amos and Pratibha Parmar have identified this pattern within feminist discourse as “imperial feminism,” describing how feminism prioritizes Euro-American perspectives while excluding the voices and experiences of Black women and women of the Global South. Cultural explanations not only reproduce colonial narrative but also largely distort reality. This framework labels non-Western cultural practices as “ feudal residues ,” portraying women of the Global South as politically immature who must be educated in the values of Western feminism. Western feminist analysis of practices done by the Global South typically gives a simplified notion of oppression. Thereby positioning Western feminism as the normative standard against which other societies are judged. This tendency has long shaped Western feminist interpretations of women of the Global South. Cultural practices such as veiling have frequently been interpreted as symbols of women's oppression. Additionally, geopolitical interventions such as America's invasion of Afghanistan, with the justification of “ saving Afghan women ”. Such narratives frequently reinforce the notion of muslim women as passive victims in need of Western intervention. Within this framework, women in the Global South are frequently defined primarily through their victimhood rather than recognised as political actors navigating systems of power. This is particularly problematic within the Palestinian context due to the conditions faced by Palestinian women being dictated not due to cultural oppression but as a consequence of Israel’s settler colonial policies. Their suffering therefore becomes detached from the reality of occupation and reinterpreted as an inevitable product of society. Palestinian women are therefore reduced to a status of passive victims, a representation which serves as justification for their silence within feminist discourse and risks rendering them as merely casualties of Israel’s violence. The colonial assumptions within feminist scholarship prompt us to believe that silence is neutral rather than a political position, which reveals privilege and positionality. The relative silence of feminist institutions on Palestine is not an isolated event but rather a broader ideological and institutional complicity within Western academia. The silence translates as a form of epistemic violence, deliberately erasing Palestinian narratives and henceforth legitimising colonial structures. Scholars such as Al-Hardan note that Palestinian research is often forced into the framework of the “Israel–Palestine conflict,” a framing rarely required when examining other forms of oppression such as the Holocaust. This constraint limits how Palestinian experiences can be understood and reinforces the marginalisation of Palestinian perspectives within academic discourse. Al-Hardan argues that research “is only possible because of sanctioned epistemologies in academic institutions that treat colonized and stateless peoples as 'others,' to be consumed as objects of knowledge”. This epistemological structure shapes feminist representation of women of the Global South, creating a homogenous narrative of oppression of women which characterizes the representation of women of the Global South. This contrasts with the self-representation of Western women as educated, modern, in control over their own bodies and with the freedom to make their own decisions. While this does not necessarily reflect material reality, it is rather an ideological construction that sustains historical relationships between Western feminist knowledge and the women it claims to represent. A decolonial feminist framework is, therefore, necessary to move past the colonial narrative of the passive victims of the global south and instead provide agency through the recognition of the political structures that shape their lives. A recognition that gender oppression should not be separated from the intersecting forces of colonialism, racism and imperial power. And while Western feminism is not a monolithic or homogenic movement, its roots remain built on a relationship that is implicitly hierarchical with the Global South. When feminist analysis characterises women as a singular global group defined solely by shared oppression, it creates dangerous blind spots that obscure how geopolitical interests dictate which women deserve solidarity and those who remain invisible. In the Palestinian context, this dynamic becomes particularly evident through the frequent interpretation of cultural narratives used to account for the experiences of women living under occupation. Western feminism must thereby commit to dismantling structures of power that enable this oppression. As Palestinian scholar Ajour describes the need to decouple the colonial narrative from Western feminism and focus on the intersectionality to avoid separability and confront the political systems responsible for their suffering, “As a Palestinian with a family in Gaza: I Don't Want Sympathy. I Want Solidarity”. A solidarity that necessitates opposing systems and prioritizing justice over political interests. A decolonial feminism thus requires the liberation of women to be understood as inseparable from the liberation of the nation itself. Photo Source: Efrem Efrem, Pexels