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The white majority society remains silent about this political disciplining, although it is such policies of the bourgeois-right alliance that are the driving force of the authoritarian re-structuring of Germany. It is these policies, which criminalize and attack the identities of ethnic and Arab minorities, that provide the breeding ground for the AfD. < Back False tears about fantasized walls Lou Hildebrandt February 28, 2025 Whilst Germany appears to have—once again—chosen the path towards fascism, protestors against this trend seem to notice only the tip of the iceberg. The anti-Muslim racism they, themselves, re-produce is a part of the larger framework. Germany’s anti-Muslim racism is not per se surprising and manifests, for instance, in its seemingly unconditional support of Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza. However, the above-described dynamics endanger not only Muslims in the Middle East but those living within Germany too. Simultaneously, the fascist “Alternative for Germany” (AfD) glooms jarringly over the horizon, but already under the former government’s parties, Greens, Socialdemocrats, and libertarians (the so-called “traffic light-coalition”), a spiral of brutal police assails on Arab protestors, plans for and executed deportations, as well as increasingly racist rhetoric in public media become the new German mainstream. Now that the CDU-CSU (conservatives) won the elections, this trend is likely going to continue, and even worsen. Very recently, Friedrich Merz, the chief of the German conservative party CDU, along with his parliamentary fraction, passed an anti-immigration bill –a project that could only be realized because of the votes cast for the fascist party AfD. For Germans, this marked a turning point, since the democratic parties had agreed on a categorical rejection of political collaboration with the fascists. This was called the Brandmauer (Engl., approx. “wall against the fire”), a metaphor for the collective effort to stand strong and unshakeable against the rising right-wing-extremist mobilization. As a result of the fall of that “wall,” people everywhere in Germany protested fascism. Only a short time later, something happened that left the Palestinian and Arab community in Berlin breathless: The police banned the Arabic language at demonstrations and, after that, arrested people for chanting in Arabic . Obviously, this has nothing to do with “security” and is another instrument for criminalizing Arab identity in Germany. How come there is such an outcry over the fall of a symbolic wall, but not over the fact that minorities see their rights disappear? Since attacks on the rights of minorities mark a step towards authoritarianism, it seems inconsequential to protest fascism and simultaneously ignore the anti-Muslim policy that characterizes Germany’s political landscape. The silence emerging from those kinds of antifascist demonstrations feels familiar because a similar series of events occurred less than one year ago. Fascists had gathered for a meeting in a villa in Potsdam, Brandenburg, to plan deportation schemes not for hundreds or thousands but millions of migrants and migranticized people in Germany. The AfD was part of it, of course, but high-ranking CDU politicians and other civil society figures also attended this conspiratorial meeting. The investigative journalist magazine Correctiv shed light on this secret meeting with a report and, after the fall of the wall against the fire, there were anti-fascist protests as a reaction that mobilized hundreds of thousands in Munich, Hamburg and Berlin, as well as in the countryside. One could interpret it as a good thing that fascist ideology is not tolerated in Germany and established parties together with civil society stand united against the far-right. However, this symbolic commitment, just like a symbolic wall against the fire, pales in comparison to the real racism that exists at these demonstrations as well as in Germany ruled by the establishment parties. Similarly, protests erupt seemingly overnight when the AfD or CDU say or do discriminating things, but the actual right-wing anti-immigration policies by the traffic light parties are hardly met with public outrage. One year ago: protests of symbolism As the protests mobilized millions of people, all with diverse backgrounds, which is why it is difficult to write about “the protesters” as a uniform unit. There were certainly protestors who were aware of the dangers posed by the AfD and also the increasingly right-wing traffic light policy . At the same time, the slogans and chants of these demonstrations were problematic. Even if demonstration signs are often deliberately polemical, it is questionable whether political contexts were addressed at all with slogans such as “Hatred makes you ugly,” which was also recommended as a demonstration slogan by the supposedly left-wing journal taz . Those sorts of slogans reflect the larger liberal context that fails to acknowledge or differentiate how fascism is not merely about “hatred,” but rather about how the ruling class, neoliberal political agendas and the rising securitization of migration work hand in hand. Racism and fascism run deeper, to the core of society itself, instead of being senseless hatred. However, there were also slogans that more obviously lacked anti-racist sensitivity and thus reproduced racism, such as “ AfD ban because I like kebabs .” While such a slogan is essentializing, it also implies that migrant people should not be deported from Germany because they add value to white people. This is a severe dehumanization. Nevertheless, racism has not only manifested itself through insensitive slogans or chants, but also through physical violence against Arabs and migranticized people-on-the-move. At such demonstrations, there are always different blocs of activists, such as climate activists or Antifa blocs. At an anti-AfD demonstration organized in Berlin, however, a bloc consisting mainly of Arab and Palestinian activists was explicitly excluded by the organizing crew and pushed away, encircled and harassed by the police . Where insensitive slogans and chants show us a racist cognitive dissonance of a white society that ironically perceives itself as anti-fascist, the actions described are tangible acts of racist physical violence. The fact that supposed anti-fascism demonstrations allowed violence against minorities to happen mirrors Germany’s historical continuity of racism and white supremacy. A year full of violence against Muslims The AfD's secret deportation plans in Potsdam deserve rejection and protest. However, the specific policies of the traffic light government would have deserved the same rejection and protest. Both before and after the anti-AfD demonstrations in January and February 2024, the coalition government has deported dozens of people, strengthened Germany’s borders, expanded the military apparatus, sent weapons that kill Palestinian lives in the Gaza Strip to Israel, and increased funding of the police—who have been using unprecedented violence against Palestinian and Arab protesters since October 2023. The same Olaf Scholz, who, probably for PR purposes, stages himself as an anti-fascist at the anti-AfD demonstrations, had himself been featured on the cover of the Tagesspiegel , the major newspaper of Berlin, in October 2023, just three months before the meeting in Potsdam, with a serious face followed by the lingering headline: “ We must finally deport people on a grand scale .” The violence against Arabs in Gaza and Germany's complicity sparked protests, but not nearly on the scale that the AfD's secret meeting accomplished. The protesters were overwhelmingly Arab or even Palestinian themselves (Berlin has the largest Palestinian diaspora outside of the Arab world), and the white German pseudo-antifascist mainstream was nowhere to be seen here. These protests have experienced extraordinarily severe police violence . Not only pro-Palestine protests have experienced this police brutality; even when Syrians were celebrating in the streets of Berlin after the fall of the Assad regime, the police were also present and ready to use violence. The far-right in Germany not only hates Arab anger and despair, but it also wants to crush Arab joy. One year later, a fictitious wall falls Nationwide protests across Germany only resumed when Friedrich Merz passed an anti-immigration law with the AfD in January shortly before the new elections, resulting in him bringing down the fictitious Brandmauer . Once again, there were anti-AfD demonstrations and hashtags such as “we are the wall” and “we are more” went viral. Many politicians of the Social Democrats and the Greens also use those hashtags, marketing themselves as “antifascists” in times of political campaigning. Demonstrating those bills when passed by fascist AfD and far-right CDU, but not when passed by the former centrist government is politically inconsistent. Shortly after the imaginary wall came down, the Berlin Senate issued a ban on the Arabic language at demonstrations. The white majority society remains silent about this political disciplining, although it is such policies of the bourgeois-right alliance that are the driving force of the authoritarian re-structuring of Germany. It is these policies, which criminalize and attack the identities of ethnic and Arab minorities, that provide the breeding ground for the AfD. Photo credits: conceptphoto.info , 2023

What was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel across the globe and encounter a culture and civilization parallel to their own quickly became 38 days in prison, thousands of kilometers away from their home country. < Back The Illegitimate Detention of Two Brazilians in Germany and the Current Approach to Security in Airports By Catarina Vita for Sciences Defense January 31, 2024 What was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel across the globe and encounter a culture and civilization parallel to their own quickly became 38 days in prison, thousands of kilometers away from their home country. Jeanne Paolini and Katyna Baia, both in their forties and married for twelve years, were flying from Goiania, Brazil to Frankfurt, Germany, to celebrate Paolini’s veterinary residency in one of the best universities in Brazil, the University of Brasilia. Upon arriving in Frankfurt, the two women were detained in the airport’s prison, accused of carrying forty kilos of cocaine in their baggage. The cocaine, however, was proven not to be theirs. One day later, they found themselves outside the airport, but in the city’s prison for women. It was found that the name tags in their baggage were displaced to luggage filled with drugs, by the Brazilian airport staff. Their case was a gateway to a massive scheme of drug trafficking from Brazil’s biggest airports to European metropoles. The Case The couple flew from the capital of their Brazilian state, Goiania, to Frankfurt, for a connecting flight to Berlin, but their bags were intercepted in one of Brazil’s biggest airports, the Guarulhos Airport in São Paulo. The couple would only revindicate their luggage in Berlin, their final destination. Upon disembarking from their flight to Frankfurt, they were detained and imprisoned on March 5, 2023. They stayed in custody for 38 days. The couple alleged mistreatment by the German police, and were denied access to the winter garments in their hand luggage despite -3 degree temperatures in Frankfurt. Preceding the interception of Paolini and Baia’s luggage, two employees at the Guarulhos Airport were caught on security footage examining each of the women’s suitcases and removing them from the rest of the luggage reaching Frankfurt. In sequence, two women with cocaine-filled luggage encountered the employees and helped with placing the couple’s name tags in the new drug-filled suitcases. Paolini and Baia’s luggage was still sent to Berlin, but without their name tags. It is important to note that airlines, not airports, are responsible for employees handling baggage. As the Brazilian Federal Police (PF) became aware of the case, allied to the Brazilian Public Ministry (MP), they compiled a total of 200 hours of security footage which enabled these bodies to identify the ones responsible for displacing the name tags. The couple’s lawyer highlighted that the trip was booked months before their departure date, and both women had health insurance, showing that they did not have a profile of a drug mule. These people, who have the role of smuggling drugs often through high security scenarios (especially in between international borders), are often not provided with health insurance or plane tickets bought in advance, since they will only be in the country of destination for a short amount of time and only to deliver drugs. On April 5, 2023, the women were heard in German court in face of the evidence provided by Brazilian authorities. They were found to be innocent, but the German authorities requested evidence incriminating the airport staff for having exchanged Paolini and Baia’s suitcases, as the Brazilian government alleged. When this was presented around eight days later, Paolini and Baia were released. The Operation Collateral Effect Paolini and Baia’s case introduced the Operation Collateral Effect by the Brazilian police. As stated previously, Paolini and Baia’s luggage were apprehended by employees at the Guarulhos Airport. The Brazilian Police Force noticed that similar cases occurred in 2022 and 2023 in the same airport to Portugal and France, respectively. The Operation culminated in “14 mandates of temporary prison, two mandates of preventive detention and 27 mandates for search and apprehension,” according to G1 Brazil . The Brazilian police commenced their operation by questioning the airport employees involved in Paolini and Baia’s case. Out of the six questioned, five of them denied their involvement in the crime and one of them confessed. All six of them were arrested with supporting evidence. The Brazilian Police Force was able to trace the cases of drugs being smuggled to Portugal and France to the same group of employees, but also identified other cases of cocaine smuggling also from the airport of Guarulhos with the same modus operandi as the smuggling to Germany, nonetheless without evidence that the group had responsibility. Upon increased investigation on how the group thought and acted to smuggle drugs from Brazil to Europe, the police authorities discovered that they divided themselves into working at the airport, to observe in whose name they would send drugs to. Another subgroup simulated a check-in, but in the domestic flight part of the airport, with the actual drug-filled suitcase, but the other members of the group that worked at the airport made sure the luggage did not pass the metal detector. Continuing, the drug luggage was smuggled into the international section and then the name tag displacement process initiated. What This Means for International Security Katyna Baia and Jeanne Paolini’s illegitimate detention showed Brazilian and international defense authorities the extent to which the drug trafficking business has adopted in the present, and how this can come at the expense of innocent tourists’ rights. It also showcased how the drug business is everywhere, even hidden inside airport staff. What was perceived to be one of the most secure places in Brazil, the country’s biggest airport in the largest city in Latin America, was responsible for at least three massive 20 kilogram smuggling operations of illicit drugs. Airport authorities are shown to be keen on security checks on passengers and even in migration control, but this case shows that there is corruption from within the system as well. While being interviewed by G1 Brazil , Brazilian PM Officer Felié Faé Lavareda said (contextualized translation from Portuguese): “The link in the Guarulhos Airport to Europe (in drug trafficking) was dismantled today.” In fact, the Guarulhos Airport implemented a few measures to attempt to keep the security in the restricted areas of the airport, in which the criminal group displaced name tags and smuggled drugs, such as prohibiting cell phone usage. Nonetheless, nothing indicates strict background checks on airport employees, or a further investigation on the drug smuggling cases the PF could not trace back to the criminal group. The Guarulhos Airport communicated to CNN Brazil that the airlines, not the airports, are responsible for luggage-dealing employees and are thus supposed to be held accountable for anything relating to luggage. However, especially when it concerns tourists from your own country leaving for Europe, a shared effort between airport authorities, airlines, and even government authorities is fitting — particularly because the criminal group acted under surveillance cameras and nothing was noticed. In light of this illegitimate detention and according to CNN Brazil, Brazilian authorities aim to implement a new regulation: photographing the dispatched bags with the passenger’s respective names. The efforts from the Brazilian authorities and police to investigate Katyna Baia and Jeanne Paolini’s case is a result of disciplined work ethic and intricate scrutiny in the gathered evidence. However, taking pictures of suitcases and the passenger it belongs to barely scratches the surface of the problem. Baia and Paolini’s case surrounds the lack of surveillance in airports and the omnipresence of drug smuggling in Brazil – their experience exemplifies that further scrutiny and security measures in airports must be implemented in conjunction with airlines and national authorities.

Upon arrival in Menton, I enjoyed the scorchingly hot summer weather and the sunshine that the Côte d’Azur is renowned for. As the seasons changed, though, I found myself disappointed by the lack of “gold and saffron and red” leaves, pumpkins and the other autumnal accouterments that I become accustomed to back home. < Back To All the Disillusioned Autumn Lovers, You Are Not Alone By Colin Lim November 30, 2022 The weather has always been a classic non-controversial conversation starter. References to the weather being the subject of unimaginative, banal small talk span from The American Claimant by Mark Twain to Taylor Swift’s sappy, poetic ballad “Back to December.” As the Northern Hemisphere transitions from summer to winter, there is an interstitial period that most of the global population has the joy of experiencing — autumn. Growing up in northern California, transplants from other parts of the country and the world would inform me that our state was a barren desert with no seasons. This was a bizarre claim to make in the homeland of the coast redwood, with its temperate Mediterranean climate and its drought-resistant yet evergreen native vegetation that graces the hills John Steinbeck described as “a brown which was not brown but a gold and saffron and red—an indescribable color” in his chef-d’œuvre, “East of Eden.” The leaves of the non-native maples, oaks, elms, ginkgos and magnolias would turn an equally, if not more, impressive “gold and saffron and red” and fill the air with an overwhelming sense of coziness and joy. Upon arrival in Menton, I enjoyed the scorchingly hot summer weather and the sunshine that the Côte d’Azur is renowned for. As the seasons changed, though, I found myself disappointed by the lack of “gold and saffron and red” leaves, pumpkins and the other autumnal accouterments that I became accustomed to back home. Like me, Menton second-year Sara Kovacheva has a certain tenderness for turning seasons. Her Bulgarian hometown’s autumn memories are of welcoming, joyful foliage-covered streetscapes; winter reminds her of playing with her dogs in the crisp snow and going on brisk walks with friends. These recollections contrast Menton’s lack of a true autumn and winter, which makes Kovacheva sad. Now in her last year in Menton, she has come to appreciate the Mentonese version of autumn. Similarly, second-year Yasmine Afifi affectionately recalls the four palpable seasons of her native Casablanca, Morocco. She does not enjoy the fact that there is very little transitional period between the “beautiful summer weather” of Menton and the “gloomy, depressing rainy winter season.” Afifi states that her emotions are closely tied to the weather, and although she now is acclimating to the seasonal patterns of Menton, not being able to enjoy the beach for several months of the year and having classes before sunrise and after sunset are aspects of the town that she finds less than ideal. Absence does make the heart grow fonder for many students at Sciences Po Menton, but fellow autumn lovers need not wander too far to experience fall foliage. The trees in Square Victoria and the plaza abutting the parking lot behind the Marché des Halles are presently shedding their leaves, albeit rather unimpressively. The Roya Valley, nestled in the foothills of the Alps, also offers some colorful trees for those willing to make the trek. We should be grateful, at least, that we do not have to trudge through feet of snow to get to class.

Mentoniya, on behalf of the Menton Times, I thank you for your readership and a successful first year together. The trials and tribulations of just one year at Sciences Po have filled the pages of our newspaper with fresh opinions, breaking news, sparkling student features, and insightful coverage of sporting events and local arts. < Back The Menton Times: A Year in Review By Celeste Abourjeili April 30, 2022 Mentoniya, Mentoniya. Last summer, I was struck with a vision for a newspaper that would synthesize campus discourse and bring all student events together in one collective monthly recount. Though I was committed to bringing it to life, I never foresaw the scope or size that it would reach in just one year. Mentoniya, on behalf of the Menton Times, I thank you for your readership and a successful first year together. The trials and tribulations of just one year at Sciences Po have filled the pages of our newspaper with fresh opinions, breaking news, sparkling student features, and insightful coverage of sporting events and local arts. The journey of creating a newspaper from scratch was filled with the unexpected — it was a turbulent yet irreplaceable experience. I got to watch our designer and my dear friend, 2A Ada Baser, create a layout template from scratch. She pieced together over 30 articles worth of content into one digital masterpiece each and every month. “Starting the design of a paper from scratch wasn’t the easiest experience… [but] at the end of the day, it’s been a pleasure to work with the many different members of the team, because designers need to communicate with reporters, photographers, and the editorial board,” said Baser. “I hope I have been able to bring their amazing works to life.” Her clean-cut designs have been praised by Mentonese students. “I really like the mise-en-page,” said 1A Amira Zargouni, “it’s really easy to read.” Our editorial team, made up of 1A Ayse Lara Selcuker, 1A Lara-Nour Walton, 2A Morgane Abbas, and myself, has had to edit just as many articles to fulfill our three-step editing process. “Editing felt special to me because journalism has been a really formative source for me,” said Walton. “To make this newspaper a reality was genuinely so fulfilling.” My role as Editor-in-Chief, besides managing and organizing the team, consisted of a wondrous albeit time-consuming process by which I had to review each article that was ever published. I knew that I was collecting stories from the students, combining them in one collective and polished form, and sending them back to the student body for all to read, and I wanted to do them justice. I grasped the significance of my job in qualifying the words our students were entrusting to the paper to send out to the world. Our photography team, led by 1A Hugo Lagergren and composed of 1A Emilia Kohlmeyer and 2A Wang Di, has brought each and every story to life with its talent and eye for the camera. “ The staff reporters and guest reporters, without whom this paper would not exist, made the decision to share their stories with us and with you — a decision for which we are endlessly grateful. “Writing for the Menton Times has been incredible! I joined the team with little writing experience, but I saw my skills improve through the feedback and support of our editors, and my articles allowed me to further immerse myself in the topics I am most passionate about,” said 1A Magdelena Offenbeck. Over the course of one year, we have worked with a team of about 20 people and around 39 guest writers. We wrote articles in collaboration with a variety of associations, ranging from Sciences Alcoolémiques to the Stone Skipping Society to the BDS to Babel, MEDMUN, TedX, Environnementon, and the list goes on. 2A Isabella Aouad, who contributed to the newspaper as a guest reporter, noted, “It was very impressive how, in one year, the Menton Times became a real thing. It was very consistent and rigorous and featured really high quality articles.” 1A Joudi Arafa, who claimed she was proud to contribute as a guest reporter, affirmed, “The Menton Times is a big campus name.” I’m proud of our team for creating a shared vision out of what started as a small idea. The process behind the paper starts with our monthly meetings, which take on the form of a team brainstorming session, to choose article topics for that month’s issue. “I really enjoyed the flexibility of choosing my topics instead of having them assigned,” said 1A staff reporter Luca Utterwulghe. I’ve always trusted our writers with the topics they chose, and I was ecstatic that they matched my trust with passion and motivation for the job. Besides our partnerships and guest articles, we try to include everyone on the campus by including student quotes and opinions in each article. “It’s fun interviewing people to get quotes for my articles,” said Utterwulghe, “I learned a lot from this past year at the Menton Times.” I am grateful to you, Mentoniya, for electing our association to be an official student initiative this past semester, opening up doors of opportunity for us with your trust. With the exception of the godforsaken month of February, we upheld our promise to you to publish each and every month. For the first year, our 7-1 success rate makes me quite proud. I recognize that our process wasn’t perfect. This was just the start of an association that I hope will live on for years after my departure. I believe in the future leaders of the association to not only enhance our process, but establish additional projects and events to make campus life even more robust. I am proud to announce that the association will be carried on by Lara-Nour Walton as Editor-in-Chief, Magdalena Offenbeck as Managing Editor, Hugo Lagergren as Head of Photography. I originally intended for the Menton Times to be a route for students to be heard by their peers, an opportunity for one to collect their thoughts before making them public, and to bring attention to a particular experience or event. It was supposed to serve as a chance to create change in our small, cozy Mentonese ummah. My goal, above all, was to bring students closer together. In my original “Letter from the Editor” in our very first issue, I wrote that journalism is a pillar of democracy, a chance to touch the hearts and minds of those around us and change the course of history for the better. Here in Menton, I hope we’ve done that on a personal level — if nothing else, I hope we’ve helped you better understand and resonate with the going-ons of our little community. I hope we’ve informed you. Thank you for your attention, and for the last time this year, happy reading! Sincerely and with love, Celeste Abourjeili Founder & Editor-in-Chief Menton Times 2021-2022

< Back Une France qui s’assèche, des scientifiques qui alertent, un gouvernement qui se dépêche By Salomé Greffier March 31, 2023 « Sens-tu l’air du désert/ Te dessécher la peau/ Comme si l’on avait/ Laissé le four ouvert/ Et ce souffle brûlant/ Nous ôter le repos/ Pour venir nous donner/ Un avant-goût d’enfer ? » Laurence Hérault s’exprime en ces mots afin de décrire un phénomène observé à grande échelle par les sociétés depuis une cinquantaine d’années déjà : la sécheresse. Tandis que les populations subissent des épisodes sans qu’aucune goutte de pluie ne tombe du ciel, les scientifiques parlent d’avancée du désert et les pouvoirs publics tentent de proposer des alternatives économiques et sociales moins énergivores en eau. La sécheresse, fait désormais l’objet d’observations rigoureuses et constitue un enjeu majeur pour les États. En outre, le dernier rapport du GIEC publié en 2022 tire la sonnette d’alarme quant à la fréquence des périodes de sécheresse à travers le monde dans les années à venir. Ces dernières devraient devenir plus régulières, voire permanentes, impliquant une remise en question de la gestion de l’eau à l’échelle individuelle mais aussi collective, au regard des comportements agricoles principalement. Le groupe d’experts intergouvernemental place l’activité humaine comme responsable de ces phénomènes météorologiques extrêmes. Par conséquent, seule une adaptation anthropique face à cet enjeu climatique (mais aussi socio-économique, politique et qui atteint plus généralement la santé publique) permettrait d’inverser, ou du moins de ralentir, le processus en cours. Pour le moment, les baromètres français affichent un record historique inquiétant. En effet, à la date du 21 février 2023, les météorologues cochent la case d’un 31ème jour sans pluie sur le sol de l’hexagone. Or, en plein milieu de l’hiver, l’eau des pluies devrait remplir les nappes phréatiques afin de répondre aux besoins des mois d’été. Février se termine donc avec un déficit de précipitations de 75 %. En d’autres termes, la situation actuelle est celle que l’on chiffre, en temps normal, autour de la mi-avril voire de mai. Les réserves souterraines en eau se trouvent par conséquent à des niveaux particulièrement bas alors que la saison estivale de 2022 avait déjà puisé plus d’or bleu que la nature pouvait apporter. Dans le même temps, il ne faut pas omettre les inégalités territoriales en matière d’exposition à la sécheresse. Ainsi, les scientifiques décrivent un phénomène plus fort dans des régions comme l’Occitanie, la région PACA ou encore la Corse. De manière plus générale, une analyse du quotidien La Tribune de Genève avance qu' en temps normal, Nice enregistre plus de 800 mm de pluie par an. Entre février 2022 et la première quinzaine de février 2023, seuls 285 mm de précipitations se sont abattus sur la ville, soit 500 bons millimètres de moins que d’ordinaire !” Une situation qui devrait nous préoccuper en tant que (nouveaux) habitants de la région en perspective du retour de l’été. Ce constat posé par la communauté scientifique et l’observation empirique obligent les pouvoirs publics français à agir en prévention des épisodes de sécheresse. Ainsi, lors du Salon de l’agriculture 2023 le président de la République, Emmanuel Macron, s’exprime en ces termes « On sait qu’on sera confronté à des problèmes de raréfaction d’eau : plutôt que de s’organiser sous la contrainte, on doit planifier tout ça ». Un appel à la sobriété soutenu par son ministre de la Transition écologique, Christophe Béchu. Ce dernier a demandé aux préfets des sept grands bassins du territoire, le 27 février dernier, d’anticiper les pénuries et de contraindre dès à présent les particuliers et entreprises à travers des arrêtés. Le gouvernement lance alors un « plan sécheresse » pour se préparer aux difficultés à venir. Ce projet public a tout d’abord pour vocation d’adapter l’agriculture. En effet, si le chef de l’État choisit un moment comme le Salon de l’agriculture pour exprimer ses inquiétudes, c’est avant tout pour toucher une frange de la population directement concernée par la sécheresse. L’agriculture représente en France 45 % de la consommation d’eau, chiffre qui s’élève jusqu’à 80 % au cœur de l’été. Celle-ci repose sur un modèle d’irrigation trop consommateur par rapport aux ressources disponibles. Par conséquent, il est demandé aux agriculteurs d’employer la méthode du goutte à goutte ou de se procurer des outils optimisant l’usage de l’eau. Néanmoins, la mise en place de ces moyens revêt un coût économique parfois trop important pour les exploitants qui doivent en priorité répondre à des demandes de rendements et générer des bénéfices pour maintenir leurs entreprises. L’État, pour pallier à ces inégalités, a débloqué des fonds à hauteur de 20 millions d’euros pour la « protection contre la sécheresse » à destination de toutes les exploitations en espérant que ce budget soit utilisé pour lutter contre les aléas climatiques et non à des fins économiques. De plus, l’idée d’installer des compteurs capables de recenser la consommation en eau des agriculteurs est envisagée par les pouvoirs publics de la métropole. Le « plan sécheresse » se déploie également en intervenant sur les failles du réseau d’eau. Ancien, sous dimensionné et parfois mal entretenu, le système d’alimentation se doit d’être rénové pour limiter les fuites en eau potable. Chaque année, c’est en effet 20 % en moyenne d’eau potable qui s’échappent des tuyaux à cause de l’obsolescence du réseau. Ensuite, l’État a pour objectif d’accélérer le déploiement de la réutilisation des eaux usées traitées. En bout de classement européen, la France recycle seulement 1 % de ses eaux à l’heure actuelle notamment à cause d’une réglementation sanitaire stricte en vigueur. On cherche dès lors à remplacer l’eau potable nécessaire au fonctionnement et à l’entretien des stations d’épuration par de l’eau recyclée et étendre progressivement cette pratique à des usages industriels et agricoles. Enfin, la conscience écologique mariée à des intérêts socio-économiques mobilise de plus en plus les citoyens. Les Français semblent prêter davantage attention à leur consommation d’eau et soutiennent des projets tels que l’utilisation de l’eau recyclée ou de compteurs « intelligents ». La tendance à la sobriété individuelle apparaît nécessaire pour les spécialistes mais insuffisante. L’appel des experts insiste davantage sur un changement collectif des usages de l’eau et des mentalités à l’échelle globale. Il n’en demeure pas moins que le levier de l’action individuelle est une goutte d’eau essentielle à, espérons-le, un recul du désert dans les prochaines années.

Je ne vous apprendrai donc rien en vous disant que notre université, et le campus de Menton en particulier, souffre d’une image pour le moins ternie par des accusations d’antisemitisme et autres propos diffamatoires circulant dans les médias. Mais les questions qui demeurent sont : pourquoi en sommes nous arrivés là, et comment est-ce que cela nous impacte concrètement ? < Back La perception médiatique de Sciences Po Menton By Anonymous April 30, 2024 Si vous lisez ceci, vous êtes probablement élèves de Sciences Po. Je ne vous apprendrai donc rien en vous disant que notre université, et le campus de Menton en particulier, souffre d’une image pour le moins ternie par des accusations d’antisemitisme et autres propos diffamatoires circulant dans les médias. Mais les questions qui demeurent sont : pourquoi en sommes nous arrivés là, et comment est-ce que cela nous impacte concrètement ? Depuis le 7 octobre, Sciences Po a été au centre de l’attention pour les positions prises par ses élèves en relation au conflit en cours. Mais le campus de Menton en a souffert doublement. En tant que campus ‘Méditerranée Moyen Orient’ il est le plus directement affecté car ce conflit touche à notre zone géographique de prédilection, mais aussi car il touche certains de nos camarades de près. Pourtant, la discussion a été difficile et la gestion compliquée. En effet, notre campus a souffert d'attaques par des élus locaux d’extrême droite visant directement certains étudiants en postant des vidéos de leurs visages dans un but de diffamation du campus. Ils les ont ainsi mis au centre d’une attention qui n'était pas voulue et haineuse. De plus, les médias ont abondamment répété que notre campus était “antisemite”, associant tout une communauté étudiante aux actes certes répréhensibles mais non représentatifs d’une petite minorité, et vidant de son sens cette notion si grave et complexe. Il est donc impossible de ne pas être choqué de la durée durant laquelle ces propos ont pu circuler en ligne, endommageant gravement l’image de notre campus. On pourrait peut être penser que la réputation du campus, et de Sciences Po plus largement, s’en remettra probablement; après tout, les classements QS ne semblent pas en tenir compte, Sciences Po arrive 2 ème en politique, et c’est peut être tout ce qui compte… Néanmoins, cette attention médiatique est grave, car elle attise les divisions et fragilise notre confiance dans la capacité de notre institution à nous protéger. Souffrant d’une gouvernance instable, nous nous sommes donc retrouvés démunis. Qui plus est, les propos ont été plus d’une fois démentis par des élèves de manière très ouverte, mais étrangement cela ne semble pas autant attirer les médias. En ce qui concerne les impacts directs de ces accusations, notre campus en souffre déjà. En effet, le président de MEDMUN, l’une des cinq associations permanentes du campus, a évoqué la difficulté à inviter certains diplomates ou à nouer des partenariats avec certaines marques qui ne voudraient pas que cette image leur soit associée. Pour lui, il est d’autant plus difficile de se défendre contre de telles positions tant que Sciences Po ne fait pas de “contre attaque”, car sans un démenti officiel nous n'avons que peu d’arguments. Néanmoins, il est important de reconnaître l'existence dans notre campus de postures antisémites. Comme la conférence du 24 avril nous l’a rappelé, les élèves juifs de notre campus en ont souffert. Les témoignages l’ont montré, nous ne sommes pas toujours très à l’aise. Il est aussi important de se rendre compte que l’antisemitisme est souvent mal compris. En effet, ce que certains voient comme anodin ne l’est pas toujours pour ceux à qui ça s'adresse systématiquement. Et oui les ‘blagues’ stéréotypes toujours justifiées a ce titre sont dures à vivre, et oui être convoqué sur la conversation a propos du conflit en Israël/Palestine sans toujours être à l'aise pour donner notre perspective est un problème. Je dois l’admettre, durant le mois d’octobre et même depuis, certains jours ce malaise m’a envahie. Mais je refuse de laisser ces angoisses définir notre campus et mon expérience. Ce n’est pas en stigmatisant tout le campus que ce sera résolu. En effet, la reprise de la vraie souffrance de certains élèves à des fins politiques rend le dialogue d’autant plus difficile. La diffamation venant des médias pousse à des réactions antagonistes de certains qui empêchent la discussion modérée et honnête. Il est donc évident que la diffamation à l’encontre de notre campus affecte tout à la fois des individus, le fonctionnement d’associations et la capacité d’organiser des événements en son sein. Le manque de réponse face à ces attaques médiatiques et leurs reprises politiques nous laisse nous questionner sur l’avenir du campus.

Gardening is good for the body and good for the soul. Getting your hands into some steamy compost and picking out handfuls of weeds is a meditation—a respite from the fast-paced hustle and bustle of our increasingly rushed lives. I have certainly found that it’s very difficult to be unhappy when you’re collecting handfuls of fresh greens for dinner or flicking caterpillars off broccoli leaves. And if you get to share a garden’s produce with others, the happiness surely multiplies. < Back Why We All Need to Get Our Hands in the Soil Finn Leary for Environnementon December 31, 2024 When I put my hand up to write this article, I initially had plans to write about environmental NGOs and why so many continue to fall short in delivering meaningful change, despite bold, well-intentioned promises. Then, after witnessing the ways in which COP29 again stormed its way into the news cycle, with not much to show, I thought perhaps this was a more important conversation to have. But after an afternoon of getting my hands dirty, pulling out a few weeds in the garden following an obnoxiously boring French class, I decided perhaps this was a ripe place to focus my attention. And a bit more of a hopeful place to dwell. So yep, you guessed it! This article is going to be dedicated to the humble act of gardening. For ease of reading, I’ll be discussing three main ideas: gardening as a profoundly (often unintentional) anti-capitalist act, gardening as self-care and care for the planet, and gardening as a directed political action. PSA: This article is driven in equal parts by my desire to find a lovely human (or several) that are willing to give some love and care to the garden after I’m gone (sounds like I’m dying, I’m just heading back to Australia) but also to convince more of you of the value of gardening and growing your own food. Source: Finn Leary, January 2024. Gardening as Profoundly Anti-Capitalist I want to start here with a little story. This past summer, at home in Tasmania, my father, an avid gardener, was blessed with a handful of tomato plants that sprouted naturally from last year’s crop. They popped up in the veggie garden and quickly announced their arrival by growing prolifically. These tomato plants were huge, spreading to cover the whole garden. Hundreds, if not thousands, of tomatoes emerged over the course of the coming months. Dad was so overwhelmed (in the best way possible) by the sheer scale of his tomato success, that he started finding new homes for the tomatoes. Boxes full were given away at the local markets. Handfuls were passed over the fence to the elderly neighbors. Their sweet juicy nectarines were handed back. This quickly evolved into passing over bottled passata and tomato relish for nectarine pie. A local restaurant heard of Dad’s surplus tomatoes, and for the rest of the summer Dad swapped boxes for a meal at the restaurant. Thankfully this extended to his sons whenever they visited. A friend of mine who has her own fermentation and preserves business took buckets full to use in her recipes. A community group in Hobart used kilos of pasta sauce and fresh tomatoes to feed the masses at their weekly gatherings. And still tomatoes went to waste. But that’s the beauty of gardening. Fruit falling to the ground never really goes to waste. Just returning to the soil, seeds aplenty, waiting for the next year to sprout again. Indeed, all of this arose from the seeds that fell to the ground the previous autumn. Just a few months earlier, in a class at university, my favorite professor had been discussing the beauty of seeds and gardening more broadly. For the last class of the semester, he brought in broad bean seeds that were gifted to him by a previous student 15 years earlier. For the past decade and a half, my lecturer had grown broad beans and given the seeds to every class member, asking each student to sow the seeds and to pass on the gesture. It is fair to assume that one handful of beans given 15 years ago had led to the planting and harvesting of hundreds of plants in backyards around Hobart and further afield. I planted mine and they are still growing in my old shared house garden. My lecturer’s point with this act was this: That the beautiful gift of life stored in the form of a seed costs nothing but can generate so much good. And that this gift is exponential. In this sense, gardening is very anti-capitalist. Produce grown in the garden (and the seeds from these plants) are a gift from nature that can be regifted to others, shared and swapped and eaten and celebrated—a liberating and life-bringing act fundamentally rooted in connection to the land and to others. Source: Finn Leary, January 2024. Gardening as Self-Care: Nurturing Ourselves and the Planet Gardening is also fundamentally about returning to something better, something rooted in the past and oriented to the future. It’s about returning to ourselves in new ways (old ways really) and to the natural environment around us. Gardening is good for the body and good for the soul. Getting your hands into some steamy compost and picking out handfuls of weeds is a meditation—a respite from the fast-paced hustle and bustle of our increasingly rushed lives. I have certainly found that it’s very difficult to be unhappy when you’re collecting handfuls of fresh greens for dinner or flicking caterpillars off broccoli leaves. And if you get to share a garden’s produce with others, the happiness surely multiplies. Gardening requires slowing down. It forces us to contend with the seasons, and cycles of death and decay. Gardening makes us more aware of what is happening all around us, from the critters and the pollinators to the amount of rain held in the clouds above. We live such distanced and disconnected lives from the natural world that we are inherently a part of, that simply getting in the garden can be a reclamation, a way to remind ourselves of all we are connected to and the stewardship we must return to. Gardening also fundamentally orients us toward big, important questions: What is our role within the natural world? How do we care for what sustains us? How is food grown, and who grows it? How can individuals and communities take control of their food systems? Gardening as a Political Act Gardening can take so many different forms; it can be as varied as the people who practice it and the environments in which it occurs. Gardening can be a solitary endeavor pursued in private space like a courtyard or a balcony, or it can be a deeply connected act embedded in communities and shared public space. Gardening can differ radically in scale, from a few pots of herbs and greens to bustling community gardens. There lies beauty and value in all these examples. Gardening can also be a rebellious political act that challenges the status quo, as seen in practices like guerrilla gardening and botanarchy. These forms of gardening are premised upon transforming and reclaiming neglected and poorly used public spaces into green, productive areas, often without permission, to challenge private ownership and environmental conservatism. A good friend of mine in Australia started a guerrilla garden in Meanjin (Brisbane) during Covid, turning an abandoned council-owned plot into a thriving communal space where all walks of life from the community would meet and get their hands into the soil, sharing produce and meals. Engaging in guerrilla gardening/botanarchy is an empowering act, a way to push back against systems that aren’t really serving us. With our ecological systems in crisis, political instability growing the world over, and social divisions deepening, it is hard to envision a livable future without radical scaled change—the revolutionary, system-transforming type. I want to suggest that it is too the small battles that can pave the way to new modes of living and relating to each other and the planet. The peaceful revolution of growing something in the garden (whether in your backyard, or in a poorly used public space), in my opinion, is a small but sure step forward out of this mess. Source: Finn Leary, January 2024.

La littérature en traduction peut offrir une lueur d’espoir. < Back La littérature en traduction : bénédiction ou malédiction pour les langues minoritaires ? By Gruffudd ab Owain February 29, 2024 La présence de langues et de dialectes minoritaires est en pleine vue, même à Menton. Chaque jour, en route vers le campus, nous sommes accueillis par le nom de l’ancien restaurant, ‘A Braïjade Mentounasc’, ainsi que de nombreux noms de rue mentonasques. Grâce à son positionnement géographique, il n’est pas surprenant que le dialecte mentonnais se trouve entre la langue d’oc de type provençal niçois et le ligure intémélien parlé dans la région de Vintimille-Sanremo. Le mentonasque fait partie du patrimoine de cette ville historique, mais de nos jours, il est moins parlé qu’auparavant. Comme pour plusieurs autres langues minoritaires, son utilisation était interdite aux écoles il y a quelques générations. « Ma grand-mère se faisait taper sur les doigts avec une règle en fer si elle parlait mentonnais, » a raconté Patricia à Monaco Matin en 2023. De cette façon, l’expression « langues minoritaires » n’est pas toujours appropriée. Le catalan, considéré comme une langue minoritaire malgré un nombre de locuteurs supérieur à celui du danois, langue majoritaire et officielle, en est un exemple évident. En anglais, on utilise désormais minoritized language pour souligner les connotations politiques de la domination d’une langue majoritaire. L’oppression à l’école n’est qu’un exemple des menaces pour la transmission de ces langues; sans transmission, quel espoir reste-t-il pour leur survie? La littérature en traduction peut offrir une lueur d’espoir. Sa popularité et son importance sont en hausse. Les ventes de la fiction en traduction ont augmenté de 22% en 2022 par rapport à l’année précédente, grâce notamment aux lecteurs moins de 35 ans qui font partie de la moitié de son marché. En 2023, « The Blue Book of Nebo » de Manon Steffan Ros a remporté le prix Carnegie qui honore chaque année le meilleur roman pour adolescents en Grande Bretagne. Déjà primé dans sa langue originale, gallois, en 2018, il a été traduit en plusieurs langues, y compris le français sous le titre « Le Livre Bleu de Nebo ». C’était la première fois qu’un roman traduit remportait ce prix. Mais, quel est l’impact de la traduction de romans? Elle offre sans doute une visibilité nouvelle pour les langues minoritaires elles-mêmes, mais aussi des avantages pour les lecteurs du roman traduit. Selon Manon Steffan Ros, son roman est même plus ‘gallois’ en traduction que dans l’original. On en déduit que le processus de traduction peut adapter l’histoire, l’authenticité et les représentations pour différents publics. Dans une étude publiée dans un journal de multilinguisme durable, Guillem Belmar discute du rôle de la traduction à l’heure de revitaliser des langues telles que le Basque. Il affirme que la traduction est une arme pour lutter contre la dominance linguistique, et pour encourager des nouveaux auteurs qui peuvent ainsi atteindre un plus grand public, toujours en écrivant dans leur langue maternelle. Surtout, Belmar affirme que la traduction est essentielle pour la dignité de ces langues, prouvant leur capacité à élargir leurs horizons, leur pertinence, et la nécessité de les respecter. Cependant, la traduction fait face à des défis importants. La traduction anglaise de « Llyfr Glas Nebo » était « plus galloise » parce que Manon Steffan Ros l’a traduit elle-même. Il n’est pas rare que les auteurs ne puissent ni traduire ni lire leurs propres œuvres en autres langues, ce qui pose un risque pour l’authenticité et la fidélité des représentations. Comme le dit Michael Cronin, les structures de la traductologie sont marquées des préjugés et de la dominance des langues majoritaires, ce qui peut renforcer les inégalités linguistiques, surtout en contextes post-coloniaux. En gallois, au moins, le défi s’agit non seulement d’encourager les traductions, mais aussi dans la représentation de la culture dans la littérature anglaise. Des romans originaux en anglais, surtout les romans policiers, situés en Irlande ou en Écosse sont devenus très populaires. Créer une ‘saveur’ galloise dans les romans qui attirent un large public pourrait être une manière d’attirer des nouveaux locuteurs, ou, au moins, de garantir la connaissance de l’existence de la langue. Pour revenir au mentonasque, certains, comme Jean-Louis Caserio, pensent que sa littérature possède une richesse qui « mérite d'être plus connue ». Toutefois, elle n’a pas connu le même succès par rapport à ses voisins occitans, qui ont une longue et riche histoire. Parfois, sa littérature a prospéré même si la langue était en déclin : Robert Marty (1944-2021) a prévenu, de manière provocante peut-être, qu’il pourrait y avoir plus d’écrivains que de lecteurs. Aujourd’hui, elle est toujours vivante - il suffit de jeter un œil à la section des nouveautés du site Découvertes Occitanes pour en être sûr – même si les traductions d’œuvres étrangères sont plus présentes que dans d’autres langues minoritaires. Cela représente à la fois une opportunité pour assurer la vivance de la littérature et aussi un défi pour que les œuvres originales ne soient pas marginalisées. L’âge d’or de la littérature occitane a eu lieu au 13ème siècle, ce qui correspond avec l’époque des Troubadours. Leurs œuvres ont souvent été traduites, et Dafydd ap Gwilym, qui écrivait en gallois à la même époque, a été profondément influencé par leurs thèmes, surtout l’amour courtois. On dit que ap Gwilym est le poète qui a eu l’impact le plus significatif sur la poésie galloise, introduisant des nouvelles idées et structures qui conservent une valeur importante jusqu'aujourd'hui. Ainsi, cette histoire nous rappelle que la littérature en traduction construit des ponts entre les langues et les cultures pour un enrichissement mutuel.

It’s time to embrace these styles as more than just ‘trends’, but as a long-lived facet of Black culture. Recognizing the enormous influence that Black communities have had on fashion and aesthetics will allow for the long-overdue dismantling of structural hegemonies, which not only ignore Black culture but also build an alarming double standard between races in the fashion industry. < Back “Clean Girl” or “White Girl”? Exploring Racial Double Standards in the Fashion Industry Loowit Morrison April 30, 2025 Clean girl. We can all picture her: slicked-back bun, neutral nail polish, “no-makeup” makeup with lip gloss. She is an image of sophistication, elegance and fashion, not to mention hyper-trendy. She is a model off-duty. She is praised as glowing. And, more often than not, she is white. The clean girl aesthetic is widely credited to celebrities such as Gigi Hadid, Hailey Bieber and Kendall Jenner, champions of the “model off-duty” look. However, the unquestioned praise of white women who flaunt the clean girl look perpetuates a deep double standard in the fashion industry. Despite the face of the aesthetic being white, the clean girl was born in Black communities. The typical “clean girl” gold hoop was not born with the emergence of the clean girl aesthetic in the early 2020s. They actually have roots traced back to fourth Century Africa, in modern-day Sudan. In the U.S.’ Jazz Age of the 1920s and 1930s, singer Josephine Baker pioneered hoops as a fashion statement, and thus began their ascent to staple jewelry. Throughout the 1900s, stars such as Cher and Diana Ross continued to popularize the hoop. Chola style, defined by Chicana women on the U.S.’s West Coast, was also instrumental in the popularization of gold jewelry. Chola was used to symbolize Latina women’s struggle and to assert their unique cultural identity. Perhaps the most appropriated element of historically Black fashion is lip liner. An essential in many girls’ bags, no matter their race, lip liner was not just invented to upgrade a lip look. Liner first emerged in Black communities in the 1920s as a way to combat the exclusion of Black women from the beauty world. At a time when shades of brown were not even available in the makeup industry, Black and brown women had to “be the creators of their own beauty”, according to NYC makeup artist Sam Fine. While seen merely as a makeup tool today, the history of the lip liner is a story of protest—of Black women seeking femininity in a white hegemonic social landscape. What, then, allowed lip liner to expand past Black and brown communities? Well, it was only when white women adopted it, when liner went “mainstream”, that the negative connotations associated with it evaporated . Once viewed as “ghetto,” as soon as it was claimed by white women, it became “sophisticated.” In August 2022, Hailey Bieber’s tutorial on her “unheard of technique” for “brownie glazed lips” went viral. A combination of brown lip liner and clear gloss, this look was received with praise and enthusiasm as the “hot new thing” in makeup. However, this look was not a “new thing” at all. It was merely the elevation of a Black beauty trend by a thin white woman. The adoption and appropriation of Black fashion trends by white women is not limited to makeup. Long nails, which date back to Egyptian women in 3000 BCE, have long been donned by Black women. Black disco icons in the 1970s U.S. expanded the popularity of acrylic nails, which were brought to the forefront of fashion after being worn by Donyale Luna, the first Black supermodel on the cover of Vogue , in the March 1966 edition of the magazine. The growth of the acrylic nail was fostered by other Black icons, including track star Florence Griffith-Joyner and pop stars Missy Elliott and Janet Jackson. Today, acrylics are celebrated among all races. However, their perception on white women versus Black women reveals a deep double standard in fashion. When white women wear acrylics, whether a clean girl “Bubble Bath” pink or with an elaborate design, they are seen as chic and cute. When a Black woman wears acrylics, on the other hand, she is seen as “cheap” and “unprofessional.” Even the same set of nails would be seen in a completely different light based on the race of the person wearing them. Hoops, lip liners and acrylic nails are only three examples of the clean girl’s double standards. Despite its roots in Black culture, the clean girl aesthetic is rarely associated with Black girls. In fact, while heralded as fresh and cute on white girls, when Black girls wear hoops and nails, they are seen as the opposite. The clean girl aesthetic is not the only example of fashion’s racial double standards. Black people have long been pioneers of fashion, and can be credited with many of society’s favorite looks today, from athleisure to logomania and all-leather looks. This influence, however, is often pushed aside and purposefully ignored by a white-dominated fashion landscape that refuses to give credit where credit is due. Along with the slick back bun, braids have been a defining source of double standards in the fashion industry. Braids and cornrows date back thousands of years, the earliest known depiction of which is illustrated in a rock painting from the Sahara desert, around 5,000 years ago. While braiding culture is not limited to Black culture, braids gained a special significance during times of slavery in the Americas. Various braiding styles were used to draw maps of escape routes, denoting obstacles and pathways to freedom. Braids hold inextricable cultural significance in Black communities, highlighting a long-fought battle for freedom and unique identity. However, braids are also a place of contention. Despite holding a large place in Black identity, braids are a source of stereotypes and stigmatization, especially in the workplace. A study from CROWN Workplace Research in 2023 found that one-fifth of Black women surveyed between the ages of 25 and 34 had been sent home from the workplace due to their hair, and Black women’s hair was two-and-a-half times more likely to be considered unprofessional. Black women’s hair, whether in braids or an afro, has been widely regarded as “messy.” However, when a white woman wears braids, such as Kim Kardashian’s “ Bo Derek braids ,” she is praised as cutting-edge and cool. The more we analyze current trends, the more we uncover the ignored influence that Black culture has had on fashion. Without trailblazing Black leaders in the fashion industry, the world wouldn’t have sneakers, hoodies or name-plate necklaces. These trends have been seized and appropriated by the white-dominated industry, distorted to appear as belonging to white people only. This isn’t to say that the world should stop wearing sneakers or hoop earrings. Actually, we should do the opposite: it’s time to embrace these styles as more than just ‘trends’, but as a long-lived facet of Black culture. Recognizing the enormous influence that Black communities have had on fashion and aesthetics will allow for the long-overdue dismantling of structural hegemonies, which not only ignore Black culture but also build an alarming double standard between races in the fashion industry. So the next time you reach for hair gel, lip liner, or even your favorite pair of sneakers, think back to where they came from. So much of what we, as a society, love today has roots in Black culture, and it’s time to recognize, celebrate and uplift that. Photo source: Historical Liscense on Flickr

December 22, 2025 Menton’s Senior Citizens Won’t Bite: Go Talk to Them! Shortly after arriving in Menton this August, I got the sense that the town’s older residents are not particularly fond of Sciences Pistes. For many students, this might not come as such a shock. After Integration Week, complaints echoed through the Old Town. As one woman eloquently put it, “Sciences Po drove us crazy until 3 in the morning !” The objections vary in subtlety, from frustrated sighs and muttered grievances to water-pouring incidents on the heads of unsuspecting Le Rétro-goers. Read More September 30, 2025 How I Survive the Walk to School Without Losing my Will to Live Everyone loves to brag about how they can roll out of bed five minutes before class and still make it to class on time. (Good for you, king. May your alarm never betray you.) Meanwhile, some of us are out here having our own daily Olympic event—a 20-30 minute trek to campus. Every. Single. Day. Character-building, they say. Trauma, I reply. Read More September 30, 2025 On Becoming Mentonnais Yet, for much of my first few days, the town seemed quite impersonal to me: I felt disconnected. Because for all its beauty, I felt as if Menton always found a way to avoid intimacy. It pushed me to ask, what does it mean to be a part of this town anyways? Read More September 29, 2025 There's No Place Like Home I have always felt that way because “home”, to me, has always been a patchwork. There’s the place you were born, the one you grew up in, the countries tied to your heritage, and now a campus far away from everything you ever knew. Each one of them feels like “home,” but then again none of them quite do. They overlap and argue with each other—they coexist like siblings fighting over the bigger room. Read More September 28, 2025 Locals Versus Students: One Town, Two Communities When you search Menton on the internet, you’re greeted with pictures of lemon trees, sparkling blue water, and beautiful multi-colored buildings dotting the coast. It seems like a no-brainer when choosing your Sciences Po campus – who wouldn’t want to live in one of the most beautiful towns in the world? But as students arrived in August, they began to realize that living in Menton might not be as pleasant as it seems online. Read More September 27, 2025 A Year in Retrospect Accepting that “leaving one place does not mean that I leave my problems behind” is the biggest lesson this place has, accidentally or not, taught me. Being content where one is is a choice, although not an easy one. Life can be a lot of work, even when living on the Riviera. Read More April 30, 2025 An Ode To Menton: Notes From the Edge of France As we 2As prepare for our departure, I wonder what my biased memory will frame my time in Menton to be. Is living in the Côte D’Azur really as luxe as Instagram stories sell-it to be? This is my little reflection to remember the highs and the lows while they're still fresh in my memory. Here are ten lessons (from the 100s) from Menton Read More April 30, 2025 Cocteau’s Azur: Exploring Queerness in Menton At first glance, Menton appears to be a quaint and peaceful town on the French Riviera—a place of leisure, history, and, of course, lemons. But is Menton truly as fruity as it seems? Read More March 31, 2025 Choose Your Fighter: Dual Degree Edition Though they are both great, one has to be better, right? Is being a Lion superior to being a Golden Bear? Are the views of the Bay more attractive than the sights of the Big Apple? Read More February 28, 2025 Schengen: Border(less)? If you were to explain this idea to a person living in the era of the Iron Curtain, they would probably see it as unrealistic humor. But does Schengen truly live up to this utopic practice? Rising concerns about national security are now testing Schengen’s limits. What is the current reality of a borderless Europe and is it truly borderless? Read More February 28, 2025 Menton Abroad! Where Our 2As Are Going Next Year and Why The difference in demographics won't have a clear explanation or a defining narrative. Part of it comes from the individual interests of students or the current zeitgeist. Regardless, students from all year groups share the excitement of following their peers' path, whether in the busy streets of Cairo or on the beaches of Australia. Menton's student community is an international fabric composed of pieces from all over the globe, and it's only fair that this same group will remain unceasingly international in their choices. Read More December 31, 2024 L'Usine Located at 3 Rue de Général Gallienie is one of Menton's most precious boutiques, L’Usine. Based on an old factory, as its name suggests, L’Usine is one of Menton's biggest antique stores. Amid its multiple floors, rooms, and charming garden, the family-owned business has cultivated a collection of regional items, from home decor to jewelry, that exist as an archive of a Côte d’Azur that is long lost. Read More

December 20, 2025 Liquid Gold: The Story of Palestinian Olive Oil Read More November 6, 2025 Digital Resistance: How Young Palestinians Use Social Media to Preserve Memory In Palestine, memory has always been a form of resistance. Today, it lives not only in embroidery and heritage, but on digital screens across the world. Across Gaza, the West Bank, and the Palestinian towns inside Israel, a new generation is documenting life, loss, and love in "real- time" — transforming social media into a living archive of survival. Read More September 30, 2025 Points sur l’Actualité du Moyen-Orient « Le Moyen-Orient. Moyen par rapport à quoi ? Orient de quoi ? Le nom de la région est fondé sur une vision eurocentrée du monde, et cette région a été façonnée par un regard européen ». Tels sont les premiers mots figurant dans le manifeste de la géostratégie publié par Tim Marshall, spécialiste britannique des relations internationales. Prisonnier de la géographie, comme le suggère le titre de son œuvre, le Moyen-Orient l’est aussi de ses frontières tracées au gré des intérêts européens, qui l’ont enfermé dans une spirale de haines et de tensions sans fin. Read More March 31, 2025 La cause palestinienne, un nouveau souffle pour le panarabisme? Le Sommet arabe du 4 mars semblerait révéler une exception à une longue période de quasi-désengagement. Ce rassemblement pourrait-il marquer une réaffirmation de la solidarité arabe et un regain d'intérêt pour les aspirations nationales palestiniennes? Le plan adopté pourrait en effet, potentiellement, révéler un retour de la lutte des pays arabes pour la cause palestinienne. Read More January 31, 2025 Repenser l’histoire de la guerre civile libanaise L’absence de mémoire collective divise; chaque communauté se retrouve attachée à sa propre version du passé. Alors, quelle histoire raconter? Comment peut-on espérer construire un futur partagé lorsque les fractures du passé nous maintiennent encore captifs? Read More December 31, 2024 Censorship Concerns in Turkish Media The government’s control over media is seen as a way to shape public opinion in regard to their own agendas, protect their own interests and prevent opposing views from gaining popularity. Read More December 31, 2024 Loin des yeux, près du coeur: les Libanais de la diaspora face au chaos On quitte rarement le Liban, on s’en sépare, souvent contre sa volonté. Et pourtant, dans cette séparation, une étrange alchimie se crée: plus le pays sombre dans le chaos, plus il semble s’effondrer sous les poids du temps et de la guerre, et plus l’attachement et le patriotisme de ses enfants, même à l’autre bout du monde, se fait viscéral. Ce phénomène est particulièrement visible parmi les étudiants libanais en France, pour qui ce patriotisme se nourrit de la résistance face à un contexte tendu, marqué par les tensions et les conflits internes. Read More November 30, 2024 Athenian Architecture and Urban Policy: Diffuse (Dis)Organization Or A New Sense of Cohesion? Concrete, tall and monotonous, these “famous postwar apartment blocks” have for better or for worse forged Athens’ contemporary architectural identity, usually conveying a feeling of indifference or discontent to most of its residents. With their appearance dating back to the early twentieth century, their preponderance and widespread development in the following decades is intrinsically tied to the city’s historic path and the occurrence of various major events such as growing demographic pressures and the end of the military junta in 1974. Read More November 30, 2024 EU-Tunisia Deal: Migration Control at the Cost of Human Rights? The EU’s ongoing partnerships with authoritarian regimes, such as Tunisia, to control migration raises crucial concerns about the ethics and long-term efficacy of such agreements. While these arrangements may offer short-term containment, they fail to address the systemic drivers of migration, such as political repression, economic instability and environmental degradation, prevalent in many MENA countries. Read More September 30, 2024 Libya: Victim of a Double Crisis While many, particularly in the political arena, view the disaster as purely natural, experts point to human factors such as corruption, poor infrastructure maintenance and chronic conflicts that have left the country unprepared for events like Storm Daniel. This disaster highlights how human irresponsibility in two key areas—climate change and political instability—has compounded the crisis. Read More September 30, 2024 Najib Mikati, un milliardaire dans le marécage du Grand Sérail Najib Mikati incarne un Liban corrompu et à bout de souffle. Le passé et le présent du pays se sont fait avec lui, mais le futur qu’espèrent nombre de libanais ne pourra se réaliser que lorsque Najib Mikati et toute la classe politique qu’il représente seront relégués au musée. De nouveaux visages sur scène sont attendus pour la nouvelle pièce à écrire. Read More September 30, 2024 Women in Sudan Caught in Conflict When conflicts arise, the most vulnerable members of society—women and children—are impacted disproportionally. As a global society, global organizations such as the United Nations need to ensure that every person within the Sudanese community is protected and their rights are upheld during such conflicts. Read More September 30, 2024 Terrorism & Climate Change: A Collective Effort To Further Destabilize West Africa? When thinking about global warming, one rarely associates it with terrorism. Nevertheless, when looking at the aims of terrorist organizations and the potential power and influence that climate change predisposes them to have in certain regions of the world, we understand both the disparity of the situation and the urgent need for it to change. Read More April 30, 2024 L'implication du Yémen dans la guerre de Gaza : l'essor des houthis et la dynamique régionale Dans le contexte du conflit de Gaza entre Israël et le Hamas, le Yémen, déjà en proie à ses propres troubles internes, se trouve de plus en plus impliqué dans des complexités régionales, principalement orchestrées par le mouvement houthis montant. Read More April 30, 2024 Armenia: The EU As a Destination? Ever since the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia has understood that it is surrounded by dangerous neighbors. Read More March 31, 2024 Constructing a Technocratic Government in Post-War Gaza In the West Bank and Gaza, where de facto democracy has long been out of the question and the destructive implications of war continue to devastate, a technocracy may be the only viable solution to address the needs of a population in ruins. Read More March 30, 2024 L’industrie cinématographique en Arabie saoudite Entre des réformes politiques en faveur du droit des femmes tels que le droit de conduire et le droit à l'obtention d’un passeport et au voyage à l'international sans autorisation d’un parent masculin et les réformes culturelles tel que l'accès au cinéma et la production de films, le pays semble changer radicalement. Read More March 30, 2024 Iranian Elections: What Messages Can Be Understood? The victory of the current regime, which was unsurprising for everyone, holds several messages. However, its validity and democratic facade must be taken with a pinch of salt. Read More March 30, 2024 In The Lead-Up to Local Elections, Istanbul’s Kurdish Voters in Spotlight Until now, Kurdish voters have gritted their teeth and arguably voted against their best interest for the sake of democracy, and it seems that we must now imagine a world where they do not. Read More February 29, 2024 Changing Face of Foreign Correspondence as Journalist Deaths Skyrocket While news organizations grapple with industry shifts due to globalization and new technologies, journalists face more imminent danger while reporting conflict than ever. Read More

December 10, 2025 Iraq at the Ballots On Nov. 11 Iraqis went to the parliamentary election ballots to determine who gets the 329 seats on Iraq’s Council of Representatives. Read More October 31, 2025 What Happened to Freedom of Speech? Kirk’s murder came as a shock to many across the United States, sparking a wide range of reactions. Fellow right-wing activists and conservative politicians publicly grieved the loss of their friend and colleague, while left-wing politicians openly condemned the act of political violence, reiterating the need for gun reform in America. Online, however, the general reaction was much less mournful. People flocked online to criticize politicians for “martyring” Kirk, who spouted many racist, sexist and discriminatory views throughout his career. Many questioned whether this was a man who deserved to be honored. Read More October 23, 2025 General Debate in the UN Assembly Annalena Baerbock of Germany, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs until 2025, served as the President of the General Assembly and declared the theme of this year's debate as “Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights.” Baerbock began her remarks by highlighting the plight of children in Gaza, the war in Ukraine, and gang violence in Haiti. Moving on, she stated that cynics of the United Nations needed to realize that the “the [United Nations] Charter, our Charter, is only as strong as Member States’ willingness to uphold it,” encouraging the rest of the delegates to “act when action is needed.” Read More October 21, 2025 Le néolibéralisme à la française «La France est un enfer fiscal.» Cette expression fréquemment reprise dans certains médias appuie la critique d’un État où les charges et impôts étoufferaient l’initiative privée. Derrière cette formule se devine le cœur du discours néolibéral : réduire les fonctions sociales de l'État pour laisser libre cours au fonctionnement ‘naturel’ du marché. Read More October 21, 2025 ‘Will this recognition bring back my family?’ The recognition of the State of Palestine by France is not a sudden decision, influenced by other nations; rather, it is one that the state has been working towards since July. Read More September 30, 2025 3 Ans Après le Meurtre de Mahsa Amini, un Bilan sur la Situation des Femmes en Iran Le 16 septembre 2025 marque le troisième anniversaire du décès de Mahsa Amini aux mains du régime iranien. La politique répressive envers les femmes perdure. Cependant, l’Iran a connu d'importants bouleversements à la suite de cet outrage, notamment portés par le mouvement international Femme, vie, liberté. Ces mobilisations ont-elles réellement amélioré la condition des femmes ? Trois ans après, faisons le point sur la société iranienne depuis le soulèvement Femme, vie, liberté. Read More September 30, 2025 L'OCS ou la Peur a L'Occident Le 1er septembre 2025, lors du sommet annuel de l’Organisation de Coopération de Shanghai (OCS), Xi Jinping dénonçait une « mentalité de guerre froide » et des « actes d’intimidation » visant implicitement l’administration américaine. Ces propos, repris dans de nombreux médias occidentaux, renforcent une certaine inquiétude quant à la montée en puissance de la Chine. Read More April 30, 2025 Protests in Türkiye: The Fight for “Hak, Hukuk, Adalet!” The question emerged: if a regime could erase a diploma, why wouldn't it also erase an election? After İmamoğlu was detained, hundreds of protesters took to the streets. The first act came from Istanbul University, where students gathered in front of the main gates with banners that read “Diplomamı değil, geleceğimi çaldınız!” (“You didn’t just steal my diploma, you stole my future!”). Read More April 30, 2025 Change in the Republic of Moldova Whether the new governance delivered all they had promised is of secondary importance; what matters most is that in the last four years, the country has been more open to the West than ever before.; Let us hope it will continue like this and one day, they will be a part of the greater European family. Read More March 31, 2025 Recentering the Fight Against Climate Change from Innovation to Tradition Developed across millennia and passed down through generations, Indigenous knowledge carries “ancient and intergenerational wisdom that is flexible, fluid, and adaptive.” Read More March 31, 2025 The 51st State? Trump, Absorbing Canada, Sovereignty and American Foreign Policy Trump carried strict economic goals into his second term, imposing trade tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico to help stunt immigration into the U.S. While his economic nationalism persists, Trump’s threats of annexation peel back a new layer of his foreign policy plan. Read More February 28, 2025 Tug-of-War: Chinese and American Shared Interest in Greenland Greenland has become a focal point of strategic competition between the U.S. and China, with a mutual struggle risking triggering a new arena for great power rivalry. As China grapples with economic challenges and the U.S. seeks to reinforce its Arctic presence, it has become clear that Greenland could play a crucial role in shaping the future of international dynamics. Read More February 28, 2025 “Mom I arrived”: Two Years Since the Tragedy of Tempi I cannot help but be haunted by the thought that this could have been us—the idea that my family, my friends and even myself could have been the ones inside this train. Ever since then, every train that leaves the station bears with it a weight of terror, darkness, and silence… Read More February 28, 2025 The Implications of the Piraeus Port As Part Of The Belt and Road Initiative Although we cannot predict the outcomes of the significant Chinese ownership of Piraeus, the fact that Greece’s biggest port is owned by a foreign power will have an important impact on its future policies, as well as its relations with other countries. Whether Greece will be able to successfully balance in between, without completely becoming dependent on either power, is to be determined. Read More February 28, 2025 Introduction to the Cyprus Problem: History and Attempts at Solution President Christodoulides of the Republic of Cyprus and President Tatar of the TRNC agreed to meet in May of this year under the aegis of the UN to kickstart another round of talks for the reunification of the island. What has created what the leaders in both communities, despite their sizeable ideological gaps, see as an opportunity for reconciliation? Read More January 31, 2025 Can We Cope with COP? The first COP was held in Berlin, Germany in 1995; under a framework of international cooperation, with various required reduction targets for “developed country Parties,” COP stands as the singular format for climate negotiations in the global space. But it’s not enough anymore—if it ever was in the first place. Read More January 31, 2025 Is South Korean Democracy Threatened? Polarization of society and the rise of far-right rhetoric can very well be found in many other democracies, but South Korea is an example of two things in particular: an extreme attempt at suppressing the opposition and functioning democratic institutions. Read More January 31, 2025 The Syrian Question We all heard that the Assad regime toppled after 50 years of dictatorship. However, recent history taught us that such overthrows and their subsequent reforms are illusory in the end, seductive at first and inevitably and ultimately evanescent. Will this be the case for Syria? Will it repeat the history of its neighbors? And if not, will it become an Islamic republic, as the actual leaders seem to desire? Read More January 31, 2025 Embedding Sustainability Constitutionally What is a government saying to its people by enshrining the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment? It marks this right as one that it will prioritize, as “the protection of the natural environment is an obligation of the state.” The difference this amendment brings, alongside pioneering cases in Europe, is that citizens can hold their governments accountable with regard to their actions or inaction. Read More January 31, 2025 Donald Trump vs The Stock Market Many things remain unknown concerning Trump's second term, but the only thing certain is that it will not be a mundane one. Amid this pressing backdrop, U.S. markets must brace for a period of both market-oriented policies and uncertainty. Read More

December 5, 2025 Renewal of the Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding The International Organization on Migration (IOM) defines the Central Mediterranean route, which passes through Libyan waters, as the “world’s deadliest migratory sea crossing” due to its dangerous waters and the scarce number of search and rescue operations. In 2022 alone, 1,417 people departing from Libya died along the route, while an additional 56,515 people were intercepted and returned to Libya. Read More November 26, 2025 What Women Learn to Endure: How Early Socialization Shapes the Structural Roots of Intimate Partner Violence On average, 24% of women within the EU face Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). In Finland this figure rises to 30% with Denmark being even higher at 32%. In the context of the Nordics, 28% and 27% of Swedish and Norwegian women experienced IPV respectively. These relatively high statistics are described as the Nordic paradox, which explores why countries that are often described as models of egalitarianism face the highest rates of IPV. Read More November 15, 2025 Syria's Invisible Wounds: When Justice Must Rebuild What Violence Destroyed During Human Rights Week, I had the opportunity to hear from Noura Ghazi, a Syrian human rights lawyer and founder of Nophotozone. Her reflections centered on the wounds that linger beneath the surface — wounds inflicted by years of arbitrary arrests, torture, and enforced disappearances. At the conference “Syria in 2025 : Justice, Memory, and the Road Ahead,” Ghazi addressed one of the most painful chapters in Syria’s recent history. She spoke about the chaotic and sudden opening of prisons controlled by the regime and the dark consequences that followed. Read More November 13, 2025 Beyond Ceasefires: Building Lasting Peace with Art From Shatila to Menton, artist Maryam Samaan turns puppets and knitting into spaces for healing and dialogue. Read More November 11, 2025 Quand le Caire faisait rêver le monde arabe, l’âge d’or du cinéma égyptien. Dans son ouvrage Arab Cinema : History and Cultural Identity (1998), Viola Shafik affirme que l’Egypte était le premier pays arabe à produire une industrie cinématographique dont la production était supérieure, en quantité, à celui des autres nations arabes. Read More April 30, 2025 The Price of Blood: Syria’s Alawites and the Cost of Power Syria’s post-Assad experiment will be judged not only by who governs, but by how it treats those on the losing side of power. Will justice be pursued through institutions, or through revenge? Will Syria embrace unity, or settle into division? These are not abstract questions. They are matters of life and death, national identity and regional balance. Read More April 30, 2025 Syria Today: Post-Assad Turmoil and Efforts to Rebuild Syria’s road to recovery will likely be a tumultuous one—economic frailty, sectarian violence and external pressures weigh upon the government’s next steps. But for the first time in over a decade, the possibility of Syrian-led reconstruction can be seen as within reach. Read More April 30, 2025 The Future of Air Warfare: Sixth-Generation Aircraft & the Race for China, Europe & the U.S. Just as the early 20th century saw an arms race over battleships, today’s world is entering a new era of aerial arms competition, where superiority is not only measured by performance but also by how well systems communicate, adapt and dominate. Ultimately, the effectiveness of these next-generation systems will not be fully known until they are tested—not in simulations, but in war. Read More April 30, 2025 « Tombez amoureux de l’Europe ! » Le message d’espoir du président Enrico Letta Il y a un siècle les Français et les Allemands se battaient pour déplacer leur frontière, aujourd’hui celle-ci ne semble même pas exister quand on la croise. » raconte Letta à l’ouverture de l’interview. Il faut trouver une histoire globale européenne, et comment cette institution bénéficie à tous les citoyens. Read More April 30, 2025 Sanctions: The Key to a Longstanding, Powerful, Authoritarian Regime Sanctions do more than empty out grocery aisles and indirectly kill the innocent recipients. While the proposed intention is to combat autocratic regimes through economic means, rather than traditional uses of violence, the effect is often counterintuitive, propping up the very regimes they aim to weaken. Read More March 31, 2025 From Paradise to Perimeter Defence: What Making the Pacific a Military Playground Means for its Indigenous People It's a smart idea—if you’re the US government. Get rid of all your pesky hazardous material on an irrelevant island 6,607 miles away from the land of the free. Burn it up, blow it up, it’s all the same. Unfortunately for everyone else, the cost-benefit analysis is slightly less clear-cut. Read More March 31, 2025 Marseille, toujours une ville d’immigration? Marseille, deuxième ville de France, port phare de la Méditerranée, permet de comprendre la complexité du rapport entre la France et l’immigration. Une sorte de « je t’aime, moi non plus », d’une réécriture de la véritable histoire de l’imigration, ou encore d’un profond melting pot urbain. D’un côté, Marseille est une des villes les plus cosmopolites de France, avec une partie de la population favorable à plus d’immigration. D’un autre, un électorat de plus en plus séduit par les discours anti-immigration du Rassemblement national (RN). Read More March 31, 2025 Hey Chat! How sustainable are you? When we speculate about the takeover of artificial intelligence, we envision robots and robots with human-like abilities toppling the human race. However, as humans continue to deplete their own environment without regard to the rights of others, it becomes more and more clear that the revolution of artificial intelligence is already underway. At this rate, it is not the machines that will destroy us, but rather ourselves. Read More February 28, 2025 America First, Migrants Last: Trump’s New Southern Border Policy Trump’s new border policy isn’t as simple as just closing the border and getting “terrorists the hell out” of the United States. It encompasses a myriad of endeavors, each dealing a blow to the U.S.’ immigration program, which comprises one-fifth of the entire world’s international migrants. Read More February 28, 2025 Corps et Conscience: L’Écriture révoltée de Nawal El Saadawi La liberté implique-t-elle nécessairement la solitude? Ou bien avons-nous, malgré tout, besoin d’un témoin, d’un appui, d’une présence pour exister pleinement? Read More February 28, 2025 Le traitement des prisonniers après la guerre dans le Haut-Karabagh (2023) Dans un communiqué de presse du 17 janvier 2025, Amnesty International appelle la communauté internationale à suivre de près ce procès, pour garantir le droit de Ruben Vardanyan à un procès équitable et à une bonne administration de la justice. Reste à voir si la communauté internationale va répondre à cet appel. Read More February 28, 2025 A Blue Planet: Let’s Talk About the Oceans Individuals, as a group, have power. We can work for ocean protection on different scales. May it be respecting the sea and its ecosystems by disposing of your waste and cigarette butts at the beach, signing petitions or working with associations. Read More February 28, 2025 The Secret Backdoor The Soviets needed a new way into the United States and Israel’s passport system was a ticking time bomb. Ultimately, the Law of Return, which was supposed to attract Jewish people from all over the world, became a golden ticket. The leniency offered by the law welcomed opportunists from the Soviet Union as well. Read More January 31, 2025 Pulp Fiction, un chef-d'œuvre culte et intemporel Véritable expérience cinématographique, l’audace narrative unique, les personnages attachants et l’esthétique inimitable de Pulp Fiction en font un chef-d’œuvre intemporel. En défiant les conventions, Quentin Tarantino a encore prouvé que le cinéma pouvait être à la fois populaire et artistique. Read More December 31, 2024 Why We All Need to Get Our Hands in the Soil Gardening is good for the body and good for the soul. Getting your hands into some steamy compost and picking out handfuls of weeds is a meditation—a respite from the fast-paced hustle and bustle of our increasingly rushed lives. I have certainly found that it’s very difficult to be unhappy when you’re collecting handfuls of fresh greens for dinner or flicking caterpillars off broccoli leaves. And if you get to share a garden’s produce with others, the happiness surely multiplies. Read More

November 13, 2025 The Mediterranean Charm: Why Writers and Painters Keep Coming Back to This Sea On a tranquil Mentonnais weekend, two weeks before the midterms rush, I boarded a train bound for Antibes. As I wandered through its cobbled streets, the Mediterranean shimmered next to me, breathing light into every corner of the city; a scene not so different from that of my hometown in Alexandria, Egypt. Apparently, this feeling of familiarity with this vast blue sea is nothing new—a feeling shared by many people no matter on which shore one is standing. Read More November 10, 2025 “When They Tell You to Sing, You Just Sing.”: The Khmer Rouge’s Musical Manipulation of Cambodian Society “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. Read More October 23, 2025 Is being a Virgin as Cool as Being a BRAT? : A Review of Lorde’s Latest Studio Album BRAT was summer. BRAT was coming to terms with your suppressed desires, the hate you bore and the complicated friendships you were a part of. The fun, the ugly and the embarrassing. It was about the euphoria of partying into the light of early summer mornings and the walks of shame back home. Drug abuse, sex, and all other kinds of highs of life was what BRAT encompassed. It encouraged difficult conversations about fertility and friendship, revealing that fame doesn’t equate feelings getting spared or receiving grace. Read More October 5, 2025 Is Romance Dead?: How Reality TV Shows Reflect Modern Dating How does watching strangers fall in love on national television reflect the most complicated parts of our emotional lives – dating? The transition from heartful romcoms to dating shows such as Love Island, Love is Blind or Too Hot to Handle perhaps indicate romance has died. Read More September 30, 2025 Politicizing the Heartland: The Conservative Instrumentalization of Country Music Given country music’s association with the American South and its conservative majority, it is difficult to ignore the correlation of country music's revival with the rise of the far-right in the US. However, can one link these phenomena? Is country music inseparable from conservatism? Read More September 28, 2025 Americans on the Riviera At the start of the 1920s, although hard to imagine today, the Riviera was practically deserted during the summer months. Hotels and restaurants catering to the European elite would close shop after spring, as their wealthy patrons would leave for colder climates. The Murphys were the first to convince hotels in Antibes to stay open during the summer months, as a way to host their American friends. Thus beginning the transformation of the Riviera into the summer destination it is today. Read More September 28, 2025 Threads of Memory: The Story of Palestinian Tatreez In Palestine, threads carry stories. Each stitch of tatreez — the traditional Palestinian embroidery — embodies memory, identity, and resilience. On a quiet afternoon, an elderly woman sits with fabric in her lap, weaving patterns passed down through generations. Read More September 27, 2025 The Pen, the Camera, and the Microphone: The Egyptian Kit of Soft Power The truth is this: Egypt has never ruled merely by sword or throne. Its empire was always one of imagination, where a pen could be sharper than steel, a song louder than artillery, and a camera brighter than any spotlight. The world may forget armies, but it remembers stories. And Egypt has always known how to tell them. Read More April 30, 2025 “Clean Girl” or “White Girl”? Exploring Racial Double Standards in the Fashion Industry It’s time to embrace these styles as more than just ‘trends’, but as a long-lived facet of Black culture. Recognizing the enormous influence that Black communities have had on fashion and aesthetics will allow for the long-overdue dismantling of structural hegemonies, which not only ignore Black culture but also build an alarming double standard between races in the fashion industry. Read More April 30, 2025 Thrifting and the Price of Exclusion: Gentrifying Secondhand Stores in Toronto The question of immorality does not pertain to the act of thrifting itself, but how the thrift environment has been redesigned to serve corporate interests at the expense of those it was initially designed to support. Read More March 31, 2025 Who is “Saving” Europe? In the digital age, the responsibility of verifying and trusting information falls on us, the users. While content under the branding of Save Europe might not be falsified, it is deliberately presented with emotional imagery, evocative music and slogans—blurring the line between political activism and propaganda. Read More March 31, 2025 Fasting, not a dividing element after all Fasting in different religions does not divide us. It just makes us realize how similar we are, how we have the same needs, temptations and desires. And that’s precisely what I realized when I came to Menton, a campus full of diversity—ethnically, culturally and religiously. At the core, we are all the same… Read More March 31, 2025 Love is in the Air? Une Lutte Contre le Vent If the campus is about 70% female and 30% male, and of the women, 75% are available and heterosexual, and of the men, about half are gay and maybe 25% are in a relationship, how many available, straight men does that leave for the single women, keen and looking? No need to do the math. We are not all EcoSoc majors. To put it simply, the answer is not a lot. Read More March 31, 2025 Le racisme aussi peut être pluraliste Sans qu’on puisse mettre un trait d’égalité entre le RN et la Nouvelle droite, il faut saisir l’apport essentiel de cette mouvance à l’extrême-droite tant sur le plan idéologique que sur la formation intellectuelle de ses cadres. La Nouvelle droite est une entreprise de blanchiment car derrière le ‘pluralisme’ dont elle se targue, se cache directement le nazisme et le néo-fascisme terroriste. La grande blanchisserie aujourd’hui est le Rassemblement national. Read More March 31, 2025 With Prada and Ten Protagonists on to a new self-destruction feminism Feminism does not always require being vocal, an activist, or engaging in mass mobilization. Sometimes resisting is retreating—in the choice to withdraw from cultural pressures knowingly. Dissociative feminism expands the scope of what feminist action can entail. Read More March 31, 2025 A Review of the Oscars The Oscars, once regarded as the highest award form of artistic recognition, have increasingly been subject to scrutiny over their selection process, inclusivity and cultural relevance. While the ceremony continues to attract global attention for viewers tuning in from all over the globe, one cannot help but ask: is the Academy truly honoring the best in cinema, or is it simply reinforcing the industry’s biases and political inclinations? Read More March 31, 2025 The Southern Preacher’s Goth Daughter If the South is so deeply religious—it quite literally has been termed the ‘Bible Belt’ during cultural and political descriptions—why is it so drawn to horror? The answer lies in the paradox that envelops faith itself. To believe in heaven is to acknowledge that hell also exists. The belief in salvation is not complete without the recognition of sin. The South, with its religion and belief in divine punishment, has always and will always be a place where horror feels natural. Read More March 31, 2025 Trends In Tourism: Solo Travelling and Slow Tourism For us, Sciences Pistes, there are endless options, often just a click away on a lazy Monday morning, when the teacher is particularly uninteresting. The flight tickets are cheap, flying is fast and time is limited. We, Sciences Pistes, are respectful, interested in different cultures and exploring the hidden gems—not just the touristy areas. Read More February 28, 2025 All Roads Lead To Hollywood: What Do Golden Globes Teach Us About The Film Industry? So what do the Golden Globes teach us about the film industry? Apart from the obvious elitism and unreasonable standards it sets in most aspects of our lives, it highlights the necessity of appreciating one's work. In some cases, it emphasizes the importance of sharing happy moments with those who understand and support you. Perhaps from a more career-focused point of view, the awards also present a wonderful opportunity for filmmakers, actresses, and actors to get widespread recognition. Read More February 28, 2025 Pouring One Out for the Pub “Sweet Caroline, Good times never felt so good” are the words that personify the pub, but as reality hits, how much longer will the croons of Neil Diamond sound true? Read More

April 30, 2025 Singing through Grief – Collective Memory through Music Music has a strange sort of power; it can outlive the moments it was originally made for. You’ll Never Walk Alone has transcended Liverpool. Celtic fans sing it in Scotland, as well as Dortmund fans in Germany. It’s been sung in times of crisis—after terrorist attacks, during the pandemic and other acts of remembrance. But it will forever belong to Hillsborough first. It is sacred in the way a national anthem can become sacred, or a funeral hymn. You’ll Never Walk Alone began as a ballad of hope and then a cry for justice. Read More December 31, 2024 Seeing Red: Conservatism and Combat Sports If the right wing, as they have in the past, continue to capitalize on the sport’s inherent conservative inclinations, not only will they see victories on fight night, but on election night too. Read More October 31, 2024 Playing Switzerland: An Unfair Game The problem with playing Switzerland, playing neutral, is that it is not a fair game. Ban the state, and innocent athletes suffer. Do not ban the state, and those harmed by the state suffer instead. The sport of neutrality has no simple rules. And the question remains: how can sporting governing bodies criticize aggressor states while staying true to their values of inclusivity and togetherness through sport? Read More October 31, 2024 Restless Relocations: The Hard Breaks Between City’s and their Sports Teams 56 seasons. 21 playoff appearances. 6 American League Pennants and 4 World Series Championships: the Athletics’ storied time in Oakland came to an end late this September with a 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers, their final game in the city’s Coliseum. Read More October 31, 2024 Eternal Enemies: PSG vs Olympique de Marseille Ultras, celebrations, anthems, hatred and violence are often associated with football. Coming from a country where the derby between Olympiakos and Panathinaikos brings out some of the best ultras in the world, I came to discover what happens in my new country of residence, France. Read More March 30, 2024 Formula 1: Are the Gulf Countries “Sportswashing”? The recent increase in the number of races held in the Arabian Peninsula comes from the rise in investment from the Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia, which is currently advocating for the addition of a second race in Qiddiya. Read More January 31, 2024 2024: Year of the Bike on the Côte d’Azur As it’s a Saturday afternoon, and as I am a creature of habit, I almost automatically bundle my bike out of my apartment. Read More October 31, 2023 Focusing on the Figures: Insight into the War in Ukraine Through the Lens of Figure Skating Figure skating is an integral part of Russian culture and identity. It is the amalgamation of Russian persistence in sacrifice, the current government’s propensity to reject all things Western, and above all, the pathway to repairing the fragmented prestige of years past. Read More March 31, 2023 Qatar Bids for Manchester United Football, once dubbed the “beautiful game,” has become the epicenter of sports washing, a newly coined term that refers to ways in which countries invest in sports to promote their reputation and deflect attention from their less favorable activities. Qatar is not alone in this. Read More February 28, 2023 February Sports Recap Sports Recap — February 2023 Read More February 28, 2023 Menton à Risoul: Sciences Pistes Spend Last Week of Break at Annual BDS Ski Trip Despite a few hiccups and more than a few drunk incidents, the ski trip was a tremendous success. Sciences Pistes faced their fears on the mountain, and they are stronger for it. Going into the second semester of the year, there is undoubtedly a tighter connection between us than ever before Read More January 31, 2023 Morocco's World Cup Success Sends the World a Powerful Statement The success of the Moroccan team at the 2022 FIFA World Cup has disrupted the traditional balance of football. It has shown how the unassuming underdogs can, with the right combination of teamwork, persistence, and a steadfast, strong-willed, bald-headed coach — Walid Regragui, nicknamed “avocado head”— attain new heights. Read More January 31, 2023 Le Football, Source de Miracles Pour l'Argentine? Même les leaders politiques les plus charismatiques de l'histoire de l'Argentine n'ont pas réussi ce que l'équipe dirigée par Messi a réussi : imprégner l'âme de près de 46 millions d'Argentins de la fierté d'appartenir à la nation argentine. Read More January 31, 2023 January Sports Recap Sports Recap — January 2023 Read More December 31, 2022 Analyzing the Morality of the World Cup: Boycotts, Forced Labor and Human Rights Although the human rights violations in Qatar and its threat to the environment are alarming, it is of the utmost importance that one approaches the situation holistically. Forced labor, environmental threats and the kafala system gained attention due to World Cup boycott conversations. While the tournament has already occurred, it is paramount to not discard these issues in future discourse. Read More December 31, 2022 December Sports Recap Sports Recap – December 2022 Read More October 31, 2022 October Sports Recap Sports Recap – October 2022 Read More September 30, 2022 The 2022 Qatar World Cup Has a Dark Side The sheer joy that usually accompanies the World Cup approach has been tainted this year. Qatar, the next World Cup site, continues to raise human rights concerns. Read More April 29, 2022 Critique du Film “Le Stade” Le film, réalisé par Eric Hannezo et Matthieu Vollaire, est une magnifique plongée dans l’aventure d’une saison, au sein du vestiaire du Stade Toulousain. Read More April 29, 2022 Sports Recap: April Sports Recap – April 2022 Read More

Search Results All (395) Other Pages (392) Forum Posts (3) 395 items found for "" Other Pages (392) Politics of Art: Greece’s Quest to Reclaim its Parthenon < Back Politics of Art: Greece’s Quest to Reclaim its Parthenon By Barna Sólyom March Since its independence from the Ottoman Empire, Greece has been trying to regain its various historical artifacts from foreign powers that ruled over it. This struggle’s symbolic focus is the main building of Athens’ Acropolis, the Parthenon, specifically its decorative elements and pieces. These statues are up to 2,500 years old and were the fortress’ main sight until the early 19th century. The British Empire’s then-ambassador to Ottoman-controlled Greece was Thomas Bruce, more famously known as Lord Elgin, under whose control around half of the Parthenon was removed and transported to London, where he later sold the marbles to the British Museum. This action was already heavily criticized by his contemporaries, even in the United Kingdom, most famously by Lord Byron, who even wrote a passage dedicated to it in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812): “Cold is the heart, fair Greece, that looks on thee, Nor feels as lovers o’er the dust they loved; Dull is the eye that will not weep to see Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed By British hands , which it had best behoved To guard those relics ne’er to be restored. Curst be the hour when their isle they roved, And once again thy hapless bosom gored, And snatched thy shrinking Gods to northern climes abhorred!” Lord Elgin’s action set an infamous precedent, as cultural vandalism --- when cultural treasures are illegally taken from one country to another, was named after him: elginism . His action, of course, was not the first of its kind; for thousands of years, it was a “common” practice during conflicts to pillage. Nor was it the last act of elginism. Why are the marbles not back in Greece yet? When Greece gained independence in 1832, the government immediately started campaigning to retrieve the artifacts, as the Acropolis is one of the most important symbols of the Greek national identity. However, the historical circumstances did not allow Greece to have a large influence on the British Empire, which was in its prime, having the largest overseas empire the world has ever seen. After the two world wars, the balance of power shifted, and the United Kingdom lost a lot of its former might and hard power. However, this change in influence did not change the artifacts’ situation because the British Museum Act of 1963 prevented the institution from permanently removing objects from its collections. Thus, by U.K. law, the museum can not give back the marbles. The 1983 National Heritage Act also considers them national heritage, further strengthening the British side, whose argument assumes that the sculptures were purchased legally. Consequently, the ownership is lawfully under the museum's for 200 years. However, Greece suggests that the sculptures are in the United Kingdom due to plunder and vandalism, as their seller basically took the statues and shipped them away, thereby denying the legality of the museum’s purchase. Greece also commonly refers to UNESCO’s multiple rulings against elginism and cultural vandalism, such as the 1954 Hague Convention, the 1970 Convention, the 1972 Convention, and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention. International pressure also mounts on the British Museum to return other objects, further strengthening the Greek argument, as other artifacts like the Benin Bronzes have been repatriated. With the Vatican returning three parts of the Parthenon to Greece last December, all eyes are on Britain to make a similar conciliatory move. The debate is not solved yet; both sides defend their argument, not just on the museum level but even in higher political positions. In January, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the country is seeking a constructive solution. However, the government’s position has not changed on the topic, and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis put the Parthenon’s reassembly as one of his primary goals for his re-election campaign this year. The Deutsche Welle reports that discussion between the two parties is open. Still, a sudden position change is unlikely — a short-term loan from the British Museum is the foreseeable solution. Egypt and Israel: Quiet Beneficiaries of the Energy Crisis < Back Egypt and Israel: Quiet Beneficiaries of the Energy Crisis By Noor Ahmad October The global energy crisis began in October 2021 with the backdrop of resurgent demand from the re-opening of economies following the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, China’s post-Covid recovery led to a demand for gas that is said to have risen by 8.4 percent. Gas imports are set to increase by 20 percent to satisfy this demand, resulting in less gas available for import to many European countries from gulf countries, such as Qatar, who could not ramp up natural gas supplies to Europe, as they were committed to their long-term contracts with Asian countries. The other major event that undoubtedly catalyzed the energy crisis was the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia supplied around 40 percent of the European Union’s gas consumption by pipeline, and the 75 percent cut to supply has significantly affected European countries which have relied on Russian gas for years. Russia started to reduce its supply of gas in 2021 on the pretext of maintenance to its major gas pipelines into Europe. This accelerated in the early part of 2022, when gas flow reduced by about 40 percent through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, one of the major conduits of gas from Russia to Europe. By July of this year, the flow of gas through Nord Stream 1 was reduced to 20 percent of its capacity. On Sept. 30, a series of under-water explosions damaged both Nord stream 1 and 2 pipelines, most likely the result of sabotage. The union has not published its findings, but many suspect Russia to be the culprit. Amidst this chaos, two unexpected beneficiaries have been Egypt and Israel. The benefits have not only been economic but also political. Egypt, following the major discovery of offshore gas in 2015 by the Italian company ENI in the Zohr gas field, has been investing in its scope for exportation through the development of its gas liquefaction capacity. Liquefied natural gas has become a major method of transporting gas where piping gas is not possible. According to reports, Egypt now ranks in the top ten countries in the world with gas exporting capacity. Part of this success is due to its links with Israel through the Arab Gas Pipeline, which is used by Israel to export piped gas to Egypt for liquefaction and then is re-exported. Israel has become a significant gas exporter in recent years. It relies on its two major gas fields, Tamar and Leviathan, both offshore fields off its coast. Leviathan, which was discovered in 2010, has the capacity to supply Israel’s domestic needs for the next 40 years. Tamar gained significance around the same time. Most recently, in 2022, 60 billion cubic meters of gas was discovered in the Olympus Area, also in the Mediterranean. By some estimates, Israel, which currently exports 10 million cubic meters a year, has the capacity to more than double this in the coming years by investing further. For both countries, the rising price of gas and their export capacity have provided much needed hard currency to support their economies. Egypt’s economy has been severely impacted by rising commodity prices, particularly wheat, which is a mainstay for its population’s bread consumption. At the same time, sanctions on Russia have affected Egypt’s tourism industry, which relies on Russian tourists. In Israel’s case, a recent report published by the Ministry of Energy showed Israel’s profits from natural gas increased by almost 50 percent. Eleven percent of royalties from revenues from natural gas go directly to the treasury to fund state expenditure. Beyond this, Israel set up its own sovereign wealth fund, The Israeli Citizens’ Fund, to benefit from the increase in gas production; it raises its revenues from taxing excess profits. After a disappointing start, the fund, according to the Israeli Tax Authorities, was expected to collect between 300-$500 million dollars a year over the next decade. This turned out to be very conservative given that it raised 500 million dollars in less than three months in 2022. This fund will be invested for future generations, in line with how other sovereign wealth funds operate around the world. Beyond economics, the two countries’ geopolitical situations have also benefited. The European Union signed a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding between Egypt, Israel and itself in June 2022 to increase the export of Israeli gas. What has surprised many has been the union’s silence on the values it has held so dear for many years. Both Egypt and Israel have been targeted for various humanitarian issues – the Egyptian military regime’s treatment of dissenters is well documented. Moreover, the union has been historically vocal about Israel’s settlements and occupation of Palestinian territories and. It has been widely noted that the memorandum signed was the first in which the union failed to mention the Palestinian territories. A question was raised on the matter in the union’s parliament to the European Commission on the subject. A response on July 28, 2022 to the question, given by the Vice-President of the commission, Borrell Fontelles, stated that as this is a non-binding agreement, no territorial clause was deemed necessary. And while the union recommitted to abiding by United Nations Security Council resolution 2334, which calls for its member states to distinguish between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967, the omission in this instance is unusual. There is no doubt that energy politics has certainly provided a fair wind for both Egypt and Israel. Ressa and Muratov: The Nobel Peace Prize Laureates of Whom the World is in Dire Need. < Back Ressa and Muratov: The Nobel Peace Prize Laureates of Whom the World is in Dire Need. By Georgia McKerracher October We have all heard of the Nobel Peace Prize, whether through an influential historical actor whose name and achievements have popped up in a class, or as a term thrown around to poke fun at a friend. However, while we all know the Peace Prize itself has a long history, this year’s recipients are especially remarkable. We are in an era where freedom of expression is experiencing continuous global challenges, with a divergence between nations where individuals are thought to have too much access to free speech to preach hatred unaccountably, and others in which authoritarian leaders are incrementally increasing their overarching power to repress civil society. Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov are the leaders we need to celebrate to understand the fundamental place of free speech in any and all human societies. First awarded in 1901 and 137 times since, the Nobel Peace Prize is one of five pieces established by Swedish entrepreneur Alfred Nobel, bestowed upon individuals who have committed the most to “fraternity between nations… [and] the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” Nobel himself never left provision in his will for the specific peace prize, but as a chemical engineer, the prize areas of physics and chemistry were understandable choices. A committee of five members designated by the Norwegian parliament annually selects the recipient (or in this case, recipient s ), though it remains decidedly unclear why he designated a Norwegian committee to bestow the award in his name. There have been to date 28 organizations and 975 Nobel Prize laureates who have been awarded a prize, the youngest of whom was Mala Yousafzai in 2014 at the age of 17. Only two laureates have declined the prize, including Jean-Paul Sartre in allegiance with his history of revoking all honors, and Le Duc Tho for his role in negotiating the Vietnam Peace Accord with Kissinger. However, only 58 recipients have been awarded to females. In 2021, the prize was jointly awarded to Ressa and Muratov for “efforts to safeguard freedom of expression… a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.” Ressa is a Filipino-American journalist who co-founded the online political journalism company Rappler in 2012 alongside three other female journalists. She had spent almost 20 preceding years as a lead Southeast-Asia investigative correspondent for CNN. Born in 1963, Ressa was raised by a single mother due to her father’s passing when she was only one. Her mother subsequently emigrated to the United States, leaving the juvenile Ressa under the care of her father’s family. Ressa then moved to the US herself at the age of 10, to New Jersey. She attended Princeton and graduated with a degree in molecular biology, topped off with a Bachelor of Arts in theatre and dance. She is also the first ever Nobel Prize recipient from the Philippines. Ressa was announced as Time’s ‘Person of the Year’ in 2018; one of multiple journalists featured for her work combating misinformation and fake news globally. Ressa’s career, however, has not been without hardships. After being arrested in February 2019 by Filipino authorities, Ressa was found guilty in June 2020 for cyberlibel in People of the Philippines v Santos, Ressa and Rappler under contentious Anti-Cybercrime legislation criticized incessantly by human rights defense groups as undermining freedom of the press, a “shameless act of persecution by a bully government.” The judicial decision was both domestically and internationally criticized as a biased and political one due to Ressa’s incessant denouncement of Philippine President Duterte. Former US Secretary of State openly denounced the conviction as something to be “condemned by all democratic nations.” Muratov has by no means taken an easier path within his career. For decades, he has worked ceaselessly to defend freedom of speech within an increasingly restrained Russia. Born in 1961, Muratov studied Philology at Samara State University for several years, to which he attributes his love of journalism. Since as far back as 1993, Muratov has acted as a director of the independent socio-political newspaper Novaya Gazeta, acting as editor-in-chief for an incredible 24 years. Interestingly, the establishment of the organization was aided through the Nobel Prize money received by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990. The Moscow-published tri-weekly newspaper is known in Russia for its critical investigative coverage of politics. Since 2000, seven journalists have been murdered in connection with human rights and political investigations on behalf of the newspaper. Undoubtedly, the Nobel Peace Prize committee’s statement that Ressa and Muratov have battled a “courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia” is by no means an understatement. The Committee further stated that the two icons represent on a wider scale “all journalists who stand up” for democratic ideals, under global conditions in which “democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions.” Congratulations have poured in for the recipients, including from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, urging a continuation of the international struggle to defend the freedom of the press and of expression and recognizing the “fundamental role” of the media in preserving democratic interests. During this global pandemic, numerous self-interested leaders have been offered an opportunity on a silver-platter to implement controls to further their own access to executive powers. Since 2016, the United Nations has published warnings of the serious threats media freedom has been facing, but there has since been a further notable increase in attacks on journalistic integrity, and even personal safety, during the pandemic. According to Freedom House, 2019 marked the 15th year of consecutive decline in global freedom. Military or police in 18 nations have physically abused outspoken journalists. At least 83 governments globally have used the pandemic as direct justification for the violation of the right to free speech, some of which have detained, attacked, prosecuted, or even killed opponents. Hence, it is clear that in the current climate, the decisions of the Nobel Committee have been more relevant than ever. Despite early criticisms of politically-motivated choices, the decision to honor Muratov and Ressa with the award has appropriately come at a time when the world requires journalistic leadership against oppressive governance more than ever. 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