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In light of the recent controversy surrounding the OGC Nice vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv football game, the UEJF of SciencesPo Campus de Menton offers the following statement. < Back Menton’s Branch of Union des Étudiants Juifs de France Issues a Statement Condemning Integration Week’s Football Match Protest By Ellie Carter, Gayle Krest, Azra Ersevik September 29, 2022 Editor’s note: Objectivity is of paramount importance to The Menton Times. As such, the September 2022 issue of the publication features a variety of stances that students took amid the controversial Integration Week boycott. In light of the recent controversy surrounding the OGC Nice vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv football game, the UEJF of SciencesPo Campus de Menton offers the following statement: It is crucial to differentiate between a person who is Jewish, a person who is Israeli, and the Israeli State itself. A person who is Jewish may live anywhere on earth. A person who is Israeli has Israeli citizenship and may or may not be Jewish. These two identities are not synonymous. The Israeli State acts as an independent entity and does not represent the global Jewish community nor the wishes of every Israeli citizen. Maccabi Tel Aviv is a football team that was founded in 1906, predating the modern state of Israel. It is a Jewish team – its logo featuring the Jewish Star of David – and players hail from a variety of countries . Their owner is Mitchell Goldhar, a Canadian businessman and the son of a Polish Holocaust survivor. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance cites blaming Jews as a group for the responsibility of individuals, holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the State of Israel, and denying the right of Jewish self determination as three elements of their definition of antisemitism. The individuals at this match are not representatives of nor accountable for the State of Israel and as such, should not be held responsible for the actions of the Israeli government. We condemn protesting the State of Israel at the match due to the ethnicity, religion, or nationality of the players. We would like to emphasize the right of Jews and Israelis to live, travel, and play football in peace without being asked to bear responsibility for the actions of the State of Israel. Moreover, the UEFA Europa Conference League is an international football competition organized by the Union of European Football Associations. Both OGC Nice and Maccabi Tel Aviv are competing in the qualifying rounds for the UECL this year. Neither OGC Nice nor any other team in the league has control over who they are assigned to play, as participants in each qualifying round are determined by each team’s placement in their domestic leagues. As such, protests and demands directed at OGC Nice are incorrectly placed, as they have no control over who they play. We encourage thoughtful protest and support freedom of speech. However, we call for care, mindfulness, clarity, and cohesiveness of thoughts and goals from students who exercise their right to protest, with the ultimate telos of peace. Finally, we have seen an abundance of inflammatory and hateful comments on Sciences Palestine’s posts related to the planned (and now canceled) protest. These are comments which we do not condone, nor are they written on our behalf . On behalf of the UEJF, CARTER Ellie, President KREST Gayle, Secretary General ERSEVIK Azra, Treasurer Français: À la lumière de la récente polémique autour du match de football OGC Nice vs Maccabi Tel Aviv, l'UEJF de SciencesPo Campus de Menton propose le communiqué suivant : Avant tout, il est crucial de faire la différence entre une personne qui est juive, une personne qui est israélienne et l'État israélien lui-même. Une personne qui est juive peut vivre n'importe où dans le monde. Une personne qui est israélienne à la citoyenneté israélienne et peut ou non être juive. Ces deux identités ne sont pas synonymes. L'État israélien agit comme une entité indépendante et ne représente pas la communauté juive mondiale ni les souhaits de chaque citoyen israélien. Le Maccabi Tel Aviv est une équipe de football fondée en 1906, antérieure à l'État moderne d'Israël. C'est une équipe juive – son logo représente l'étoile de David – et les joueurs viennent de divers pays . Leur propriétaire est Mitchell Goldhar, un homme d'affaires Canadien et le fils d'un survivant polonais de l'Holocauste. L' Alliance internationale pour la mémoire de l'Holocauste cite le fait de blâmer les Juifs en tant que groupe pour la responsabilité des individus, de tenir les Juifs collectivement responsables des actions de l'État d'Israël et de nier le droit à l'autodétermination des Juifs comme trois éléments de leur définition de l'antisémitisme. Les personnes présentes à ce match ne sont ni des représentants ni responsables de l'État d'Israël et, en tant que telles, ne devraient pas être tenues responsables des actions du gouvernement israélien. Nous condamnons les protestations contre l'État d'Israël lors du match en raison de l'ethnie, de la religion ou de la nationalité des joueurs. Nous voudrions souligner le droit des Juifs et des Israéliens à vivre, voyager et jouer au football en paix sans qu'on leur demande d'assumer la responsabilité des actions de l'État d'Israël. De plus, l'UEFA Europa Conference League est une compétition internationale de football organisée par l'Union des associations européennes de football. L'OGC Nice et le Maccabi Tel Aviv participent tous deux aux tours de qualification de l'UECL cette année. Ni l'OGC Nice ni aucune autre équipe de la ligue ne choisissent contre qui elles vont jouer. En effet, les participants à chaque tour de qualification sont déterminés par le placement de chaque équipe dans leurs ligues nationales. En tant que telles, les protestations et les demandes adressées à l'OGC Nice sont placées de manière incorrecte, car les équipes n'ont aucun contrôle sur qui elles jouent. Nous encourageons les manifestations réfléchies et soutenons la liberté d'expression. Cependant, nous appelons à la prudence, à la pleine conscience, à la clarté et à la cohérence des pensées et des objectifs des étudiants qui exercent leur droit de manifester, avec le telos ultime de la paix. Enfin, nous avons vu une abondance de commentaires incendiaires et haineux sur les messages de Sciences Palestine liés à la manifestation prévue (et maintenant annulée). Ce sont des commentaires que nous ne tolérons pas , et ils ne sont pas écrits en notre nom. Au Nom de l’UEJF CARTER Ellie, Présidente KREST Gayle, Secrétaire Générale ERSEVIK Azra, Trésorière

November 13, 2025 Nostalgie historique et la génération Z: liaisons dangereuses ? Des salles de bals étincelantes de Bridgerton à l'aesthetic Regency Core sur les réseaux sociaux, la génération Z semble obnubilée par une période qu’elle n’a jamais vécu. Comment peut-on expliquer cette fascination pour un monde vieux de deux siècles ? Read More #GenZ 212 When Luffy’s Jolly Roger was hoisted from Nepal’s Singha Durbar palace, it instantly became a symbol of something larger. Over the past few months, a wind of protests has swept across the globe. From Nepal to Madagascar, Kenya to Peru, Indonesia, the Philippines and Morocco: the youth, unwilling to inherit a broken system, have taken to the streets to prove that their future is daring and won’t be silenced. Read More التعليم في تونس: بين المساواة المنشودة والواقع الجندري في الصفوف الدراسية Read More November 2, 2025 Vlogging Live From Kabul: The Insights and Absurdities of YouTube Conflict Tourism In the past few years, an increasing number of intrepid content creators are documenting their journeys to places of conflict. They acquire rare visas, hire local tour guides, and point iPhone cameras through the streets as they seek to capture the ‘real’ version of these countries—places whose very essence is often reduced to fearful headlines and apocalyptic imagery. This phenomenon, known as conflict tourism, ranges from visiting historically troubled areas to entering zones of active conflict, and has taken on an entirely new significance in the age of vlogging. Read More Pourquoi Trouver une Information Fiable est Devenu si Compliqué Aujourd’hui omniprésente dans nos vies, l’information s’est profondément transformée. Ses canaux aussi. Dès lors, contrôler sa qualité devient un enjeu crucial pour éclairer notre opinion. Read More September 26, 2025 Le silence de la foule : comprendre l'effet spectateur Une rue commerçante bondée, un cri de détresse surgit. Pourtant, personne ne réagit. Cette situation hypothétique avec des comportements à première vue impensables est une réalité bien plus répandue que l'on ne le croit. Read More September 25, 2025 Calais: Between Migration and Solidarity When I first announced to my family that I would be doing my parcours civique with Care4Calais, a British organization that provides non-food items to refugees, most of my relatives acted as if I was about to become a war photographer in Sudan. Despite them, I managed to not have any image of Calais in mind before actually arriving. So what was Calais really like? Read More April 30, 2025 Vivre la Guerre à Travers un Écran: la Bataille des Récits Les algorithmes amplifient les contenus qui suscitent le choc et l'émotion, même si ceux-ci ne reflètent qu'une partie de la réalité. Ainsi, les zones de conflits moins spectaculaires ou celles qui ne répondent pas aux critères de viralité demeurent dans l’ombre. Read More April 30, 2025 A Hundred Years of Gatsby Although more than a hundred years have passed since its publication, the recycling of this tale, the tale of “The American Dream” but also the tale of a life without love—the tale of a life full of yearning—continues to this day, even after the pages of Fitzgerald’s novel have been turned to their very end. Read More April 30, 2025 Le « Surtourisme » En Grèce : Un Mal Nécessaire ? « Mal nécessaire, » il s’avère que la Grèce entretient un rapport étroit au tourisme, d’autant plus au surtourisme. Pays autant dépendant que victime de ses effets, il s’inscrit pourtant dans des logiques qui tentent de dépasser ces limitations initiales, pour tirer pleinement parti de sa situation. Le tourisme, en tant que phénomène, subit des transformations, des mutations, qui—nous l’espérons—vont dans le sens d’une meilleure adaptation aux priorités contemporaines. Read More April 29, 2025 FOMO (Face Yoga, Overwhelming, Maintenance and Overconsumption) Whether it’s a $300 white noise machine that is advertised to put you to sleep within 10 minutes, or a $500 ring that will track all your bodily functions, which will most likely not be accurate, all the problems you can’t even imagine having have been solved for you. You are no longer only overwhelmed but you now also live in an overcrowded space. As if being exposed to advertisements of these isn’t enough, you also have the opportunity to buy them and test them out. Because investing in yourself can’t be a bad thing, can it? Read More April 29, 2025 Tips To Survive Sciences Po Menton A town that I have learned to love and maybe sometimes to hate, but one that I will certainly miss when I have to leave eventually. This petite town of citrons has seen many generations of the Ummah pass through it. I think it holds a special place in our hearts. I hope you will feel the same way! Read More April 29, 2025 Gramsci: la politique est une guerre de position La pensée de Gramsci n’a rien d’une abstraite bataille des idées. , Iil s’agit tout au contraire de permettre la réalisation effective de la révolution et de l’émancipation en balisant son parcours. Aujourd’hui, plus que la vieille révolution prolétarienne dont on connaît les dérives possibles—c’est un euphémisme—il faut retenir de Gramsci son souci de préparer le changement radical. Read More April 29, 2025 Trump’s Institutionalized Incompetence I was stunned. The situation seemed absurd. How did we, the American people, let our government do something that seemed so childish, so unserious? Why did we allow someone who so brazenly mocks his detractors—an apparent prankster—into the top circles of American leadership? This sequence of events was a prelude to the first few months and potentially the next four years of an administration defined by unprofessionalism. Read More April 29, 2025 Pumping and Jumping Through the Balkan Spring Seeing the different branches of the Balkan tree blossom leads to the conundrum of what fruits they may bear at the end of spring. The last couple of months have shown that young people are now fed up with government negligence, illiberal practices and economic uncertainty. The ever-present young spirit of the protests, coinciding with the literal progress of the season of change and blossom, Spring, allows us to talk of a Balkan Spring. Mass injustices or tragedies act as catalysts for social unrest. Read More March 31, 2025 خاطرة في اليوم العالمي للمرأة في اليوم العالمي للمرأة، كشعيرة من شعائر "الإنسانية،" يجب علينا، نحن ماكثي العالم الغربي، أن ننعى بؤس المرأة العربية. ولكن الحقيقة هي أن المرأة العربية، في طبعها، ثورية عنيدة. Read More March 31, 2025 The mediocratization of the world Art has become the playground of impostors and also a means to escape taxes. Everything must be immediate and, most importantly, one arm away reachable. The greater threat was not totalitarianism, as Orwell thought, but the irremediable attraction of the immediate and the always reachable, as Huxley proposed in his dystopia, Brave New World. We are definitely not that far from that. Read More March 31, 2025 Edward Said in the Twenty-First Century Although it has been several decades since the publishing of this book and despite the groundbreaking effects it has had on decolonial movements, many of Said’s observations are still the reality in the society of the twenty-first century. Even today, people still judge the Middle East and North Africa without ever having studied it and not knowing anything about it. So, how has the relationship between the Occident and the Orient evolved since the publication of Edward Said’s Orientalism? Read More March 31, 2025 Cool Girls, Birthdays, and Egocentrism The media has created a culture around being “cool” and nonchalant about things: whether it’s birthdays, weddings or loss. Women are disproportionately affected by this because the pre-existing stereotype of women being overly emotional beings coincides with this trope. But how has this affected the way we view celebrations, especially those of our own? Read More February 28, 2025 False tears about fantasized walls 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. Read More

Des salles de bals étincelantes de Bridgerton à l'aesthetic Regency Core sur les réseaux sociaux, la génération Z semble obnubilée par une période qu’elle n’a jamais vécu. Comment peut-on expliquer cette fascination pour un monde vieux de deux siècles ? < Back Nostalgie historique et la génération Z: liaisons dangereuses ? Elsa Uzan November 13, 2025 Des salles de bals étincelantes de Bridgerton à l'aesthetic Regency Core sur les réseaux sociaux, la génération Z semble obnubilée par une période qu’elle n’a jamais vécu. Comment peut-on expliquer cette fascination pour un monde vieux de deux siècles ? Cet attrait pour le passé est bien plus qu’un engouement esthétique car il s’inscrit dans un phénomène plus profond, celui de la nostalgie historique. Ce concept désigne une nostalgie éprouvée de la personne interrogée vis-à-vis d’une période qu’elle n’a pas vécue voire d’une période antérieure à sa naissance. Selon Chris Marchegiani et Ian Phau, cette forme de nostalgie ne repose pas sur une expérience individuelle et directe du passé, mais plutôt sur une représentation collective de celui-ci, puisque les personnes ne l'ont pas vécue et se créent leur propre vision — parfois idéalisée — du passé. En effet, la connaissance de ces périodes provient de récits, d’images ou de discours socialement transmis, ce qui explique le caractère collectif de cette mémoire. Ainsi, le phénomène relève davantage d’une mémoire partagée, transmise voire même construite par la société moderne. Mais cette transmission du passé n’est pas passive: elle s’accompagne du phénomène plus contemporain de la « nostalgie simulée » qui en est une forme plus médiatisée. Théorisé également par les deux auteurs, il désigne la construction et la mise en scène d’un événement auquel on attribue – notamment à travers la publicité – une signification symbolique en y associant des objets censés l’incarner, alors même que la personne ne l’a pas vécu. Cette nostalgie historique 2.0 trouve un terrain d’expression privilégié dans le monde numérique. C’est ce que soulignent Huanshu Jiang Jie Yao Peiyao Cheng et Shumeng Hu, chercheurs à l’Institut de technologie de Harbin à Shenzhen, en démontrant que la génération Z se distingue par son inclination à se plonger dans des mondes virtuels qui s’explique par le fait qu’elle a grandi avec Internet et les écrans. Dans ce contexte, les interactions contemporaines entre une vision du passé et le rapport au numérique favorisent à la fois une circulation et une réappropriation des références nostalgiques. On peut ainsi observer l’expression d’une instrumentalisation du phénomène de la nostalgie historique par les entreprises comme un outil de stratégie marketing. En effet, l’étude des chercheurs à l’Institut de technologie de Harbin à Shenzhen a montré que les Générations Y, Z et alpha (nées entre 1981 et 2024) ont tendance à considérer les marques et toute forme de designs mobilisant de la nostalgie comme authentiques, crédibles et expressifs, créant une distance par rapport aux produits modernes qui sont considérés comme factices. Cependant, penser la nostalgie historique comme une stratégie marketing serait réducteur. En effet, la génération Z ne se borne pas à copier les styles anciens ou à romantiser le passé, mais elle va construire une réflexion renouvelée sur des objets d’une époque particulière, sur des événements et des symboles du passé pour développer ses outils propres d’expression personnelle entre autres par le biais des réseaux sociaux. Cela traduit de manière plus significative comment la génération Z renouvelle les interactions avec le passé dans l’optique de répondre à leurs besoins psychologiques de stabilité et d’épanouissement personnel selon les observations de Clay Routledge and Nicola Avis. Il s’agit aussi de relever les défis contemporains en s’inspirant du passé. La valeur des expériences plus lentes et manuelles du passé s’en trouvent d’autant plus valorisées que selon une étude du Human Flourishing Lab , 60% de la génération Z aux Etats-Unis aimerait revenir à une période où tout le monde n’est pas connecté, dans un monde avant l’invention des réseaux sociaux et d’Internet. Réduire ce rapport au passé à une stratégie commerciale reviendrait à nier sa dimension réflexive. La romanticisation reste en effet une caractéristique essentielle de la nostalgie historique. La création de nombreuses séries en témoigne, que ce soit sur la régence anglaise avec la série Bridgerton , ou sur la fin du XIXème siècle et le début du XXème siècle avec The Gilded Age ou Downton Abbey . Ces séries et particulièrement Bridgerton sont selon Sharmini Kumar l’illustration d’un pur fantasme d’évasion, visible notamment par les nombreux bals plus exubérants les uns que les autres. Les robes en style régence changeant à chaque évènement traduisent une vision d’âge d’or de la société anglaise. De plus, à chaque apparition de la reine Charlotte, le spectateur découvre une perruque différente, parmi lesquelles une volière ou encore une avec un étang et un cygne en mouvement. Ces facettes de la série montrent une image de prospérité et de luxe de la Régence. Toutefois, Bridgerton néglige la réalité criante de l’industrialisation et surtout par une pauvreté importante de la population urbaine qui n’est ni montrée, ni mentionnée dans la série. Par la romanticisation, le passé devient un univers séduisant et accessible où le spectateur projette ses désirs personnels d’appartenance et d'évasion. L’idée d’évasion associée à Bridgerton est renforcée par la manière dont l’inclusivité culturelle remodèle les représentations historiques et, par extension, la nostalgie historique. La série présente en effet plusieurs inexactitudes historiques, particulièrement du point de vue de la représentation de la culture indienne. La langue utilisée dans le programme est erronée et conduit à des ambiguïtés. Les termes « Didi », « Bon » et « Appa » traduisent une vision superficielle de la culture indienne car ils appartiennent à des langues et des régions différentes. Cette simplification de la diversité culturelle indienne et la confusion entre des expressions linguistiques et régionales peut être nocive. En effet, cette représentation imprègne la génération Z d’une image erronée car trop largement simplifiée, malgré le caractère divertissant du programme. Cette vision euro-centrée représente ainsi un danger dans le sens où elle peut pérenniser de telles représentations dans la société à l’échelle mondiale, vu le succès retentissant de la série. Bridgerton met en avant la diversité comme argument marketing, à travers une représentation faussement authentique. Plus récemment, de nouveaux phénomènes sont identifiés par les chercheurs, au-delà de la nostalgie « simulée ». Parmi eux, la notion de « méta-nostalgie », théorisée par Clay Routledge et Nicola Avis, désigne un intérêt des jeunes pour les expériences nostalgiques des générations antérieures qu’ils réinterprètent. C’est ainsi que naît un dialogue intergénérationnel qui s'appuie sur des repères culturels communs à ces générations. Ainsi, la nostalgie historique révèle bien plus qu’un goût esthétique de la génération Z: elle s’inscrit dans une recherche de sens et de stabilité dans un monde fragmenté. L’avenir du phénomène demeure toutefois incertain puisque la quantité considérable d’informations disponibles interroge : aurons-nous toujours le temps de penser le passé – surtout celui que l’on n’a pas vécu ? C’est peut-être là tout le paradoxe de la nostalgie historique: dans un monde saturé d’informations, elle devient l’incarnation d’une forme moderne de rébellion, de refus de la surinformation.

The Menton Times is Sciences Po Menton’s student-run newspaper. While we publish weekly issues in the spirit of journalism, our focus is less on breaking news and more on original perspectives, sharp commentary, and unique topics. From deep-dives into MENA politics to niche cultural pieces, film critiques, city reviews, and campus reflections, our content reflects the variety of the writers behind it. We’re simply a group of students who care about words, ideas, and crafting meaningful, personal pieces. Whether you want to write regularly, contribute occasionally, or help shape the editorial vision of the newspaper, there’s a place for you in our team. This year we aim to expand our reach—through a digital mailing list, broader contributor base, and more Menton-centered content than ever. So, if you’ve got something to say—-or have just been waiting for an excuse to write it—the Menton Times is ready to hear it! Founded in 2021, the publication is entirely undergraduate-led. The Menton Times offers a wide scope of quality content and has opportunities for students with interests ranging from reporting, editing, design, photography, website development, and more. The Menton Times est le journal étudiant de Sciences Po Menton. Bien que nous publiions des numéros hebdomadaires dans un esprit journalistique, notre objectif n’est pas tant l’actualité brûlante que les perspectives originales, les commentaires incisifs et les sujets uniques. Des analyses approfondies sur la politique du Moyen-Orient et de l’Afrique du Nord aux articles culturels de niche, critiques de films, chroniques urbaines ou réflexions sur la vie du campus, notre contenu reflète la diversité des voix qui le composent. Nous sommes simplement un groupe d’étudiants passionnés par les mots, les idées, et la création de textes personnels et percutants. Que vous souhaitiez écrire régulièrement, contribuer de temps à autre ou participer à l’élaboration de la ligne éditoriale du journal, vous avez toute votre place dans notre équipe. Cette année, nous souhaitons élargir notre portée — grâce à une newsletter numérique, une base de contributeurs plus large et un contenu encore plus centré sur Menton. Alors, si vous avez quelque chose à dire — ou si vous attendiez justement une excuse pour l’écrire — The Menton Times est prêt à vous lire ! Fondée en 2021, la publication est entièrement dirigée par des étudiants de premier cycle. The Menton Times propose une large gamme de contenus de qualité et offre des opportunités aux étudiants intéressés par le journalisme, la rédaction, la correction, le design, la photographie, le développement web, et bien plus encore. Managing Board 2025/26 Rebecca Canton Editor in Chief & Head of Website Design Rebecca is a second year student, majoring in Politics & Government with a concentration in law. Her interests lie in international law and modern history, and she particularly likes writing cultural pieces. At the Menton Times, Rebecca is the proud Editor in Chief and also head of Website Design. Pracheth Sanka Managing Editor Pracheth is a Politics and Government major on the dual degree with Columbia. He is interested in foreign policy, law and U.S. politics, while enjoying writing about sports and culture as well. He is happy to be this years Managing Editor and looks forward to expanding the scope of the publication. Stanimir Stoyanov English Copy Chief Stanimir is a Politics and Government major and eager to be a Copy Chief at Menton Times this year. Mainly engaged with diplomacy, migration and economics, he is excited to work together with incoming talents passionate about journalism. Melissa Çevikel English Copy Chief Melissa is a second year Political Humanities major. She is interested in sociology and Middle Eastern history, with her pieces mostly focusing on pop- culture and entertainment. Lubin Parisien French Copy Chief Lubin est dans la majeure PolGov. Prêt à débusquer la politique partout où elle se cache, il ne mord pas ses mots contre le fascisme et ses sbires, bien qu’il vive parmi eux en Côte d’Azur. Sinon, il divague dans le monde des idées et fait des commentaires grinçants sur les articles en français du Menton Times avant la parution. Ema Nevřelová Head of Photography Ema is a PolGov major with a sharp eye for activism. When she's not behind the lens or in lectures, you'll find her either deep in the latest from The Guardian or researching Creative Commons photos. Viktorie Voriskova Head of Marketing Viktorie is in her second year of her bachelor’s studies at Sciences Po Menton, majoring in Economics and Society. She has been writing stories and articles since high school, and in her free time, she enjoys reading, preferably with an iced Americano in hand.

If you recall Integration Week, you would remember yourself in lots of crowded places, with a drink in hand, moving to some song that you were told was a “Mentonnaise classic,” and the following day, being asleep during some presentation about French health insurance or some administrative procedure. < Back Integration Week 2021 By Viola Luraschi September 30, 2021 Now that classes have started, Integration Week seems like a very distant memory. In reality, it was only about a month ago that some of us were meeting each other for the first time, exploring the town whose streets we now know by heart, and navigating our way through administrative procedures. If you recall Integration Week, you would remember yourself in lots of crowded places, with a drink in hand, moving to some song that you were told was a “Mentonnaise classic,” and the following day, being asleep during some presentation about French health insurance or some administrative procedure. In fact, for the week beginning the 23rd of August and ending the 28th, the BDE organised events day and night to facilitate the integration of the first years into the Mentonnaise community. You will remember the speed dating on Monday, a great way to meet new people; the discovery of Menton (which some groups took more seriously than others); the iHome Family Feud on Friday, where we learned more about Menton; and of course, kebab lunch and the hike on Sunday with Environnmenton. Arguably, some of the highlights of Integration Week were the MEDMUN party on Tuesday, where different teams competed in drunk games, the BDA artist party on Wednesday at Soundproof, and the MentonLoves party at Monkeys with the monochromatic theme. It was between conversations, hookups, and drunk moments that strangers became friends. While we got to enjoy the week, behind the scenes stood the hardworking Integration Week Committee made up of members of the Bureau des Eleves (BDE) and other second year volunteers. The BDE, whose President is Ada Baser, is made up of a Vice-President, Owen Sircelj, a Treasurer, Raphaël Phanor, and four poles: On-Campus events, Off-Campus events, Communications and Logistics, and Social Service. The BDE was first created with the intent of connecting administration to the student body, but over the years, the BDE’s role has become much bigger. The BDE has shifted from a simple bridge to a complex organization that is now a vital part of the campus. Most student events and initiatives are coordinated by the BDE and its members, without much recognition. They not only provide the basis of the Mentonnaise social fabric, but also meet with the administration regularly. Additionally, they take on some of the administrators' burden of managing campus events and other on-campus initiatives. In essence, the role of the BDE goes much deeper than what most may think. The four poles each tackle different parts of the job: Communications and Logistics works on designing and promoting events and initiatives, their role focuses on achieving maximum outreach on campus; On- and Off-campus poles have an overlay as both deal with the organization and coordination of events — On-Campus is more specific to daytime events dealing with life on campus, while off-campus has its focus on evening events that deal more closely with student life on a more social and less academic level; Social Service, on the other hand, was first created last year due to the COVID pandemic in an attempt to improve safety and security in the community, though this pole has now developed into focusing on the outreach with the local community. The Social Service pole has started an initiative called Pizza et Parlare which consists of distributing pizza to those without a home once a week and understanding their needs. The BDE urges all of you to participate, connect with the community, understand realities different from ours, and learn how we can help those around us. The BDE has lots of fun initiatives and events for the upcoming year, so make sure to stay tuned!

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. < Back The Secret Backdoor Isabella Suels for Sciences Defense February 28, 2025 Israel stands as one of the United States’ strongest allies. Since its creation in 1948, Israel and the United States have enjoyed a strong bilateral relationship where the United States provides exceptional amounts of financial support. In return, the small nation-state conducts joint military exercises and military research alongside the United States. However, the military alliance between these two countries, which dates back to the mid-twentieth century, also served as a backchannel for Soviet espionage during the Cold War. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union were two of the most advanced intelligence centers in the world. The race for intelligence gathering during the Cold War became known as Cold War espionage. Although this act relied mostly on military and civilian agencies in their pursuit of information, the young state of Israel unknowingly became a tool for the Soviet Union. Upon the creation of Israel in 1948, Zionist leaders wanted to attract Jewish populations from around the world, and in order to encourage Jews from around the world to come to Israel, the state needed to make immigration as accessible as possible. This is why the Law of Return, which grants every Jew in the world the right to settle in Israel, has been regarded as an easy pathway to citizenship. To be eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return, an applicant must meet the following requirements: (1) be a family member of someone recognized as Jewish who entered Israel before March 19, 1970 and received a permanent residence permit, (2) not be registered as "Jewish" in the Population Registry, (3) not have been granted Israeli citizenship through naturalization. In order to flee from the repressiveness of the Soviet Union, many Jewish immigrants migrated from the Soviet Union to Israel seeking protection. Israel was an accessible option because initially, when applying for citizenship, under the Law of Return, there was no explicit definition of Jewish identity. This was until the Knesset amended the law in 1970 by adding the definition that, “for the purpose of this law, a ‘Jew’ means a person born to a Jewish mother or converted to Judaism and who is not a member of another religion”. However, this definition falls short of addressing what kind of conversion is necessary to be considered Jewish. Unfortunately, the lack of specificity opened the door for abuse, as among the Jewish migrants seeking a better life, there were others who took advantage of the ease of gaining an Israeli passport and migrated to Israel under false pretenses, specifically on the Soviet front. Even before the Cold War, Russian migration into Israel had been fairly common, but following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the number of migrants pouring into Israel skyrocketed. However, there was a negative side to this immigration—the arrival of the Russian mafia. Benefiting from a prosperous economy, Israel attracted the attention of foreign investors, including illegal actors. Unfortunately, as a result, Israel became a prime target for Russian criminal elements because it easily bestowed citizenship on anyone who could show documents proving they were Jewish. Israel became a safe haven for organized crime as a result of a controversial law passed in the Knesset. This led to a negative stereotype of Russian immigrants in Israel, but the increased Russian immigration posed a threat to one of Israel’s closest allies, the United States. Alongside members of the Russian mafia migrating to Israel, members of Russian intelligence, or the Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (KGB), were also migrating to Israel in hopes of infiltrating the political system—giving them easier access to the United States. From 1954-1991, the KGB, also known as the Committee for State Security in English, was the main security agency of the Soviet Union. This agency was responsible for gathering information both domestically and internationally. While the KGB conducted most of its activities domestically on Soviet soil and targeting citizens, they would also operate internationally by posing as journalists or even businessmen. Specifically, Soviet records confirm the existence of an extensive Soviet spy ring in Israel that included Knesset members, senior IDF officials, engineers and members of the Israeli intelligence community. One of the prime goals of the Soviets was to penetrate the Israeli political system . To infiltrate the Israeli political system, the KGB had to get soviet nationals into Israel first— a task made easy due to the fluidity of the Law of Return. Once in the system, these spies could begin recruiting officials already entangled in the Israeli political system or even climbing the ranks themselves. Now that the spies were granted Israeli citizenship, the world truly was their oyster, and the path into the United States was no longer plagued with obstacles. Hiding behind Israeli passports, spies had a direct line to infiltrate the United States. While there is a shortage of direct evidence that Soviet spies used Israeli citizenship as a way to gain access to the United States, it is undeniable that arming loyal Soviet agents with Israeli passports allowed the KGB to disseminate spies worldwide with ease. While regular Soviet migrants were usually turned back, because Jewish people were one of the ethnic groups most prone to facing persecution under the Soviet Union, their path to the United States was easier. However, an Israeli passport provided an easy way to bypass American authorities and gain easy access to the country. The conflicting priorities during the Cold War culminated in the perfect opportunity for espionage. While the paranoia of the United States experienced during the Cold War led it to turn away Soviet Jews fleeing persecution, there was innovation on the Soviet front. 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. All in all, this law made Israel vulnerable to Soviet intelligence operations and in put the United States in the crossfire, as Soviet agents gained a new identity and a new passport to help fuel their missions back home. Photo credits: Swapnil1101, 2022

Those interested in joining the Menton Times staff must be current Sciences Po Menton students. Staff applications for the 2024-2025 academic year open on August 15, 2024 and close on September 1, 2022. Mid-year applications open on December 1, 2024 and close on January 1, 2025. We accept guest writers from the Menton campus, greater Sciences Po network, and alumni pool. Interested guest writers can reach out to Editor in Chief, Rebecca Canton, or Managing Editor, Pracheth Sanka, with an article pitch. rebecca.canton@sciencespo.fr pracheth.sanka@sciencespo.fr Have a pitch or idea? First name* Last name Sciences Po Email* Whatsapp Number Write your idea Submit

The rise to popularity of media set outside of the US created a gap for new works which happened to be produced by British and Irish creators and their coming of age stories. While having real world implications such as a shift in university preferences, this also allowed for a generation to realize that the dream of an American teenagehood was as unrealistic as it was unattainable. In their transition to adulthood, many can now better appreciate the coming of age experiences their—or neighboring—countries have to offer, and learn about a larger scope of history and culture. < Back Is Coming of Age Based on Geography? Melissa Çevikel December 31, 2024 I recently realized, after reading Tennis Lessons by British author Susannah Dickey, that I was very familiar with a lifestyle in a distant geography which I have never experienced. The narrator waiting for GCSE scores, attending an all girls Catholic school and celebrating at a pub after a long day of classes seems so dear and attainable despite never being experienced by me or by anyone I know. But what has changed from when the ultimate dream of any non-American teenager was to attend an American small town high school, be asked out for prom and homecoming and drive at the age of 15? Recently, media centering the “British Coming of Age” has become increasingly popular, with shows such as Skins resurfacing during early 2020s. The Irish coming of age has been dominating the media. Writers such as Sally Rooney and shows like Derry Girls gaining popularity have not only made the experience of being a teenager in Ireland more glamorized, but have also shone light on the Troubles, helping them become better understood and portrayed. What pieces of media have contributed to this shift in popularity, and what has helped them become the new young adult dream? I have a theory that the cycle of awe and amazement towards teenage experiences in different countries—for those living outside of the US, UK and Central European countries—happens in three stages, targeting specific age groups. This theory in no way applies to the current generations of pre-teens since televised media targeting this audience is no longer consumed as much as it was during the early 2010s. I would argue that this fascination first begins in one's pre-teen years, where the child is exposed to TV shows and movies mostly broadcasted on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, featuring vibrant high school lives and diverse friend groups. Shows and movies such as High School Musical , Victorious and I-carly offered a slightly off-feeling transition to adolescence from childhood but also painted an image of a desirable and exciting high school experience which could only be achieved in the US. Decorated lockers, gym classes where everyone wore headbands and seemingly unhygienic and inconvenient lunch trays were not only high school experiences that foreign middle schoolers yearned to experience, but also glimpses of a foreign American life. During the adolescence of those born in early to mid 2000s , while Netflix was gaining popularity, TV shows such as Riverdale , 13 Reasons Why and the Vampire Diaries started to become household favorites. These series portrayed a side of the American high school experience that the aforementioned pieces of media did not, adding an element of mysticism and darkness to the small town American life. While more often than not having supernatural elements, they also spread a more realistic idea beyond the mysticism—that high school life was full of skipping classes, messy school fights and making out with insanely attractive people at house parties with red cups. Author John Green’s books were arguably the segway into this era even before they got turned into movies. The Fault in our Stars , Paper Towns , Looking for Alaska and Turtles All the Way Down were on almost every pre-teen girl's bookshelf and, for most, was the first introduction to mental illnesses and individuality complexes. Finally, in their later teen years, the same teenagers were exposed to American media such as Ladybird , Perks of Being a Wallflower and Edge of Seventeen . These were much less comedic compared to previous works targeting the audience and had much heavier philosophical and psychological undertones. These were not unexpected, since great literary American coming of age works such as The Catcher and the Rye and the Dead Poets Society had similar elements and predated them. They similarly tackled issues of coming of age but in an almost completely different world. I would argue that the release of Euphoria was what changed the narrative for American coming of age media, and the reason for that was how European and British-inspired the show was. Skins , the 2007 British TV show about Sixth Form students in Bristol was the pioneer for seemingly messy, disturbing and gory teenage media. Skins explored themes of drug abuse, sexual assault, teen pregnancy, homophobia and mental illness much more realistically and seriously than any U.S TV show with the same audience ever had. This was all done in a witty and psychedelic manner, without romanticizing the experience and rather showing the disgusting sides of all that was happening. None of the characters were particularly likable, but that didn’t stop many teenagers from glamorizing mentally ill and problematic characters such as Effy Stonem and Cassie, both of whom suffered from mental illnesses. Though presenting such characters to an impressionable audience was not the most pedagogical move, it was undeniably a much more realistic representation of the people one would meet during their high school years in a small town. Though Skins predated almost all of its American rivals, it was not until early 2020s that it started gaining popularity globally. This completely contrasted with the picture American TV shows had painted of the careless high school years with no consequences; it pushed producers to search for messier plot-lines which similarly handled heavy topics. Euphoria , motivated as such, tried to become the American Skins , with a larger emphasis on drug abuse. It was able to encapsulate a more realistic view of American life, similar to On My Block and Moonlight , but also missed the element of realism while portraying a high school experience completely. It was more successful than Skins in creating characters to whom one could relate but was unable to place them into the context of high school life. Before Skins , there was a strong stereotype of elite and poshness surrounding the coming of age experience in Britain held up by American movies like Wild Child , which presented private boarding schools with luxury uniforms and mandatory cricket lessons. On the other hand, Skins was the most extreme of the shows that were portraying the coming of age experience in Britain. It was nothing like what had been shown by the American media to be the said experience, and instead it offered the raw and angst lives of everyday teens. In the late 2010s, the media surrounding Ireland was much more popular than those surrounding Britain. Derry Girls for instance, was a 2018 sitcom that explored the lives of teenagers living in London-Derry, a city in Northern Ireland, during the 1990s amid the Troubles. The show was much less “messy” and did not hold the same emotional weight that Skins had, but nonetheless had a huge political element to it, which was what gave the show its depth. In addition, late 2010s were a time for 80s and 90s nostalgia in the media, with many American shows and movies such as Lady Bird , Call me by Your Name , Pen15 and I am Not Okay With This being set in that era. This nostalgia went beyond the US, and allowed for the creation of revolutionary shows for their respective countries such as Love101 in Turkey and Slova Patsana in Russia, which I could not avoid mentioning while on the topic of coming of age media. They changed the narrative of what TV shows could and could not discuss and explored the countries’ mostly untold pasts. Sally Rooney was a very influential author when it came to supporting the shift of popularity towards the British and Irish coming of age. With all her books set in Ireland, Sally Rooney almost created a new genre of novels—the scenery of which has now become all too familiar to her readers, such as Temple Bar and Trinity College. Her books dive deep into the lives of Irish young adults while discovering themes already conquered by authors such as John Green from a completely different and more mature perspective. This seemingly new genre filled the gap that arose during the transition from young adult books of authors such as John Green and general Wattpad novels, to “mature” literature which I cannot exactly put a finger on. Rooney offers a relatively light-hearted look on love lives and daily struggles of university students in their 20s, without lacking depth. It just so happened that these books were set in Ireland and not the U.S, which strengthened the romanticization of Ireland and Britain as a coming-of-age capital. Interestingly, Trinity College Dublin saw a 10% increase in their applications following the release of Normal People, further demonstrating how powerful this newly discovered coming of age media. Though not much of European media has had a global impact as influential as Skins or Normal People , the Norwegian show Skam had a popularity reign worth mentioning. Despite there being seven remakes , the original Skam was set in Norway and followed the lives of a high school friend group and dealt with themes such as teen pregnancy, drug abuse and Islamophobia. It had fights, club scenes and breakdowns, all of which largely resembled Skins . It had unique elements that Skins had missed to incorporate, such as sensitivity towards the themes that had been discussed and the deterrence of them. In my opinion, there are three stages of televised media consumption in adolescence, and those set in Britain and Ireland can be categorized under the fourth stage. While media produced for pre-teen and early teen years is largely based on the glamorization of the American high school experience, the third stage shifts the tides. This stage is the stage with the largest variety of media consumption options, being the stage of transition from teenage years to adulthood. While there are certain pieces still set in the US, it is much more global. As mentioned earlier, the rise to popularity of media set outside of the US created a gap for new works which happened to be produced by British and Irish creators and their coming of age stories. While having real world implications such as a shift in university preferences, this also allowed for a generation to realize that the dream of an American teenage-hood was as unrealistic as it was unattainable. In their transition to adulthood, many can now better appreciate the coming of age experiences their—or neighboring—countries have to offer, and learn about a larger scope of history and culture.

Dune, c’est de la science-fiction réfléchie, qui existe en dehors de son genre. Dune, c’est une tirade de questionnements, c’est une tragédie grecque dans un univers lointain qui combine émotions et pragmatisme. Dune, c’est une passion débordante que l’on a polie pour en faire un diamant. Épice et tout. < Back Le Diptyque DUNE: la voix d’un autre monde Montaine Barreau for Cinémenton October 31, 2024 Le mystère de la vie n'est pas une question à résoudre mais une réalité à vivre (Dune, tome 2). Cela s’applique également à Dune (I/II), diptyque réalisé par Denis Villeneuve, adapté des romans éponymes de Franck Herbert sortis de 1965 à 1985, référence dans le monde de la science-fiction. Pour tenter d’en apprécier le visionnage, se laisser porter est la première étape. Comprendre tous les enjeux et détails de la trame ne serait que contre-productif. Car Dune, c’est une masse qu’il est difficile de définir. Il y a le sentiment que ce monde est plus grand que ce qu’on en voit, qu’il existe en dehors de notre histoire, que sa morale ne se résume pas en quelques mots. Il serait par conséquent malheureux de vouloir retransmettre une expérience si riche et multiple en quelques lignes, je vais pourtant tenter de le faire. Il était Dune fois, une planète, connue sous le nom d’Arrakis. Cette planète est la seule détentrice de l’épice, une substance qui améliore la conscience et permet le voyage spatial; en d’autres termes, elle est fondamentale à la survie du monde conscient. Lorsque l’Empire, qui règne sur le monde conscient, confie à la maison Atréides la charge d’Arrakis, il est connu de tous que cette offrande n’est pas de bon augure, amplifiant les tensions avec la maison Harkonnen, précédente maîtresse d’Arrakis. On suit donc la tragédie de la maison Atréides, incarnée par son héritier Paul, qui trouvera son salut dans le désert, habitat des Fremens, peuple autochtone en attente du messie censé venir changer le destin d’Arrakis. I. Arrakis, ou la forme Ce qui saute aux yeux, c’est la singularité de l’œuvre. Le style marqué de Denis Villeneuve, démesuré, vide et presque brutaliste, ne laisse pas indifférent. Le monde est placé comme un personnage auquel on accorde de l’importance. De nombreux plans larges donnent cette impression de gigantisme, mettant en lumière la taille des vaisseaux, des planètes, en comparaison avec celle des individus, écrasés sous le poids des installations, écrasés par le poids de l’histoire. C’est donc un récit de personnages, mais aussi un récit des masses, impulsés par de grands mouvements. Chaque plan est réfléchi et les mouvements de la caméra restent plausibles, ce qui donne une impression de réalisme. Tout est naturel, au service de l’histoire, des personnages et, dans le cas présent, du film lui-même. Chaque plan est magnifique et nous dévoile la beauté singulière de la nature. Le travail des costumes, qui semblent presque historiques, des décors et des couleurs est également à souligner, retranscrivant avec brio une hybridation des cultures terrestres dont sont issus les peuples de Dune. Jessica, mère de Paul, arbore ainsi de sublimes parures et drapés qui conviennent à son rang de dirigeante politique et religieuse, tandis que les Fremens portent le distille, une combinaison qui recycle leur eau et leur permet de survivre. Le code couleur est réfléchi, associant les couleurs chaudes à la guerre, comme on le retrouve dans l’Histoire, le rouge étant associé à la guerre sainte. On associe le vert au passé de Paul, à l’emblème de sa maison, tandis que l’ orange et le rouge sont associés à son futur. On peut de même coupler le bleu avec l’espoir, qui n’apparaît que rarement. Le monde nous semble vivant, on peut le sentir et le toucher. Le premier volet du diptyque a par ailleurs remporté un oscar pour ses effets spéciaux. Le film ayant été tourné dans le désert du Wadi Rum en Jordanie, mais aussi en Norvège, à Abou Dhabi, et enfin dans les plateaux intérieurs et extérieurs de Budapest. On ressent le vrai du décor, qui nous procure une impression familière. Tout est très tactile, profondément émouvant et viscéral. Les personnages ressentent les mêmes choses que nous, elles touchent le sable, peinent à marcher dedans et sont confrontées aux rafales qui giclent sur les dunes. Villeneuve a utilisé de multiples tonnes de poussière pour retranscrire l’ambiance du désert. La lumière est réelle, ce qui apporte du contraste impossible à recréer en post-production. Villeneuve joue d’ailleurs sur l’obscurité des bâtiments conçus pour se protéger du soleil mortel d’Arrakis, avec le soleil de plomb de l’extérieur qui aveugle le spectateur dans la salle obscure. En studio, cela consistait à utiliser des écrans de couleur sable à la place des fameux écrans verts traditionnels pour rendre la lumière du désert plus réaliste et pour éviter la contamination des couleurs. On la découvre ainsi sous toutes ses formes, que ce soit par des rayons dans les tempêtes de sable, sous un teint orangé par temps d’éclipse ou brûlante au zénith. Dune est vivante, elle n’est pas un décor, un fond vert qui sert de lieu où se tient l’intrigue. La musique apporte également beaucoup à l’atmosphère créée par Villeneuve. Hans Zimmer est en effet grand passionné de la saga de livres Dune et s’est donc attelé à créer un mélange d’étrange et de familier pour plonger le spectateur dans ce monde. On retrouve ainsi des échos de cornemuse, instrument emblème de la maison Atréides, mais surtout des voix. La seule chose qui, selon moi, serait vraie pour n'importe quelle civilisation sur n'importe quel monde est la voix , des voix gutturales pour les Harkonnen, des voix envoûtantes ou guerrières pour les Fremens. La musique devait avoir une spiritualité… une qualité sanctifiée […]. Quelque chose qui élèverait l'âme et aurait l'effet que seule la musique sacrée peut produire. La musique rend sacrée l’histoire, et contribue à l’élever au statut de mythe, le mythe de la tragédie Atréides. Dune utilise aussi des milliers de sons de la vie courante, familiers, travaillés à la façon d’un documentaire. II. Shai-Hulud ou le vecteur Dune, dans sa forme, est magnifique. Cependant, ces procédés cinématographiques ont un objectif, donner à voir une histoire complexe. Les deux parties forment un tout, le rythme allant crescendo pour finir en apothéose. Inspirés de la tragédie Shakespearienne, le film met en scène des personnages nuancés, qu’on apprécie pour leur faillibilité et parfois leur bassesse. Le film commence comme tout voyage du héros jusqu’à emprunter une voie alternative. Au fil des films, on se rend compte qu’on tombe dans le piège. On veut la réussite de Paul, on le suit, on devient son fidèle. On s’enfonce de plus en plus jusqu’à comprendre que l’on ne peut plus reculer. C’est la complexité des relations entre les différentes maisons et factions, loin de placer l’un comme le bon et l’autre comme le mauvais, qui nous rend sensibles aux destins de chacun et chacune. Ils luttent pour leurs intérêts. L’un veut conserver son trône, l’autre laver l’affront qu’il a subi, le suivant se venger. Ton père ne croyait pas à la vengeance. Eh bien moi j’y crois. Le jeu des acteurs phénoménal ne fait qu’amplifier cette idée. Paul, incarné par Timothée Chalamet, gagne en prestance au fur et à mesure, tandis que Jessica, mère de Paul incarnée par Rebecca Ferguson, perd petit à petit de sa rationalité, de son contrôle. La lutte pour le pouvoir outrepasse toute considération morale, les complots se dessinent au fil du film. Le réalisme de la construction de l’univers et du déroulement de l’histoire permet également cette impression de tableau global. Diverses cultures nous sont présentées, chacun avec leur mode de vie et leurs coutumes. Par exemple, le peuple Fremen est divisé selon la géographie, le nord s’oppose au sud, où se trouvent les fondamentalistes qui vénèrent l’arrivée du messie, tandis que le nord se moque de ce fanatisme. Pour cause, le sud est la partie la plus hostile de la planète, toujours soumise à des tempêtes de sable, terreau fertile au développement de croyance dans la difficulté. De même, la peau translucide des Harkonnens est pâle à cause de leurs conditions de vie. Sur Giedi Prime, leur planète, seul la lumière blanche passe à travers l’atmosphère, ce qui cause un monde en noir et blanc, représenté par Denis Villeneuve grâce à des caméras infrarouges à haute résolution, et contribuant à nous dépayser davantage. L’œuvre, à travers cette histoire, aborde de plus de nombreux thèmes qui sont encore d’actualité, bien que le matériau d’origine date de 1965. Herbert considérait en effet que même un roman de science-fiction devait porter un message aux lecteurs. Son travail n’est pas un pur divertissement. On retrouve par exemple l’idée d’émancipation des peuples colonisés, mais aussi le danger que représente l’alliance entre politique et religion: l'aliénation du pouvoir religieux, sur la colonisation religieuse et sur les dangers de marier la religion et la politique , ou bien l’avertissement face aux personnalités charismatiques. Bien qu’évoluant dans un espace et un temps lointain, Dune apporte des leçons qui s’appliquent à nos sociétés, telles que la lutte pour le pouvoir, que ce soit l’empereur Padishah Shaddam IV, le baron Harkonnen, ou même Paul Atréides qui n’a pas de fins moralement plus hautes que les autres acteurs. Cette lutte se retrouve dans l’impérialisme pratiqué par ceux-ci pour contrôler Arrakis et son épice, qui crée des dépendances et apporte le pouvoir, métaphore d’un pétrole que tous s’arrache et qui justifie l’interventionnisme. Le thème de l’écologie est également majeur, puisque l’eau et sa préservation est absolument fondamentale dans cette Arrakis hostile, que les Fremens veulent transformer en paradis vert. Enfin, la religion et le mysticisme, conditionnent une grande partie des actions des personnages. Le monde est régi par un obscur ordre de femmes, les Bene Gesserit, qui conseillent les pouvoirs et y exercent leur emprise. Elles veulent atteindre un but bien plus grand: guider l’Humanité vers l’évolution prospère. Pour ce faire, elles usent de manipulations génétiques pour faire naître un jour un être qui serait capable de créer un pont entre le temps et l’espace: le Kwisatz Haderach. Elles disséminent dans l’univers des prophéties, qui leur permettent de contrôler la population. Arrakis n’en est point exempte. Il est ainsi toujours ambigu de discerner si ce qui arrive à Paul relève de miracles, ou d’influences extérieures. C’est cette complexité qui fait de la fable Dune un produit humain et nuancé, duquel peut résulter des questionnements fondamentaux. III. L’épice, ou le fond Dune pose par conséquent de nombreuses questions que nous allons essayer de développer. Tout d’abord, il développe une nouvelle idée du progrès. Dune, serait-ce une science-fiction sans science ? Dans ce monde, le Jihad Butlérien a été mené contre les machines qui conduisaient à la crise de l’humanité. Tu ne feras point de machine semblable à l’esprit humain. Pour contourner cet interdit, c’est l’humanité qui a été développée dans une sorte de Transhumanisme, à travers l’eugénisme des Bene Gesserit et le conditionnement, des mentats (stratèges, gestionnaires et calculatrices humaines). Cependant, toute transformation entraîne immédiatement une faiblesse. Les Bene Gesserit échouent et engendrent un être supérieur incontrôlable, les mentats peuvent être dupés grâce aux ruses. La force de Dune, c’est de nous mettre face à nos contradictions. En somme, l’homme parviendra-t-il à ses fins par le progrès, ou au contraire doit-il le limiter ? De plus, il aborde la question du lien entre la politique et la religion. Dans ce monde, les puissances sont conseillées par un pouvoir religieux, et la place du mystique y est très forte. Sur les planètes, on attend la venue d’un messie, qui porte plusieurs noms, le Kwisatz Haderach, le messie des Bene Gesserit, le Lisan-Al-Gaib ou Madhi, messie des Fremens. L'œuvre est bercée de termes connotés, comme le Jihad, ou de nombreuses religions, comme le catholicisme zensunni, le saari de Mahomet, produit d’hybridations millénaires. Mais Dune, c’est un paradigme plus singulier. C’est un monde sans Dieu saturé de religion, pour Maxence Collin, journaliste. Cette idée, d’une religion qui a pris l’ascendant sur le progrès est à contre-courant de l’époque positiviste très développée dans la science-fiction. On assiste ainsi à des manipulations pacifiques avec la création de la Bible Catholique Orange qui fusionne les principes des différents courants spirituels pour mener à la paix entre croyants. Mais aussi à des manipulations plus insidieuses, avec la Missionaria Protectiva des Bene Gesserit qui implantent des superstitions. Cela mènera à la Guerre Sainte, 61 milliard de morts que même le messie ne peut arrêter, et que l’on verrait mieux mort et statufié. Dune avertit donc sur la place des croyances dans la politique, qui sont utilisées cyniquement par les puissances et qui contrôlent les populations. Dune, c’est donc le résultat de la passion du réalisateur, Denis Villeneuve. Dune c’est un sursaut dans le monde du cinéma, rongé par les blockbusters sans saveurs, qui insuffle de nouveau de la poésie dans les salles obscures. Dune, c’est de la science-fiction réfléchie, qui existe en dehors de son genre. Dune, c’est une tirade de questionnements, c’est une tragédie grecque dans un univers lointain qui combine émotions et pragmatisme. Dune, c’est une passion débordante que l’on a polie pour en faire un diamant. Épice et tout.

The right to education is enshrined in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and even during wartime, under the Fourth Geneva Convention. Why, then, is the world turning a blind eye as schools in Gaza crumble, students are targeted and entire institutions collapse? The gradual normalization of educational violence is deeply troubling, highlighting a deeper decay of global values and human rights. < Back The War on Gaza’s Impact on Education: Scholasticide in Modern-Day Conflict Loowit Morrison for Amnesty Menton November 30, 2024 “[A] new way has been found to kill children.” Such was the remark on the Israeli Knesset’s October 28th decision to ban operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), from James Elder, UNRWA spokesperson. The parliamentary decision moved to ban the UNRWA’s operations within Israel, including occupied East Jerusalem, where the organization’s headquarters lie, as well as eliminating contact between Israeli authorities and the UNRWA. Justified by Israel on the grounds of terrorist involvement in the agency, this decision threatens the UNRWA’s humanitarian operations , which include healthcare and infrastructure development, social services, loans, and more, to Palestinian refugees. An especially crucial responsibility of the UNRWA is providing Palestinians with primary and vocational education. The agency offers free basic education to approximately 550,000 Palestinian refugee children, including almost 300,000 in Gaza and 46,000 in the West Bank. They also assist child refugees in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. This education is key to providing children with hope and stability, nurturing a new generation of Palestinians. According to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the October 28th decision poses an acute threat to these efforts, potentially resulting in the breakdown not only of education systems for 650,000 Palestinian children but the peace process as a whole. The banning of UNRWA is only one example of the destruction of educational systems in Palestine, a process which has been conceptualized as “scholasticide”. Initially defined by Karma Nabulsi, Oxford University Professor of Political Science and International Relations, during the assault on Gaza in 2008-2009, scholasticide refers to the “willful demolition of educational infrastructure.” The term includes an array of aggressions, including the killing of teachers and students, mental harm to students, physical demolition of educational buildings and materials, obstruction of rebuilding efforts, prevention of scholarly exchange and more. It has also been extended to the destruction of archives, libraries, museums, and other sites of cultural heritage, assaulting efforts to maintain Palestinian culture, history or identity in an attempt at cultural erasure. The relationship between scholasticide and the war on Gaza could not be more evident. It fundamentally lies at the core of Israel’s destructive strategies against Palestinians. A report from Scholars Against the War on Palestine holds that during the war on Gaza, scholasticide has grown exponentially, expanding from physical attacks on schools to a “total annihilation of education.” Scholasticide has manifested itself in Gaza in a myriad of ways, through the physical damage of buildings, the deaths of students and teachers, the growth of learning poverty, and the destruction of constructive educational curricula. A September report from the UNRWA, Cambridge University, and the Centre for Lebanese Studies highlights the threat of the ongoing war on education and its potential to create a “lost generation” of traumatized children. The study projects that under current conditions, education could be set back by five years. According to a prior report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in August, over 10,600 children and 400 teachers have been killed thus far in the war, and an additional 15,300 students and 2,400 teachers have been injured. This killing and maiming of children is a blatant violation of International Humanitarian Law. Furthermore, a UNRWA report has estimated that over ten children per day have lost one or both of their legs, underlining the rise of disabilities among Palestinian children. This concern, coupled with the destruction of medical care, counseling and support systems in schools, will cause children with disabilities to face even more barriers to education during and after the war. Damage to physical buildings cannot be ignored. As of early September, 92% of all school buildings in Gaza were demolished or damaged, and every university had been destroyed . Satellite images from the Occupied Palestinian Territory Education Cluster have verified the extent of damage, which continues to grow by the day. This development means that even when the combat ends, children will not have a school to return to . “ Learning poverty ”, or the inability to read a basic text by age ten, has skyrocketed in Gaza over the past 14 months, increasing by at least 20%. Already disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, lost learning in Gaza poses an urgent threat. Not only is scholasticide in Gaza affecting concrete educational qualities for children, such as literacy, but it also carries dire psychological consequences. Traumatized and lacking adequate educational and emotional support, Gazan children are losing faith in concepts such as human rights, equality and tolerance. A humanitarian aid official remarked that “it will take a generation to overcome” this trauma, severely setting back educational efforts. The destruction of educational institutions in Gaza, coupled with the deprioritization of education and the lackluster efforts to rebuild schools, will have consequences that last for years to come. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini has stated that the neglect of education will “sow the seeds for future hatred and extremism,” leading children to fall victim to exploitation and armed groups. Children in Gaza are not shown empathy, respect for human rights and hope, and without schools to convey these crucial values, children cannot learn them. This trend would not only threaten the rights of Palestinian children today but global stability and international humanitarian efforts as a whole. For years, Palestine has prided itself in its educational systems, investing in academic institutions with the hopes of sowing the seeds of progress. During the First Intifada, Palestine experienced an “educational revolution,” seeing mass efforts to promote popular education. Education, to Palestinians, was, and still is, a form of resistance to attacks on their identity. Israeli efforts to block education have been linked with attempts to suppress this Palestinian intellectual development, perpetuate dependency upon Israel and block the spread of a Palestinian narrative. By attacking schools and organizations such as the UNRWA, Israel aims to set Palestine’s educational efforts, which they prize so greatly, back to an underdeveloped stage. The right to education is enshrined in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights , and even during wartime, under the Fourth Geneva Convention . Why, then, is the world turning a blind eye as schools in Gaza crumble, students are targeted and entire institutions collapse? The gradual normalization of educational violence is deeply troubling, highlighting a deeper decay of global values and human rights. Children’s rights are being increasingly ignored, pushed aside as less important than other issues. Education is simply not considered relevant enough in discussions of humanitarian needs, a neglect that ignores the glaring manifestations of educational violence used to further wartime means. In Gaza, Israel has purposefully targeted education to further displace and marginalize Palestinians. This conflict isn’t the only example of scholasticide; in fact, attacks on education represent a growing military tactic worldwide. A report from the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack found that in 2022 and 2023, incidents that targeted education and the military use of schools worldwide increased by nearly 20%, as compared with the previous two years. In sum, there were roughly 6,000 attacks on educators, schools and universities, averaging at eight attacks per day. Over 625,000 children still live in Gaza. Nonetheless, their rights, including those to education, are consistently pushed aside and ignored in discussions among experts and politicians. We are slowly “accepting the unacceptable,” says Sonia Ben Jaafar of Al Jazeera, referring to the troubling normalization of violence committed against children and their education. The international community has chosen to turn its backs on Palestinian children—their lives are targeted, their schools are destroyed and any humanitarian efforts to aid them are blocked. Scholasticide is bleeding into Gaza in a multitude of faucets, posing an immediate and dire threat to the livelihoods of Palestinian children today, tomorrow and for years to come.

< Back Choose Your Fighter: Dual Degree Edition Pracheth Sanka “Are you in a dual?” are words any Sciences Piste is sure to encounter, filling the air during Integration Week activities or while at any inter-campus interaction. They are, of course, referring to one of the staples of Sciences Po’s undergraduate course: the dual degree programs. Partnered with nine of the most prestigious universities in the world, both secondary school applicants and second-year students can try their hand at admission into these rigorous courses of study. The dual degrees entail spending two years at a Sciences Po campus and continuing for two more at a partner university, concluding undergraduate studies with the conferring of two Bachelor’s degrees. Often, that question, especially at the English-speaking campuses, is followed by “Which one? Columbia or Berkeley?” as if they are the only two options. But it seems in many ways that they are. Columbia is by far the biggest dual degree cohort represented at Sciences Po, in large part due to being the oldest of the nine. Berkeley has large name recognition among students and has a strong presence at Reims, Menton, and Le Havre. Both are powerhouses at Sciences Po and for good reason. Columbia’s Ivy League status makes it a coveted place for students to break into politics and finance, and its strong Core Curriculum is both a complement and supplement to Sciences Po’s interdisciplinary focus on the humanities. Likewise, Berkeley is the flagship of the University of California system, and its prestigious undergraduate program is a prime location for those looking to work in the American West, where it sends more aspiring workers to Silicon Valley than any other school in the nation. If you can bear the cost (not speaking to you, in-state Californians), both duals offer an amazing educational experience that top students around the world long f or. 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? Let’s start with the important stuff: the lifestyle. Berkeley, with a thousand-acre campus situated in sunny Northern California, can satisfy those who wish to get the best out of the typical American university experience. With over 30,000 enrolled in one of the nation’s top public universities, the calm life of the college town still has much to offer, with Pac-12 athletics and strong student traditions that are sure to excite anyone. If you get bored of the college-town life, San Franciso is less than an hour away by train, making it a popular weekend destination for students. While Columbia is not necessarily known for its school spirit, the 10,000- strong undergraduate population lives in New York, having the world’s most important city as its extended campus. When finding any break during their busy studies, students can explore each and every corner of Manhattan by way of the Metro or perhaps by cutting through Central Park. But be careful! While the streets of Menton may have prepared you, you don’t want to end up as one of the crime alerts that crowd LionMail! It’s not like Berkeley is much better—with crime considerations of its own—but either way, you should be fine, as no criminal could compare to the gun-wielding guys of Rue Longue. Academics—while undoubtedly always a secondary factor in searching for higher education—can still be somewhat important when it comes to your choice of dual. Though in some lists, Berkeley edges out Columbia in terms of institutional ranking, both schools stay firmly in the upper echelon of global academics. Columbia has had a strong top-ten presence in U.S. academic rankings for years, and Berkeley’s position has been growing fast compared to its elite private school competition. Relatively, Berkeley has strength in STEM-based subjects, while Columbia holds the upper hand in most humanities and social sciences. Both schools hold top-ten programs in economics and political science, two of the majors of choice for many dual degrees. In any case, you won’t go wrong, and academic fit rather than ranking will be more important. Do you favor Berkeley’s large campus size and typically larger class sizes? Or would you rather fit into Columbia’s liberal arts framework, with a strong focus on the humanities and where three-fourths of your classes may be smaller than 25 students? For some Science Pistes, their choices were easy decisions, and for others, weighing the two options of application took much deliberation. Pedro Meerbaum, a second-year student who applied through the third-year process, was captivated by the program during his first year at Sciences Po. “I had many people in my close circle who were in the dual so I inevitably looked into it, and the details and structure of the course aligned with my personal and professional goals,” he says. These goals, as he further explained, were not as present in just a Bachelor’s at Sciences Po, prompting him to apply when he got the chance. Meerbaum also appreciates Columbia’s smaller feel and support systems, saying “Columbia might be better prepared to take on students, us being at GS means that we have a whole administrative body that is dedicated to accommodating us properly.” GS refers to the School of General Studies, the undergraduate college that dual degrees are a part of during their time at Columbia. It hosts a range of students, from professional dancers and actors to military veterans, and even those who took gap years or deviated from the traditional four-year pathway; this diversity was another draw for Meerbaum. While he does appreciate Berkeley as an institution, he says, “The dual people are thrown into a huge student body, and I doubt there is the same support system as in Columbia or even the same amount of dual degree people in the same situation.” His plans to major in Comparative Literature on a pathway to the Graduate School of Journalism further attracted him, both of which Columbia excels at due to their strong humanities focus. For 1A Mia Rivas, applying to the dual program with Berkeley was a difficult choice, but she ultimately believed it would expand her horizons while also granting her an American degree. She also reaps the benefits of being an in-state California student, meaning she pays much less tuition than had she been an international or out-of-state applicant. Berkeley, as part of the University of California system, is a public school, meaning that it is operated and partly funded by the state. Since her family already pays the state taxes, the school subsidizes tuition for her and other California residents. Out-of-state students are typically not entitled to these benefits and pay much higher tuition fees, akin to Columbia’s steep private school tuition. While Rivas admits Columbia’s prestige was tempting, she believes that Berkeley was an overall better fit. “There’s obviously a certain vibe associated with Berkeley, and I do like it, but I was more drawn to the opportunity of finding groups with my vibe, one [group] I like ‘cause how could you not at such a big school?” For Rivas, the vast number of people draws her in, but so does the vast choice of majors. With Sciences Po’s clear lack of science-based courses, Berkeley’s program in cognitive science was a deciding factor for her. While I, as an American citizen, regret not applying to the Berkeley program in addition to Columbia, I firmly believe that the latter is a stronger choice, especially for international students, and I feel I made the right decision. While it is no Harvard, Columbia definitely has more European recognition, and its established support system and vast dual-degree alumni network make it more appealing. For internationals, these benefits seem to outweigh the cost, especially if you are paying the same price for Berkeley for less added value. But part of me feels like I am missing out on the typical American experience that Columbia so clearly lacks, and Berkeley’s stronger science program allows for more academic freedom during your two years there. Though I am inclined to Columbia, Berkeley still stands as a strong option, especially if you feel it is a better personal fit. In whichever path you choose, you will join the elite few who have had the opportunity to meaningfully study at two well-renowned universities for your undergraduate studies, and no choice can be the wrong one. Photo source: Menton Times designed Previous Next

< Back Cocteau’s Azur: Exploring Queerness in Menton Ema Nevřelová 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? To uncover the realities of queer life in this picturesque coastal town, I conducted a brief survey among fellow Sciences Pistes. Their an swers reflected diverse and sometimes conflicting experiences. My first question centered on safety—something that is a recurring concern in Menton. Anyone who reads the Sciences Po group chat knows that it sometimes turns into a site of distressing stories recounting harassment and scary encounters with strangers. Still, the queer students who responded saw safety through different lenses. One noted, “Yes, it’s pretty quiet,” while another pointed out, “There’s a bunch of rightist guys who tend to be very homophobic. But you see allies hanging out with them, which makes me question people’s moral and ethical integrity.” This may sound familiar to anyone who has spent time in certain social circles at Sciences Po. While most students are openly supportive of the LGBTQ+ community—or part of it themselves—there are still spaces where discriminatory comments are not called out. And it’s not just about the students. Nearly a third of Menton’s population is over the age of 65, and some of those residents are not fond of Sciences Po students, in general and queer people in particular, causing a sense of alienation for some queer students beyond the campus. Despite this, most survey respondents agreed that Menton and Sciences Po provide spaces where they feel free to express themselves. Still, Menton offers little in terms of queer visibility or cultural representation. Perhaps the only formal nod to LGBTQ+ identity in the town is the Jean Cocteau Museum. Cocteau—a French poet, filmmaker, and artist—left behind a legacy shaped by Orientalism, surrealism and queerness, evident in his love letters to actor Jean Marais. In a letter from 1939, Cocteau wrote : “ My Jeannot, adore me as I adore you and console me. Press me to your heart. Help me to be a saint, to be worthy of you and of myself. I live only through you. ” But even this representation is complicated. Cocteau’s relationship with Marais, marked by a 24-year age gap, seems disproportionate in terms of power and manipulative, to say the least. Not to mention that the museum does not particularly embrace Cocteau’s sexuality. For example, on the website of the Museum Jean Marais, Cocteau’s lover, is mentioned several times in Cocteau’s biography, but the romantic relationship between the two is essentially omitted. On the contrary, it displays drawings of fetishized females turned into “mythical” creatures, making the entrance fee feel like a contribution to modern orientalism rather than to queer representation. With enough determination, one might stumble upon two paintings by British artist Francis Bacon in the Gallery of Palais de l’Europe. Like Cocteau, Bacon lived a frivolous and hazardous life, but what they both have in common is their romantic interest in younger men. My second survey question focused on dating and relationships. Responses varied: one student mentioned being in a relationship with another Sciences Po student, while another wasn’t seeking a connection. Interestingly, one respondent described the gay community on campus as “mean,” also noting that some students engaged in “outing” others—speaking publicly about someone’s sexuality without their consent. Conversations about who is or is not queer are not uncommon on campus, even though sexuality is a deeply personal matter. The environment at Sciences Po can foster an unhealthy curiosity, reinforcing a link between gendered stereotypes and sexual identity. It’s one thing to be curious or to hope for connection; it’s another to pressure people to “confess” or treat queerness as a fuel for gossip. The reality for queer Sciences Pistes becomes even more intricate as some students’ cultural background and family pressure create significant internal conflict. Some come from countries where homosexuality is criminalized or where queer people lack certain rights. Others are dealing with trauma from homophobic upbringings. Even in a relatively open environment like Sciences Po, those emotional scars can prevent students from exploring or embracing their identities. Queerness in Menton is undeniably present, even if it sometimes feels silent or silenced. While some are desperate to find even the smallest traces of representation in this fruity town, the right approach isn’t to squeeze people’s sexuality out of them. Instead, we should work toward building spaces that feel safe not only for queer individuals, but for all marginalized communities—and remain committed to calling out homophobia when we see it. Real inclusion isn’t just about visibility; it’s about cultivating empathy, respect and genuine solidarity. Ultimately, Menton’s beauty isn’t just in its scenery—it’s in the values we choose to embody and the community we create. Photo source: Ted Eytan on Flickr Previous Next

After the European Union High Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell delivered one of the worst diplomatic speeches of recent years, the international community is left to wonder about how Europe plans to face the increasing challenges of modernity in a time where once again, war, violence and division are on the rise. < Back No, Mr. Borrell, This Is Not the Image We Want the EU to Project! By Pau Carbonell November 30, 2022 Things are not going well for the European Union High Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell. After delivering one of the worst diplomatic speeches of recent years, Borrell remained stoic amid the flurry of criticism that has fallen upon him in the European Parliament. On Oct. 13, Borrell made Eurocentric and inauspicious statements during his inauguration of the new European Diplomatic Academy in Brussels. His opening speech was supposed to encourage European diplomats to act with humility and respect towards global denizens. Instead, he communicated the opposite message: “Europe is a garden… Most of the rest of the world is a jungle, and the jungle could invade the garden… Keep the garden, be good gardeners. But your duty will not be to take care of the garden itself but [of] the jungle outside… they will not protect the garden by building walls. A nice small garden surrounded by high walls in order to prevent the jungle from coming in is not going to be a solution. Because the jungle has a strong growth capacity, and the wall will never be high enough in order to protect the garden.” Even as Borrell was delivering his speech tinged with racist and imperialist overtones, people in the audience felt uncomfortable, realizing how such a metaphor would damage European diplomacy. The fact is that his remarks mirror the age-old distinction between European “civilization” and the “barbaric” lands beyond. Since the 19th and 20th centuries, the garden analogy has been used by writers like John Stuart Mill and Alexis de Tocqueville to justify global European colonization and temper resistance to expansionist sentiment. The danger of Borrell’s speech lies in the reappearance of neo-colonial rhetoric in a century wherein Europe’s foreign policy is officially committed to aiding postcolonial economies and institutions. The implications of this speech are not and should not be diminished in the scope of their importance. In the modern world, people and nations are constantly listening and Borrell’s words have been heard worldwide. Apart from harsh criticisms of the speech spouted by politicians, journalists and columnists globally, Borrell has alienated European allies and strengthened its enemies. The United Arab Emirates summoned the interim head of the European Union mission in the country, Emil Paulsen, to discuss the “racist” inauguration and Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov said that “the garden Borrell talks about was built by plundering the jungle of the rest of the world during the colonial regime.” A piece in The New York Times has best summarized the gravity of the situation. Matina Stevis-Gridneff reported that Josep Borrell’s comments opened colonial wounds at a time when the European Union was working on ameliorating its legacy internationally. But this new scandal should not surprise those knowledgeable about European affairs — Borrell, who has served in his role since December 2019, has been involved in numerous diplomatic scandals during his tenure. Yet, this was a new low. With an ever-expanding divergence between the Central European and Eastern European member states, tense global multipolar outlooks and, in particular, Russia’s Ukrainian invasion, European policy cannot afford this type of discourse. Borrell’s paternalistic smugness, vainness, conceit and supremacism will hinder Europe from reinforcing old alliances or forging new ones. In her work “The European Union, Foreign Policy in a Changing World,” London School of Economics professor Karen E. Smith asserts that the European Union should pursue three foreign policy objectives if it wants to remain a global superpower. Firstly it must encourage regional cooperation and integration. Secondly, it should promote human rights. Thirdly, the union ought to bolster democracy and good governance. According to Smith, these factors are important since they all legitimize the European Union’s instruments to leverage in future international economic, diplomatic or military relations. Niccolò Machiavelli’s quote, “politics have no relation to morals,” does not seem to resonate with 21st-century European foreign policy — at least not nominally. Europe can only operate so long as it remains legitimate in the eyes of the governed. The notions of cooperation, integration, democracy, good governance and human rights included in the 1993 Maastricht Treaty demonstrate how union leaders have embraced the issues that its citizens seem to find important. That is precisely why Borrell’s speech is surprising — it is not only the type of discourse that Europe has been feverishly trying to avoid since the advent of unipolarity in the post-Cold War era, but because it was the face of European Foreign Policy, who said it. This blunder is representative of two situations that could be surfacing in the department of European Foreign Affairs. On the one hand, one could hypothetically consider this statement as merely the personal opinion of Josep Borrell. On the other hand, one could interpret it as a damning glimpse into the ideological core of European foreign policy. I hope that reality is closer to the former of the two explanations. Borrell’s garden allegory adds to a lengthening laundry list of statements showcasing the unmodern outlooks of European foreign policy movers and shakers. It is indicative of the growing feeling of wonder and uncertainty as to how Europe plans to face the increasing challenges of modernity in a time where once again, war, violence and division are on the rise.

The critical state of Lebanon’s cultural sites calls for the international community to guarantee the preservation of cultural heritage as a crucial component of peace processes and post-conflict resilience. < Back Lebanon’s Cultural Heritage at Risk: How International Frameworks Attempt to Safeguard It Saimi Hartikainen for MEDMUN November 30, 2024 The escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has had a destructive impact on the lives of millions. Since October 2023, Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed over 3,000 and displaced an estimated 1.2 million people. Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel have led to the death of 72 people, with more than 60,000 displaced in Northern Israel. In addition to the tragedies inflicted upon human lives, international concerns have been raised over the state of Lebanon’s cultural sites. On October 23, Israel launched air strikes on Tyre, known as ‘Sour’ in Arabic, one of the cities with the oldest, continuous human habitation in the world. The strikes have continued in nearby areas in southern Lebanon. On October 30, Israel targeted the ancient city of Baalbek, known for its unique Roman citadel. The attacks on Baalbek have since damaged three historical buildings, including the Gouraud Barracks and the Palmyra Hotel, in the proximity of the Roman temples. The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has classified both cities as World Heritage sites. Damages to these cultural sites fracture Lebanese history for the country’s identity, further disrupting cultural continuity and collective memory in times of crisis. These events and their consequences have thus raised alarm domestically and globally, positioning international protection frameworks of cultural heritage in the spotlight. UNESCO’s classification of World Heritage sites attributes ‘cultural heritage’ with “outstanding universal value from the historical, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological point of view.” UNESCO has nominated both Tyre and Baalbek based on different criteria : Tyre , the antique Phoenician metropole that ruled the Mediterranean and founded the colonies of Cadiz and Carthage, is home to ruins from the Roman period. It fulfills UNESCO’s criterion III of being “a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared” and criterion VI of being “directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs… of outstanding universal significance.” Baalbek , the Phoenician city that maintained its religious significance throughout the Hellenistic and Roman periods is considered to comply with criterion I of “represent(ing) a masterpiece of human creative genius” and criterion IV of being “an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history.” UNESCO pays special attention to safeguarding World Heritage sites as it considers that they constitute a foundation that can be later used “to rebuild a broken community, re-establish its identity, and link its past with its present and future.” These considerations illustrate the potential of international frameworks for the protection of cultural heritage in Lebanon. The crucial need for protection of cultural sites was echoed by Lebanese lawmakers who noted that it “ goes beyond physical preservation; it is about safeguarding the traditions, stories and values these sites represent, legacies that connect our past to our future.” Indeed, cultural heritage sites act as a material reminder of the historical phases of a country and its civilization. They function as points of reference for understanding one’s position in the world and the historical advancements made as a people. These shared experiences and memories foster a clearer sense of community and identity, anchoring a people to a place. Cultural heritage can also attract tourism and bring about economic opportunities, thus serving as a platform for sharing cultural experiences and livelihoods. In addition to the cultural, social and economic value heritage sites generate for local societies, they also enrich humankind. Destruction or damage of cultural sites hence “ impoverishes humankind.” Since cultural heritage is an integral part of national identity, offenses on a nation’s sovereignty are often accompanied by attacks on culture. Israel has been accused of targeting Lebanon’s cultural heritage, a charge that Israel has denied, and instead claimed that its strikes have been aimed at Hezbollah targets in nearby areas. Experts have warned that strikes might hit off-target and unintentionally damage important cultural sites. Either way, the impact on Lebanon’s collective memories and identity is shattering in case of such strikes succeeding. UNESCO and other international actors thus aim to protect World Heritage sites through a variety of international frameworks. The Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, known as the 1954 Hague Convention, commits states to preventive measures against damage to cultural heritage in conflict and to “refraining from any use of the property and its immediate surroundings… in the event of armed conflict” and “from any act of hostility, directed against such property.” The 1999 Second Protocol to the Convention established the notion of ‘ enhanced protection,’ under which World Heritage sites shall be granted “high level immunity from military attacks as well as threats of making it a military target.” Lebanon has appealed to UNESCO for a swift process of inscribing the country’s Heritage sites under enhanced protection in light of the recent near-misses of Israeli strikes. UNESCO will discuss this in an extraordinary meeting in Paris on November 18. The agency is assisting local authorities in the transportation of World Heritage site artifacts to safety and has conducted remote assessments of the damage caused to the cultural sites. Lebanese lawmakers have noted the urgency of “the protection of these historic sites by mobilizing UNESCO’s authority, securing international attention and advocating for protective measures.” Ideally, UNESCO’s efforts will guarantee physical protection of the sites and raise international awareness that puts global pressure on the initiation of a peace process. However, the effectiveness of UNESCO’s work has previously been questioned . In 2019, Israel withdrew from the organization along with the United States, accusing the organization of anti-Israel bias. UNESCO had previously criticized Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem and, in 2011, made Palestine a member of the agency. Following this, Israel and the US stopped paying the required fees to UNESCO, signaling reluctance towards contributing to UNESCO’s mission of preserving culturally significant property. Due to such handicaps of UNESCO, some experts put their faith in other international bodies, such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The Court set a global precedent in a 2021 Armenia v. Azerbaijan landmark case that attributed destruction of cultural heritage with racial discrimination under the Convention for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Hence, the international community is working slowly but steadily towards better protection of cultural heritage and accountability of actors. The Israel-Hezbollah conflict has, without doubt, put Lebanon’s cultural heritage at risk, with World Heritage sites such as Tyre and Baalbek suffering damages that have raised grave concern over their significance for national identity as well as humankind’s collective memory and heritage. International frameworks aim to provide protection of these sites, highlighting their importance and the responsibilities of states. For example, UNESCO is considering placing Lebanon’s sites under enhanced protection. However, the effectiveness of these frameworks has come under question amid geopolitical tensions, as demonstrated by Israel’s retreat from UNESCO. The critical state of Lebanon’s cultural sites calls for the international community to guarantee the preservation of cultural heritage as a crucial component of peace processes and post-conflict resilience.

Agree or disagree: “Most refugees who come to my country will successfully integrate into their new society”? If, on a global average, half of the people believe this to be true, the people of Europe seem less optimistic. < Back Borders after Borders: How Europe is Falling Short in the Integration of People on the Move Maria Francisca R. Costa for SPRH October 31, 2024 Agree or disagree: “Most refugees who come to my country will successfully integrate into their new society”? If, on a global average, half of the people believe this to be true, the people of Europe seem less optimistic. Under 40% of people seem to have faith in the integration of refugees in their societies—with France, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Belgium, and Hungary, among the countries where this share of the population is one of 35% or below. These countries are also among the ones ranking the lowest in the percentage of population believing that refugees are likely to have either a positive or neutral impact in their country’s culture or way of life; in Germany and in the Netherlands, the share of people believing that they will have a negative impact in this field almost reaches 50%. A study conducted to examine the impact of local populations’ perspectives on refugees on their social integration in Germany found that negative natives’ attitudes do, in fact, reduce the chances of a successful social integration. This last term is defined by whether refugees “feel welcomed in their municipality”, “how much they trust others”, “how often they feel disadvantaged due to their heritage” and “social ties” assessed through “how much time they spend with Germans in general” and in particular “time spent with their German neighbours.” Locals’ attitudes towards refugee populations appear therefore to generate a vicious cycle: more discrimination, less integration and vice versa. Two factors have been found to influence the attitudes of acculturation from locals to refugees: “perceived value, similarity and threat”. Those who are perceived as more similar to the host community—and thus perceived as having greater “value”—have a greater chance of a successful integration. On the other hand, cultural minorities are frequently perceived as threatening, leading local communities to adopt an exclusionary attitude, “ endorsing more ethnocentric forms of acculturation,” towards these groups of refugees. These attitudes perpetuate other obstacles to integration, such as “in the face of hostility and prejudice, refugees’ disengagement front the host society may function as a self-protective mechanism to avoid further rejection.” In the EU, many non-institutional and institutional factors play a significant role in the difficulties faced by refugees in integrating their host societies. A comparative study between France, Germany, and Switzerland, found frequent discrimination of refugees in accessing employment: “a refugee with higher education and proper training in France described submitting 30 applications for jobs at local pharmacies and all of them being rejected” and “women who wear hijabs were routinely rejected for employment.” Additionally, governmental institutions make the recognition of refugees’ qualifications difficult by demanding “coursework, examinations, and lengthy times of supervision.” These issues generate frequent underemployment within these groups. Accessing the job market is a crucial means for refugee integration, as “it allows them to learn the language, build a future, regain confidence, and establish status.” Focusing on the relevance of the value perceived of a refugee by the host community, we can easily deduce that such obstacles to achieve status through employment only serves to generate greater stereotyping and discrimination against refugees. Furthermore, the lack of a stable income hinders refugees’ ability to attend community events which reduces the opportunity to establish links within their host societies. These obstacles generate a distance between refugee communities and locals that is likely to further perpetuate misperception and discrimination against refugees. The most frequent forms of discrimination encompass the “overgeneralization of stereotypes and religion.” As the same study notes, “masses of refugees from the same population” were pictured as “backward, inferior, terrorists or supporters of the Islamic State ISIS, lazy, job-stealing, criminals, and religiously radical”. Together with their institutions, many European societies struggle to make the successful integration of refugees a reality. The institutional obstacles posed to the economic and social establishment of these groups are those which contribute to perpetuating a devaluation of their position in host societies. Refugees are impeded access to mechanisms of cultural participation and their chances of acculturation and social integration are reduced due to further discrimination. European policies must be redesigned so the reception of people on the move is not thought of as a process to obtain asylum—but one where the acquisition of a refugee status is but the first border to be crossed.

The small number of spectators, the 100% artificial snow, the ubiquitous KN95 masks, and the obligatory 21 day quarantine for COVID-19 positive athletes made the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics vastly different from previous winter Games. < Back At the Beijing Olympics, Norway Dominates Once Again With a Record-Breaking Performance By Colin Lim March 30, 2022 The small number of spectators, the 100% artificial snow, the ubiquitous KN95 masks, and the obligatory 21 day quarantine for COVID-19 positive athletes made the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics vastly different from previous winter Games. . The second Olympics to be held during the pandemic, the Games of Beijing 2022 were similar to their more traditional predecessors in one notable way — Norway dominated the medal tables. The kingdom earned a total of 37 medals (16 gold, eight silver, and 13 bronze), outranking the Russian Olympic Committee and Germany for total number of medals, and surpassing Germany and China for the number of gold medals. The Norwegian athletes who won the most individual medals were biathletes, Johannes Thingnes Bø and Marte Olsbu Røiseland, and cross-country skier, Therese Johaug. Norway set the previous world record for the most gold medals won by any country in a single Winter Olympics (14 gold medals) at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. In Beijing, however, Norway broke its previous record, earning 16 gold medals. This feat was especially impressive considering the absence of many of its athletes due to COVID-19. The windy conditions and harsh northern Chinese winter weather did not help either, with temperatures regularly reaching -15°C in Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, which hosted ski, snowboard, and biathlon events. Daniel Aakre Faradonbeh, a 1A from Norway, was delighted to see his country perform so well. He definitively declared, “we are clearly the best in the world at winter sports.” However, Norway’s victory led him to wonder why other Nordic countries who, “despite enjoying the same benefits as Norway (namely weather and money), are far, far worse than us.” Aakre Faradonbeh gave credit to Sweden, however, for earning half the number of medals as Norway (eight gold, 18 overall), though he was quick to add that Sweden’s population is twice that of Norway’s. Friendly intra-Scandinavian rivalries aside, the immense and consistent success of Norway in winter sports competitions has intrigued both experts and casual observers. Boasting the highest Human Development Index (HDI) in the world, mountainous topography, and a cold climate, Norway’s successes begin to make more sense. Nonetheless, the magnitude of its training resources are still difficult for many outside observers to comprehend. Team Norway’s performance in Pyeongchang caused Luke Bodensteiner, then-director of sport for the US skiing governing body, to tell his team “we are going over there, and we are going to figure out what the hell is going on and what they are doing.” The Norwegian winter sports machine will continue running strong as the country prepares for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympic Games in Italy. The country is sure to remain a fixture in the world of winter sports.

There may be a wider loss of confidence in the Egyptian government’s ability to successfully navigate its debt burden and stabilize its economy: Egyptian sovereign debt prices have been falling in recent weeks, while prices in comparable countries have risen or remained stable.  < Back The Shifting Regional Political Landscape and the Impact on Egyptian Assets By Noor Ahmad September 27, 2023 Egypt, along with many other developing countries, is suffering from the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on grain and energy prices as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Recently, however, some indicators suggest that there may be a wider loss of confidence in the Egyptian government’s ability to successfully navigate its debt burden and stabilize its economy: Egyptian sovereign debt prices have been falling in recent weeks, while prices in comparable countries have risen or remained stable. As recently as December 2022, Egypt entered into its third loan program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s regime took power. This normally would be a positive development and result in a favorable disposition of international capital markets toward a country. The loan amount of three billion dollars is small in comparison to Egypt’s financing needs, estimated at $17 billion this year. Still, an IMF agreement is typically accompanied by additional financing from international and regional partners like the Gulf states. In this instance, another $14 billion of financing is anticipated from the latter group. Egypt has also agreed to sell its state-owned assets as part of its agreement with the IMF. Many of these assets have arisen from an expanding military presence in Egypt’s economy during President Sisi’s tenure, as the President has granted privileges and favors to his generals and the military at large to cement his grip on power. A 2020 World Bank estimate suggests that the military owns 60 companies in 19 of the 24 economic sectors. For example, the National Service Projects Organization, a military affiliate, oversees 30 companies in the food, mining, petroleum, and construction sectors. In addition, these companies have an inherent advantage as they pay no taxes or customs duties, unlike the private sector. There are several fundamental issues with this plan. Firstly, there is little visibility of these assets and their profitability to the public; secondly, divesting them to the private sector would result in the loss of military patronage, and President Sisi has been announcing privatization initiatives since 2019 with minimal progress; lastly, the buyers are likely to be mostly Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) sovereign wealth funds which are known to be opportunistic. During his visit to Egypt, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, announced deals totalling $7.7 billion. Out of this deal, some $1.3 billion have been invested based on reports from Egyptian state-owned news company Al-Ahram. But progress has since stalled. Similarly, the Qatar Investment Authority has been in discussions to purchase a stake in Vodafone Egypt, which Telecom Egypt partially owns. These negotiations are also at an impasse. Beyond the traditional financial negotiations, there are likely to be deeper political drivers that need to be considered. In the case of Saudi Arabia, an ongoing dispute about the transfer of two Red Sea Islands, Tiran and Sanafir, which Egypt agreed to in 2017 is once again stalled – these were islands disputed and claimed by Saudi Arabia for many years. The Saudis may be using their financial clout to pressure the Egyptians, who are fast approaching their self-imposed deadline of June 2023 for divesting six billion dollars in assets to buy financial headroom for their crisis-hit economy. Beyond this, the transfer of islands has a wider impact on the attempt to normalize Saudi-Israeli relations following the Abraham Accords. Brokered by the United States, the Islands transfer would also open Saudi airspace to Israeli air traffic. This is an important regional development for which the Saudis would seek to use all leverage to accelerate. Likewise, the stalled Qatari negotiations may include this dimension, as they come under pressure from the Saudis and the Americans to further regional normalization. The Egyptians have used the delaying tactic on the islands to pressure the United States to release part of its one billion dollars in military aid that the Americans have held up to force the Egyptian government to improve its human rights record. And the above drama is taking place against a wider rapprochement in the region. A recent Chinese initiative facilitated talks between the Saudis and the Iranians on normalizing relations and enforcing a ceasefire in Yemen, where both countries are involved through proxies. A normalization of Saudi Arabia with its traditional foes, Israel and Iran, would diminish Egypt’s role in the region, given that the Egyptian military has historically provided an umbrella for Saudi security. Standard & Poors Global Ratings, one of the three biggest credit rating agencies, issued a report on the state of the Egyptian economy and its creditworthiness in January 2023. It stated that it considered the importance of stability in Egypt a major incentive for official and commercial lenders to help it meet its external finance requirements. It also opined that the Egyptian government was committed to the necessary reforms and viewed its growth prospects favorably. Most notably, Egypt has begun to benefit from the return of foreign tourists and is making headway in its gas exports. The transition of Egypt’s economy from military-run to private-sector growth is unlikely to be straightforward as vested interests hinder the process. At the same time, regional politics is likely to cause turbulence in negotiations for the sale of assets and increase of financing. But the normalization of relations between the Saudis, Israelis and Iranians will likely take several years, given historical distrust and regional rivalries. The Saudis and the remainder of the Gulf Cooperation Council are unlikely to abandon Egypt, given its military importance. The turbulence in Egypt’s financial assets is most likely a response to the drama unfolding in the region.

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). < Back Marseille, toujours une ville d’immigration? Raphaël Guermonprez for SPRH March 31, 2025 Ce mois de janvier 2025, le Premier ministre français déclarait que les Français avaient très largement un « sentiment de submersion migratoire. » Pour beaucoup, ce type de métaphore est inhéremment lié à l'extrême droite, qui, depuis toujours, fait des immigrés un réel bouc-émissaire. Dans un contexte politique au point mort, pointer du doigt les migrants comme la faute de ce marasme paraît idéal, surtout dans un pays où près de sept Français sur dix partagent l’impression de Monsieur Bayrou. 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). De nos jours, à Marseille, il n’est pas rare d’entendre, comme ce qu’explique Sarah à France Bleu Provence , « J'ai des collègues qui disent 'Moi, j'en ai marre de tous ces Arabes, de tous ces Noirs, il faut le RN ... Moi, on m'a dit 'Mais toi ça va, tu es intégrée'! Mais pourquoi on me parle d'intégration? Je suis née en France, je suis autant Française que toi! » . Mais quel serait le problème? Qu'est-ce-qui dérange avec l’immigration à Marseille? Y a-t-il une vraie ‘submersion?’ Marseille a-t-elle oublié son histoire faite de récits migratoires? Entre Marseille et l’immigration, une longue histoire Depuis l’Antiquité, la cité phocéenne est sujette à des circulations de populations étrangères. Des Grecs aux Francs en passant par les Italiens, la ville s’est construite avec l’immigration. Néanmoins, il convient de nuancer cette vision, et comprendre que l’immigration telle qu’on la connaît de nos jours s’est amorcée bien après. Même si la Marseille antique connaît des circulations de populations en raison de sa position stratégique dans le bassin méditerrannéen, c’est à partir du XIVème siècle que des individus migrent en Provence pour répondre à la demande de main d'œuvre. Le point fort de la ville, c’est son port. Ce dernier permet un développement commercial de la région et entraîne également une progression de mouvements migratoires et de brassages culturels, issus d’Europe du Sud mais également d’Orient, du XVIème au XIXème siècle. C’est le long des XIXème, XXème et XXIème siècles que l’immigration telle qu’on la connaît de nos jours émerge réellement à Marseille. Cette immigration est liée à deux facteurs. Le premier est le besoin de main d'œuvre. Étant une ville commerciale en développement, des populations italiennes, corses, espagnoles, maghrébines, sud-asiatiques ou encore subsahariennes vont affluer progressivement dans la cité phocéenne. En second lieu, plusieurs populations se sont implantées à Marseille en quête de refuge, fuyant des discriminations, des conflits, voire des génocides, tels que les Arméniens, les Juifs ashkénazes ou encore les pieds-noirs. Une ville tourmentée entre hospitalité et hostilité, pauvretés et richesses Ce qui surprend à Marseille, c’est l’ambivalence qu’il y a vis-à-vis de l’immigration. Étant donné sa proximité avec la mer, mais également son cosmopolitisme déjà très marqué, Marseille est un endroit privilégié d’implantations de la part des populations migrantes, issues surtout de couches défavorisées, par exemple, venant d’Afrique du Nord ou des Comores. C’ est pourquoi plus de 10% de la population du département des Bouches-du-Rhône (Marseille) est immigrée. La pauvreté les entraîne dans les quartiers les moins favorisés de la ville. A titre indicatif, l’écrasante majorité des immigrés Algériens et Comoriens, qui représentent les plus grandes communautés étrangères de la cité phocéenne, habite dans les arrondissements les plus précaires, tels que le 16ème ou le 3ème arrondissements. A l’inverse, Marseille est symbole de réussite et d’insertion pour d’autres immigrés. Des populations d’origine étrangère, étant présentes depuis plusieurs générations à Marseille, habitent dans les zones les plus favorisées de la ville. C’est notamment le cas des Arméniens, ou encore des Italiens. L’homme d’affaires Alain Manoukian en est l’exemple parfait: issu d’une famille ayant fui le génocide arménien, il est fondateur d’une entreprise au chiffre d’affaires à plusieurs dizaines de millions d’euros. Même pour les personnes à l'installation plus ‘récentes’, certains brisent le plafond de verre et connaissent une ascension sociale considérable. C’est le cas du quinquagénaire Karim Loufti , issu d’une famille d’origine marocaine, aujourd’hui à la tête d’un important groupe d’agroalimentaire halal. Marseille est ainsi à la fois une terre propice et une terre hostile au phénomène migratoire. Nous observons d’abord que Marseille, au niveau de l’immigration récente, reste une ville qui accueille. Face à une demande croissante en main d'œuvre, notamment dans les secteurs du bâtiment et des travaux publics, de la sécurité et du gardiennage, ainsi que de l'hôtellerie-restauration , l'immigration est une nécessité au développement économique de la ville. L’économie marseillaise tourne grâce à aux professionnels étrangers, ou aux individus ayant acquis la nationalité française depuis peu. Néanmoins, face aux discours anxiogènes du flanc droit de la scène politique, certains Marseillais s’avèrent de plus en plus hostiles aux immigrés, qu’ils accusent directement de tous les maux, tels que l’insécurité ou encore l’« invasion culturelle », avant même de cerner les raisons de leur déviance et de leur spécificité. La mairie de Marseille, d’orientation socialiste, s’efforce, malgré des désaccords avec d’autres acteurs politiques, comme le gouvernement ou des députés plus à droite, et malgré certaines politiques publiques controversées, de faciliter, à son niveau, l’intégration des immigrés dans l’environnement francoprovençal. En août 2021, d’après Nelly Assénat pour France Bleu Provence, « Deux jours après la prise de pouvoir des talibans en Afghanistan, le maire de Marseille assure que les personnes qui “viennent de Kaboul ou d'ailleurs” auront “toujours une place” à Marseille. » La scène culturelle marseillaise est également engagée pour mettre de la lumière sur la réalité de l’immigration dans la région. Cette réalité est à la fois une chance et une nécessité, mais également souvent une blessure pour ces mêmes migrants, devant quitter leur terre natale en raison de problèmes multidimensionnels, à la recherche de meilleures opportunités. C’est d’ailleurs ce que met en valeur la nouvelle exposition du Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée (MUCEM) intitulée « Revenir. » De plus, plusieurs quartiers de la cité phocéenne regorgent d’affiches, de peintures murales et de commerces solidaires, célébrant le cosmopolitisme à la marseillaise, tel que le Cours Julien, ou encore Noailles. Affiche de l’exposition « Revenir » // Graffiti au Cours Julien de Mahn Kloix rendant hommage à l’activiste aidant les migrants Cédric Herrou. La vérité sur les problèmes de la cité phocéenne Bien que la municipalité de Marseille fasse beaucoup d’efforts quant à la régularisation, l'intégration et l’insertion professionnelle des immigrés, il existe une réelle ghettoïsation des quartiers connaissant une forte population immigrée. C’est ce que décrit Philippe Pujol—journaliste de renom international originaire de Marseille. Pour lui, nous assistons à un abandon de la part des pouvoirs publics de ces zones, ce qui crée une réelle isolation, et par conséquent, une tendance significative au banditisme, ce qui explique la forte criminalité de ces endroits. C’est ce que Pujol montre d’ailleurs dans son documentaire « Péril sur la ville » datant de 2020, racontant la dure réalité de la vie dans le quartier défavorisé de la Belle de Mai. L'effondrement de la rue d’Aubagne en 2018, en plein quartier de Noailles, révèle aussi ce manque de prise en charge de ces quartiers, et de leurs habitants, souvent laissés pour compte. Paradoxalement, ce n’est pas la « submersion » qui est réellement préoccupante à Marseille (ni d’ailleurs autre part en France), mais plutôt la mise en péril des couches les plus précaires de la population marseillaise, souvent issues de l’immigration. L’influence des politiques hostiles à l’immigration et à l’aide sociale ne fait qu’aggraver la situation qui, à termes, entraîne une exclusion sociale, elle-même propice à la délinquance et aux incivilités. Dans une recherche approfondie, l’association Ritmo révèle la ségrégation socio-spatiale à Marseille, où le manque d'infrastructures de sport, de culture ou encore de mobilité, dans les quartiers nords (quartiers les plus précaires) est flagrant. Ainsi, le lien entre l’immigration et la cité phocéenne se détériore, du fait d’une précarisation des conditions de vie des populations immigrées et d’un relent xénophobe et raciste de la part d’une partie des Phocéens—adhérents aux idées phares de l'extrême droite française. La seule solution pour réparer ce lien, pourtant nécessaire à la prospérité de la ville, semble être celle d’une meilleure gestion, à une échelle nationale, voire européenne, de la question migratoire, afin d’éviter l'exclusion sociale et favoriser l’intégration socioprofessionnelle. En fin de compte, la seule vague qui semble submerger les Français n’est pas une vague migratoire, mais une vague de radicalisation de la scène politique. Photo source: Jeanne Menjoulet on Flickr

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. < Back Pulp Fiction, un chef-d'œuvre culte et intemporel Habiba Lala January 31, 2025 Réalisé par Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction est bien plus qu’un simple film: c’est une révolution cinématographique qui défie les conventions narratives classiques tout en capturant l'essence brute et stylisée de la culture populaire américaine de son époque. Sorti en 1994, ce long-métrage est récompensé par la Palme d’or au Festival de Cannes et se dresse comme un chef-d’œuvre iconique du cinéma postmoderne. Loin de se contenter d’être un exercice de style, Pulp Fiction offre en réalité une exploration profondément humaine et ironique sur des thèmes plus lourds tels que la violence, le destin ou même la rédemption. Puzzle temporel et narration éclatée L’un des éléments qui m’a le plus marqué dans Pulp Fiction est sa structure narrative non linéaire. Contrairement à un récit classique, où les événements suivent un ordre chronologique, le film éclate sa temporalité en plusieurs fragments interconnectés qui partagent des motifs récurrents: la violence, le hasard, la morale, la rédemption. On y suit trois intrigues principales: l'histoire de Vincent Vega et de Jules Winnfield qui sont deux tueurs à gages chargés de récupérer une mallette sous les ordres de Marsellus Wallace; celle de Butch Coolidge, un boxeur en fuite; et enfin, une intrigue secondaire autour des mésaventures de Vincent et de Mia Wallace, épouse du gangster Marsellus. Cette construction, audacieuse pour l'époque, défie les conventions classiques et nous engage activement en tant que spectateurs dans le montage du puzzle narratif. Les scènes de début et de fin, centrées sur Pumpkin et Honey Bunny dans un restaurant, servent d'encadrement et de miroir, ce qui illustre l’obsession de Tarantino pour la circularité et l'interconnexion. Cette structure originale remet en question notre rapport au temps et au destin, un thème omniprésent dans le film. Par ailleurs, elle crée une tension particulière: même lorsque le spectateur connaît l’issue d’un événement, comme par exemple avec la survie de Vincent et Jules dans la scène du « nettoyage, » l’intérêt réside plus dans le « comment » que dans le « quoi. » Chaque chapitre est autonome tout en enrichissant l’ensemble, ce qui est d’autant plus impressionnant. Des dialogues ciselés et iconiques Je suis convaincue que si Pulp Fiction est si mémorable, c’est en grande partie grâce à l’écriture des dialogues. Tarantino possède un don rare pour mêler trivialité et profondeur, transformant une discussion sur les hamburgers (“Royale with Cheese”) ou les massages des pieds en moments captivants et révélateurs des personnages, de leur manière de penser. Les échanges entre Vincent et Jules, souvent empreints d'humour noir, alternent entre légèreté apparente et réflexions philosophiques sur la moralité et la violence. Le monologue biblique de Jules, issu d’une version modifiée d'Ézéchiel 25:17, est un autre exemple emblématique. Ce passage, où il prétend être un instrument de la volonté divine, transcende sa fonction initiale pour devenir une introspection sur la rédemption et le changement. De même, le décalage entre les situations et le vocabulaire s’inscrit dans cette continuité comme avec l’histoire du père de Butch, racontée par le capitaine de manière tragique, mais qui parfois adopte un ton décalé lorsqu’on sait où le père de Butch avait caché sa montre. Une galerie de personnages complexes Un des aspects qui m’a le plus fasciné réside dans l'écriture des personnages. Chaque personnage de Pulp Fiction est un monde en soi, oscillant entre caricature et profondeur. Vincent Vega, joué par John Travolta, est un tueur nonchalant mais qui masque une certaine vulnérabilité qu’on réussit à entrevoir dans ses mésaventures avec Mia. Jules Winnfield, interprété par Samuel L. Jackson, évolue tout au long du film, passant du cynisme à une quête de rédemption après avoir survécu à une fusillade, ce qu’il considère comme un signe divin l’invitant à une introspection. Mia Wallace, incarnée par Uma Thurman, est la quintessence du mystère et de la sensualité, particulièrement lors de la scène de danse devenue culte. Quant à Butch Coolidge, joué par Bruce Willis, il représente un homme pris entre son passé violent et son désir de s’en libérer et qui est aussi confronté à un dilemme dans lequel il choisira de sauver la vie de Marcellus Wallace, celui qu’il a trahit et tenté de tuer auparavant. Ces personnages, bien que plongés dans des situations absurdes ou violentes, conservent une humanité troublante, rendant leur destin captivant et leurs personnalités attachantes. Une esthétique rétro et pop Sur le plan visuel, on remarque facilement que Pulp Fiction est un hommage à la culture pulp, à ces magazines des années 30 à 50 qui regorgeaient d’histoires sensationnalistes. La mise en scène, riche en couleurs saturées et en compositions symétriques, est imprégnée de cette esthétique. C’est aussi un hommage au cinéma des années 70 avec des couleurs vives, des décors vintages et un montage stylisé présents tout au long du film. La dimension pop est également présente à travers ses nombreuses références à la musique, au cinéma et à la culture populaire. La bande-son est par exemple composée de morceaux préexistants de rock 'n' roll américain, de surf music, de pop et de soul. Elle comprend des références cultes telles que Misirlou de Dick Dale ou encore You Never Can Tell de Chuck Berry. Chaque choix de musique est utilisé pour renforcer l’ambiance d’une scène, comme avec la chanson Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon d'Urge Overkill lors de la scène avec Mia Wallace ce qui permet d’illustrer sa vulnérabilité et sa complexité. Entre violence et ironie, susciter le choc chez le spectateur La violence, omniprésente dans le film, est souvent stylisée et teintée d’ironie. Tarantino ne se contente pas de choquer. Il transforme la brutalité en un langage esthétique. Une scène comme celle où Vincent tire accidentellement sur Marvin dans une voiture en mouvement est aussi tragique qu’absurde. Ce traitement décalé de la violence, souligne l’absurdité des situations tout en déstabilisant les attentes du spectateur puisque rien ne pourrait expliquer l’acte de Vincent. L’ironie dans les scènes tragiques est aussi présente lors de l'overdose de Mia Wallace, puisque l’on a un montage alterné où Mia est au bord de la mort/va presque mourir, pendant que Vincent reste dans les toilettes à se soucier de préoccupations qui semblent futiles en se demandant comment rentrer chez lui et refuser de rester avec Mia. Une œuvre intemporelle Si on me demandait de décrire Pulp Fiction en un mot, je dirais « iconique. » Si on me demandait de le raconter, je dirais « chaotique. » 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.

You learn that there is likely no language with the capability for you to express how violent and dehumanizing it is to live under the weight of your realization. < Back I’m Glad I’m American By Abhiram Masam December 31, 2023 You remember that the train stopped for a while, long enough for you to notice but not long enough to think much of it. Then you see an angry, portly woman storm the length of the traincar, as if she was looking for something. She stops at your seat, demanding papers. Her badge and holster reveal that she is a police officer, something she forgets to tell you. You calmly explain that you don’t have papers– you’re a student traveling within the country. Her eyebrows remain furrowed; her face disbelieving. You offer her your student ID, and you watch as the creases of her face deflate as she reads “Sciences Po” on the flimsy plastic. She continues on with her search for another ten minutes before the train starts moving again. You remember being the only person on that train car who was asked for papers. You remember feeling deeply unnerved, a feeling you couldn’t shake for days afterwards. You’ve become paranoid, so you carry pictures of your passport, French student visa, and student ID with you wherever you go. Just in case someone else doesn’t believe that you are a student, who lives in France legally. You remember the bus stopping the same way the train did. You avoid crossing the border between France and Italy because you know what might happen. But the bus is filled with students, all exhausted after the end-of-year gala, so you believe that you’ll be fine. How naïve. Your eyelids grow heavy; the stillness of the bus begins to lull you to sleep. But you’ll never forget how hard the harsh light made you wince. Looking through the window, you see a border guard shining a flashlight on you. She looks at you, points at you as though she’s seen a spider on a wall, and then motions for her supervisor. Together, they glare. They’ve decided that you are a problem. The guard with the flashlight climbs the bus, and makes a beeline for you. You know why she is asking you, and only you, for your passport. So you dance the dance, hand her your passport. You watch her face. You tell her you’re American, and she looks at you as if you’ve told her pigs have finally figured out how to fly. She returns my passport and signals for the bus to return to Menton. You remember your face feeling uncomfortably hot. Every single person on the bus watched as you were humiliated, helpless. You remember that same deeply unnerving feeling, knowing you were the only one on that bus who was asked to present a passport. People come up to you; they offer you pity. They mean well, but you resent them for it. You resent the other people on the bus for not having been asked for their passports, too. Their words feel empty to you. You know why you were singled out, but you wouldn’t dare call it for what it is. No one wants to be around someone who’s being difficult. No one likes to talk about this sort of thing, so you don’t either. You wouldn’t want to be an imposition. You feel the stares from passersby everyday. They look at you with judgment and disgust. You wish you had the endurance to cuss them all out, to get them all to leave you alone. But you don’t. So you sport sunglasses to pretend you can’t see them, even when the sun hides behind the clouds. You try to dismiss the sinking feeling that arises when the cashiers at Carrefour ask to search your bags – they suspect you of stealing. You try to forget knowing that you are the only person in the store to have been searched. So you avoid Carrefour as best you can. Every encounter has made you think you aren’t supposed to exist here. Two years of your undergraduate studies in the South of France feel like a criminal sentence. You keep this all to yourself to the best of your ability, because you’d rather feel like shit all the time than burden anyone else with your issues. But that seal on your lips, it will break. It happened after you were on a routine run along the sea. You remember that It was dark, but you’ve never once felt unsafe being out at night. Uncomfortable, sure, but never in danger. Your route is one you have done countless times over: to the border, then back towards the end of Cap Martin, and then back to your apartment. You turn around right before the border crossing, so as to avoid the border guards – something you’ve done countless times over. You don’t hear the border guard chase after you because the music in your earbuds is too loud. He is screaming at you; his wrist now wrapped around yours. You freeze from shock; you don’t dare take another breath. He is demanding papers. You stumble over your words in French: you plead with him to let go, that you are American, and that you have pictures of all of your documents. You feel your eyes pushing against the contours of your face, widened with unadulterated fear. When he relinquishes your hand, you surrender your phone to him. He zooms in on every picture, doubtful that the brown man before him is a student at Sciences Po, that this brown man could be a part of l’élite de la nation . You are dumbfounded by the way every border guard and police officer you encounter cannot conceptualize that you are both brown and American. The border guard returns your phone to you, defeated. But you don’t leave. Your fear has fermented to anger. You scold and scowl at him as you defend yourself and your humanity. You did nothing wrong by going on a run, nothing to warrant his suspicion of you. You inform him that you never even crossed the actual border, so you never would have needed a passport in the first place. You are alone, in the dark, face to face with a border guard and no one is around to see. You fight back because you have nothing to lose. He becomes furious with you for speaking back. How dare you question his authority? How dare you disrespect him, when he never treated you with a shred of respect to begin with? He scolds you back, instructing you to behave as if you’re some insolent child throwing an irrational temper tantrum. When you are demanded of your papers, he lectures, you are to present them with politeness and without delay. To him, it is irrelevant that the only reason you’d be asked for papers is if your humanity is called into question and documents are required to justify your existence. As if speaking to a child, he mocks that once a border guard verifies your papers, you are to bid him a gracious “ bonsoir” and carry on. Fuck that. You want to curse him out. You want to scream “fuck you,” and all the vile words you only reserve for the people you truly despise. But you don’t. Because you can’t. Your command of the French language is weak; you can’t convey how angry you truly are. You don’t even believe that there are enough words in the English language to verbalize this feeling. You are angry, but also scared, alone, and vulnerable. A second border guard has joined you, standing behind you to prevent you from fleeing. You concede to his speech and he lets you leave. You don’t remember his face. You will never forget the shade of purple that will stain the bruise on your wrist for the following week. Even after the bruise fades, you will never forget his grip. You feel it every time you wear a bracelet, and you only just started getting into wearing jewelry. What a damn shame. For the first time, you start thinking about your experiences. You are certain you are not wanted here. You always thought that people would age out of hate and bigotry, as they experienced the world around them. But the border guard who stopped you on your run couldn’t have been more than a few years older than you. You become haunted with the realization that this border guard will continue to harass the black and brown people he’ll see for as long as he’s a border guard. He will not remember the number of people he inflicts his violence upon, because to him they are not human to begin with. You were subhuman to him. How dare he take your humanity away from you, you thought. Even if for fifteen minutes, he should never have had that power in the first place. In the days following your encounter with the border guard, you watch as everyone around you continues to be enamored with this idyllic town with its idyllic old buildings, idyllic beaches, the idyllic ocean, and the idyll of the French Riviera captured by pictures and posts for all to see. And with every picture you feel your resentment growing. You resent their oblivion. You resent them because you will never be able to truly enjoy living here. How can you, when you know you are thought to be less than human here. You can never say that sometimes you hate living here, though. Because then you would be ungrateful. God forbid it. You know that your feelings are multifaceted, because there are moments where you love living here. There are times when you feel like you are a part of the fantasy, too. But these moments are always short lived. They are always marred by the reality of living here. All you can do, all you have the agency to do, is worry: you fear that all this resentment will turn you into a permanently bitter person. And who wants to be around someone like that? You learn that there is likely no language with the capability for you to express how violent and dehumanizing it is to live under the weight of your realization. All that the condolences offered by those around you will do is make you feel hollow. Because, you think, they don’t really give a fuck about you, or your experiences. Why would they, it’s not like it affects them. They don’t deal with it on a daily basis like you do. Some of them will make racially insensitive jokes in front of you. But you mustn't make a scene, you mustn’t be so sensitive. You are still more concerned with being thought of as difficult, as the person who talks about the things that no one likes to talk about. And any fear I’ve ever felt while facing a border guard is dwarfed by the fear of being a burden, and being disliked. You will consider raising your concerns with the administration. You have your apprehensions, as the administration has a reputation for making students one of their last priorities. When the opportunity arises, you are told that you are irrational. That you must trust the people of this town. That there are good and bad people everywhere, that there is racism everywhere. They will make you feel like an idiot, and that it is your fault for feeling affected by the racist border guards and police. They talk to you as if you didn’t trust the people of this town when you first moved here. As if you weren’t a student once filled with optimism. As if you weren’t someone thrilled at the chance to live and study in France, and in one of the most coveted regions of the country no less. But of course, those who tell you these things have not had the pleasure of wearing a bruised wrist for a week like a scarlet letter. And they too don’t really give a fuck. You will feel isolated. You never want to be a burden to anyone. That’s why you didn’t call anyone when you ran back from the border. It was late at night, probably best that you didn’t bother them on a weeknight. What’s worse, is that they might be deterred by the emotional weight that you are forced to carry. You cannot call your parents. They mean well, but they will question why you were running at night, why you were running to the border knowing how they look at you, and they will frustrate you with their perfectly valid concerns. They live an ocean away, and telling them will only make them worry. You try calling your closest friend. She will listen, and she will care, and you will never find the words to thank her for it. But she is there, on a separate continent with the same ocean that separates you from your parents. You are here. You are completely and totally alone. But despite all of it, you will soon recognize the immensity of your privilege. Because the night after your encounter at the border, you go for another run. At night, too. You are stubborn, and the decision you've made is likely a stupid one, but you don’t care. This time, as you run towards the border crossing, you see two refugees scaling the rocks below the promenade. They duck from the lights that could expose them to the border guards. They duck from the waves, threatening to pull them into the sea. You turn away, so as to avoid bringing attention to them if someone else was looking. Your anger suddenly feels silly. Because my American passport will always protect me in ways those refugees’ passports will not. No matter how angry you feel, you will always be spared from the brunt of racial violence. Because in America, you are Indian. You are not Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was fatally shot while on a run in the same way you were. In France, you are American. Your passport will protect you in a state where racial violence took the life of Nahel Merzouk, the seventeen year old fatally shot by French police in Nanterre. Your shoulders perk up, anxious, every time you see a police car drive by. But no matter what, you know that your life will never be taken from you. There truly is no greater privilege than that. *** This reflection of my privilege is just that – a reflection. Nothing more, nothing less. It is my account of my experience living here. I know that this is not some grandiose thinkpiece on the violence of racism; I don’t want it to be. I do not have enough lived experience with racism to speak with that kind of authority. I do not care to make myself, my experiences, and my feelings digestible or palatable to an audience. I’m certain there are countless scholars and activists who have written about what I’ve attempted to say with this reflection far more eloquently than I could. I have no ulterior motive in writing this reflection other than that I am simply sick and tired of dealing with this shit on a daily basis. I’m glad I’m American. A jarring confession, I know, seeing as though being American is seen as a bit of a joke. You jest about the flaws of America: gun violence, Trump, car dependency, and trademark American stupidity. I see these flaws, and I often laugh with you. I’ll be the first to admit that America is a deeply flawed place. I know that living here makes me long to go back home, to a place that offers me refuge from the violence from the racism I experience here. But I also know that it’s a place that systematically criminalizes black people – racism is a central tenet of American society. I feel guilty for wanting to exist in such a place. But make no mistake, I will always recognize my privilege in being American; in holding an American passport. Because that privilege will always protect me. I would like to thank you for reading this, and listening to what it is that I have to say. It took me over a year to find my words, because I really wanted to avoid dealing with it altogether. But I ask that you do not offer me any condolences. I am not grieving. Do not commend my courage. I have none. I am not miraculously superhuman for having dealt with racism. And I am certainly not the first person to do it. Do not offer feedback on the mechanics of my writing. I did not write this to demonstrate my way with words, or how I can communicate my ideas. These are feelings and emotions no person should ever have to make sense of – to cope with. I did nothing to deserve to feel this way. At nineteen, no less. I am not interested in finding a more poetic way to say that I’m really fucking angry almost all the time. If this reflection in any way offends you, I don’t give a shit. All I can hope in writing this reflection is that you have listened to me. And for me, that’s enough. I wish I never felt compelled to say anything in the first place. But I owe it to myself to process what I am feeling, and to warn other students of visible color about the realities of living here. If you are someone who has experienced something similar, and if ever you need someone to talk to about it, please do reach out. Aside from that, I feel like there’s not much else I can do. Writing this reflection is some sort of a triumph. There’s really nothing you and I can do or say to prevent this from happening to me or anyone else. Where do I go from here?