< Back Le néolibéralisme à la française Eloïse Franzmann October 21, 2025 «La France est un enfer fiscal.» Cette expression fréquemment reprise dans certains médias appuie la critique d’un État où les charges et impôts étoufferaient l’initiative privée. Derrière cette formule se devine le cœur du discours néolibéral : réduire les fonctions sociales de l'État pour laisser libre cours au fonctionnement ‘naturel’ du marché. Le néolibéralisme désigne un ensemble de doctrines politiques dont le but est l’optimisation des mécanismes du marché. Ses applications concrètes en matière de politique économique se traduisent bien souvent par des privatisations à outrance, des mesures de dérégulation et la primauté d’une orientation économique privilégiant l’offre (le soutien aux entreprises) au détriment de la demande (le soutien aux ménages). Fondé sur diverses croyances et principes, le courant néolibéral postule que le marché libre, affranchi de toute entrave, tend naturellement à s’autoréguler et à servir l’intérêt général. En revanche, l’intervention de l’Etat sur le marché diminuerait sa performance. Dans cette logique, tout individu est considéré comme un agent rationnel, agissant en fonction de ses intérêts propres et entièrement responsable de ses réussites et échecs. La recherche illimitée du profit n’est non pas vue comme un défaut, mais bien comme un moteur de prospérité. Enfin, selon la théorie dite du ruissellement, l’enrichissement des plus riches profite à l’ensemble de la société, y compris aux plus défavorisés. C’est l’ensemble de ces quelques principes idéologiques qui mènent le sociologue Pierre Bourdieu à affirmer que « l’utopie néolibérale tend à s’incarner dans la réalité d’une sorte de machine infernale.» Pour lui, le néolibéralisme n’est autre qu’un « programme méthodique de destruction des collectifs.» De fait, le rôle de l’Etat s’en trouve atrophié, réduit à ses deux missions régaliennes : assurer la sécurité extérieure et intérieure d’une part, et garantir le fonctionnement du cadre légal (notamment s’assurer du respect du droit de propriété) d’autre part. Puisque le néolibéralisme repose sur la croyance que tout interventionnisme fausse les mécanismes ‘naturels’ du marché, les politiques sociales—fondées sur la redistribution, la régulation ou la protection—sont perçues comme contre-productives. En conséquence, l'État tend à se désengager de ses fonctions de solidarité pour se configurer en État pénal, dont la mission principale devient le maintien de l’ordre économique à travers la sanction des déviances qui le menacent, les atteintes à la propriété au premier plan. Cette reconfiguration du rôle étatique contribue à l’augmentation de la précarité et à des inégalités grandissantes, affaiblissant alors la cohésion sociale. Le courant néolibéral gagne en influence et peut désormais être appréhendé une « hégémonie culturelle » . Théorisée par Gramsci, l’ « hégémonie culturelle » désigne le processus selon lequel une idée, infuse dans la société civile en passant par l’école, les think tanks, les médias et s’impose peu à peu comme idéologie dominante. Devenue l’idéologie largement dominante au début du XXI ème siècle, le programme néolibéral est appliqué massivement en Occident depuis le tournant des années 1970 sous l’impulsion du Royaume-Uni de Margaret Thatcher, des Etats-Unis de Ronald Reagan et en France à partir du ‘tournant de la rigueur’ de 1983 sous François Mitterrand. Pourtant, l’image de la France comme une exception survit dans l’imaginaire collectif. L’identité politique et sociale française s’est forgée autour d’un modèle d’État social, dont la Sécurité sociale demeure l’un des symboles les plus forts. Cet attachement s’est manifesté lors des grandes grèves de 1995 contre le Plan Juppé qui visait à réformer l’État-providence. Ces représentations collectives soulèvent donc de multiples interrogations : comment l’attachement de la France à son modèle social et à ses valeurs républicaines d’égalité pourrait-il composer avec avec les logiques néolibérales ? Kevin Brookes, docteur en science politique et enseignant-chercheur à Sciences Po Grenoble, s’est attaché à montrer la singularité de la trajectoire française de 1974 à 2012 et sa résistance—certes partielle mais réelle—au modèle néolibéral, en comparaison à ses États voisins européens. Si l’auteur concède qu’il y a eu un certain nombre de mesures économiques allant dans le sens d’une percée néolibérale, la culture politique empêche un réel basculement idéologique. Selon Brookes, l’opinion publique reste méfiante vis-à-vis du marché et attachée à l’idée d’un État-providence tandis que les pouvoirs publics n’ont jamais assumé un discours résolument néolibéral. Il ajoute que la France se distingue des autres pays européens de part l’augmentation des dépenses publiques et de ses politiques sociales. L’Etat français demeurant particulièrement interventionniste, symboliserait l’échec même du néolibéralisme. Si la France n’a pas connu de tournant néolibéral aussi marqué que d’autres pays, elle n’en suit pas moins la même trajectoire. Il est d’usage de considérer 1983 et 2012 comme des étapes charnières de la transformation néolibérale du capitalisme français. En 1983, sous la présidence de François Mitterrand, le 1 er gouvernement de gauche de la V ème République opte pour une réorientation de sa politique économique vers une politique de l’offre, avec comme priorité le soutien aux entreprises. Ce ‘tournant de la rigueur’ se traduit par une désindexation des salaires sur les prix—rompant ainsi la dynamique d’augmentation des salaires face à l’inflation,—une réduction des dépenses publiques et le début d’une libéralisation financière et bancaire. En 2012, François Hollande semble suivre les traces de son prédécesseur et engager une politique économique ‘probusiness.’ À nouveau, une politique de l’offre est mise en place, la priorité est donnée à la compétitivité et à l’investissement privé aux dépens d’une redistribution accrue. Sous la présidence d’Emmanuel Macron, l’appropriation française du néolibéralisme s’est largement accélérée. C’est au gré des politiques économiques adoptées depuis 2017 que le président français tend à réaliser les promesses de l’utopie néolibérale : augmentation de la marge de manœuvre des entreprises, réduction de la fiscalité pesant sur le capital et flexibilisation accrue du marché du travail. Sur le plan fiscal, la suppression de l’Impôt de Solidarité sur la Fortune (ISF) remplacée par l’Impôt sur la Fortune Immobilière (IFI) constitue une rupture aussi bien budgétaire qu’idéologique. Alors que les rentrées fiscales perçues par l’ISF en 2017 s’élèvent à 4,2 milliards d’euros, celles perçues par l’IFI l’année suivante ne dépassent pas 1,3 milliard d’euros. Cette politique fiscale met en œuvre la théorie du ruissellement. En allégeant l’imposition des plus riches, l’Etat espère stimuler l’investissement privé, supposé bénéficier à l’économie dans son ensemble. La fiscalité se met ainsi au service du capital, reléguant la redistribution au second plan.Dans cette logique, le président a significativement réduit les cotisations sociales, supprimant notamment les contributions chômage et maladie afin de renforcer la compétitivité des entreprises. Par exemple, les ordonnances de septembre 2017 ont largement assoupli les conditions de licenciements. Si cette flexibilisation du marché du travail profite aux entreprises, elle est également responsable de l’accroissement de la précarité des salariés et de la fragilité croissante des protections collectives. De même, la loi Pacte de 2019 a ouvert la voie à une série de nouvelles privatisations. De manière implicite, le rôle économique de l'État se rétracte au profit d’un marché plus autonome, supposé s’autoréguler. Comme toile de fond pour l’ensemble de ces mesures économiques, les principes néolibéraux reviennent : le rôle de l’État est réduit au strict minimum, la compétitivité des entreprises est maximisée et le marché devient le principal régulateur de la société. De plus, le recul de l'État social s’observe dans l’introduction progressive de mécanismes de responsabilisation individuelle au sein même de la protection sociale. Le glissement idéologique s'opère alors à travers des mesures qui paraissent pourtant des plus insignifiantes. À cet égard, la réforme du Revenu de Solidarité Active (RSA) de janvier 2025 , dont le versement est désormais conditionnée à 15 heures d’activité hebdomadaire témoigne d’une certaine reconfiguration du champ de la protection sociale. Le RSA en devenant un soutien sous condition d’activités hebdomadaires, responsabilise les individus. Alors que Robert Castel dans L’insécurité sociale démontre que le cœur de l’Etat social est de sécuriser les existences individuelles en rompant avec l’idée que chacun serait l’unique responsable de sa condition, une telle réforme porte un coup frontal à ces principes. Implicitement, la réforme du RSA renvoie à une idée simple: bénéficier d’une aide sociale devient davantage un privilège conditionnel plutôt qu’un droit social fondamental. À travers ce type de mesure, c’est l’Etat-providence qui s’affaiblit. Le néolibéralisme, en donnant la priorité à la compétition et à l’autonomie individuelle, favorise la destruction des collectifs et la création d’un individualisme excessif. L’Etat se subordonne aux logiques du marché, au détriment de l’application de politiques davantage conformes à la volonté majoritaire. Face à la désagrégation du collectif, à la priorité donnée au marché, et à un individualisme exacerbé, la démocratie est-elle vouée à s’évanouir ? Photo Source: Julian Mason, Flickr

< Back The Political Assassination of Marielle Franco By Pedro Meerbaum April 30, 2024 On March 14, 2018, after leaving a meeting in the center of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, city councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver were brutally shot by 13 bullets. The following day, the head of Rio's civil police, Rivaldo Barbosa, visited the family of the victim. He promised them the investigation would be their priority and calmed the distressed family with hopes of justice. Six years later, Barbosa was arrested under the suspicion of being one of the three individuals behind Marielle's murder. Marielle Franco was a prominent name in the political scene of Rio. A left-wing politician raised in a favela (a specific type of Brazilian slums) and acting as one of the few black queer politicians; her image was antagonistic to the waves of conservatism that would elect Bolsonaro a few months after her assassination. She was an active advocate for human rights, with a particular focus on the work of militias in Rio and their violent administration over the city's periphery. Before her assassination, Marielle had been working towards stopping the illegal seizing of land in Rio's west side for speculation and para-governmental authority over the neighborhood. The investigations were carried out for years, hitting the Brazilian headlines often with small findings, questionable plea bargains, and occasionally essential advancements to the case. It was only in March 2019 that two former police officers were arrested and convicted of being the hitmen. It was still not clear, however, who had been behind this operation. For the years that followed, a question lingered that tainted Bolsonaro's administration: Who ordered the killing of Marielle? The question was present not only in official government discussions and protests but also in art and graffiti throughout all the main streets of Brazilian cities. The image of Marielle became a figure of opposition to Bolsonaro's government and an overt depiction of how militias in Rio had obtained a monopoly over crucial administrative features. In 2020, impeached governor Wilson Witzel admitted to having intervened in the investigation of Marielle's death. Moreover, the recent arrest of Rivaldo Barbosa, chief of Rio's civil police in 2018, rejects the idea once put forward by Brazilian media outlets that her assassination was a perfect crime – rather, it exposes to the public that it was an investigation pampered with corruption at all times. Alongside Barbosa, brothers Chiquinho and Domingos Brazão were also convicted of ordering the assassination of Marielle. The Brazão family is an established political family in Rio, receiving most of its support from voters in the highly-populated west side of the city. According to investigations, Barbosa, in a scheme with the brothers, would have promised immunity to the architects of the crime. The same investigations have also pointed to a robust relationship between the family and the illegal subdivision of land in the area. The Minister of Justice Ricardo Lewandowski recently stated, "She was opposed precisely to this group that, in the Rio City Council, wanted to regularize land to use it for commercial purposes, while the councilwoman's group wanted to use this land for social purposes, popular housing purposes." Albeit the confinement of the masterminds of the crime, justice seems far from being reached. Recently, Rio's mayor, Eduardo Paes, was present at a candidacy pre-launching event for a member of the Brazão family. Governors and politicians have praised and upheld the same militia political families that have long brought havoc to Rio's periphery. According to an investigation by Insight Crime , one of Rio's most prominent militias, Escritório do Crime, is composed mainly of former and serving police officers. So, it does not come as a surprise that this precise militia was involved in the murder of Marielle, nor that the bullet used in her assassination had been registered under federal property to the military police. Attempts to tackle the militia question in Rio have been beyond unsuccessful. Paramilitias are now long established in governmental institutions and have acted as a quasi-governmental force in Rio's periphery for decades. The political assassination of Marielle does not exist in a vacuum; it stands alongside numerous other victims of violence and repression. Past efforts to combat the issue have been just as tragic – Temer's militarization of Rio in 2018 cultivated an environment of violence that led to Marielle's assassination, and direct military operations in slums have caused an outrageous number of civil casualties (namely the Jacerizinho slaughter of 2021 ). While dealing with the issue of militias in Rio seems inconceivable, it is nonetheless necessary. Political voices like Marielle are crucial in confronting the presence of militia groups in governmental institutions and serving as representatives to those who have fallen victim to the mundane violence present in Rio's most impoverished neighborhoods. In the words of Marielle herself "How many more will have to die for this war against the poor to be over?" P hoto by Mídia Ninja/Flickr Creative Commons License.

Eastern Europe is often viewed as an exotic, mystical land by those who have neither lived there nor visited the region. < Back The Phenomenon of the Slavic Girl Winter By Nadia Taylor Sol for European Society January 31, 2024 Eastern Europe is often viewed as an exotic, mystical land by those who have neither lived there nor visited the region. The ideas of the brutalist buildings, post-communist memorials and cold, sometimes rude people, seem to be the standard perception people have in their minds when any European country behind the former Iron Curtain is mentioned. While these stereotypes might already ignite some uncomfortable conversations and can easily make any Eastern European start a quick historical-cultural crash course explaining the differences between our countries, I now would rather focus on the often-overlooked harms and dangers of one particular issue: the fetishization of Eastern European women and the standardized image created of them. While Eastern Europe is an extremely diverse region with a vast range of cultural and physical differences between the population, the media fails to do it justice by highlighting Soviet heritage and painting them solely as a political mass of blonde and blue eyed people. This indifference towards distinguishing one nation from another serves as perfect soil for creating the image of the typical Eastern European woman. The idea of a tall, blonde, timid housewife with the perfect beauty of a Barbie-doll, mixed with the image of a fur-wearing gold digger has been circulating in the media for decades. More importantly it is currently experiencing its renaissance thanks to freshly popularized TikTok and Instagram trends. Looking at the videos of people glamorizing the so-called “Slavic girl winter” and decreasing the multiple cultures the ethnicity encompasses to the modern mob-wife aesthetic, with fur coats, hats and expensive jewelry, made me consider how harmful this portrayal is. Especially since the whole stereotype comes from historic roots that are based on the fact that most people, especially women, could not afford to look the way the trend tells us they do. The aesthetic of the trend is the image of women who were either born or married into families and relationships with men that have either gained their wealth through living off the general public or engaging in crime. Just before explaining the problems with the trends, I shall state that there is no problem with people finding the women of the region beautiful or complimenting them for their efforts to look “perfect.” The negatives become more visible when we understand the traumatic past that has led to the creation of this image and the dangerous future these often backhanded compliments hold. The phenomenon itself can be closely linked to the fall of the Soviet Union and the socioeconomic shifts the post-Soviet states and the countries of the Soviet bloc have experienced. The 90s brought poverty and, especially for women, a drastic change in people’s status within the society. During the Soviet years, every adult was obliged by the law to work, meaning women were not tied to their husbands or male guardians to provide for themselves and their families. The collapse of the Union brought both unemployment and an influx of Western, more conventional beauty and patriarchal media, collaboratively resulting in women creating a new approach to wealth and survival. The idea that women have to be beautiful to be appealing to strong and successful men, who were often their only chance to get over the poverty line, became a widespread concept in society. The approach created an ever-lasting and strong duality between the expectations posed towards women and men. While men should be strong, wealthy and successful to be able to provide for their wives, women have to be easy on the eyes and should be ready to serve their men in any way they can. The international image of the Slavic and Eastern European sex workers can also be closely tied to the above-mentioned logic. When the Soviet Union fell, people tried to leave to the West in a hope of starting a new life. We do not have to look much further to understand the unfortunate turnout of events many women had to go through to be able to support themselves in a new, foreign society far from home. With no other way out of poverty many turned to sex work and the jump in the number of Eastern European women in the industry created a new, fetishized image in the minds of many. Women from the region are now viewed as either parts of the sex work industry or overly attainable in exchange for a high-value life and money. And thus, the image of the expensive-looking gold digger was created. An image that we still struggle to distance ourselves from. These stereotypes, while clearly holding an ugly mirror towards the reality of the history of the post-communist Eastern bloc pose dangers in the modern day as well. First, they discredit any attempt by regional feminist movements or just women in general to make people focus on anything but their appearance. One of the greatest examples of this is how online communities reacted to images of Ukrainian women fighting for their country. While some did praise them for their strength and bravery, and made an effort to educate themselves about the ongoing invasion, others decided to stick to the fetishization of Ukrainian women – particularly unacceptable during times of war, when violence against women is used to assert power – compounding the harassment women have to experience both in the virtual and real spheres of their lives. The second most prominent result of these widespread stereotypes is the high number of women from the region becoming victims of human trafficking. It is not unusual for people coming from lower income households to strive to leave their hometowns or countries in the hopes of a better future. While doing so they often fall victim to targeted advertisements, focused on women with certain physical traits. Both the online distributed easy to access work or study opportunities and the seemingly helpful people at the airports can pose grave dangers, as they can end up being linked to organized human trafficking with a special focus on women from the region. The already existing stereotypes and the sometimes-re-emerging fascination with the imagined submissive nature of Eastern European women, a good example of which can be the leaked messages of Andrew Tate and his claims on preferring women from the region, escalate the growth of the market and make women even more vulnerable to the dangers of human trafficking. Currently, the trend of the Slavic girl winter, when not used by members of the ethnicity to regain control over certain elements of their own culture, does nothing more than accelerate an already existing prejudice against Slavic and Eastern European women. It pokes holes into the efforts of reducing discrimination and elevating them to a higher level in the public eye than gold diggers and submissive housewives. As with every other fetishized ethnicity, instead of playing into the general stereotype, the public should rather educate themselves about the diverse and captivating histories and cultures of the region, make efforts to celebrate those representatives of the Eastern European women who deserve the most praise and be aware of the harm generalization brings about.

While many might still view the opposition to the Super League as being excessive, it is important to understand that these athletic communities seek to maintain the integrity of what is fundamentally a game that unites and empowers people, no matter their class, race, religion, sexuality, disability. < Back European Super Greed: The Rapid Rise and Spectacular Fall of the European Super League By Hugo Lagergren October 30, 2021 Football plays a unique role in Europe, and specifically in the UK. It breaks down the class barriers that often come between the working class and the middle class, and it unites them behind a common cause. The UK Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, described this phenomenon in a speech to the House of Commons in which he criticized the Super League: “Football clubs aren’t just businesses; they define communities across the country.” For 56 hours, however, these communities united beyond even the geographical divides that usually act as barriers, and united against the financial giants that were at the helm of this project. This David v. Goliath moment is the brief story of how these communities managed to topple the commercial master plan of a handful of greedy European bureaucrats. Reports began to break of a rumored “breakaway” European Super League during a match between Arsenal and Fulham on Sunday the 18 of April. Mikel Arteta, the manager of Arsenal Football Club, was asked about the rumors after the game. His lack of knowledge or involvement was apparent from his double take after the project was mentioned. This interaction is a perfect example of the disconnect that was in place prior to the project between the owners of these clubs, and the footballing communities that they preside over. The suggested project involved 12 clubs breaking away from their respective national and international competitions and forming a new, exclusive championship. It is precisely this idea of exclusivity that was a central reason for the project’s unpopularity. Domestic championships are a tier-based system. They reward clubs for merit and punish them for inadequacy through promotion and relegation between championships. Despite the financial disparity that exists between clubs, this gives them all the opportunity to challenge “the Big Six” (Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham & Arsenal); these teams being the six wealthiest in the UK (prior to the recent takeover of Newcastle United by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia). An example of this type of success story is when Leicester City F.C. went from playing in the Championship, the second division of English football, to winning the Premier League in the space of three years. While this type of event occurs less and less due to the increasing wealth gap between clubs, the important thing is that it remains a possibility, despite its unlikeliness. This possibility of challenging the bigger teams and winning incentivizes fans of smaller clubs to get back behind their teams in a more active manner. This includes attending football games and buying club merchandise, which provide the club with active moral and financial support. An exclusive championship without the possibility of failure through regulation would also motivate players less as they would be guaranteed the same quality of football games each year. This demotivation would become even more pronounced as a breakaway league would remove the financial bonuses that are often included within each players’ contracts which reward exceptional individual performance, in the context of high team performance. The argument of those driving the project, notably Florentino Perez, the president of Real Madrid C.F., is that the Super League will “save football” through the millions of euros it would receive in television and sponsorship revenue. In addition to this, the project would include the 12 most successful teams in Europe in order to create a league with a high level of skill, thus making it an attractive concept for football fans world-wide. However, both arguments were unsatisfactory and, more importantly, unconvincing in the eyes of supporters across the globe, and particularly in Britain. Firstly, the poor planning on behalf of the business titans behind the project manifested the disconnect that exists between owners and fans. The prioritization of money over supporters in an attempt to reinvigorate the football economy reflects a complete misreading of the footballing community, as the leaders of the project rapidly came to understand following many fan-led protests across the country. While the argument of creating a league that plays more attractive football may appear to hold more weight, fans argued instead that such a project would, in actual fact, render football more boring and less attractive for fans. They argued that the existing international competition, the UEFA Champions League, was special because it is infrequent. The fact that matches from this competition were rare during the football season and often brought similarly successful European teams in contact created a certain aura and hype around the competition, which fans argued would disappear with the creation of the Super League, as it would sensitize them to elite-tier football. It is interesting to consider such an argument from a scientific perspective as well, to better comprehend this idea of sensitization, as it holds some scientific weight. The hypothalamus, a section of the brain responsible for maintaining constant certain aspects of the body, such as heart rate, blood pressure and hormone levels, releases a neurotransmitter called dopamine to amplify a person’s feeling of pleasure during any kind of enjoyable activity. When continued amounts of dopamine are injected into one’s system, it causes the person to become resistant to the effects of dopamine, and thus receive less pleasure from the same amount of dopamine. This is what many football fans think could happen as a result of the creation of a Super League. As well as the heavy opposition from the army of English supporters, there was also significant political pressure from leading European politicians, including Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron, which led to the project’s suspension. The project’s clear unpopularity provided governments with the opportunity to side with fans and gain favor among voters and none made more use of this opportunity than Boris Johnson, who, as Prime Minister of a stagnating economy and fragile, post-Brexit union, needed a story to divert attention from Britain’s domestic issues. As a European football official said, “not all politicians are football fans, but every politician is aware that every fan is a voter.” The pressure created by the possibility of political intervention was pivotal. However, this was only made possible by the strength of the popular revolt against the project. This debacle has highlighted the problems of greed and elitism that currently plague the football industry and has raised important questions as to how club ownership should be structured. Many have referenced the German 50+1 structure which prevents any one body being the majority stakeholder in a club by placing 51% of the club’s ownership in the hands of fans. Chief reporter Tobi Altschaeffi of the German sports newspaper SportBild stated that it is precisely this ownership structure that creates such a strong community surrounding the club, as it involves fans in a more active manner. Boris Johnson went as far as to announce a “root-and-branch investigation into the governance of football and the role of fans in that governance.” Oliver Dowden went on to mention the governance structure that German clubs employ as a possible influence, if there were to be a restructuring of Premier League club ownership. One would hope that government intervention is not necessary. However, as has been the case time and time again, owners have consistently shown a lack of empathy with their club’s players and supporters and the wider footballing community, and have chosen instead to put their own monetary gain first. While this does create a cause for concern, the speed at which the project was reversed due to public outcry and political pressure should also give football fans confidence that there is a strong enough community to keep these billionaire owners and business titans in check. While many might still view the opposition to the Super League as being excessive, it is important to understand that these communities only seek to maintain the integrity of what is fundamentally a game that unites and empowers people, no matter their class, race, religion, sexuality, disability or any other factor which divides us.

Sports Recap – April 2022 < Back Sports Recap: April By Hugo Lagergren April 29, 2022 Football As the season reaches its climax, the battle between Liverpool and Manchester City for domestic and European glory is showing no sign of letting up. In their second meeting of the Premier League season, the two teams played out an exhilarating 2-2 draw, in what was described by many as the game of the season. One week later, however, Liverpool overcame Pep Guardiola’s side with a dominant first half display to reach their first FA Cup final under Jurgen Klopp. This keeps its hopes of completing a historic quadruple alive. The Champions League quarter-finals saw some serious upsets, as Villareal managed to eliminate favorite Bayern Munich with a late goal from Samuel Chukwueze, setting up a semi-final against Liverpool. Karim Benzema maintained his brilliant form by eliminating the defending champions, Chelsea, with a devastating hat-trick, sending Real Madrid through. Real Madrid will play Man City, as Pep tries to win the only trophy that has eluded him during his time at City. The Europa League, UEFA’s second tier competition, also produced a number of shock results. The biggest was Eintracht Frankfurt’s defeat of Barcelona at the Camp Nou. West Ham United and Red Bull Leipzig also won their respective quarter-finals. Possibly the biggest surprise of the competition was Glasgow’s Rangers reaching the semi-finals of a European tournament. This is the first time a Scottish side has reached the last four since 2008. In the inaugural season of the Europa Conference League, Europe’s tertiary club football competition, Olympique de Marseille, has managed to reach the semi-finals, where it will play Dutch side Feyenoord. Leicester City defeated PSV to set up a semi-final against Mourinho’s struggling AS Roma. With 29 out of the 32 teams having already qualified for the 2022 Qatar World Cup, FIFA completed the draw of the group stages, classifying the 32 possible contenders into 8 groups. This decides the paths each team must take if they are to reach the World Cup final. Following a poor display of form, OGC Nice dropped out of contention for the Champions League, despite reaching the final of the French Cup. This has undoubtedly dampened the mood on the Côte D’Azur, as Nice look likely to miss out on the top-tier of European football, once again. With six games left in the season, none of which are against teams currently in the top five, Nice are looking to reverse its poor form by taking the maximum number of points possible whilst also hoping that the teams above them drop points. With only four games remaining, and just one point separating Chelsea and Arsenal, the tension is rising in the Women’s Super League, as Arsenal attempts to steal the title off Chelsea. Defending champions Chelsea, who have held the title for two years running now, will be without star striker Fran Kirby for the rest of the season. Her absence, according to Chelsea manager Emma Hayes, can be attributed to a case of “fatigue.” In the Women’s FA Cup, Chelsea beat rivals Arsenal comfortably to reach the final, where they will play Man City at Wembley. On March 22, FC Barcelona announced a four-year partnership with UNHCR. Audiences will see the UN Refugee Agency’s logo appear on the back of the Barcelona kit. Moreover, the Barcelona Foundation pledged to supply UNHCR with an annual €400,000 cash contribution and an additional annual €100,000 worth of sports equipment and technical expertise. Barcelona has a history of philanthropic partnerships with the UN – collaborating with the intergovernmental organization for unconventional kit sponsorships. Many will remember the iconic Barcelona kits with the UNICEF logo displayed on the front, which the team used from 2006 to 2010. Formula 1 Ferrari continued its dominant form by clinching a double podium at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix behind Max Verstappen (Leclerc 2nd, Sainz 3rd). They earned their second win of the season at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, where Leclerc stormed to his fourth career win. Max Verstappen retired with engine issues in Melbourne for the second time this season, exacerbating worries surrounding Red Bull’s reliability. Red Bull’s team principal, Christian Horner, labelled the issue “desperately frustrating,” as Red Bull struggles to keep up with the pace of the Ferraris. However, Red Bull managed to reestablish themselves at Imola, where they achieved their first one two finish since Malaysia 2016, with Max Verstappen taking the victory. Tennis Stephan Tsitsipas beat Davidovich Fokina to win his second Monte Carlo title in a row. The Greek tennis player took victory in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6, despite looking slightly tense during the tie breaker of the second set. The world number five described himself “very proud” as he won his first trophy of the season, a feat he hopes will kickstart his 2022 campaign. Golf On April 10, American golfer, Scottie Scheffler won his first green jacket by championing the 86th PGA Masters tournament, holding off late pushes from Cameron Smith and Rory McIlroy. Last year, Scheffler finished 18th and his highest finish at any previous major was fourth place. However, much of the golfing world’s attention was on Tiger Woods. Woods made a surprising return following a serious car crash in February 2021, during which he sustained several serious leg injuries. American Sports The NBA playoffs are now underway, with the Phoenix Suns as the favorite to win this year. Last year’s champions, the Milwaukee Bucks will be looking to defend their title. However, the Suns have put up a dominant display during the regular season by setting a franchise record for the most wins in a single season. The NHL approaches the Stanley Cup playoffs with many teams filling playoff spots, including the New York Rangers who have qualified for a place in the playoffs for the first time in five years. Last year’s finalist, the Montreal Canadians, have struggled and are currently bottom of the Atlantic Division, with qualification for the playoffs far out of reach.

< Back L'Usine Pedro Meerbaum The historical landscape of Menton seemed immutable. Nowhere in townscapes from the midday Basilique ring of bells can one walk by the beach without being struck by the beauty of the old town with its 16th-century architecture. Even in its new town, Menton feels like a bubble wherein modernity is far-reaching. Yet, the new Cap D’ail style beach clubs and current constructions on the beachfront point to a new direction, one where Menton slowly tries to associate itself with the modern and luxurious audience of Monaco and St Tropez. Amidst Menton's path to total commodification, a little store is at the intersection of Rue de Brea and the Prom. Du Val de Menton protects the key to the authentic Côte d’Azur charm. Located at 3 Rue de Général Gallienie is one of Menton's most precious boutiques, L’Usine . Based on an old factory, as its name suggests, L’Usine is one of Menton's biggest antique stores. Amid its multiple floors, rooms, and charming garden, the family-owned business has cultivated a collection of regional items, from home decor to jewelry, that exist as an archive of a Côte d’Azur that is long lost. One does not need pictures to understand the originality and authenticity of life in the region 40 years ago; the various sofas, cutlery and collectibles of L’Usine tell the story of the region. They put into perspective how much this historical town has shifted. Even its wide door does not do justice to the magnitude of the store. Its side doors and stairs are dizzying and dazzling. One could spend hours going through the collection of objects on the various floors, observing from the smallest pins to the largest human-sized dolls. The owner, Allo, allowed us to carry out an interview with him. He has owned the business for 25 years with his wife, Michelle. He calls himself a proud collector, and before opening L’Usine, he traveled around Europe to acquire different pieces. It was then, almost at the turn of the century, when the couple got the opportunity to buy the estate and open a store. In harmony with an antique store, the place had to undergo a process of renovations and cleanings before they could open it to the public. There were simply too many residues. After everything was clean, Allo told me they had to buy and fill the rooms “little by little.” I carried out the interview accompanied by journalistic partner Anna Halpern, who meticulously asked Allo if all objects were from Menton itself. He confirmed that, indeed, a good part of the objects were from Menton, and while walking through the store, one repeatedly finds posters and objects that herald our town and its beauty. He assures, though, that most objects are from the Alpes-Maritimes region. He claimed that Menton, Nice and Cannes were all cities that received a great influx of tourists and immigrants in the last few centuries, who brought with them specific objects and furniture that now are crucial pieces of his enormous collection. Allo points out that the town is changing. He is not talking about the construction of the new beaches but rather about their taste. His selling point was classical furniture, sofas, closets and grandiose cabinets from the early 20th century. Now, people want a different sort of vintage. He has sold significantly more modernist furniture, pieces from the '60s or '80s, with considerably fewer sales on early 20th-century objects. His audience has also shifted. It is not the local Mentonnaise population that offers him the biggest source of income, despite an occasional SciencesPo student looking for a poster or a lamp, but rather tourists. He estimated that 10% of his clientele is Mentonnaise, 10% is Italian, and the rest are composed of transient Americans, Germans, Scandinavians, and more recently, Australians. He is not quite sure if the change in taste is also related to the change in clientele—in his opinion the Italians had the most dramatic shift of taste, but he has shown himself flexible and ready to adapt his store to the needs of his clients. Allo offered us a store tour, pointing to particular objects that interested him: dutch barrels, 20th-century possessions and even what he called “bizarre stuff.” Anna made a point about how the things he had there were simply mesmerizing and shockingly interesting. Allo, after a quick laugh, says, “Yes, but this is what I am looking for. That is what I aim to sell. It's no easy find, but we work!” He presents objects that remind us of the diversity of the South of France beyond the coast and even elements from the neighboring Italian north and Spanish Catalonia. A conversation with the store owners has led me to become further disbelieved. How was it possible that a couple could find so many particular objects and foster such a big collection of antiquities? When asked how he sees these things, Allo quickly responds with a simple “Je me lève tôt,” “I wake up early.” Every Sunday, when the store is closed, he wakes up at 4 am and ventures throughout the region to find objects for his collection in a tireless search. “It's not easy to find this stuff,” he told me, “it is easier to buy old furniture than to find something truly interesting.” Throughout the years, scavenging his products has been the most challenging aspect of his job. “The provision,” he puts it, “is the hardest part. It's more difficult to find stuff than to sell it.” He also discusses the prices of his stuff, saying that he has to put a price that gives him a profit, and some things end up being more expensive than expected. Yet, “it is not close to being more expensive than the boutique stores in Paris,” he says. “ Those are a steal. You have to put it in perspective.” My final question was the most difficult to answer. “What is your favorite piece?” It took him just a few seconds to answer, “The big window in the showcase!” He took us outside the store to look at the said mirror. It is a grandiose piece, covered by crystals, and so mesmerizing one has to see it for themselves to understand why Allo felt so attached to it. Finally, he told us: “When I find stuff like this, I am happy.” Previous Next

When I think back to our day in Korçë, for example, I struggle to rationalize it. I feel like it exceeded the temporal lines. It was a magical cocktail of memories and sensations. < Back Albania: An Emerging Nation Full of Surprises By Greta Murgia and Federica Ballardini January 30, 2022 Albania is a little-explored destination for the holidays and remains a mystery to most. When one thinks about vacation destinations in the Balkans, the first place that comes to mind is Greece and its numerous islands, followed by Croatia for those looking for a more alternative destination and wilder environment. Albania, with its variegated nature, delicious food, and low prices, is rarely within the top ten places to visit. I expected to travel to one of Europe's more cosmopolitan locations, like Budapest or Prague, for my November break. But, my friends had opted for a more obscure choice: Albania. Upon hearing of this change of plans, I was shocked. But after this initial reaction I thought to myself: Albania? Why not? It was a destination I had never considered, but the plan seemed interesting and I decided to give it a chance. When I told people I was going to Albania, I would always get the same confused look, followed by the question: “Albania? What’s there to do in Albania? Why aren’t you going to a normal place like Amsterdam or Berlin?” And my answer was, over and over: “I don’t know, I’ll find out.” And I did. Theth: nature, hot chocolate, soaking-wet hike, tortuous roads, dogs, and grapes I, along with seven friends, arrived in Tirana by plane. Having spent the first night in the metropolitan capital, we decided to go north to spend some time in nature. Getting to Theth – a small town almost at the border with Montenegro, known for its National Park and beautiful nature – was already a challenge. We first had to take a three hour bus to Shkodër, the biggest city of the northern region, followed by another three hour drive in a private minivan on endless tortuous curves. To get to Theth, we passed by the national prison and numerous majestic white villas, constructed in the middle of nowhere. When we asked why there were such big houses in deserted places, we were told that the Albanians have the belief that the best way to keep and invest their money is through construction. Therefore, they build huge villas in remote areas, which ends up being disastrous as an investment. Once we arrived in Theth, we understood just by looking around why it had been so hard to get there, and we asked ourselves how it was possible that other people, apart from us, had been able to reach it. In fact, we were the only tourists (and girls) in the apparently empty town. We were guests at a beautiful family-owned cabin, with grapes hanging throughout the whole garden, an ice-cold fountain with potable water, a chimney in the common room and a beautiful view of the valley from our bedroom windows. The town was home to several unfriendly dogs that barked at us as we passed by, a beautiful church connected to a cemetery, sheeps, closed cabins, one shop, and one restaurant. Because we were in low-season, we got the “true” Theth experience. We were asked several times by locals why we had decided to go there for our vacation. We found an answer to the question the following day, when we went for our long-awaited hike. Water, water, and more water When we woke up the next morning though, it was pouring rain and the beautiful view from our window had disappeared. We could not even see the garden beneath us due to the fog that surrounded us. As we had to go back to Tirana the following day to meet two other friends that were arriving to join us on the trip, our only chance to go on the hike was that day. So we asked the owner of the cabin for some garbage bags, we opened holes for the head and the arms, and we started what can only be defined as an adventure. After the first five minutes of the hike, we had barely any dry skin left, and when we got to the top, we could not see much further than our noses. At that moment, we had to imagine the beautiful view we had been told we would see. However, as we went down, the sun came out for long enough to clear the sky, and it allowed us to see the mountains, the valley, and the horizon. The rain had been worth enduring, and the view was stunning. Once back to the cabin, dry and warm, we enjoyed home-made fresh and delicious food and a hot chocolate that resembled more a pudding than common hot chocolates. That became our passion throughout the whole trip. At any café, restaurant or bar we would visit, we would always order hot chocolate. But none of them beat the one in Theth. The filling breakfast we received from the cabin every morning, which included fried eggs, cheese, butter, jam, bread, pancakes, juice, coffee, and tea, was also voted as one of the best parts of the whole trip. Tirana We moved to the center of the town. The streets were pebbled and framed by low buildings that housed cafés. We wandered around and I came across a traditional bakery. On a large wooden table lay a batch of bread loaves waiting to be baked in a huge stove. I peeked inside; a small queue of people were buying their daily bread. The man inside saw me and inquired whether I was a tourist. Most of the people in the line spoke fantastic Italian. The baker gave me a freshly baked loaf of bread; I thanked him and reached for my wallet. He did not want me to pay; it is a gift, he says. It was not the only time that we got gifts from complete strangers. A man in a store offered to pay for my water, since I still struggled with the Albanian currency. People were generally exceptionally kind and generous. Everyone was up for a chat, everyone had a smile in their pocket, ready to be exchanged with strangers. Korçë Our time in Korçë began in the late afternoon. A shaky bus drove us for four hours through the most unimaginable landscapes. Rolling hills lay all around the winding road; forests exploded with fall colors at each turn, and we stumbled upon rural architecture. We stopped half way through for some of the typical rice – flavorful Basmati rice, cooked with lemon and eaten with meat or vegetables. We arrived in Korçë as the sun was setting through the glassless window panes of an abandoned building. We walked to our hotel. We were astonished by its grandeur. It was a modern structure on the outside, rustic and cozy on the inside. We walked up to our room to find a suite with a bathtub, lounge area and a beautiful view of the Orthodox church. Dinner was outstanding. The traditional cuisine (beans, grilled vegetables, hummus, feta cheese) met just the right amount of hipster, new age foods (avocado, sweet potatoes …). It was the perfect marriage. We sipped on Spritz and ate chocolate dessert. Is this what happiness feels like? Midterms had been the week before, so we had forgotten what that meant. We slept tight after delighting each other with a night of Disney karaoke. We woke up ready to take on Korçë. After breakfast (delicious, needless to say), we begin the day by visiting the Orthodox church. It was astonishing. Saints with decapitated heads in their hands populated the golden walls. We argued about how old the church might be. Turns out it is not that old, but we still really like it; it’s vintage. Tirana Tirana is not a beautiful city where it's easy to romanticize life or remain stunned in front of grandiose buildings. Instead, it is a big city where moving through public buses is hard, many neighborhoods are poor, and life is not led to please the tourists. It is also a place where the small pleasures that make life unique are hidden. Take the bakery under the apartment we were staying at, for instance. The delicious sweets we had in the morning. The central market, where old people gathered to sell garlic, beans, and their old jewelry, where everyone was happy to help and have a chat. The small burek shops, where talking with your hands was the only, powerful way to make a connection despite the lack of a common language. Ah, the language! Hearing Albanian all around, such a unique language; it tastes like almonds to me; it sounds like a hug; it looks like affection. Tirana is also a stage for history. We spent a few hours in a bunker, which is now a museum covering colonial times to communist regime history. Sure, history often fails to acknowledge the experiences of real people– those who live it, those who make it everyday. Despite that historiographical paradigm, Tirana’s buildings and people told the story. The coexistence of mosques, Orthodox and Catholic churches, people’s attitudes, the typical food, the general vibe of the city. It all assumes even more value as one uncovers the past about what has made this place so distinctive. We wanted to visit the other history museum, to gain a deeper understanding of what existed before. Sadly, it was closed, but by then we were intrigued. We knew we wanted to come back and see more of this country. It was evening, and we had to hurry back to the apartment to pack and tidy up the place. We were leaving the following day at three in the morning. As I looked out of the taxi window, I had my main character moment. I find it funny, I thought to myself, how I’ve ended up in a place I would have never imagined to visit, that I had not prepared myself for, for which I had had no expectations. I did not give in to cheesy clichés. I believe that I went home with different perspectives, new insights, and new friendships. Because I had the chance to visit a place where our modern perspective has not yet managed to take over, I was pleasantly surprised by what I didn't know existed. Reflections: old and new, Italian and Burek This trip has helped me reflect on the impact of history not only on a country's political system and economy, but also on the deep and lasting change it creates in society. Albania opened up to commerce and tourism only in 1992, after over 40 years of isolation under Hoxha’s communist regime. It is fascinating to notice how, despite being on the border with rather developed nations such as Greece and Croatia, Albania is ontologically different from what one would expect. In fact, with its service-based economy, most goods are imported, and the majority of the population speaks better Italian than English. Albania even became part of the Kingdom of Italy during the fascist rule in the 1930s and 40s, so Islam coexists with Christianity. The new capitalist economy is bringing money into the nation, incomes from Albanians abroad are being sent home, and all of this investment is enabling the destruction and reconstruction of vast areas of Albania, especially the capital, Tirana. Brand new sky-scrapers are seen rising above rural and simple constructions, Christian and Orthodox churches can be seen not far from mosques, and in bars and cafes the great majority are men. On the streets, handcarts selling fruits and vegetables give the impression of an exotic land on the other side of the world, but the espressos served in the cafés (which could compete with the ones made in Italy) remind the tourists where they are. Albania is a nation that has been on the waiting list to become part of the European Union since 2014, and it aspires to the wealth and well-being it sees in its neighboring states. These are some of the reflections that came to me during this trip, at once both eye-opening and enriching. Conclusion The delicious food and overall welcoming and warm population, the beautiful views of nature, the crystalline sea that borders Greece and Croatia, as well as the controversial and incredibly rich history, render Albania an interesting destination to visit. The emerging nature of the country’s economy and the cheap prices make it accessible. But, Albania will not be the same in ten years. Modernity and tourism will have changed its roots. It is wiser to go sooner rather than later. Albania is a place that is changing right in front of our eyes. It is happening right now. There is a strong wave of modernization being fostered. However, tradition and culture still manage to elbow their way through modern buildings, restaurants and cafès. Most of all, the spirit of the country and its people really shine through, and that is what I will most remember from this trip. When you travel to a very touristic destination, you almost expect a detached kindness from the side of the staff. What we found in Albania, however, was completely novel: a sincere, genuine warmth and open-heartedness from everyone we encountered on our journey. These are my takeaways from this trip: Don't limit yourself to usual destinations, there is much more to discover that was not already on some famous person's Instagram feed. Take the time to look for curious, unusual things both in your travels and in your hometown. When you can, engage in exchanges with strangers. Talk to people and learn about the world — this is a fantastic means for finding inspiration and magic everywhere you go. When I think back to our day in Korçë, for example, I struggle to rationalize it. I feel like it exceeded the temporal lines. It was a magical cocktail of memories and sensations. There are moments in life when you feel like you are truly living. Not existing, not being alive, but living. It's when you make music and talk to strangers and explore streets and rediscover the magic of humankind. You cannot create those moments artificially. You cannot look for them. You can just welcome them when they come and try to make the most of them. We can assure you that we definitely did. To you, our readers, we can only recommend to open your hearts to exploration and to visit Albania! To many more adventures to come!

< Back What Does Giorgia Meloni Mean for Ventimiglia’s Migrant Population? By Sophia Rottman November 30, 2022 Camp Roja was not the first refugee camp in Ventimiglia ; whether it will be the last remains to be seen. In 2014, an influx of migrants and refugees in Ventimiglia led to the creation of the informal “No Borders” camp. One year later, the “No Borders” camp was shut down. Still, the need for shelter and aid for refugees and migrants persisted, prompting the Red Cross to open Camp Roja. However, its lack of a legal framework allowed the Prefecture of Imperia to close its doors in July 2020 easily. Originally built to host up to 180 people, the camp routinely operated well beyond its maximum capacity, once holding 800 people with a mere 360 beds. When Italy imposed a country-wide lockdown at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Camp Roja stopped receiving new arrivals, forcing 200 people to seek refuge on the streets. In accordance with national policy, the prefect, Alberto Intini, announced that the camp would not receive anyone new until the pandemic was over. By June 2020, the number of people in the camp drastically decreased; only 30 residents remained. On July 30, 2020, the prefecture informed the Red Cross that Camp Roja would be shut down. The Red Cross’ pleas to keep it open were unsuccessful. Since the closure, migrants and refugees in Ventimiglia are now in even more dangerous positions — many lack basic needs like adequate shelter, water and food, often sleeping outside the train station, under an overpass or along the Roja. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s new government , a coalition between her party, Fratelli d’Italia, the Lega and Forza Italia, is expected to be Italy's most right-wing government since the Second World War. In the 2018 election, Fratelli d’Italia won only 4.3% of the vote. Now, its ideas have gained significant ground. The party’s campaign promised to prevent refugee rescue boats from docking among other strict border controls. Meloni has suggested that the Italian Navy patrol the coast to stop migrants and refugees from reaching Italy, alongside a naval blockade of Africa’s Mediterranean coast. Meloni’s new government is facing its first challenge: three NGO rescue boats in Italian waters. On Saturday, Nov. 5, Humanity One, run by the German charity SOS Humanity, was allowed to enter the Sicilian port of Catania. After an onboard medical inspection, 144 migrants and refugees were moved to a reception center: they were deemed to be experiencing emergency conditions. The remaining 35 were left on the ship and will likely be pushed back into international waters. SOS Humanity argues that all of the ship’s passengers were rescued at sea, which alone is supposed to qualify them for a safe port under international law. On Sunday, Nov. 6, Italy ordered Humanity One to leave the port of Catania. The captain refused. Three other rescue ships remain at sea, two in Italian waters and one in international territory, with more than 900 additional migrants and refugees. Their requests for a safe port have gone unanswered, and conditions onboard have deteriorated . Some NGOs say that Italy is breaching international sea rescue laws, arguing that anyone in danger must be disembarked at the nearest safe port. However, the new interior minister, Matteo Piantedosi, asserts that because the asylum seekers first stepped aboard Humanity One in Germany, they are not Italy’s responsibility according to the European Union Dublin Regulation. Meloni’s victory has sparked concern amongst French migrant rights advocates and organizations, who fear that the present conditions for refugees and migrants at the Franco-Italian border and Central Mediterranean may become more treacherous. Amnesty International predicts that the increasing number of migrants and refugees attempting to leave Italy for France will cause a “ping pong” effect between French and Italian authorities. Already facing pushback as they attempt the “pass of death” through the mountains from Ventimiglia to Menton, a worsening situation is highly concerning. In 2022, a new permanent hosting center for migrants and refugees is set to open in the Ventimiglia area. Still, authorities have yet to disclose specifics about the facility and its launch date. Amidst the Meloni administration’s hostility towards displaced populations, it now remains to be seen if Ventimiglia’s tentative resettlement center has even a fighting chance of opening.

Images emerge from Iran with unsettling regularity: mothers mourning their children, bodies of Iranian martyrs killed by the IRGC during the crackdown in black bags, and quasi-apocalyptic scenes of explosions in Tehran. And then, just as quickly, they disappear from collective attention. Not because the suffering ends, but because the audience moves on. < Back We Watch, We Feel, We Scroll: Susan Sontag’s ‘Regarding the Pain of Others’ and the War in Iran Amena Elkayal Images emerge from Iran with unsettling regularity: mothers mourning their children, bodies of Iranian martyrs killed by the IRGC during the crackdown in black bags, and quasi-apocalyptic scenes of explosions in Tehran. And then, just as quickly, they disappear from collective attention. Not because the suffering ends, but because the audience moves on. We watch, we feel briefly, and then we move on... Published in 2003, Regarding the Pain of Others is a critical reflection on how images of war and suffering shape public perception, especially for those who experience violence only from a distance. Its author, Susan Sontag, was an American writer, philosopher and cultural critic known for her incisive analyses of media, politics and representation. In this work, she questions whether witnessing suffering through photographs truly fosters empathy, or instead risks turning pain into something consumed, distant and ultimately ineffective in prompting action. More than two decades ago, Susan Sontag described a dynamic that has since become central to contemporary media culture. In Regarding the Pain of Others , she argued that for those who have not experienced war, understanding it is “chiefly a product of the impact of images, ” an understanding mediated not by direct encounter but by curated visual representations that shape perception in subtle yet powerful ways. In this sense, images do not merely document reality; they construct it, selecting, framing, and aestheticizing moments of suffering in ways that can both reveal and obscure. What appears immediate and authentic is often already interpreted, distanced from the conditions that produced it. Thus, images, she cautioned, do not necessarily bring viewers closer to reality. They can instead create a moral distance, where suffering is observed, even felt, but rarely acted upon. " Compassion ," she wrote, "is an unstable emotion. It needs to be translated into action, or it withers." In Iran, it is not only withering. It is being redirected. Since late 2025, Iranians have faced one of the most severe waves of internal repression in the country’s history. Protests quickly escalated from a response to mounting economic pressures and social restrictions to challenging the Islamic Republic’s oppressive regime. The state's response turned into a massacre of its own people. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired on civilians, internet access was repeatedly restricted and hospitals struggled under the weight of casualties. Since the protests started, at least 36,500 Iranians have been killed by their own government in a strikingly short span of time. This is alongside the 330,000 injured and tens of thousands detained and tortured by the IRGC. It has become one of the deadliest crackdowns in recent memory. Yet despite the scale of the violence, global attention has remained fleeting. For a brief moment, the world looks. Then it looks away. Sontag understood that images do not simply document suffering, they shape how it is valued. Some forms of violence are amplified, others minimized or rationalized. Iran presents a particularly uncomfortable case. Because the Iranian government positions itself in opposition to Israel and in support of Palestine, some observers adopt a very reductive logic: the enemy of my enemy is my friend . Within this framework, the regime's repression is treated as secondary, or even justifiable. It reduces a complex national struggle to a crude binary as if the Iranian people were merely pieces on a board rather than a society with its own grievances, hopes and agency. This serves geopolitical convenience, not their lived reality. This is not solidarity. It is selective morality. Opposing Israeli policies does not require silence about Iran. Supporting Palestinian rights does not necessitate overlooking state violence against Iranians. These positions are not mutually exclusive, yet public discourse often treats them as though they were. The result is a hierarchy of suffering in which Iranian lives are weighed against geopolitical narratives and too often found inconvenient. Repeated exposure to violence, Sontag warned, risks dulling moral response. "As one can become habituated to horror in real life, " she wrote, " one can become habituated to the horror of certain images. " We saw this in Palestine, where after October 7, the world watched in horror, only to later look away as 75,000 Palestinians were killed in Gaza. We saw it in South Lebanon, where Israeli forces have been continuously carrying out extensive military attacks, just for this to turn into a week-long trend. We saw it in Ukraine, once front-page news, now pushed to the margins despite ongoing civilian killings. And yet, international attention has faded, even as the suffering continues. Now we are seeing the exact same scenario in Iran. What begins as outrage slowly curdles into numbness. The images keep coming—so many that the mind, in self-defense, stops feeling each one. Sontag understood this not as callousness, but as a kind of moral exhaustion. And that, perhaps, is the deeper violence: not just the bombs, but the ease with which we learn to live with them. Today, that habituation is reinforced by the architecture of digital media. Disturbing images compete with entertainment, commentary and distraction. The easiest response is not engagement but avoidance –users scroll past before a video even finishes. They skip images that feel overwhelming, or promise to return later, but rarely do. The result is a fragmented attention span, in which suffering is encountered in brief, intense bursts, never long enough to demand sustained reflection or action, fulfilling what Sontag once anticipated. When Iranians themselves respond to events, the pattern shifts. Indifference gives way to judgment. Following the death of dictator Ali Khamenei, which marked the death of the regime’s central figure, reactions within Iran were ones of open celebration. They reflected a very new hope towards a better future. Yet many outside observers —most of whom had previously remained silent on Iran— were quick to dismissively criticize, describing Iranians as naive, misinformed, or manipulated. This reductive framing arrives from multiple directions, but one of its most striking iterations comes from within the region itself. There is an irony in hearing, from certain quarters of the Arab world, lectures on the dangers of misplaced hope. This is, after all, a region that has known the weight of foreign intervention intimately—the devastation of Iraq after the American invasion, the carve-up of sovereignties, the long catastrophes of occupation. One might expect that such experience would yield a certain humility, a reluctance to presume that a distant observer knows a people's political reality better than they know it themselves. And yet, in the case of Iran, the script flips. Those who have endured the wreckage of foreign intervention now presume to tell Iranians that their celebration of a dictator's death is a mark of naivety. This condescension reveals a failure of imagination. It cannot fathom that an Iranian political consciousness might exist that is neither pro-regime nor a puppet of foreign interests. It reduces a population of nearly 90 million people, shaped by decades of revolution, war, and the lived experience of theocratic rule, to a simple binary: either they are with the Islamic Republic, or they are doing the bidding of its enemies. To dismiss their reactions is not analysis; it is paternalism. It suggests that Iranians can be seen, but not heard. The truth is more complex and more human. The Iranian people do not want war. They have watched their country teeter on the edge of regional conflagration. They have seen their resources funneled toward foreign militias while their own economy crumbled. The prospect of a war imposed from outside—whether by the United States, Israel, or any other power—is not something they desire. They know that the first casualties would be themselves. But neither do they want the regime they live under. This is the duality that the world refuses to hold. To be anti-regime in Iran is not to be a warmonger. To celebrate the death of Khamenei is not to invite foreign intervention. It is to express a yearning for the end of a system that has, for nearly half a century, treated its own citizens as enemies. The Iranian position is not a logical contradiction. It is a political stance forged in lived experience: a rejection of both the tyranny of the mullahs and the tyranny of outside powers. It is the desire for a path that belongs to Iranians alone. Sontag is very skeptical about a certain universal “we” —that unspoken assumption that the viewer, the reader, the distant observer belongs to a single moral community with the one being observed— often invoked in discussions of suffering. She questions who exactly is included in this collective? The "we" that watches Iran from afar does so from a position of distance and safety. It can choose when to look and when to look away. Those inside Iran do not have that luxury. And yet, from this distance, external audiences often claim authority over interpretation, over morality, over what Iranian suffering signifies. Sontag challenges this assumption directly, arguing that the perceived bond created by viewing suffering is often illusory. Rather than fostering responsibility, it can reinforce a sense of innocence: we have seen, therefore we have done enough. But witnessing without responsibility is not solidarity. It is spectatorship. The challenge is not simply to look, but to look without reducing. Iran demands this kind of attention. It requires acknowledging multiple truths at once: that the Islamic Republic is deeply repressive, that geopolitical conflicts shape how its actions are perceived, and that Iranian voices cannot be reduced to external narratives. Above all, it requires resisting the impulse to use human suffering as evidence in unrelated political arguments. Because when attention is conditional and when suffering is recognized only if it aligns with existing beliefs, it ceases to be empathy. It becomes selective engagement. And in that moment, Sontag's warning becomes unavoidable. If looking changes nothing, if it merely reinforces what viewers already believe, then the image is not an appeal. It becomes a mirror, and we learn to admire our own reflection while the world continues to burn beyond the frame. That is the moment witnessing fails. That is when we cease to be participants in a shared moral world and become something lesser—eyes open, hearts absent, watching devastation unfold without ever stepping inside it, and calling it awareness. Photo Source: flickr by Ted Eytan

Lenka is a trans woman, an activist, a parent, a podcaster with two shows called V Tranzu and TLK–Talkshow with Lenka Králová, a person with an incredible sense of fashion, an artist, former IT developer and a new member of the Czech Pirate Party. < Back Interview with Lenka Králová for the International Trans Day of Visibility Ema Nevřelová March 31, 2026 Trans Visibility in Czechia: Lenka is a trans woman, an activist, a parent, a podcaster with two shows called V Tranzu and TLK–Talkshow with Lenka Králová, a person with an incredible sense of fashion, an artist, former IT developer and a new member of the Czech Pirate Party. I used a lot of labels trying to introduce you but I wonder what do labels mean to you? Lenka: Well, the label I like the most is that I am a human. Labelling me a trans woman is okay because that is what I do [trans rights activism], but, in my opinion, most trans people do not want to be labelled. They want to be treated like everyone else. I think it is important to understand where the labels have their place and where they do not because if you are out in the society and being trans is the first thing people associate with you; that’s not how it should be. It is not being trans that defines me. I am human, I do lots of things other than being trans and it is not the main part of my identity. Even though it is the partI am the most visible and known for [in the Czech Republic]. I know that after you transitioned you changed your surname from your father’s surname to your mother’s maiden name. If you don’t mind me asking, was there a reason behind that? Lenka: Yes, there was. I simply did not like my father’s surname. It wasn’t very nice and I got bullied for it when I was at school. I like my mother’s maiden name way more and it also happens to be the surname of the mom of my child. It is just a coincidence, although we [Lenka and her ex-wife] checked and we don’t have any common relatives in the genealogy. Talking about the personal stuff, I think we should probably mention that I have known your parents very well for years and I remember you as a baby. Ema: Yes, that is true [laugh]. This article will be published on March 31 in celebration of the Trans Day of Visibility. Do you plan to celebrate and if yes what are your plans? Lenka: Well, I have a transgender day of visibility 365 days a year because I am the most visible trans woman in this country [Czech Republic] right now. So, for me it is not that special because this is what I do [trans visibility and trans rights] and this is what I concentrate on. Is it hard to always be perceived through your identity? Lenka: I got used to it. On one hand, it is not ideal because then you are less of a human to people; and transgender is the first word that comes to their mind. On the other hand, it gives you publicity and access to the media for free. Things that politicians would love to have; you simply get for free [laugh]. Continuing on the theme of visibility; what makes you feel seen or understood? Lenka: In general I feel seen and understood. It’s not a moment. I often get a question “What is it like to be a trans woman in Czechia these days?”I usually say that is very hard to answer because it depends and varies case by case; it depends on what social bubble you live in; what you look like and so on. I am very lucky that I just get hate and bullying on social media but that’s about it. I don’t meet the people in person and I never actually faced any sort of hate face to face, so I know this only from social media. Ema: I think that is great. I think some LGBTQ+ people struggle to be understood in some of their personal contexts. So being surrounded by people who see you and understand you not necessarily for being a trans activist but for being a human as you said earlier is very important. Lenka: I think the most important thing people should do is choose the people around them. I know it is sometimes hard; because when you are fifteen you cannot really choose your parents and you cannot really choose your school, but if you can, you should do it because that is basically all that matters. Ema: I think that is a very nice message. I am now going to move to politics as you are a new member of a Czech political party called the Pirate Party and you have dedicated a significant portion of your time to activism around trans rights. Politics and Activism: You have largely become known through your activism surrounding the rights of Czech trans people to legally change their gender without having to go through forced sterilization. As of July 2025, Czech trans people are no longer required to go through forced sterilization or undergo hormonal treatment to legally change their gender. Do you feel like you were part of the success? Lenka: Well, yes and no. I put a lot of effort into it. I was a board member of an organization called Trans*parent , which advocates for trans rights, and me and my colleague, Viktor Heumann [founder of Trans*parent], met a lot of Czech politicians to whom we explained the issue. However, in the end it was the constitutional court that decided to change the rules. You receive a lot of hate on social media, death threats and other hateful comments are unfortunately part of almost every one of your posts. On top of that, you are very active in your advocacy for trans rights. Is there something you do to take care of your mental health to be able to sustain your activism? Lenka: [laugh] Well, the easiest way is to just close your eyes and imagine what the life of the hater looks like and what my life looks like and usually that is enough. Ema: Fair enough. [laugh] Lenka: I know I shouldn’t say that but it helps. But do you ever struggle with mental health? Or do you feel like because you have been an activist for over 6 years it does not affect you as much? Lenka: I do struggle with mental health but in totally different areas. This doesn’t affect my mental health even though it is very visible for people. I am kind of disconnected from that and as I said I never face the hate in real life. But yeah, I have trouble with love and with my relationships. [laugh] So, the thing that actually gives me the most trouble is what I hide from the public. Ema: Well, I think a lot of queer people can relate to having a messy love life. Do you find it important to keep some things private in general? Lenka: Of course! Because I am an influencer, actually I think I am more of an influencer than an activist these days. A lot of people think that I just show my entire life to the public on social media but that is far from the truth. For instance, I have a kid, a son who is thirteen years old and I spend a lot of time with him, but since I became publicly known I decided not to show him on social media. A huge portion of time that I spend with him is not shown to the public, so I just show what I want to show. In some of your interviews you said that your kid is your biggest cheerleader. Is that still going on? Lenka: Well, he became a teenager. We still have a great relationship but he’s less of a cheerleader [laugh] but not much changed, except he has more of his own life right now. I saw you recently posted that you joined the Czech Pirate Party, which posits itself as “center-left”. It is one of the few parties in the parliament that is outspoken about queer and trans rights. I wonder what prompted that? Lenka: When I became a trans woman and I started doing activism and meeting politicians, I realized that you have two options if you are not happy with what is going on in our country. You can either show your unhappiness on social media or you can go and do something about it. So, I decided to join the Pirate Party. I am new and I have no function yet; I am a political baby right now. There is nothing to talk about yet. I just felt that it was the right thing to do. I was hesitating for a long time because I was afraid it would not be helpful for my activism, since the most important thing that I was fighting for, which was the abolition of the forced sterilization law, had already happened. I figured I will probably be more useful on the other side. I believe that advocating for equality of trans people in Czechia and actually achieving it, will be easier to do through being able to pass laws as well as being part of the drafting process. Do you feel like so far it clashed with your activism? Lenka: Not yet. but that is also because I do not do that much activism right now. Because as I said, the law that allowed trans people to change their gender in their ID without forced sterilization or hormonal therapy was passed and there is not much more to do. So, as I said right now I am more of an influencer and podcaster. In your Instagram post you also said that you joined the party because you want to become a representative in the Senate in the 2028 elections. Do you think it is feasible for a trans woman to become a politician in the current Czech far-right political climate? Lenka: I think it is feasible, otherwise I would not go for it. Right now it is more about feelings. However, a good indicator is the listeners of my podcasts, who are from different age groups. Surprisingly, I even have some conservatives listening. I believe it is because I do not usually use very radical language. Sometimes I do but still I think there is potential. And of course the visibility helps a lot. One of the reasons I also chose the Senate is because it is more about personalities and less about parties. In short, I think it is feasible! There recently was a controversy where the Pirate party paid a very well-known Czech influencer Sugar Denny to promote the party before the parliamentary elections because her demographic matches the demographic of the Pirate Party. As a new member of the Pirate Party and as an influencer yourself, what do you think of politicians using influencers to promote their parties? Lenka: I mean it is logical because that is just how it works. Social media has changed the political landscape and for certain the demographic groups involved. Traditional media simply does not work. It is logical but of course it is risky because well yeah… The influencers can do stuff that you later on disagree with.* *Sugar Denny released a video where she talked about Zionism and the Pirate Party has since publicly distanced itself from her. Are you a fan of Sugar Denny? Lenka: I never actually watched her content but I, as Lenka, had a relationship of three years with a woman twenty years younger than me, so I was living and sharing a household with a Gen Z woman and we had Sugar Denny’s podcasts instead of a fireplace. [laughs] So I passively heard a lot of her content. I do not think I am her target group but as I met her a couple of times and she is a very nice person and I like her a lot. “V Tranzu” and importance of highlighting trans and other marginalized peoples stories: You started your podcast V Tranzu about six or seven months after you transitioned. What motivated you to do that? Was it the media monopolizing the portrayals of trans people and was that part of your efforts to humanize them? Lenka: There was nothing deep in the original intention. It was the COVID times and I just had a group of friends, people around the Trans*parent organization that I talked about already. There was a guy also from Gen Z [laugh] and he had an idea that we could do a podcast just for fun. Back then I was also working at a company that had their own podcast studio; we started there without thinking too deeply about the intention or having any particular plans. Later on, the guy withdrew from the project and he asked me to delete the videos he was in. So, that was like the first half a year of V Tranzu is forever gone. Then,I started doing it on my own and that was when I had the idea that I could do interviews with other trans people,ecause when we started doing the podcast, we thought that there are maybe three or four trans people in the whole country that are willing to show their faces on camera. The original plan for the podcast was that we will be doing interviews with experts, lawyers, doctors, but not with trans people. Then I made an interview with an actress who was in the Show Jana Krause * so I thought, okay, if you show your face in Show Jana Krause you do not have trouble speaking in front of the camera. Then I realized that there are actually many trans people who do not mind showing their face on camera if it is with a good intention. * Show Jana Krause is a late night show that is equivalent to the Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. The most important thing is that I always start by talking about their life in the first half of the interview, so it is not about their bodies. This is what the Czech media were presenting for decades whenever there was an article about trans people in the media, it was always about surgeries, hormones and stuff like that. Being trans was everything that defined you back then. In my podcasts I just talk about their lives; about what they do for a living, what their hobbies are and so on. Only then, in the second part of the interview, we start talking about their journey and about the transition as such. Before I came out there were maybe two or three visible trans people in the country and I just brought one hundred more in front of the camera. It just shows the diversity and how unique each story is. Is there a story of one of your guests that really stayed with you? Lenka: There were some very special interviews. The most special and personal one was definitely the interview with my ex-wife, from whom I separated following my coming out. My wife did not take my coming out very well and while we had to collaborate as co-parents, we weren’t otherwise on very good terms. Though somehow time healed it and now we are friends. We were together for fifteen years and she is the mom of my kid. I once asked her if she would like to do an interview about what she went through because it [transition] is also difficult for the partners and she said yes. For me, this is the most special interview of them all because it is the most personal one and the one I was the most scared of. There is one more that stands out. I actually did a few interviews in English and one of them was with a girl from a post-Soviet country , which she was scared to name. If she wouldn’t have left, she would have gone to jail for three years for being trans. She was intensely bullied at school and she told me a story of how she once looked out of a window at her school and there was a group of around thirty guys waiting and shouting at her to come out. They were ready to beat her up. She mobilized her friends and they made a circle around her to protect her and brought her to a taxi and she never went to the school again. She ended up in a refugee camp at Zastávka u Brna [a village in the Czech Republic] where she received a temporary passport. She started crying immediately after receiving it because she was finally free and she was praising Czechia as being a heaven on Earth. I know things are not ideal here, especially compared to some Western countries or Scandinavian countries but for some people it is really a heaven on Earth. It was a very emotional story and I understood how lucky I am to live in a democracy and how crucial it is to protect it. Ema: Thank you for sharing the stories and thank you for amplifying trans stories in general! In your video ‘Why am I trans?’ you said something: that you don’t know why you are trans but that you just are and it is society that is problematic, which really touched me as a queer person. So, I wonder if there is something you would like to say to the cis people? Lenka: Well, I say it all the time. Trans people are just people like everyone else. We have an extra struggle that we have to face but that is about it. I really like to compare it to left-handedness because there was a lot of stigma around it in the past and it was also pathologized. However, when you realize that all you need to do is to learn how to write differently and use different tools from time to time, it is all you need to be part of society. The problem is that our gender, our bodies and our genitals are being sexualized. If your left-hand would be the most sexual part of your body then left-handed people would probably have the same struggle as trans people have right now. What I am trying to do right now is to de-sexualize the topic. Czechia is now the last country in Europe where if you want to undergo transition, you have to find a sexologist. What I like to say is that a week has roughly about ten thousand minutes and you can just think about how many of them you actually use for sexual activity and how important it is in your life. Being trans is about life. It is about living in your gender 24/7 and sex is just a tiny part of that, just like for everyone else. Though for decades it was presented as something sexual, presenting us as some sort of sexual deviants, and that therefore we need to have our genitals surgically changed. I just want to show cis people that transitioning is about social life; I did this to live as a woman 24/7. In the same video you said that a lot of cis people feel like being trans is something hard, that trans people take a long time to come to terms with. I want to sort of flip the question and instead of asking about the hardships of transition, I wonder what brings you joy in your everyday life? Lenka: Other than smoking weed? Ema: Doesn’t that bring joy to everyone though? Lenka: [laugh] I like meeting friends and people who I have fun with and I have a kid who brings me a lot of joy. I like walking in nature, going to the theater, and watching movies. Simple stuff really, nothing deep. Ema: Thank you for this interview! Photo Source: Lenka Králová

After two political comebacks and an ongoing legal battle, this term presents Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s final opportunity to alter his legacy. < Back As Netanyahu Regains Power, the Far-Right Flourishes By Peyton Dashiell November 30, 2022 With nearly all votes counted from the Nov. 1, 2022, Israeli election, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is poised to return to the role, continuing his reign as the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history. As his Likud party and several right-wing coalition partners obtained a stable parliamentary majority, there may be an end in sight for Israel’s protracted political crisis, which has sparked five snap elections since 2019. Netanyahu, who formerly served as Prime Minister from 1996 to 1999 and 2009 to 2021, leads the center-right Likud party. His decades-long political career has overseen the Oslo Accords, both Intifadas, disengagement from Gaza and the Abraham Accords. Netanyahu’s position on Palestinian statehood has shifted many times. After opposing a Palestinian state early in his career, he reversed course in his 2009 Bar Ilan speech, supporting a two-state solution as long as the Palestinian government agreed to demilitarize. However, he condemned a two-state solution ahead of the 2015 Israeli elections, and many of his coalition partners support full Israeli annexation of the West Bank. Within Israel, Netanyahu advocates for free-market principles — he has eased Israeli foreign exchange controls, reduced the size of the public sector and passed anti-monopoly and anti-cartel laws to increase economic competition. Regionally, he has attempted to maintain a delicate power balance with Iran and Saudi Arabia, strongly condemning any Western nuclear deal with Iran as a threat to Israel’s security. And despite his alignment with religiously conservative parties, Netanyahu himself comes from a secular background and supports some progressive social issues like same-sex marriage. In 2019, Netanyahu was indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, all of which he denies. The investigation into these charges is ongoing; a loophole in Israeli law requires officials under investigation for corruption to resign from all government offices except that of prime minister, allowing Netanyahu to take office despite his legal battles. His trial resumed on November 7 — the Jerusalem District Court will hear testimony regarding the Gifts Affairs, in which Netanyahu and his wife are accused of accepting $200,000 in gifts from billionaire Arnon Milchan in exchange for helping him obtain a U.S. visa and securing tax exemptions. Israel is a parliamentary democracy — the Israeli President, whose power is mostly ceremonial, nominates a member of the parliament (Knesset) to become Prime Minister, typically the leader of the largest party. The nominee is then tasked with creating a multi-party coalition with at least 61 out of 120 Knesset seats to retain power. This election was the fifth in four years due to a parliamentary crisis over Netanyahu’s leadership — the liberal wing of the Knesset has refused to create a coalition with Netanyahu, while Likud has insisted on keeping Netanyahu as party leader, resulting in an unstable coalition majority. In this election, Likud secured 32 Knesset seats, the largest share of any party. The Yesh Atid coalition, led by outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid, earned the second-largest share with 24 seats. Netanyahu has begun coalition talks with the Religious Zionism, Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, which won 14, 11 and seven seats, respectively. Overall, the coalition will hold 64 seats, safeguarding it against the fragility of past coalitions with smaller majorities. The far-right Religious Zionist party, led by Bezalel Smotrich, merged with Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party to gain 14 Knesset seats and join Netanyahu’s coalition. Ben Gvir is associated with the Kahanist movement and Kach party — both banned by Israel in 1994 due to incitement of terrorism and racism against Arabs and labeled as terrorist organizations by the United States, the European Union and Japan. Ben Gvir, who was disqualified from service in the Israeli Defense Forces due to his radical views, has faced dozens of hate speech charges and called for the expulsion of Palestinian citizens of Israel viewed as disloyal to the Israeli government. The domestic agendas of Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit espouse religious conservatism — both parties oppose same-sex marriage and call for increased federal funding for religious studies. Additionally, Religious Zionism has expressed aims to vest the Knesset with the power to override the Israeli High Court. Right-wing leaders have heavily criticized the High Court for rulings on settlement construction, detention of African asylum seekers and the ability of Reform and Conservative Jewish converts to gain Israeli citizenship. While Netanyahu distanced himself from Ben Gvir on the campaign trail, the leaders met in coalition talks in Tel Aviv on Nov. 7. Ben Gvir expressed his aim to become public security minister, a role that manages police oversight and training. The success of Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit came at the expense of the Israeli left. For the first time since its establishment in 1992, left-wing party Meretz failed to pass the electoral threshold and gain any Knesset representation. Meretz leader Zehava Galon denounced the Religious Zionist party and labeled the election results a “disaster for Meretz, a disaster for the country, and yes, a disaster for me personally.” Prime Minister Yair Lapid has garnered blame for blocking coalition efforts between Meretz and Yesh Atid, claiming that both parties would securely pass the threshold. English Track first-year Roey Ofer has supported Meretz in the past five elections due to their resistance to West Bank annexation and advocacy against human rights violations. Ofer rejects the narrative that Lapid is solely culpable for left-wing failures: “I believe the respective leaders of each party are to be blamed for not being willing to unite their lists as well as providing voters with a solid ideological alternative which is not merely a negation of their opponents.” Arab parties Ra’am and Hadash Ta’al increased their seats to five each, while the Balad party failed to cross the electoral threshold. The three parties, along with Mada, previously comprised The Joint List, a coalition of Arab-majority parties that served as the third largest faction in the Knesset. However, the coalition dissolved in September after several members from different parties left due to ideological disputes. Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up nearly one-fifth of the Israeli population, have much lower voter turnout rates than Jewish Israelis — only 55 percent cast votes this cycle. While second-year Sama Nabulsi attributes this low turnout to the Knesset’s disinterest in ameliorating Palestinian conditions, she doesn’t believe that past anti-Palestinian legislation or disillusionment from prior coalition shortcomings should discourage Palestinian citizens from voting: “ I think Palestinians with the ability to vote should vote for three main reasons. First, to push the power away from far-right and generally racist parties. Second, if they choose to vote for Arab parties, to be able to secure some control and representation in the parliament. And third, to be able to build strength in the Palestinian voice for future elections and parliaments, a higher voter turnout creates an efficient voting bloc that would help constitute what the future government may look like. I don’t know how far a Palestinian voice can go in the makeup of the Israeli parliament today, but I believe that the battle isn’t over yet. ” Reversing trends seen globally, the rightward shift in this election was primarily driven by young, first-time voters — supporters of right-wing, religious parties specifically skewed young, male and Orthodox. A pre-election survey from the Israel Democracy Institute found that 71 percent of Israelis under age 24 identify as right-wing, compared to 47 percent of those 35 and older. Once a political pariah, Itamar Ben Gvir enjoys support from the incoming prime minister, and Religious Zionism is now the third largest party in the Knesset. Regarding overall election consequences, an anonymous second-year said, “there are many concerns that arise from this election, from the incorporation of once extremist and radical views into the Israeli political mainstream to dangers to Israel’s democracy, especially within the judiciary.” They also noted increased division within Israeli politics: “the high number of Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers and the ever-increasing rift between Israel and Diaspora Jews also offer little reason for hope.” Despite his cumulative 15 years in office, Netanyahu’s third term is unlikely to bring stagnancy to Israeli politics. Emboldened by his strong coalition majority, Netanyahu can pursue an ambitious agenda — he has highlighted normalization with Arab countries as a key priority, building upon the 2020 Abraham Accords he signed with former U.S. President Donald Trump. However, questions remain about the impact of his religious, right-wing coalition partners — will they significantly shape Israeli security and social issues, or will Netanyahu work to temper their aims and maintain the status quo? After two political comebacks and an ongoing legal battle, this term presents Netanyahu’s final opportunity to alter his legacy.

< Back Rupture: Angela Merkel’s Exit and What it Means for Germany’s Future By Lionel Chambon October 31, 2021 Berlin. At 6 p.m. Central European Time, the German state television announced the first exit polls following the Federal Election. Jörg Schönenborn, the election night presenter, looked at his cards containing the results, looked up into the camera, took a breath, and said: “I can promise you numbers like we have never seen them before.” After 16 years under Angela Merkel, this would be the first time that the election outcome was actually impossible to predict. As I wrote for Le Zadig last semester: “The Greens have consistently polled at 20 percent or more, in striking distance of the CDU, while it has comfortably overtaken the SPD (…), possibly ending decades-long domination by the CDU and SPD.” While my prediction was not quite accurate, now that the results are in, we are certain that the Merkel era has ended — and there is no turning back. A Conservative Nightmare Let us deconstruct these results step by step, starting with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) which has been leading the country for 52 years since 1949. Scoring 24.7 percent, the party received a catastrophic result in comparison to its yields of 41.5 percent in 2013 and 32.9 percent in 2017. I have previously written that this decrease was partly due to Merkel’s lack of a clear, conservative profile. Her expansion of the welfare state and her management during the events of 2015 moved the CDU to the left, arguably creating a vacuum on the right. Nonetheless, this does not explain why the CDU slumped to 24 percent from over 30 percent in polls a few months back. This shocking result was entirely rooted in a disorganized campaign that exposed the party’s internal feuds. For starters, it took the party way too long to actually decide on a candidate for chancellor. The fight was between its chairman, Armin Laschet, and the governor of Bavaria, Markus Söder. Throughout the campaign, Söder made his disdain for his rival no secret, repeatedly challenging Laschet in public. The latter eventually asserted himself after weeks of uncertainty. Protocols surfaced of secret, backdoor meetings between party officials, angry phone calls from local politicians, illustrating a party in disarray. While others were concerned for the country, the CDU was concerned with itself. Things soon got worse when a severe flood struck parts of Western Germany. Laschet was caught laughing in the background while German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier held a eulogy for the lives lost during the storms, a number which went into three-digit numbers. The photo of him smirking on such a dire occasion was a mishap from which he could not recover. His biggest obstacle, however, was the incessant calls from his opponents within the party notifying him that he was doing a bad job, exposing internal rivalries when he needed a unified base. Out of all the parties, The CDU was the last to present a program, and nobody really knew what a post-Merkel CDU stood for. Laschet did not either: asked on the road and on camera about his three favorite ideas from his own program, he could not provide an answer. His plan was to count on voters that had always voted CDU out of tradition, “as usual.” However, his judgement was ill-fated. A Social Democratic Miracle When I first wrote about this election last semester, things were not looking good for the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and their candidate, Olaf Scholz. Polling at barely 15 percent, 2021 was set to be a disaster for him. The party was barely attracting attention in the media, and its successful left-wing policies implemented under Merkel were not rewarded in the polls. Yet, the SPD managed to win the election with a score of 25.7 percent, even gaining 5.2 percent from 2017. This remarkable turnaround came down to Olaf Scholz alone. When the CDU was busy arguing out its private battles, Scholz had been declared candidate months in advance. Scholz remained calm, composed, and campaigned successfully without any unfortunate incidents or mishaps. He had been Merkel’s vice chancellor and minister of finance, and the only candidate with experience in the highest positions of government. His efforts for a global minimum corporate tax, proposed by the G7, resonated well with the German public. In three televised debates between the three candidates for chancellor, surveys indicated Scholz to have won them all. However, the results also suggest that Scholz was heavily perceived as simply the better alternative to an unsophisticated Armin Laschet and a disorganized CDU. The SPD gained almost two million votes from those who supported the CDU in 2017, which is a highly unusual turnover rate. The SPD was also the first to formally present a program. This all suggests that this election was less about policies and ideas and more about which candidate was deemed fittest to run the country. After all, the SPD’s program proposed many ideas it could have enacted during its 12 years in government. Yet, unlike his opponents, Scholz never let his guard down and showcased statesmanship the other candidates lacked, reassuring many voters uneased by the challenging times Germany is experiencing. The Green’s Missed Opportunity and the Youthful Free Democrats For the first time ever, there were not two, but three candidates for chancellor. Usually, this privilege was reserved for the CDU and SPD, which used to be the only realistic contenders to win an election. However, as Germany's party landscape is becoming increasingly fragmented, the Greens sought to seize their opportunity. They had nominated Annalena Baerbock to head the campaign, and during the summer, the idea of finishing above 20 percent suddenly seemed within reach, maybe even finishing on top. Election night yielded a very strong, yet still disappointing finish of 14.8 percent. Hopes of leaving the SPD behind were not satisfied and most Greens certainly hoped for better. Mainly, this result was caused by Baerbock stumbling unnecessarily over amateur errors: her team made mistakes in her official CV, she forgot to declare bonus salaries from party bank accounts, and her autobiography, which was supposed to launch the candidate into the German public, was filled with plagiarism. The Greens faced fierce criticism over their trustworthiness, and possibly lost many potential voters to the much more experienced Scholz, who capitalized on Baerbock’s beginner mistakes. However, the Greens campaigned as a force for change, and this was ultimately rewarded at the ballot box. The centrist Free Democratic Party (FDP) managed to, for the first time in its history, score above 10 percent in two consecutive federal elections, with a strong finish of 11.5 percent, its second-best result ever. Together with the Greens, the FDP even scored first among first-time voters; its youthful appeal largely inspired by its chairman, Christian Lindner. Its advocacy for social mobility, including market solutions to climate change, equitable economic opportunity, and digitalization of the German bureaucracy resonated well. The Liberals’ strong finish among young voters suggests that they have managed to widen their electoral base considerably in the last eight years. What Next? If you by any chance read my previous piece on German politics, you will find that the increased fracturing of the German electorate is rather new. Arduous coalition bargaining could be a consequence: in 2017, it took almost six months to form a new government. In 2021, however, it is likely that politicians have learnt their lesson. At the time of publishing, SPD, Greens and FDP have officially entered negotiations for a "traffic light" coalition. This seemed an unlikely scenario before the election — after all, the FDP has very different opinions on state finances, taxation, and government expenditure than its red and green counterparts. However, the dismal state of the CDU forced the FDP and Greens to think carefully. They have tentatively agreed to form a government by the end of November, and Olaf Scholz is set to be voted in as new chancellor during the first week of December. It is likely that the FDP will be more assertive on economic and fiscal policy, whereas SPD and Greens will be able to execute their programs on issues related to climate change and social policy. It seems, however, that common ground unites them all: the need for change after 16 years of conservative government. The modernization of the state will be a top priority, as will be the ecological transformation of the country into the age of green industry. Party leaders Scholz, Baerbock, and Lindner have emphasized the need for urgent and long-term climate action. Emission trading schemes, infrastructure investment and increased research and development are on the agenda. Personally, I believe this coalition could bring Germany into a greener, prosperous, and more equitable future, and it is genuinely exciting to see what will follow. Of course, official negotiations have barely yet begun, and many details remain to be worked out. However, the opportunity is there, and I hope Germany seizes it.

Amid Erdoğan's floundering through an economic crisis and the looming threat of an upcoming election, a calamitous pair of earthquakes have begun to resemble an extended Day of Reckoning for the Turkish President's administration. The dire state of the Turkish government has led to mounting speculation on what measures it will resort to preserve its 20-year reign. < Back Commitment to Elections and Constitution Wavers After Turkey Earthquake By Yasmin Abbasoy March 31, 2023 Amid Turkish President Erdoğan's floundering through an economic crisis and the looming threat of an upcoming election, a calamitous pair of earthquakes have begun to resemble an extended Day of Reckoning for the Turkish President's administration. The dire state of the Turkish government has led to mounting speculation on what measures it will resort to preserve its 20-year reign. Fears of the most desperate measures — a postponement of the elections scheduled for this coming May — were only invigorated by a statement from a former politician known for his intimate ties with the ruling party that seemed to be an attempt to judge the lay of the land indirectly. With over 50,000 dead and the death toll still climbing, the catastrophe has quickly become Europe’s “worst natural disaster in a century,” according to the World Health Organization. Striking as the earthquakes did, late at night and in the middle of winter, necessitated a fast and efficient humanitarian response: one decidedly not delivered by the Turkish government. These adjectives do not describe the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of recent years, defined by increasing authoritarianism and layers of financial misconduct and cronyism. Unable to rise to the occasion, the government was subject to further merciless exposure of its shortcomings in governance by a population who felt thrown to the wind. The criticism was only strengthened by existing discontent with the state of affairs in Turkey, especially when certain shortcomings in the earthquake response were widely seen as a result of the festering wounds of the longtime misgovernance of the ruling party. The immediate call for donations disseminated by the government-funded Disaster and Management Authority (AFAD) bred discontent in a population paying so-called “Earthquake Taxes” since a similarly devastating tremor in 1999. The perceived misuse of government funds refers to a familiar refrain: the government’s salient pattern of financial misconduct. Most recently, the opposition campaign demanding an explanation for the discreet sale of $128 million in reserves by the central bank resulted in one of the most popular political slogans of modern Turkish politics, What happened to the $128 million, and succeeded in highlighting this established pattern of behavior. The people were willing to give the government very little grace. The inability of the poorly funded AFAD to reach several affected provinces in the hours following the earthquake provoked further outrage among a populace habituated to the quintessential government defense, mobilized against all criticism: “We built roads!” The collapse in infrastructure, exemplified by photos of pitch-dark highways cracked open and crumbling like styrofoam, not to mention the airport runways split down the middle, rankled a party that had long prided itself on the modernization of the admittedly inferior infrastructure it inherited. Where AFAD could reach, efforts to stabilize survivors extracted from the rubble, in danger of freezing to death in below-zero temperatures, were hampered by structural damage to essential buildings such as public hospitals. The utter failure of government-funded buildings in withstanding the earthquake is yet another symptom of rampant cronyism, seeing that the meteoric rise of a group of government-supporting companies dubbed the “Gang of Five” was precipitated by the endless amount of contracts handed to them. The state of private residences was no different, with entire groups of buildings collapsing like rows of dominoes. Illegal and not-strictly-legal construction is rampant nationwide, including in the affected areas, where construction that did not follow official guidelines for earthquake-resistant design was the norm. In the days immediately following the earthquake, the government publicized its arrests of independent contractors responsible for specific buildings whose collapse led to the deaths of over 130 people in some cases. They were often caught trying to leave the country and so gleefully used by the government as sacrificial lambs to present to an increasingly angry population. This strategy was undercut as soon as the AKP’s proposed construction amnesty plan in the election year were brought to light. These amnesties, which strangely enough always correspond to election years, retroactively legalize illegal structures. They have been harshly criticized, as have been most government policies, as populist and shortsighted. Turkish people channeled their fear, rage and despair into aiding the nationwide effort to support victims. Twitter, described by then-CEO Dick Costelo in 2013 as the “global town square,” became the site of many donation campaigns and charity drives. Hoping to supplement insufficient search and rescue efforts, Twitter users shared the names of once-apartment buildings turned rubble under which they could hear people calling out, lists of necessary supplies to the affected areas and names of missing loved ones. Criticism of the government was, as always, omnipresent: photos of the controversial actions of the government were heavily circulated. Whether it be labeling tents sent by foreign countries with Turkish Red Crescent stickers or rejecting jackets with Efes Beverage Group logos due to the company’s production of alcoholic drinks, it was all on the app for all to see and judge. And people were judging, too blatantly for the Turkish government’s comfort as they blocked access to the website for at least 12 hours only three days after the earthquake. Widely considered to be a move to curb criticism and provoke a tbacklash, the extreme measure gave way to the idea that the government was in a difficult situation. While the website was eventually unblocked, authorities came down hard on criticism: A lawyer, trying in vain to extract his family from the rubble of their ruined building with his means, was arrested on charges of denigrating the state for a tweet reading simply, “Where is the state?” The new party line was echoed by the man himself, two-time President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who, in his increasingly aggressive speeches, resorted to describing detractors, most of which were victims of the earthquake, with increasingly creative insults. At the end of February, he made a dramatic one-eighty with regard to the government response, using the opportunity presented by a speech in the heavily-affected Adıyaman to ask for “hellalik” (a religious acknowledgment that one owes nothing to the other, as all previous sins have been forgiven) from the people. This alarming confluence of factors gave way to fears of a postponed election, with the ostensible goal of giving the apparatus time to recover from the failure in the earthquake response and bolster support for re-election. On Feb. 13, merely a week after the earthquake, a former political adviser notable for his close connection to Erdoğan and other leading figures in the party released a statement that would occupy the public consciousness for weeks. Bülent Arınç, a founding member of the AKP who recently retired after 20 years in the political game in a variety of positions —most significantly as the head of the Presidential High Advisory Board —published a three-page document outlining his views on the upcoming elections on his Twitter account. His statement, conveniently bolded for readability, called for unity and used religious language to rail against what he described as the inappropriate discussion of elections so soon after such a disaster: “Fear God, there are still bodies under the rubble. How is it possible to talk about elections when you can't talk about the electorate?” Reiterating that it would be best for the country to “be freed from the stress of elections as soon as possible,” he proposed two potential solutions: the first, amending the constitution, which only permits postponement in the extreme situation of war; and the second, a certain decision taken by the Supreme Court that allows the Supreme Election Council to determine that it would be impossible, due to lack of order or institutions, to hold elections at the planned date. Most alarming, however, was the justification for amending the constitution, long considered the unshakeable backbone of any democracy: “The constitution is not a spiritual document, it is a legal one.” From an increasingly Islamist party that has historically embodied a devil-may-care attitude regarding changes to the constitution, as the recent shift from a parliamentary system to a presidential one while extending executive powers illustrates, this read as a threat. The response can best be summed up as overwhelming backlash. On Twitter, disabling replies to restrict criticism was rendered useless by the sheer amount of vitriol aimed at Arınç: the tweet has received 1,270 “favorites” and more than 12,000 “quote-retweet” comments, the overwhelming majority are negative. Days later, Arınç sat down for a live televized interview, affirming that “Perception should not override facts.” He also stated that his statement was not an attempt to test the reaction of the public on behalf of anyone, and revealingly, that he believed that chaos would not break out if elections are not postponed, but rather if they are postponed in a way other than a constitutional amendment: a yet-unmentioned possibility. Opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu commented that “The constitution is very clear, the election cannot be postponed. Running away from the election does no one any good.” In contrast, the government, surely aware of the massive scale of the opposition, took a reassuring tone: “The election is not postponed, the process is continuing as is. If the technical infrastructure is provided on time, the elections will take place on May 14th.” On March 6, the Supreme Election Council was presented with a preliminary report on the status of electoral and other relevant institutions in the area, which concluded that there were no obstacles to an election being held at the previously fixed date. As for the prospect of a constitutional amendment, the ruling coalition does not have the required amount of votes to push through an amendment without the support of the opposition, which perhaps accounts for the sudden and outsized emphasis on inter-party collaboration observed in the statement. The past and present of the party do not inspire much confidence in their adherence to accepted procedure, however, and the Turkish population is again left wondering about what exactly the party will do to secure their chances. On March 10, Erdoğan signed an executive order for elections to go ahead on the previously decided date, May 14. Notably, the order was not for the previously scheduled elections to go ahead but for the 2018 general elections to be renewed. This has widely been interpreted as a method of sidestepping yet another constitutional problem — the fact that one person can only be elected to the role of President twice. Having tried to defend Erdoğan’s candidacy through a convoluted argument that involved the new presidential system acting as a reset, with each candidate treated as if he had never run before, the party has now set its sights on more concrete and thus more dangerous measures. This new development is completely in line with the rhetoric and strategy of the government with regard to the option of postponement, betraying deep-set values incompatible with constitutional democracy and confirming that the party is willing to do anything to cling to power. The wide-ranging aftereffects of the earthquake have heralded a new era of cutthroat politics for the government. As eyes turn once again to the High Electoral Council for a comment on the legality of this new decision, the upcoming election will not just be a choice between political parties but a vote on the foundations of the state itself.

Dans ce monde, “chaque geste porte le poids d’une insoutenable responsabilité”, une responsabilité dont n’a pas su faire preuve la procédure pénale actuelle qui s’est distinguée par la légèreté de son prononcé. < Back L’histoire de Sanaa ou l’insoutenable légèreté des jugements au Maroc By Layla Hammouda “ L’absence totale de fardeau fait que l’être humain devient plus léger que l’air, et qu’il s’envole, qu’il s’éloigne de la terre, de l’être terrestre, qu’il n’est plus qu'à demi réel et que ses mouvements sont aussi libres qu’insignifiants” écrit Milan Kundera dans l’Insoutenable légèreté de l’être. C’est avec cette “insoutenable légèreté” que Soumaya Naamane définit le jugement declaré ce 20 mars pour les trois hommes auteurs du viol d’une fillette de 11 ans, condamnés à des peines qui atteignent peniblement les deux ans de prison. Elle s’appelle Sanaa et est originaire du discret village marocain de Tiflet. Ces dernières semaines, le petit Tiflet a fait les gros titres, de par l'hystérie qui a entouré l’histoire de Sanaa. Mais le récit de la fillette n’a pas fait qu’indigner, il a également fait écho. Il a fait écho à Amina Filali, qui s’était suicidée après avoir été forcée à épouser son violeur qui échappa aux poursuites par le biais de ce mariage. Cette histoire fit écho au drame de Khadija violée à 16 ans, s’immolant par le feu après que ses huit agresseurs innocentés par la justice sont venus à nouveau la menacer. Le récit de Sanaa fait écho à l’insoutenable légèreté des verdicts offerts par l’appareil judiciaire marocain aux femmes qui portent sur elles d’insoutenables fardeaux. “Aussi libres qu’insignifiants” écrit Kundera. La liberté conférée aux juges par le pouvoir discrétionnaire du tribunal prend toute son insignifiance lorsque la formation décide d’accorder de conséquentes circonstances atténuantes aux trois bourreaux de Sanaa. Selon le Code Pénal marocain, la peine encourru pour un tel viol devrait se situer entre 10 et 20 ans de prison. Cependant eu égard à la legereté des qualifications employés lors du procès, on parle non pas de viol mais de “detournement de mineure” et “d’attentat à la pudeur sur mineure avec violence”, les textes de lois prennent inévitablement une allure d’insignifiance. A cela s’ajoute les précédemment évoquées circonstances atténuantes stipulant qu’au regard des “conditions sociales de chacun d'entre eux et à l'absence d'antécédents judiciaires; et parce que la peine prévue légalement est dure au regard des faits incriminés”, leur peine devrait être amoindrie. Les indicateurs montrent pourtant des avancées significatives en matière de statut des femmes au Maroc. Que ce soit la réforme du Code de la famille en 2004 ou l’inscription de l’égalité hommes femmes dans la constitution de 2011, la tendance laissait à croire que l’heure était pour les institutions marocaines d’enfin assumer leur “insoutenable responsabilité”. Mais c’est un tel traitement juridique réservé à des femmes, des filles comme Sanaa, qui font enfiler à ces avancées le vêtement de l’insignifiance. Stephanie William de Mobilising for Rights Associates, analyse justement l’origine du problème: “Il y a un réel problème de procédure pénale: le code pénal marocain laisse l’entière appréciation aux juges de faire bénéficier les coupables de circonstances atténuantes avec pour effet de réduire les peines applicables voire de ne pas les appliquer. Cela leur laisse toute latitude pour fonder leurs décisions sur des stéréotypes sexistes.” C’est alors la légèreté dont est imbibée l’articulation de ces progrès qui fait verser toute les mobilisations, plaidoiries et mouvements des femmes marocaines dans le demi reel, le théorique, et encore une fois l’insignifiance. Car on peut s’acharner à changer les textes, mais comment s’assurer de leur application dans l’esprit et la lettre ? Depuis 1 an, Sanaa est mère d’un enfant dont le père est l’un des trois accusés. Sanaa porte alors à tout jamais l’insoutenable fardeau symbolisant son drame. Un fardeau qui doit être basculé instamment du côté des bourreaux aux moyen d’une procédure pénale qui prend toute la mesure de la situation et qui applique de manière stricte les sanctions qui s’imposent. Cette justice serait alors gardienne du monde de “l'éternel retour”, celui que Kundera oppose au monde de l’insoutenable légèreté. Dans ce monde, “chaque geste porte le poids d’une insoutenable responsabilité”, une responsabilité dont n’a pas su faire preuve la procédure pénale actuelle qui s’est distinguée par la légèreté de son prononcé. Milan finit par écrire :“le plus lourd fardeau est en même temps l’image du plus intense accomplissement vital”. Ainsi, alourdir nos jugements d’une telle responsabilité, les faire basculer dans le monde de l’eternel retour au même titre que les victimes serait un signe de réel, une lueur d’espoir profondément humaine mais surtout nécessaire face aux inlassables redoublements de vie des femmes marocaines. La récente mobilisation des femmes marocaines a abouti à un recours devant la Cour d’Appel de Rabat pour l’affaire de Sanaa. Le procès aura lieu jeudi 13 avril, on ne peut qu'espérer un verdict défait de toute forme de légèreté.

< Back A Message from Marseille By Jad Toufic Toutinji October 31, 2023 Throughout September, the Mediterranean caught the eyes of the world as unfortunate disasters propagated on the shores of its countries — the devastating Moroccan earthquake, the Libyan tsunami-like flood, the migrant crisis in Lampedusa and, in October, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Across the sea, however, Marseille shone as the center of eventful festivities that reflected the hope that the region desperately sought. A message of unity and cooperation sailed from Marseille’s port through the peaceful waves of the Mediterranean, ultimately reaching to the shores of its various sea neighbors as people from all around the Mediterranean and beyond gathered to discuss the future of the region in a series of events. The festivities began with ‘Les Rencontres Méditerranéennes’ at Palais du Pharo, which brought together a varied audience of old and young, from around the world, particularly the Mediterranean, to create a stage for discussion breaking down generational divisions. More importantly, these meetings targeted the youth, a group of which were Sciences Po Menton students who are expected to play a crucial role in the future world and specifically, the issues of this region. These events also welcomed president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, for a conference on the Geopolitical Situation in the Mediterranean. “Où que l’on soit, on peut progresser sur un chemin de paix et d’espérance,” ( wherever we might be, we can progress on a path of peace and hope) stated president Lagarde, emphasizing the importance of hope through her discourse. To describe the severity of the geopolitical fragmentation across the Mediterranean, Lagarde also stated, “Pendant longtemps, la méditerranée est restée non pas le mare nostrum mais le mare clausum,” (for a long time, the Mediterranean has not been the mare nostrum but the mare clausum) reflecting the disunity amongst the people bordering the sea. In the conference, she highlighted the importance of cooperation, specifically the role of the Northern basin in supporting the Southern and Eastern basins, with the aim of reducing segregation. The Conférence Méditerannée du Futur on Sept. 22 brought together 36 countries’ delegations at Marseille’s Grand Cosquer under this year’s subject: water. “La Méditerranée est un carrefour entre les continents, elle a toujours fait lien entre les peuples, avant même l’Antiquité,” ( the Mediterranean is a carrefour between continents. It has always been a link of people even before ancient times) Carole Delga, president of the Occitanie region, noted with enthusiasm in her opening speech. The conference entailed several round table discussions over various topics, one of which surrounded the potential creation of a macro-region uniting all Mediterranean countries, pushed for by the president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region Renaud Muselier and his counterpart in the Occitanie. “Aux 36 délégations présentes, je dis, construisons, avec ce qui nous rassemble, notre fierté d’être méditerranéens, les coopérations de demain, à l’échelle de notre territoire,” (to the 36 delegations present today, let us build the cooperation of tomorrow amongst the territories which shares our pride of being from the Mediterranean) expressed Renaud Muselier in the conference’s opening speech. The main message from this discussion was the potential that such a region would have, even being compared to Eurorégion Pyrénées-Méditerranée, which was created in 2004 to establish environmental cooperation, economic development, humanitarian relief and peace across a sea crying for it. That said, the peak of this hopeful weekend arrived with Pope Francis’ visit to Marseille, which also prompted visits from several political figures, notably President Emmanuel Macron and the Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. He commenced his visit through a breakfast with the residents of one of Marseille’s poorest neighborhoods. Later, at the Palais du Pharo, the Pope and President Macron met and the Pope delivered a closing message at the ceremony of Les Rencontres Méditerranéennes. In his speech, he tackled the topic of migration and sent a clear message to Macron and his fellow ministers present in the room. “Ceux qui se réfugient chez nous ne doivent pas être considérés comme un fardeau à porter: si nous les considérons comme des frères, ils nous apparaîtront surtout comme des dons” ( those who seek refuge in us must not be regarded as a burden: if we treat them as brothers, they will surely appear as blessings). Moreover, the also Pope tackled the argument of “invasion” that has risen as a result of populist anti-immigrant politicians, stating, “ Mais ceux qui risquent leur vie en mer n’envahissent pas, ils cherchent hospitalité” ( but, those who risk their lives crossing the sea won't come here to invade us. They are in search for accommodation and embracement). The Pope ended his message about refugees by saying, “ Nous avons besoin de fraternité comme de pain. Le mot même ‘frère,’ dans sa dérivation indo-européenne, révèle une racine liée à la nutrition et à la subsistance. Nous ne nous soutiendrons qu’en nourrissant d’espérance les plus faibles, en les accueillant comme des frères” ( We are in need of brotherhood as much as bread. Even the word "brother" reveals a root linked to nutrition and sustenance in its Indo-European derivation. We will only survive by providing hope to the weakest among us through welcoming them as brothers). After his discourse, the Pope went to the Stade Velodrome for a mass where thousands impatiently awaited his arrival to pray collectively. “I'll go to Marseille, but not to France.” Indeed, the words of the Pope, before his arrival, aptly express the essential role that the beautiful Marseille plays in leading the message of solidarity, love and unity across the blue Mediterranean Sea and the souls that share it.

Individuals, as a group, have power. We can work for ocean protection on different scales. May it be respecting the sea and its ecosystems by disposing of your waste and cigarette butts at the beach, signing petitions or working with associations. < Back A Blue Planet: Let’s Talk About the Oceans Maud de Boysson for Environmenton February 28, 2025 As Menton students, there is one constant in our lives: the Mediterranean Sea. We go to class, we see it, we party, we see it, we work in the library, we see it, we go to the beach for a swim, well, we’re in it. The Mediterranean is the highlight of our days more often than not. But what do we know about its ecosystem and the risks it faces less than 200 meters from where we live? When one is talking about the environment, our first thought is often about land, animals, forests or pollution. This is quite reasonable since those are the parts of our planet that we are most in contact with and are able to capture our attention on a global scale. We have witnessed it recently with the gigantic fires that engulfed the city of Los Angeles in January 2025, turning everything to ashes in its wake. However, today, I would like us to explore a quieter part of our planet. A part that we rarely think about but is as vibrant and important in the fight against climate change as the rest of our world: the oceans. Bodies of water represent 72% of our planet, as well as half of the oxygen we breathe every day. They produce 15% of the animal protein we consume, regulate the temperature of the planet and absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), making our air breathable. They are vital to our survival as well as the survival of all species. Yet we know very little about them, as 80% of the oceans remain unknown to humans and some claim that we have more knowledge about the moon’s surface than about the ocean. Like the rest of our planet, oceans are affected by climate change. They are slowly getting hotter and are, as a result, less efficient in their task of regulating the earth's temperatures. They are getting more polluted and more acidic, and marine and coastal ecosystems are victims of overexploitation and are unable to renew their resources. One of the main problems is that, as for every climate change-related issue, all these variables are connected. Indeed, oceans absorb carbon dioxide and regulate our planet's temperature. However, as they absorb more and more CO2 and the temperatures get warmer, the oceans also become more acidic and are less efficient in their absorption of CO2. Moreover, the warming of the ocean, while nice for a dive in the middle of the winter, has tragic effects on sea organisms desperately needing cool water to survive. The combination of decades of overfishing and the decrease in fish’ survival rates are crisis factors that are also linked to the oceans because we are trying to fish more each year while the populations are not able to keep up with our consumption. Indeed, according to the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in 2020 more than 25% of the fish population was overfished . To sum up, the situation of the oceans is as dire as its emerged counterpart and actions must be taken to protect them. Diverse activists, NGOs and foundations work on it, trying to be heard by decision-makers. Next June, the United Nations Convention for the Ocean (UNCO) will be hosted by Costa Rica and France and will happen in Nice. It is only the third convention of this type and will be similar to the Conference of the Parties (COP), a place for exchange between countries, NGOs and scientists. The conference will be held from the 9th of June to the 13th, providing a place to discuss ocean-related issues such as the development of marine protected areas, the protection of ocean floors against deep mining as well as the protection of marine biodiversity in international waters. One of the main goals of the conference is for the “high seas treaty” to be ratified before its grand opening. This treaty is a text promulgated by the UN that wishes to protect international waters’ biodiversity, of which 1% are currently protected, by creating important Marine Protection Areas (MPA) all over the world. This text aims to protect at least 30% of the oceans’ surface. However, as of now, only seventeen countries have ratified the treaty, which is 43 countries short of the necessary 60 to have it transformed into formal international law. In the context of climate change and the latest revelations that we are already over the 1.5-degree threshold that was indicated as a clear limit in 2015 during COP21, marine environments, now more than ever, need to be protected. Nevertheless, this protection seems unlikely, as countries and companies do not cease exploiting our planet. Deep sea mining, for example, is the latest initiative to gain access to resources, such as copper, nickel, cobalt and manganese, that are necessary for technological production and are becoming rarer in traditional mines. However, the extraction of metals in zones that are often thousands of meters deep under the surface of the water and have never seen the faintest trace of humanity will have an impact on ecosystems and biodiversity that are among the purest (by which I mean they have not been damaged by humans’ action) in the world. Moreover, similar to the COP, many are wondering about the efficiency of these new initiatives, especially after the second withdrawal of the United States of America from the Paris Agreement following Donald Trump’s investiture. The latest COP has been unsatisfactory and who is to say that we will get better results with yet another instance of simple discussions with no concrete action? Multilateralism and collaboration against climate change on an international scale seem more fragile than ever, and it does not seem like we are getting any closer to efficient measures. However, this does not mean that we are powerless since individuals, as a group, have power. We can work for ocean protection on different scales. May it be respecting the sea and its ecosystems by disposing of your waste and cigarette butts at the beach, signing petitions or working with associations. I am a firm believer that when the situation seems desperate, we have to take action one step at a time. Actions, as small as they can seem, can have an important impact. The “look down action” for example, rallied activists from all over the world to oppose a deep sea mining project in Norway and won. This shows us once again that activism has results, if enough people put pressure on government officials and companies. So next time you feel anxious about climate change, I recommend taking a deep breath, looking at the sea and letting yourself be engulfed by its infinity. Wait a bit in the silence of the waves and then call a fellow ecologist to resume working together. This is now our only path forward. Photo credits: Pedro Meerbaum

It is difficult to address the needs of marginalized groups without an understanding of their complex relations, which means that it is often almost impossible—both for non-governmental organisations as well as for governments—to tackle the needs of niche communities within the large immigrant communities amid an already under-funded and underappreciated system. < Back Marginalization within Marginalized Communities Viktorie Voriskova for SPRH Menton December 31, 2024 For decades, migration has been a pressing issue, reshaping societies across continents and generating uncertainty, fear and anger within communities. While there is generally a decent amount of focus on the discrimination between dominant and minority groups, marginalization within marginalized communities is often overlooked. The cases of the United States and the Czech Republic demonstrate the inter-webbing layers that marginalization can manifest itself in. There exists a complicated relationship between Latino migrants who have been living in the U.S. for several generations and those who arrived more recently. In the Czech Republic, disharmony and disrespect between pre-war and wartime Ukrainian immigrants prevail. In the U.S., migration narratives frequently center on the discrimination that immigrant groups face as a whole. Yet, behind the essentialist narrative, there lies discrimination within these communities themselves, which often perpetuates systemic inequities from deep within. According to a study published by School Avoidance Alliance, Mexican migrants in the U.S. often face discrimination from white Americans and from other Latino communities. Mexicans are accused of "bringing crime and crisis," even by members of other immigrant groups who attempt to distance themselves from such stereotypes, so as to save themselves from falling under the same stereotype. It is clear that even though this internal marginalization is fueled by the fear of more forceful external discrimination, it still leads to division within the communities themselves. This further adds to the fear and anger that is already very common within discriminated groups, leading to a more violent perception of the group as a whole. The outcome is yet again a vicious cycle of marginalization, further increasing the division between non-marginalized and marginalized groups. Trader , an international journal of social science and economic journals, presents an extraordinary example of marginalization within migrant groups. Most migrants who arrive at the Franco-Italian border do so after a long, mentally and physically demanding journey, often by sea or in more than one country. Testimonies from migrants collected by advocacy organizations reveal stark hierarchies within migrant populations. For example, those coming from sub-Saharan Africa frequently face exclusion and discrimination by North African migrants despite their shared experiences of displacement and difficulty. Testimonies collected by SPRH volunteers reveal that some migrant groups prioritize aiding those they perceive as culturally or linguistically similar to themselves. This phenomenon reinforces divisions within the group, halting collective efforts to advocate for better treatment and resources from the mayor or NGOs. Marginalization within marginalized groups is an under-examined phenomenon that has an understated impact on the quality of lives of migrants. The cases of the U.S., Czech Republic and Franco-Italian border show how internal fragmentation of a community can further reinforce the unequal treatment that these groups are facing, expanding the division between them and the rest of the population. Migration is a recurring social and geopolitical phenomenon that the world has always grappled with. Especially in light of recent wars and conflicts, further research on the dynamics within marginalized migrant communities could lead to a better understanding of these complexities. Doing so is the only viable pathway from the essentialization of marginalized groups, which could prove crucial in pivoting towards a more equal treatment of marginalized communities globally. The experience of marginalization within marginalized groups is also evident in the Czech Republic, my home country, making this a very relevant issue in the country I grew up in. The increased immigration after the beginning of the war in Ukraine highlights the challenges of integration, even within the immigrant community itself. Ever since the fall of the Soviet unions, thousands of people have migrated to the Czech Republic to find better economic opportunities. These immigrants moved into the Czech Republic intending to stay long-term, be it both sending remittances back home or starting a new life. These migrants, therefore, aimed to gradually seek to attempt and integrate into Czech society. However, the outbreak of war prompted a new wave of migration, shifting public and governmental attitudes. Immigrants, who entered the Czech republic after 2022 as war immigrants of the war in Ukraine and those who have been living in the Czech Republic for decades very often stand in opposition to one another. These two groups differ in terms of socioeconomic status, with the latter being more reliant on humanitarian aid. The disparity in income levels and opportunities has led to divisions and a lack of cohesion within the Ukrainian community in the Czech Republic. Moreover, the Czech government's lack of comprehensive integration policies has exacerbated these divisions, leaving newer immigrants with fewer tools for successful assimilation. The division within the Ukrainian immigrant community is a clear example of a more nuanced societal issue: it is difficult to address the needs of marginalized groups without an understanding of their complex relations, which means that it is often almost impossible—both for non-governmental organisations as well as for governments—to tackle the needs of niche communities within the large immigrant communities amid an already under-funded and underappreciated system.

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

Dans le contexte du conflit de Gaza entre Israël et le Hamas, le Yémen, déjà en proie à ses propres troubles internes, se trouve de plus en plus impliqué dans des complexités régionales, principalement orchestrées par le mouvement houthis montant. < Back L'implication du Yémen dans la guerre de Gaza : l'essor des houthis et la dynamique régionale By Elian Jorand April 30, 2024 Dans le contexte du conflit de Gaza entre Israël et le Hamas, le Yémen, déjà en proie à ses propres troubles internes, se trouve de plus en plus impliqué dans des complexités régionales, principalement orchestrées par le mouvement houthis montant. Alors que le pays navigue sur ce terrain dangereux, la grave crise humanitaire qui sévit dans le pays est un rappel saisissant du coût humain des conflits et des manœuvres géopolitiques. Le Yémen, souvent qualifié de pays le plus pauvre du monde arabe, lutte depuis longtemps contre la pauvreté systémique et la souffrance généralisée. Avec environ trois quarts de sa population plongée dans la pauvreté et la maladie faisant rage, dont une épidémie de choléra suspectée dépassant deux cent mille cas en 2020, le pays est au bord de l'effondrement. La pandémie de COVID-19 n'a fait qu'exacerber la crise, les analystes de la santé suggérant que les cas signalés sous-représentent largement l'ampleur réelle de l'impact du virus. Le blocus imposé par les forces de la coalition dirigée par l’Arabie Saoudite a infligé d'indicibles souffrances à la population yéménite, obstruant le flux de fournitures vitales et faisant grimper les prix des biens essentiels. Bien que le cessez-le-feu de 2022 ait offert un bref répit, les craintes d'une résurgence des coûts élevés sont grandes après son expiration. Le bilan de la guerre, aggravé par des causes indirectes telles que le manque de nourriture, d'eau et de services de santé, a entraîné la mort d'environ 370 000 personnes, selon le Programme des Nations unies pour le développement. Dans ce contexte de désespoir, les forces houthies et de la coalition sont accusées de commettre des crimes de guerre flagrants, notamment des attaques contre des cibles civiles en violation directe du droit international. La destruction d'un hôpital dirigé par Médecins Sans Frontières en 2015 témoigne de la nature indiscriminée de la violence qui sévit au pays. Malgré ces nombreux défis, des lueurs d'espoir ont émergé à l'horizon. Les négociations de paix soutenues par l'ONU, bien que difficiles, ont progressé de manière incrémentielle, notamment avec l' Accord de Stockholm de 2018 qui a évité une bataille catastrophique dans la ville portuaire de Hodeïda. Cependant, la mise en œuvre des dispositions de l'accord a été lente, entravée par les frictions persistantes entre les acteurs régionaux, dont l'Iran, l'Arabie saoudite et les Émirats arabes unis. Des développements récents ont insufflé un optimisme prudent dans les efforts de paix, avec des relations améliorées entre l'Arabie saoudite et l'Iran et des discussions en cours entre Riyad et les houthis offrant une lueur d'espoir. La coordination d'un cessez-le-feu national en avril 2022, facilitée par le nouveau conseil gouvernemental du Yémen, a marqué une étape significative vers la désescalade. Toutefois , l'échec à renouveler le cessez-le-feu a soulevé des questions sur les perspectives de paix durable, d'autant plus que des acteurs clés, tels que le conseil gouvernemental et le Conseil de transition du Sud (STC), restent exclus des négociations. Malheureusement, le récent conflit à Gaza a anéanti les espoirs de paix, avec l'implication des houthis, soutenus par l'Iran, exacerbant la situation précaire. Leurs actions irrationnelles ciblant le commerce maritime civil ont suscité de fortes réponses de la communauté internationale, y compris des raids aériens conjoints des États-Unis et de la Grande-Bretagne. Ces frappes, touchant 36 cibles houthies dans 13 endroits au Yémen, ont été menées en réponse aux attaques continues des houthis contre le commerce maritime international et commercial en mer Rouge. Les frappes de précision visaient à perturber et à dégrader les capacités utilisées par les houthis pour menacer le commerce mondial et la vie des marins innocents, ciblant les installations de stockage d'armes profondément enfouies, les systèmes de missiles, les lanceurs, les systèmes de défense aérienne et les radars. Les houthis, quant à eux, ont justifié leurs attaques contre le commerce maritime en mer Rouge en tant que soutien aux Palestiniens de Gaza au milieu de la campagne dévastatrice d'Israël, déclenchant des frappes de représailles et exacerbant la violence régionale impliquant des groupes soutenus par l'Iran. La situation a atteint un état critique, avec peu d'optimisme à l'horizon. Alors que le Yémen se débat avec son implication dans les conflits régionaux, l'urgence de trouver une solution durable à sa propre crise n'a jamais été aussi pressante. Ce n'est qu'avec des efforts internationaux concertés, soutenus par un dialogue diplomatique et une aide humanitaire robuste, que le Yémen pourrait espérer sortir de l'ombre de la guerre et tracer un chemin vers un avenir défini par la paix, la stabilité et la prospérité pour sa population longtemps éprouvée.

“There’s nothing like the Arab world’s hatred of the truth.” < Back Arab Netflix: To Stream or not to Stream? By Lara-Nour Walton April 29, 2022 My cousin Zeina delighted in the sprawling array of Egyptian films before her. In years past we had shared halwa over Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, camped out in front of Black Mirror for hours, and swooned over Baz Luhrmann’s expert castings of Dicaprio. She introduced me to “Gone Girl,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Inglorious Bastards.” Zeina has always loved her cinema, always reveled in good television. But, I’d never known her to be a connoisseur of Arabic programs until I visited her over this past winter break. She enthusiastically scrolled through Netflix’s seemingly never-ending queue of movies and shows from the Arab world, explaining the summary of each. I asked her why she’d never exposed me to this passion of hers, and she shrugged her shoulders: “I suppose I’ve never known how to show you.” On December 9th, Netflix launched an Arab cinema catalog comprising 58 films by 47 different filmmakers. The American streaming service titled this release “Celebrating Arab Cinema” and aimed to “explore the breadth and beauty” of the region and culture with the collection. Now, a large variety of Arab movies are accessible to anyone with a Netflix subscription, permitting Zeina to finally show me her Arabic favorites. While the “Celebrating Arab Cinema” launch was largely welcomed by the South West Asian and North African (SWANA) and international community alike, Netflix’s other Arabic initiatives have experienced cooler receptions. On January 20, the release of the first Arabic Netflix original, “Ashab Wala A’azz,” sparked mass controversy in the Arab world. A remake of the hit Italian box office hit “Perfect Strangers,” “Ashab Wala A’azz” implicates SWANA audiences in discussions about queer identity, infidelity, and premarital sex. However, many Netflix users from the region worry that the movie’s themes do not mesh with Arab society, some asserting that Western films cannot be made into SWANA adaptations due to insurmountable cultural differences. Lebanese English track 1A Angela Saab Saade repudiates this sentiment. “I don’t think it’s a matter of whether or not the Arab world is ready for this type of movie. I think it is imperative that we acknowledge that these things exist in Arab society. It is not a crime to address reality,” she said. However, Saab Saade’s perspective is purely normative. Broaching contentious subject matter in the Middle East should not be a crime, but it is certainly still condemned. According to Lebanese journalist Rabih Farran, “There’s nothing like the Arab world’s hatred of the truth.” This antipathy for candor, this cultural reluctance to recognize what happens behind closed doors, has been made all the more visible by the audience response to “Ashab Wala A’azz.” However, the public’s reaction raises questions that transcend Netflix’s scope. It reveals the heated duel between social sensitivities and artistic freedom in the Arab world — a battle that seems to have no end in sight.