Issue 7: April 2022

APRIL 2022

ISSUE NO 7

Sounds of a movement: where politics and music collide

Mdou Moctar plays a gig

Photo by Saorise Aherne

Article by Saorise Aherne, staff reporter

Emmanual Macron pictured giving a speech in January 2018

Photo by Flickr user: Jacques Paquier, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Flickr

Décryptage des élections présidentielles de 2022

Article par Morgane Abbas, chroniqueuse Nous sommes le dimanche 24 avril, il est 20:26, et cela fait maintenant approximativement une demi-heure que le peuple français a démocratiquement élu le Président de la République française, Emmanuel Macron, pour les cinq années à venir.

Il s’agit de la douzième élection présidentielle à avoir lieu sous la

cinquième République.

C’est également le second et dernier quinquennat du président, tel que le dispose la Constitution depuis la réforme de 2008. Cette journée a été décisive pour l’avenir de la France et l’on concède facilement que c’est à l’image d’une période de campagne mouvementée qui a fait surgir de nombreux rebondissements.

Son intensité offre une consistance certaine à la

réflexion et à la rétrospective: retour sur les élections présidentielles françaises de 2022.

Les résultats du premier tour Le verdict est tombé aux alentours de 20 heures le 10 avril dernier: déception pour les uns, soulagement pour les autres ou encore indifférence pour certains, des allures familières de 2017 refont surface puisque se sont

If you had walked down Avenue de Saint-Ouen this past Saturday, you might have heard a distant cacophony of noise. You would have caught the audible wail of a classic electric guitar, but layered on a rhythm that was not quite rock, not quite funk, not quite blues. continued on page 28

Erosion of Brazilian Democracy

vus de nouveau affronter au second tour le président sortant Emmanuel Macron et la candidate d’extrême-droite Marine Le Pen. Avant cela, ce sont 12 candidats portant une vision bien spéciJair Bolsonaro pictured in March 2020.

Photo courtesy of Palácio do Planalto, CC fique de la France qui se BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Flickr sont livrés à un combat féroce pour convaincre le Article by Lara-Nour Walton, staff maximum de français de reporter voter pour eux le jour du scrutin.

Something sinister was afoot in 2012 Brasilia. Money was moving suite page 9 unnaturally... continued on page 15

2

The Menton Times

APRIL 2022

The Menton Times: A Year in Review

The founding team of the Menton Times pictured in September 2021 Photo by Emilia Kohlmeyer

Mentoniya, Mentoniya.

Last summer, I was struck with a vision for a newspaper that would synthesize campus discourse and bring all student events together in one collective monthly recount.

Though I was committed to bringing it to life, I never foresaw the scope or size that it would reach in just one year.

Mentoniya, on behalf of the Menton Times, I thank you for your readership and a successful first year together. The trials and tribulations of just one year at Sciences Po have filled the pages of our newspaper with fresh opinions, breaking news, sparkling student features, and insightful coverage of sporting events and local arts.

The journey of creating a newspaper from scratch was filled with the unexpected — it was a turbulent yet irreplaceable experience. I got to watch our designer and my dear friend, 2A Ada Baser, create a layout template from scratch. She pieced together over 30 articles worth of content into one digital masterpiece each and every month.

“Starting the design of a paper from scratch wasn’t the easiest experience… [but] at the end of the day, it’s been a pleasure to work with the many different members of the team, because designers need to communicate with reporters, photographers, and the editorial board,” said Baser. “I hope I have been able to bring their amazing works to life.” Her clean-cut designs have been praised by Mentonese students. “I really like the mise-en-

page,” said 1A Amira Zargouni, “it’s really easy to read.”

Our editorial team, made up of 1A Ayse Lara Selcuker, 1A Lara-Nour Walton, 2A Morgane Abbas, and myself, has had to edit just as many articles to fulfill our three-step editing process. “Editing felt special to me because journalism has been a really formative source for me,” said Walton. “To make this newspaper a reality was genuinely so fulfilling.”

My role as Editor-in-Chief, besides managing and organizing the team, consisted of a wondrous albeit time-consuming process by which I had to review each article that was ever published. I knew that I was collecting stories from the students, combining them in one collective and polished form, and sending them back to the student

body for all to read. I wanted to do them justice. I grasped the significance of my job in qualifying the words our students were entrusting to the paper to send out to the world.

Our photography team, led by 1A Hugo Lagergren and composed of 1A Emilia Kohlmeyer and 2A Wang Di, has brought each and every story to life with its talent and eye for the camera.

The staff reporters and guest reporters, without whom this paper would not exist, made the decision to share their stories with us and with you — a decision for which we are endlessly grateful.

“Writing for the Menton Times has been incredible! I joined the team with little writing experience, but I

Letter from the Editor

APRIL 2022 saw my skills improve through the feedback and support of our editors, and my articles allowed me to further immerse myself in the topics I am most passionate about,” said 1A Magdelena Offenbeck.

Over the course of one year, we have worked with a team of over 20 full-time members and have welcomed around 40 guest writers. We wrote articles in collaboration with a variety of associations, ranging from Sciences Alcoolémiques to the Stone Skipping Society to the BDS to Babel, MEDMUN, TedX, Environnementon, and the list goes on.

2A Isabella Aouad, who contributed to the newspaper as a guest reporter, noted, “It was very impressive how, in one year, the Menton Times became a real thing. It was very consistent and rigorous and featured really high quality articles.” 1A Joudi Arafa, who claimed she was proud to contribute as a guest reporter, affirmed, “The Menton Times is a big campus name.”

I’m proud of our team for creating a shared vision out of what started as a small idea. The process behind the paper starts with our monthly meetings, which take on the form of a team brainstorming session, to choose article topics for that month’s issue. “I really enjoyed the flexibility of choosing my topics instead of having them assigned,” said 1A staff reporter Luca Utterwulghe.

I’ve always trusted our writers with the topics they chose, and I was ecstatic that they matched my trust with passion and motivation for the job.

Besides our partnerships and guest articles, we try to include everyone on the campus by incorporating student quotes in each article. “It’s fun interviewing people to get quotes for my articles,” said Utterwulghe, “I learned a lot from this past year at the Menton Times.”

I am grateful to you, Mentoniya, for electing our association to be an official student initiative this

past semester, opening up doors of opportunity for us with your trust.

With the exception of the month of February, we upheld our promise to you to publish each and every month. For the first year, our 7-1 success rate makes me quite proud.

I recognize that our process wasn’t perfect. This was just the start of an association that I hope will live on for years after my departure. I believe in the future leaders of the association to not only enhance our process, but establish additional projects and events to make campus life even more robust. I am proud to announce that the association will be carried on by LaraNour Walton as Editor-in-Chief, Magdelena Offenbeck as Managing Editor, and Hugo Lagergren as Head of Photography.

I originally intended for the Menton Times to be a route for students to be heard by their peers, an opportunity for one to collect their thoughts before making them public, and to bring attention to a particular experience or event. It was supposed to serve as a chance to create change in our small, cozy Mentonese ummah. My goal, above all, was to bring students closer together.

In my original “Letter from the Editor” in our very first issue, I wrote that journalism is a pillar of democracy, a chance to touch the hearts and minds of those around us and change the course of history for the better. Here in Menton, I hope we’ve done that on a personal level — if nothing else, I hope we’ve helped you better understand and resonate with the going-ons of our little community. I hope we’ve informed you.

Thank you for your attention, and for the last time this year, happy reading!

Sincerely and with love, Celeste Abourjeili Founder & Editor-in-Chief Menton Times 2021-2022

The Menton Times Staff Editor-in-Chief

Celeste Abourjeili

Menton Policy Review President

Florian Heydecker Copy Chief

Ayse Lara Selçuker Head of Design

Ada Baser

Marketing Team

Lenora Dsouza Viola Luraschi

Section Editors

Morgane Abbas* Lara-Nour Walton*

Head of Photographers

Hugo Lagergren

Photographers

Wang Di Emilia Kohlmeyer Staff Reporters

Colin Lim Hugo Lagergren Luca Utterwulghe Saoirse Aherne* Magdelena Offenbeck Emilia Kohlmeyer Lara Nour Walton Lenora D’souza Celeste Abourjeili Morgane Abbas Guest Reporters

Stanislaw Naklicki Ata Tezel Greta Murgia Aicha Yahaya Lionel Chambon Lilou D’Inca Solenn Ravenel Samy El Maloui Maria Azadian Raja Madani

3

4

Ukraine News

APRIL 2022

Western Sanctions and the Future of Russia - China Relations

Article by Magdalena Offenbeck, staff reporter The sanctions imposed by the West following the invasion of Ukraine in February have significantly damaged the Russian economy.

Nevertheless, the idea of a stronger Sino-Russian alliance to evade sanctions and counter their effects hangs over the head of the West like the Sword of Damocles. How realistic is this? Will Western states’ intervention tip the scale in favor of Ukraine or does China offer a viable economic alternative?

Now, two months into the invasion, the United States, the European Union, and their allies seem to have reached their sanction-imposing limit. Yet, the battles have not halted. In light of recent human rights violations in Bucha and beyond, we ask ourselves why, despite all the actions taken to counteract the Russian invasion, so little progress has been made.

Now, after the recent meeting in Beijing between Russian and Chi-

nese foreign ministers, a new fear has emerged: the alarming possibility that Russia could evade sanctions by strengthening economic and political ties with the People’s Republic of China. In the meeting, the two powers discussed closer economic ties and joint strategic security interests.

China was Russia’s top trading partner in 2011, with a trading volume that is approximately 2.5 times that with Germany, Russia’s second most important trading partner.

Of the five largest trading partners with Russia, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States are imposing sanctions; China and Belarus are not.

It is no secret that these sanctions have had a grave impact on Russia’s economy. However, with the West’s dependence on Russian oil and gas exports, the trade volume will likely not shrink close to zero in the near future. This is not to say that Russia does not need the West for its relative economic prosperity, but if Russian history has shown

The Great Hall of the People serves as the headquarters of the Chinese government.

one common trait, it is that its leaders, from the Tzars and the Bolsheviks to current President Vladimir

litical elite will not only be much less affected but they can also use repression and misinformation to silence dissatThis leaves us with the typical isfied citizens. “only time can tell” conclu- Russian propsion. Beijing will likely navi- aganda may gate the conflict opportunely, present an alligaining from an increased ance between trade with Russia. However, it Russia and will avoid becoming the target China as an of equally harsh economic economically sanctions or getting involved equally viable directly in the conflict. In other a l t e r n a t i v e words, China is happy to re- to trade with main more of a side actor. the West, but its success is doubtful, esPutin, do not tend to prioritize the pecially considering the financial interest of the people. Putin’s war instability Western sanctions have will hurt the Russian citizens, who caused. are now facing inflation, shortages and the effects of a sudden isolation China has been playing a careful after 30 years of relative openness. balancing act. Abstaining from the They will not hurt the president United Nations Security Council and the surrounding elite who (UNSC) vote on a resolution recontrol the wealth in the country, garding Ukraine (unsurprisingly unless one considers the loss of a vetoed by Russia), it has since been chalet in Switzerland to be equally avoiding any strong positioning. grave as a lack of basic necessities. However, abstention is a position in In consequence, Putin and his po- itself. By continuing trade relations with Russia and further following objectives to increase trade in the course of the decade, China has de facto sided with Russia. In a recent speech before the UNSC, the Chinese delegate Dai Bing mastered the art of diplomatic vagueness.

He encouraged negotiation and urged for equal protection of refugees, general statements that do not assign blame. He did “deplore” the Russian attack on a Ukrainian train station (denied by Russia), however, Dai Bing only called for an investigation of the cause rather than condemning the apparent perpetrator. Arguably the most en-

Photo by Wikipedia user: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Ukraine News

APRIL 2022

5

The imposing royal palace overlooks Moscow houses Russia’s secret service, the Kremlin, pictured in December of 2012.

Photo by Pavel Kazachkov, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>

lightening part of Dai Bing’s speech was his declaration that sanctioning and providing weapons “will not bring about peace.” Rather, they have brought about “a food crisis for which the whole world pays the price.”

It is true that Western intervention has triggered a food crisis and put the global economy to the test.

However, China is well aware that, to the participating nations, this is about more than the global economy. It is about Russia’s bid to challenge the world order and a postwar status quo that has benefited Europe and the United States more than anyone else. They are willing to go to great lengths to protect their positions. Yet, China has also seen its rise in that order. The West has both been an important trading partner and a strategic rival, a dynamic that has allowed the People’s Republic to experience unprecedentedly rapid growth, development, and increased geopolitical

power. China and Russia are often seeing the political framework that treated as one entity because both it has been navigating successfully are arguably the most important uprooted as it proceeds to silently “non-Western” political actors and expand its sphere of influence globmaintain similar political stances. ally. The status quo of the past years But, Russia is also both a trading has allowed Beijing to become a partner and a strategic rival to China, even It is true that Western interif both share a vention has triggered a food common resent- crisis and put the global econment towards omy to the test. However, the West. China China is well aware that, to has increased the participating nations, this trade with Rusis about more than the global sia and benefited economy. It is about Russia’s from Moscow’s bid to challenge the world orisolation by gain- der and a post-war status quo ing strategic im- that has benefited Europe and portance. Howthe United States more than ever, both Russia anyone else. They are willing succeeding in its to go to great lengths to proannexation and tect their positions. becoming too powerful or the West gaining from increased unity key actor in Africa, Central Asia, and self-sufficiency are not ideal and beyond. If any side emerges for Beijing. China has no interest in stronger from the conflict, their

next focus could be countering Chinese geopolitical influence in their backyard, an undesired outcome for the rising power.

This leaves us with the typical “only time can tell” conclusion. Beijing will likely navigate the conflict opportunely, gaining from an increased trade with Russia. However, it will avoid becoming the target of equally harsh economic sanctions or getting involved directly in the conflict. In other words, China is happy to remain more of a side actor. The political landscape will be transformed through this invasion, but it is unclear how exactly, and China might not be quite certain how to feel about it. Ultimately, the People’s Republic has been defending its own interests in the geopolitical game for a while and there is reason to believe that it will manage to use the current status quo to continue its endeavors.

6

Ukraine News

APRIL 2022

Putin’s War Impact on the MENA Region Article by Stanislaw Naklicki, guest reporter Two months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we gradually grasp a clearer view of the global impact of the war. Middle Eastern states’ hesitant and fearsome response to the invasion can be explained by the region’s vulnerability caused by extensive trade ties with both parties involved and Russia’s regional power in the area. Policy experts delineate a grim image of the possible impact of the war in Ukraine, which might partly explain an apparently cynical and pragmatic response from countries with a strong collective memory of the horrors of war.

Middle East/North Africa (MENA) states have found themselves in a crunch. Russia is an important trade partner for most of them. Egypt, Maghreb, and Gulf countries depend heavily on Russian wheat exports. Ukraine is also a large exporter of wheat, but besides trade, involvement in the war presents political power imbalances. The UAE can allow itself to anger Ukraine. Russia, not so much. However, it is not Ukraine itself that puts the regional states in an awkward limbo of not supporting, but not condemning. The same states that depend on Russia for imports entertain strong relations with the United States. USA’s unconditional support for Ukraine is what makes MENA states want to appease both sides. Unsurprisingly, Algeria, Iran, Iraq, and Morocco either abstained or were absent from the UN vote on the condemnation of the Russian invasion. Earlier, on the 27th of February, perhaps thrown off-guard, UAE abstained from the condemnation vote within the Security Council.

The primary danger for the governments and populations in the region is the disturbance of wheat imports. Russia and Ukraine are re-

Besides Egypt, countries that are particularly vulnerable are those that suffer from an unfortunate combination of lack of hydrocar-

Sergey Lavrov and Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign ministers of Russia and Saudi Arabia, respectively, join together for a meeting.

Photo by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-sa/4.0>

spectively the largest and fifth-largest exporters of wheat in the world.

Egypt, the largest wheat buyer in the world, imports 80% of its wheat supply from Russia and Ukraine.

The war caused unsubsidized bread price rise of around 50%. Subsidizing bread, which has been an untouchable constant in Egypt since immemorial times, is now going to become significantly more costly. As indicated by the Fondation Méditerranéenne d’Etudes Stratégiques and the Economist, this may lead to social unrest and riots. Rising bread prices have already been a trigger for upheaval in Egypt, like in 1977.

bon resources and heavy dependence on Russia and Ukraine for agricultural products. Among them is Palestine, which, while sharing the economic hardships brought upon Israel by the war, will be the only entity responsible for its population’s food security. These countries are joined by states already suffering severe crises, like Lebanon, where the Beirut Explosion has destroyed the main grain silos, Syria and Yemen.

Interestingly, Israel is similarly cautious with many Arab states in its diplomacy. States such as Egypt have been flirting with Russian pro-

tection for years now, hosting annual ministers’ meetings. However, Israel is the iron ally of the United States, and its unequivocal support has at times dictated American foreign policy. To America’s regret, Israel had been slow to accuse Russia of its crimes, rejected Ukraine’s appeal for equipment support, and offered to act as a mediator. Israel itself is in an uncomfortable position following the invasion.

However, there are actors that aim to emerge as winners of the current situation. First of all, the OPEC member states. Oil prices have hit their 10-year high. The countries that are going to benefit from this the most are the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Libya, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq and the UAE. Algeria in particular is looking to move its alliance network in the direction of the West by delivering cheap gas in return for infrastructural investments by countries like Germany.

Its pipelines to Italy and Spain will help in that. Furthermore, since the eyes of the international community are focused on Ukraine, regional powers might be looking to advance their interests. Up until now, Turkish President Erdogan has been getting closer with NATO, although still maintaining decent relations with Putin.

Duality on this scale is unthought of in Europe, where one must, at least symbolically, pick a side. This limbo, however, might be actually a calming factor: by avoiding contradictory declarations with neighboring states, MENA states are preventing further rise of tension in an already heated region of the world.

APRIL 2022

Global Inflation: Is the fairy tale beast back to haunting us?

Article by Ata Tezel, guest reporter If you are a regular at Brioche Dorée, the recent 10% price increase of the student deal might have been catastrophic news. In fact, a double-digit inflation rate is becoming a reality in the developed world, with the Organization for European Economic Co-operation (OECD) average annual rate reaching 7.7 percent in March 2022. With the United States experiencing its highest level of inflation since 1981 and Europe following closely, inflation, a phenomenon that many economists claimed was long gone, seems to be back. But how worried should we be?

Why is inflation back?

The rise in inflation caught many economists and central banks off guard – as a matter of fact, nearly none of the central bank inflation forecasts in the developed world were accurate for 2021. This is surprising, as the recovery from the economic downturn of the pandemic signaled increased pressure on both the demand and supply sides of economies. Simply put, today’s inflation is the result of too much money chasing too few goods: an inevitable outcome of the economic policies of the pandemic era.

The demand-side inflation (also known as demand-pull inflation) is, in large part, related to the drastic aggregate demand recovery fueled by the stimulus packages distributed by governments during the pandemic alongside the overall global employment recovery. The US federal government passed stimulus packages that injected more than 4.5 trillion dollars into the economy, with the EU following up with a package of 2 trillion euros. With many investing their stimulus mon-

ey on mid- to long-term assets such as government bonds, stocks, gold, and real estate - demand-side pressures increased prices for these highly attractive assets. In fact, all American indices have passed far beyond their pre-pandemic levels, signaling an unprecedented demand recovery from the pandemic.

As the economy on the demand side wasis stronger than ever, theories suggest inflation should be expected. Though one might then ask: “how has the developed world grown at a stable rate for years while keeping inflation at bay and maintaining low unemployment and minimal monetary intervention?”

The difference this time is that the pressure is on the supply-side.

The impact of the pandemic was more drastic on the supply-side compared to demand-side simply because short to mid-term adjustments in supply tend to be more inelastic than demand-side adjustments. For example, the ongoing electronic chip shortage can be partly attributed to the automakers’ decision to slash orders during the early stages of the pandemic which led chipmakers to switch their products to fit the surging demand for consumer electronics. As the aggregate demand recovered, the supply of cars is now drastically halted due to the chipmakers’ unwillingness and inability to switch their supply back to the automotive sector. This caused a spillover demand for substitutes, resulting in a 20 percent price increase in the second-hand car market in the US. Moreover, disruptions to supply chains triggered by the pandemic are now exacerbated by political tensions spurred by the Ukrainian war. The increase in energy prices has reached, on average, 27 percent in OECD due to the political tensions surrounding oil and natu-

ral gas supply.

This cost-push inflation is only aggravated by the cutting of government subsidies to many sectors – subsidies that were instrumental in the survival of many businesses during the economic fallout of the pandemic.

News

7

Inflation is rising everywhere.

Photo by Advantus Media Inc., CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-sa/4.0>

What to expect now?

While the dramatic increase in inflation is worrying for many, central banks have been cautious in implementing monetary policy to combat rising inflation. Throughout 2021, the consensus among the developed world was that the increase in global inflation was temporary and would eventually fade out as market forces settle around pre-pandemic levels. The higher-than-usual inflation rates could also be attributed to the unusually low commodity prices in 2020 caused by the demand fallout which would have given rise to unnatural inflation once demand and prices returned to pre-pandemic levels. However, recent political developments in commodity markets are forcing central banks to take action. The US Federal Reserve had already started tapering its quantitative easing policy by the end of 2021, effectively increasing real interest rates without changing their near-zero policy rate. Leading emerging markets have also responded to inflation throughout the year, with many increasing policy interest rates by couple hundred basis points - a move that the developed world resisted to take.

Nevertheless, by March 2022, the Federal Reserve was forced to increase its policy rate for the first time since 2018, an action soon replicated by the Bank of England.

The Fed also signaled further increases in the policy rates up to 3.5 percent, citing the dangers of high inflation. Central banks around the developed world now hope to raise rates rapidly to avoid a “hard landing.” However, many are skeptical about central banks’ ability to use monetary policy effectively without causing a recession. Considering the track record of the Fed, recession risks are no doubt elevated, creating a low morale in the world of economics. As inflation is affected by expectations as much as by market forces (if not more), pessimism and distrust in the market could be the biggest worry of all.

With the European Central Bank also signaling a potential switch from its zero-interest policy, the future is more unclear than ever. The question is, can the West curb its inflation as successfully as Japan or is it leading to a catastrophic fallout like Turkey? The answer, as with everything else, will probably lie somewhere in between.

8

Ukraine News

Elon Bought Twitter:

APRIL 2022

What does this mean for free speech on social media?

Elon Musk tweets shortly after the announcement that he would be purchasing Twitter.

Photo courtesy of Twitter

Article by Luca Utterwulghe, staff reporter In a digitized, interconnected world, the freedom of expression has entered an entirely new domain. Individuals or groups holding significant clout on the internet have far-reaching networks through which they may propagate their views. On such an inflated scale of communication, stakeholders have begun to question how these streamlined information-sharing processes have redefined the liberty of speech.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and media extraordinaire with over 81 million followers on Twitter, announced on April 13th that he wants to own all of Twitter, exponentially expanding his 9% share of company stock, according to the New York Times. In his Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposal file, Musk wrote a message to Bret Taylor, chairman of the board of Twitter, explaining that he initially invested in Twitter because he “believe[d] in its po-

tential to be the platform for free speech around the globe.” Musk further noted that “the company [Twitter] will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative [free speech] in its current form.” His vision is to privatize the company after purchasing the remaining shares.

beneficial for Twitter to capitalize on the insight that Elon,” a super entrepreneur, as Allani calls him, would offer the company.

Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion on Monday, April 25, a move sparking concern amongst those combating online hate speech and gaining support from Social media interactions are other “free speech fundamentally different from absolutist[s].” One real human relations, sug- Tweet reflective of gesting that regulations may the oppositional need to adapt accordingly. sentiment is that of So, should speech on social political and social media be completely unre- rights activist Shaun stricted, or do companies like King: “At its root, @ Twitter have a responsibility to ElonMusk wanting ensure equal access and limit to buy Twitter is not the dissemination of false about left vs right. information?

It’s about white power. The man was raised in Apartheid [South Africa] 1A Louai Allani “believe[s] that by a white nationalist. He’s upset Elon Musk can definitely tap into that Twitter won’t allow white naTwitter’s true potential, which is tionalists to target/harass people. free speech, democracy, etc.” Allani That’s his definition of free speech.” explained that “it would be very All that is certain is that Twitter

will undergo significant changes to its platform, unleashing further debate over the role of social media in civil liberties. Business Insider has identified several significant changes Musk would likely make upon ownership: (1) “looser moderation” of content on the platform; (2) rendering Twitter’s algorithm “open source,” meaning that it can be “manipulated openly by many different contributors;” and (3) introducing an edit feature through which Tweets can be changed after they are shared. Musk has openly quarreled with the idea that Twitter is a “de facto town square” regulating public speech, a sentiment further demonstrated by his criticism of permanent bans from the platform, as seen with the removal of Donald Trump.

Musk’s prioritization of free speech on social media platforms has emerged amidst a broader debate on the role these platforms should play in protecting expression and preventing dangerous forms of abuse and misinformation. TIME references contemporary research which has found that “sites that privilege free speech above all else tend to result in spaces where civic discourse is drowned out by harassment, restricting participation to a privileged few.” Social media interactions are fundamentally different from real human relations, suggesting that regulations may need to adapt accordingly.

So, should speech on social media be completely unrestricted, or do companies like Twitter have a responsibility to ensure equal access and limit the dissemination of false information?

News

APRIL 2022

Décryptage des élections présidentielles de 2022

suite de la page 1 Les scores respectifs obtenus sont les suivants: 27.85% des voix pour le candidat Emmanuel Macron de “La République en Marche”, 23.15 % pour la candidate Marine Le Pen du “Rassemblement National” , 21.95 % pour le candidat Mélenchon de “La France Insoumise”, 7.07 % pour le candidat Eric Zemmour de “Reconquête”, 4.78 pour la candidate Valérie Pécresse des “Républicains”, 4.63 % pour le candidat Yannick Jadot de “Europe Ecologie les Verts”, 3.13% pour le candidat Jean Lassalle de “Résistons”, 2.28 % pour le candidat Fabien Roussel du “Parti Communiste Français” , 2.06 % pour le candidat Nicolas Dupont-Aignan de “Debout la France”, 1.75 % pour la candidate Anne Hidalgo du “Parti socialiste”, 0.77 % pour le candidat Philippe Poutou du “Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste”et enfin 0.56% pour la candidate Nathalie Arthaud de la “Lutte ouvrière”. On le constate clairement , bien que le duel final se répète, on observe une reconfiguration de l’espace politique autour de trois principaux pôles: celui de l’extrême gauche, du centre et de l’extrême-droite. En effet, avec pourtant un candidat de plus qu’en 2017 dans la course (dont 7 communs entre les deux élections), les pourcentages de voix recueillis par Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen et Jean-Luc Mélenchon sont en hausse par rapport à ceux d’il y a cinq ans. Ils se situent tous au-dessus du cap des 20 % et clairement loin devant tous les autres candidats, le quatrième, Eric Zemmour, ne recueillant approximativement que 7 % des voix. Le président sortant récolte donc 3.84 % de voix de plus que par rapport aux dernières élections, cette hausse étant de 1.85 % pour la représentante du RN et

de 2.37 % pour le candidat de LFI. Pourtant, en 2017, ce fut plutôt une répartition quadripartite des voix qui se dessina, avec la figure en plus du républicain François Fillon, qui se hissa à la troisième position du classement, juste devant Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

Succès des extrêmes, déclin des partis traditionnels: choc ou prévision ?

Ces constats démontrent bien que la France de 2022 n’est pas celle de 2017, que beaucoup de choses ont profondément changé l’allure du paysage politique. D’abord, et c’est bien là le plus frappant, cette élection semble sans aucun doute être celle de l’ascension fulgurante des extrêmes au détriment des partis traditionnels de gauche et de droite, qui doivent faire face à une déception amère. Notons que ce choix des français s’inscrit dans une importance particulière donnée à la thématique du pouvoir d’achat, qui arrive en tête des préoccupations des français selon une enquête menée par IPSOS. L’extrême droite (Le Pen, Zemmour et Dupont-Aignan) à elle seule récolte 32.28% des voix, soit presque un tiers des suffrages exprimés, ce qui est considérable, quand l’extrême gauche (Mélenchon, Roussel, Poutou, Arthaud) a quant à elle convaincue 25.56 % des électeurs. Au premier tour de l’élection présidentielle de 2017, ces chiffres n’étaient respectivement que de 26 % et de 21.31 %. Face à cette percée significative, les socialistes et les républicains ont bien triste mine à l’annonce des résultats. Ensemble, la maire de Paris, Anne Hidalgo, et la présidente du Conseil régional d’Île-de-France, Valérie Pécresse, ne dépassent pas 6.6 % des voix. Cela signifie qu’un

candidat comme Eric Zemmour, se présentant pour la première fois à l’élection présidentielle et dont le parti “Reconquête” ne fut créé il n’y a approximativement qu’un an, a eu une capacité à mobiliser supérieure à celle des deux partis traditionnels de la Cinquième République. Cela témoigne donc de manière assez flagrante d’une reconfiguration et d’une remise en cause du clivage gauche-droite traditionnel, bien que ce dernier n’ait pas disparu.

9

emple de la polémique autour du Pacte budgétaire européen ou du passage en force de la loi El Khomri via l’utilisation de l’article 49-3 de la Constitution. En somme, le PS n’a jamais fait pire comme score dans son histoire, et une rupture de confiance avec son électorat traditionnel semble bien avoir eu lieu.

La campagne électorale d’Anne Hidalgo qui a eu énormément de mal à être lancée et l’échec de sa proposition pour une primaire de la gauche expliquent des intentions Ayant mentionné la défaite cui- de vote déjà très faibles et créditées sante du PS et de LR au scrutin du à moins de 2%. Du côté de Valérie 10 avril 2022, peut-on pour autant Pécresse et de ses soutiens, l’amaffirmer que la dynamique de déc- pleur de la déception et la surprise lin est la même chez les deux partis sont d’autant plus grandes, dans un ? Pas exactement. La descente aux premier tour où l’engouement autenfers du Parti Socialiste n’est pas our de la candidate s’est fait ressenrécente et les résultats obtenus par tir à maintes reprises. L’enquête le parti s’inscrivent dans la continu- électorale 2022 réalisée par IPSOS ité d’un processus déjà engagé. En révèle qu’en décembre 2021, celle2017, Benoît Hamon ne récoltait ci récoltait 17 % des intentions de alors que 6.36 % des voix. Difficile vote au premier tour. Et bien que ce de croire score n’a que ce parPour beaucoup de français cessé de ti accédait déçus par l’issue du scru- décroitre à la présitin, les journées du 12 et au fur et dence il y du 19 juin s’annoncent à mesure a quelques décisives. Ce sont en effet de la camannées les dates qui permettront p a g n e , seulement, d’élire les 577 députés la neuen 2012. de l’Assemblée Nationale, v i è m e Mais le dont la majorité dégagée vague de quinquendéterminera le Premier l’enquête nat de ministre ainsi qu’une partie (du 2 au Françoi s importante des politiques 4 avril), Hollande, mises en place pendant le soit une notamquinquennat. semaine m e n t en amont marqué par les divisions internes de la campagne, lui attribuait pourdu parti entre les politiques mis- tant une intention de vote de 8.5 %, es en place par les chefs du gou- soit presque le double de son score vernement successifs (Ayrault, avéré. L’écart est réellement conCazeneuve, Valls) et la contestation sidérable avec François Fillon, qui des “frondeurs” met à mal la pop- était arrivé en 2017 en troisième ularité et la crédibilité du chef de position, en récoltant 20.01% des l’Etat, notamment vis-à-vis de ses suffrages. D’ailleurs, selon cette électeurs. On se rappelle par ex- même enquête IPSOS, parmi les

10

News

français qui ont voté pour François Fillon au premier tour de l’élection présidentielle de 2017, qui étaient certains d’aller voter au premier tour de l’élection présidentielle de 2022 et qui ont exprimé une intention de vote, seulement 32 % d’entre eux avaient l’intention de voter pour Pécresse, contre 34% pour Emmanuel Macron et au total 28 % pour l’extrême droite. Ce transfert massif des votes vers le centre et l’extrême-droite témoigne de la difficulté que rencontre la droite républicaine à mobiliser son électorat traditionnel. Les raisons pour une telle désaffection se trouvent tant du côté du fond que de la forme. Le flou idéologique et le manque de repères programmatiques clairs pendant la campagne, en tentant de s’attirer les faveurs d’un électorat diversifié, a fini par se retourner contre la candidate qui n’a pas su incarner une dynamique transcendante. Principalement entre Eric Zemmour et le président sortant, Valérie Pécresse est passée dans l’ombre, asphyxiée des deux côtés, et menant les Républicains au plus bas score qu’ils n’aient jamais obtenu lors d’une élection présidentielle. Du côté de la forme, on peut par exemple se rappeler de la difficulté qu’a expérimenté la candidate à galvaniser les foules lors de son meeting au Zénith, jugé “raté” pour beaucoup, y compris elle-même. Notamment,le le ressenti d’un manque de naturel dans la prise de parole a joué en sa défaveur. N’ayant pas atteint, de même que Yannick Jadot, la barre des 5 % des voix pour le remboursement de sa campagne par l’Etat, la candidate, endettée personnellement à hauteur de 5 millions d’euros, s’en est remise à lancer un appel aux dons auprès des français.

Les reproches du premier tour L’émergence de trois pôles, défiant la configuration traditionnelle de la vie politique française, s’explique

APRIL 2022

grandement par la stratégie du vote utile. Ainsi, la candidate d’extrême droite Marine Le Pen a pu bénéficier du vote utile de l’extrême droite, récupérant notamment un nombre de voix des soutiens d’Eric Zemmour beaucoup plus important que ce que les sondages prédisaient. Emmanuel Macron a quant à lui, concentré en plus de son électorat initial une partie significative de celui de la droite républicaine classique, s’étant détourné de la candidature de Valérie Pécresse. Finalement, il est impossible d’évoquer le rôle du vote utile sans mentionner son influence sur le score remarquable réalisé par La France Insoumise. La candidature de Jean-Luc Mélenchon a en effet été au centre d’une stratégie de concentration des différentes sensibilités de la gauche, de mobilisation de masse, notamment encouragée par les réseaux sociaux auprès des jeunes. Malgré un score tout à fait éclatant, la stratégie du “vote utile” ne semble pas avoir permis au parti de se hisser au second tour. Au contraire, au vu de l’écart sensiblement petit qui séparait Jean-Luc Mélenchon de Marine Le Pen (un peu plus de 420 000 voix), la frustration provoquée a conduit à une profusion des critiques envers certains candidats de gauche, notamment Fabien Roussel. Rappelons alors que les voix récoltées par celui-ci sont plus importantes que l’écart entre le Rassemblement National et La France Insoumise. De plus, l’échec de la Primaire Populaire qui avait pourtant initié une dynamique inédite a néanmoins vu la gauche plus dispersée que jamais pour la ligne de départ du premier tour, avec pas moins de 6 candidats.

Finalement, ces éléments auront joué en défaveur du peu de voix qu’ils restait à Jean Luc Mélenchon pour accéder au duel final.

D’ailleurs, si ce dernier a catégoriquement refusé dès le début de reconnaître le score de la Primaire Populaire (étant inscrit “malgré lui”) pour divergences idéologiques importantes avec d’autres candidats

qui empêcheraient selon lui le succès et le réalisme d’une union de la gauche, peut-être y a t-il alors plusieurs gauches.

Cette dispersion dans le grand camp de la gauche n’est pas le seul facteur ayant attisé la colère d’une partie des électeurs pendant ce premier tour. Le refus d’Emmanuel Macron de débattre avec les autres candidats, une manière donc d’“esquiver” la période de campagne présidentielle, a fait beaucoup débat.

Pour beaucoup, il s’agissait d’un moyen pour le président-sortant d’éviter de se confronter au bilan de son quinquennat écoulé, marqué par une fracture sociale importante et une série de crises inédites. Sauf que pour beaucoup également, cela empêche le débat démocratique et transparent nécessaire à la prise de décision des électeurs avant de se rendre aux urnes, et entacherait donc potentiellement la légitimité du résultat. Emmanuel Macron, lui, contre-argumente en rappelant la tradition historique des présidents qui l’ ont précédé, qui eux aussi ont mené leur campagne électorale via d’autres moyens que celui du débat avec les autres candidats.

En couplant cela a des éléments de contexte tels que l’émergence du conflit ukraino-russe ou la présidence française au sein du conseil de l’Union Européenne qui le favoriseraient, le président sortant à réussi à se hisser au second tour malgré un bilan quinquennal jugé désastreux pour un nombre important de français.

Une redistribution des voix déterminante À l’annonce des résultats le dimanche 10 avril et à seulement deux semaines du deuxième tour, les candidats écartés de la course n’ont pas attendu longtemps pour donner des consignes de vote à leur électorat. Dans un contexte où l’extrême droite accède pour la troisième fois de son histoire au second tour

de l’élection présidentielle, étant plus proche du pouvoir que jamais, certains candidats n’ont pas hésité à souligner la nécessité urgente d’empêcher le Rassemblement National de se hisser en tête du scrutin le 24 avril. Les deux seuls candidats éliminés au premier tour ayant appelé à se diriger vers Marine Le Pen sont sans grande surprise ceux d’extrême droite: Éric Zemmour et Nicolas Dupont-Aignan. En ce qui concerne les autres, cette volonté de lui faire barrage s’est exprimée par différentes stratégies. Pour certains, comme Valérie Pécresse, il s’agit de concentrer les voix vers le président-candidat, elle affirme alors: “Je voterai en conscience Emmanuel Macron pour empêcher l’arrivée au pouvoir de Marine Le Pen et le chaos qui en résulterait”, ce qu’ont également fait la socialiste Anne Hidalgo ou encore l’écologiste Yannick Jadot. D’autres ont appelé à stopper la percée de Marine Le Pen sans pour autant inciter les électeurs à mettre dans l’urne le nom d’Emmanuel Macron. JeanLuc Mélenchon, dans une prise de parole brève et combative, a insisté plusieurs fois à la suite qu’”il ne faut pas donner une seule voix à Madame Le Pen”. Quant à Philippe Poutou, il a déclaré dans la même dynamique que “pas une voix ne doit aller à l’extrême-droite”.

Deux finalistes à l’image controversée Bien que réunissant les deux mêmes candidats qu’il y a cinq ans, les dynamiques de l’entre-deux tours sont loin d’être les mêmes. Ce qui les sépare ? Un quinquennat.

Et si l’on vient de constater qu’une rhétorique anti-FN n’est plus pour autant synonyme d’un encouragement vis-à-vis du président sortant, c’est parce que ce dernier se trouve dans une situation beaucoup plus contestée qu’en 2017, avec un bilan quinquennal très débattu.

Son mandat fut celui des crises et pour en citer quelques unes :

News

APRIL 2022

gilets jaunes, gestion de celle du coronavirus, crise de l’hôpital, ou encore tout récemment: guerre en Ukraine. Bon nombre de français lui reprochent au cours de ces cinq années au pouvoir d’avoir cristallisé les tensions au sein de la société française, et ne se reconnaissent donc pas ou plus dans le projet politique, économique et social qu’il propose. Ayant en face de lui une candidate d’extrême-droite dont la radicalité des idées n’est plus à prouver, bien qu’atténuée par l’émergence d’Eric Zemmour dans le champ politico-médiatique et la stratégie de dédiabolisation: le choix du second tour n’en était donc pas réellement un. Dans la dixième vague de l’Enquête électorale 2022 réalisée par IPSOS du 15 au 18 avril 2022, 35 % des personnes interrogées n’envisageant pas d’aller voter lors du second tour de l’élection présidentielle expliquent le faire car aucun des deux candidats encore en liste ne correspond à leur attente. De plus, 24 % d’entre eux affirment ne pas aller voter car ils refusent de choisir entre deux candidats qu’ils rejettent totalement.

Lorsqu’au cours de cette même vague, l’enquête s’intéresse aux raisons poussant ceux qui votent blanc ou nul à le faire, 49 % d’entre eux, soit presque la moitié, affirment également qu’ils refusent de choisir entre deux candidats qu’ils rejettent totalement. En outre, lorsque IPSOS demande aux sondés de noter Emmanuel Macron et Marine Le Pen sur une échelle de 1 à 10, les deux candidats obtiennent respectivement une moyenne de 4,1 et de 3,8, ce qui démontre bien que la côte de popularité des deux finalistes chez les électeurs, via cet échantillon représentatif, n’est pas très haute.

Une campagne de l’entre-deux-trous sous l’angle de l’adaptation Au vu de ces éléments, les sondages effectués prévoyaient un écart

11

Marine Le Pen était membre du Parlement en 2016.

Photo by European Union 2016 - European Parliament, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>

entre le président sortant et Marine Le Pen beaucoup plus resserré qu’en 2017. Cela, Emmanuel Macron ne pouvait pas l’ignorer, s’est donc opéré une changement de stratégie du candidat pendant l’entre-deux-tours. S’il est resté relativement discret pendant le premier tour, il a tenté pendant les deux semaines qui lui restait de convaincre au maximum l’électorat qui lui était défavorable, surtout celui de gauche, déçu des cinq années passées au tournant néo-libéral. En effet, des thèmes à l’instar du bilan écologique, de la répression policière, des violences faites aux femmes, de la loi sur le séparatisme, du passage de l’ISF à l’IFI, de la réforme des retraites ou encore de la réforme du Code du Travail ont réellement fracturé la relation de confiance avec le président. Pourtant, c’est notam-

ment la redistribution des votes de l’électorat de Jean-Luc Mélenchon qui allait être déterminante dans le résultat du second tour. Dans la dixième vague, lorsque IPSOS demande aux électeurs de Jean-Luc Mélenchon au premier tour qui ils souhaitent voir gagner au second tour, plus de la moitié, 52 %, affirme ne pas vouloir voir gagner aucun des deux candidats. Seulement 32 % d’entre eux se prononcent en faveur d’Emmanuel Macron. Plus surprenant encore, un taux de 16 % se dit en faveur d’une victoire de Marine Le Pen, ce qui est considérable pour une candidate se situant à l’autre extrémité de l’échiquier politique. Ce taux est d’ailleurs en hausse par rapport à 2017. L’habileté du Rassemblement National à proposer une offre politique attrayante auprès des classes populaires (même chez des individus

se situant initialement à gauche, ce qui démontre encore une fois l’évolution de ce clivage) a obligé le candidat de LREM a complété son programme pendant l’entre-deuxtours et à l’orienter vers des thématiques qui parlent plus à ce type d’électorat. Il a donc dû essayé de nuancer certaines mesures phares de son programme mais jugées plus à droite à l’instar de la réforme autour du Revenu de Solidarité Active (RSA) ou de la rigidité du projet sur la réforme à 65 ans. De plus, jugé assez isolé au sein du palais de l’Elysée pendant son mandat et distant pendant le premier tour, le président sortant avait une durée de temps réellement courte pour travailler sa proximité avec le peuple français, notamment dans les zones où sa côté de popularité était bien inférieure à celle de candidats comme Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Il a

12

News

donc multiplié les déplacements et a tenu un seul et unique meeting à Marseille le 16 avril. Du côté de Marine Le Pen, ayant déjà effectué de nombreux déplacements au cours de la campagne, il s’agissait davantage de se ressourcer et se préparer minutieusement pour le grand débat d’entre-deux-tours, moment déterminant du deuxième tour depuis 1974.

Le débat de l’entredeux-tours Le face à face entre les deux finalistes de l’élection présidentielle est un véritable moment démocratique, qui laisse s’exprimer devant les électeurs différentes visions de la société. C’est un moment à ne pas manquer pour les candidats, bien évidemment sur le fond, mais également sur la forme. Dans le cadre d’une personnalisation toujours plus importante de la vie politique et du développement massif de la culture des médias, le débat de l’entre-deux-tours est le moment clé de la communication et du marketing politique. En effet, au-delà des programmes politiques exposés, au-delà de ce qui relève de l’identification par le rationnel, ce moment est également celui de la mobilisation de l’affect par excellence. Un ressenti plus volatile, plus instinctif. De fait, plus la balance entre la capacité de mobiliser le rationnel et l’affectif est équilibrée, plus le candidat a des chances d’être convaincant. Modéré par les journalistes Léa Salamé et Gilles Bouleau, le débat entre Emmanuel Macron et Marine Le Pen a mobilisé plus de 15 millions de spectateurs mercredi 20 avril, qui ont vu les candidats débattre sur les thématiques suivantes: le pouvoir d’achat, la place de la France à l’international, l’écologie, la guerre en Ukraine, la sécurité, les retraites ou encore les institutions de la Cinquième République. Qui a donc le mieux réussi à défendre son projet et à convaincre les français ? Dans les heures qui ont suivi le débat,

APRIL 2022

l’opinion publique (au sens large) semblait converger vers un président-candidat en supériorité dans

presque le double. Cet écart considérable témoigne encore une fois d’un profond changement du climat qui pèse dans la Marine le Pen estime que société, résultat à la fois le score obtenu par le parti du premier quinquennat est une “victoire éclatante”. de Macron et de la baElle ajoute peu après : nalisation des courants “nous lançons dès ce soir d’extrême droite dans le la grande bataille électorale champ politico-médiades législatives.” tique. Au second tour, le taux d’abstention très la connaissance des dossiers mais élevé, ayant touché plus de 28 % à l’attitude arrogante et à la posture des électeurs (contre plus de 26% inadaptée. Marine Le Pen, elle, a pour le premier tour), est un indonné l’impression de se débrouill- dicateur clair du sentiment de crier bien mieux qu’en 2017 mais de se de la représentation politique s’être quand même faite dominée en France. De même, l’ensemble par son adversaire. Les résultats de des votes nuls et des votes blancs l’enquête menée par IPSOS sont représentent plus de 6% des voix. encore une fois intéressants à cet En couplant celui-ci à ceux ayant égard. Si en 2017, 56 % des per- voté pour Emmanuel Macron pour sonnes interrogées affirmaient que contrer Marine Le Pen (42% selon la prestation de la candidate pen- IPSOS), Adrien Quatennens, sur le dant le débat les a inquiétés, ce taux plateau de BFMTV, a réitéré face à passe à seulement 35 % en 2022. De la journaliste Apolline de Malherbe la même manière, quand un taux de qu’Emmanuel Macron est “le prési13 % affirmait en 2017 que Marine dent le plus mal élu depuis 1969”, Le Pen les avait rassurés pendant étant le détenteur d’un “projet le débat, celui-ci passe aujourd’hui d’une brutalité sociale sans nom.” à 27 % contre 25 % pour Macron, C’est une position qu’avait déjà ce qui témoigne de l’amélioration défendu Jean-Luc Mélenchon le de son image et de sa capacité à soir même des résultats, en souligconvaincre depuis. Cependant, des nant la “contrainte d’un choix biinstants-clés du débat ont semblé aisé” qui accompagnera de nouveau donner l’avantage à la République une “monarchie présidentielle” en Marche: faux départ, confu- pendant les cinq années à venir, sion de données économiques par bien que soulagé que l’extrême Marine Le Pen, mise en avant des droite ne soit pas parvenue à acemprunts aux banques russes par céder au pouvoir. La prise de parole le Rassemblement National dans d’Emmanuel Macron, quelques inun contexte international tendu… stants après l’annonce de sa réélecLa candidate a dû continuer de se tion a fait référence plusieurs fois à défendre comme elle le pouvait, ces facteurs. Le président, acclamé cela a-t-il été suffisant ? par une foule lui scandant “Et un, et deux, et cinq ans de plus!”, et après Les résultats du sec- avoir remercié les français, effectue ond tour quelques clarifications. Appelant à ne pas siffler les militants du RasEn obtenant 58.6 % des voix contre semblement National, il rappelle 41.4 %, Emmanuel Macron devien- qu’il n’est plus “le candidat d’un dra donc le premier président sous camp mais le président de toutes et la Cinquième République à effec- tous.” Parallèlement, il assure avoir tuer deux quinquennats à la suite. conscience du taux révélateur d’abLe taux qui le sépare de Marine Le stention et du barrage qui a été fait Pen n’est plus que de 17.2 %, alors à Marine Le Pen via un vote pour sa qu’il était de 32.2 % en 2017, soit personne, il fait donc la promesse

que “cette ère nouvelle ne sera pas la continuité de ce quinquennat qui s’achève”. Assez convaincant pour l’opposition? Pas suffisant, pour elle, l’espoir est plus à mettre dans les prochaines élections législatives que dans un changement de politique du président réélu.

Le défi des législatives Pour beaucoup de français déçus par l’issue du scrutin, les journées du 12 et du 19 juin s’annoncent décisives. Ce sont en effet les dates qui permettront d’élire les 577 députés de l’Assemblée Nationale, dont la majorité dégagée déterminera le Premier ministre ainsi qu’une partie importante des politiques mises en place pendant le quinquennat.

Si la succession rapide des élections présidentielles et législatives rend la probabilité d’une cohabitation assez faible, cela n’est pas pour décourager les perdants de l’élection écoulée. En effet, bien que la victoire du prestigieux titre présidentiel échappe pour la troisième fois au Rassemblement National, cette fois-ci encore plus étroitement, Marine le Pen estime que le score obtenu par le parti est une “victoire éclatante”. Elle ajoute peu après : “nous lançons dès ce soir la grande bataille électorale des législatives.” Pour Jean-Luc Mélenchon, c’est “le troisième tour” qui commenceait dès ce soir-là. Une lutte donc, presque plus importante que celle des élections présidentielles, menée entre les différentes sensibilités politiques, et qui aura pour issue le renforcement ou le contre-pied des politiques souhaitées par le président de la République.

Une alliance entre La France Insoumise et Europe Écologie Les Verts a déjà été conclue, Eric Zemmour quant à lui a appelé à une union des droites. En effet, JeanLuc Mélenchon et Marine Le Pen envisagent déjà avec beaucoup de sérieux le poste de Premier Ministre. Seul le temps sera en mesure de nous dire ce qu’il en conviendra.

News

APRIL 2022

13

Israel-Palestine Tension

Article by Hugo Lagergren, staff reporter A surge of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories during the past month has stoked tensions between the two states. It has caused many to fear a repeat of the 11-day conflict that occurred last May, which resulted in the death of over 250 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

Two weeks ago, Israeli forces stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque during morning prayer, marking the most serious escalation at the holy site in over a year.

Medics reported that over 158 Palestinians were injured during the raid, while hundreds more were detained.

Clashes at the holy site have continued between Palestinian Muslims and Israeli security forces, who claim to have just been dispersing a violent crowd that lingered after morning prayer on April 15.

Palestinian man named Walid al-Sharif. Al-Sharif recently fell into a coma after sustaining internal bleeding as a result of being struck in the head by one of the rubber bullets.

The Palestinian Authority and Jordan, which has custodianship over Islam’s third holiest site, issued a joint statement condemning Israel and stating that it was responsible for a “dangerous and condemnable escalation that threatens to explode the situation.”

Palestinian militant group Hamas

Israel to reevaluate its defense strategy by broadening the scope of its operations against Palestine.

Indeed, a few days ago, Israel’s coordinator for Palestinian affairs, Ghassan Alyan, announced that Israel would close the Erez Crossing, the only existing crossing connecting Gaza and Israel, which is essential for workers in Israel who live in Gaza.

Over 12,000 Gazans currently hold work permits that allow them to cross over to Israel and make a living. The removal of such access

Jerusalem to visit the Muslim and Jewish holy sites.

This uptick in visitors angered many Palestinians as they believed it violated the long-held convention that Jews could visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque, but not pray there.

This raised tensions between the two communities and is a likely explanation for the terrorist attacks carried out earlier this month.

Israel has denied all accusations that it is looking to overturn this “status quo” by reaffirming its commitment to the preservation of the freedom of worship. However, its actions might suggest otherwise.

The death toll of the recent violence has reached 38 and tensions between Israel and Palestine remain extremely high as clashes continue in and around Al-Aqsa Mosque. Many Palestinians are fearful of a repeat of the deadly conflict that took place in May of last year.

However, eye-witnesses told Al-Jazeera that Palestinian graffiti adapts the classic enlightenment painting “Liberty Leading The People” by Delacroix by replacing the French flag with a Israeli forces entered the Palestinian one.

Mosque unprovoked and Photo by Northern Lights 119, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0> proceeded to “brutally” empty the also responded by launching a will undoubtedly have a huge fiTop United States diplomats compound, attacking staff, elders, series of missile strikes against Isnancial impact on Gaza, with many have been sent to Israel to end and young people in the process. rael, which were intercepted by its residents relying on the income “the cycle of violence.” However, defense system. Israel responded of these workers. An Israeli radio Palestine has accused the US of Videos circulated online showing to this by launching a series of its station estimated that Palestinian wielding “limp diplomacy” and police using tear gas and stun own strikes, destroying a military losses will be around 1.5 million of double-standards compared to grenades against worshippers, who facility within the Gaza strip that USD daily. how the US has addressed the war hurled rocks back at the police. was allegedly used to build missile in Ukraine.

Other videos show people barrica- engines.

Tension between the two groups ding themselves desperately within had been expected this year, as the With no resolution in sight, one is the Mosque to escape the violence. The violence comes after a series Muslim holy month of Ramaleft to wonder whether this longof terrorist attacks were carried out dan coincided with the Jewish term regional conflict will ever be The Israeli forces also fired rubber

by Palestinian gunmen in Israeli celebration of Passover. These solved, or whether the tensions bullets into the crowds, wounding cities, killing 14 Israeli citizens. celebrations usually see an increaare doomed to erupt into a wider many, including a 21-year-old These deadly attacks prompted sed number of visitors coming to conflict that would hugely impact an already struggling Palestine.

14

Editorial

APRIL 2022

On Mentonese identity, the Ummah, and more:

Reflections on the Mentonese life with a former student Article by Emilia Kohlmeyer, staff reporter

but always end. Professor Hamoumi cited a similar apartment from his time in Menton. But it is yet to be confirmed whether it was in the same building as Soundproof, or if they were just on the same street.

Another year at Sciences Po Menton is ending. 2As are passing onto their next journey and 1As are taking on the responsibility of preserving the Mentonese student culture. The legacy of Soundproof, the campus party house, is being transferred to a new enthusiastic quadruplet, and many events, such as the collective chant-writing session, represent a modicum of traditions which are transmitted over generations of Sciences Pistes.

Reflecting upon the months since I moved to Menton, I grasped the profound impact our small French Riviera town had on me. I would have never pictured the extent to which this student community would be able to shape us when I first arrived. Situated in a quaint bay amongst sun-kissed houses, Sciences Po Menton is truly a peculiar place to spend two of the most impactful years of our lives. Many of us come here, leaving behind the safety of a familiar environment, to confront both the pleasure and pain of newfound liberty.

I was fortunate enough to discuss this strange Mentonese journey into adulthood with one of our very own alumni. Former-student-turned-1A-sociology-professor, Ismail Hamoumi has completed the full circle of the Menton experience and was kind enough to sit down with me to offer his reflections on the student life of his day.

The Menton experience could be described as both incredibly intense and influential — a microcosm of around 300 students from all over the world, sharing the same

The Sciences Po Paris, campus of Menton building evokes reflections for alumni and current students.

Photo by Hugo Lagergren

buildings, streets, and social spaces. This has an enormous impact on social relations. Privacy is much more limited, as perfectly exemplified by a 2A warning me not to gossip on Rue Longue in my first week here. Indeed, not much of anything remains private in Menton, as it is routine to run into a minimum of three other students each time you leave your home. Hamoumi emphasized the profound effect this leaves on our process of identity construction. Leaving home as inquisitive and malleable adolescents provides us with the liberty to experiment with new identities – ones that could potentially deviate from our familiar culture. Everything new we experience challenges our perception of self.

This is compounded by our numerous daily social interactions with a highly international community. Students leave Menton with a more stable sense of self, remarked Hamoumi. Our identities are only reinforced by the diversity of people and thoughts that can be found

on our Menton campus.

But not everything has remained consistent. Menton has also witnessed some changes in the six years since Professor Hamoumi graduated. The student body has increased by a third. Many more associations now contribute to the blooming social scene and, to my suprise , even the vivacious nightlife, a pillar of the Menton culture, is a fairly new phenomenon previously limited to Le Retro. In smail Professor Hamoumi’s era, social life was mostly confined to the outdoors, a few larger apartments, or nights in Monaco on which a memorable part of the night invariably included 3 a.m. bus rides along serpentine roads, causing some alcohol and dizziness induced “incidents.”

Conversely, many of the festivities of the last year took place in apartments. An iconic party spot in contemporary Menton is Soundproof — the student residence where wild nights sometimes start,

However, there remain a few notable constants besides the integral role of the ummah and a lingering separation between the English and French track.

It seems that the Mercedes Benz of the owner of the New Asian Store is a product of the sponsorship of generations of Sciences Pistes’ late-night alcohol purchases.

The culinary scene of Menton has also not been subject to much change, including the traditional takeout pizza from Volcano or dinners at Marrakech and Al Vecchio Forno. An honorable mention should also be awarded to our very own Michael Jackson, whose effervescent presence is an integral part of Mentonese life and spirit.

It is clear that much in Menton seems to remain and accompany hundreds of Sciences Pistes well after their departure. As a rising 2A, it is clearer to me now how much responsibility weighs on us to preserve the community we have created and the traditions that mark our student life. Every generation of students has contributed a little piece of the ummah and once we leave a piece of our life will remain, kept alive by new eager students experiencing their own growth into adulthood and profoundly shaping their own identity.

APRIL 2022

Erosion of Brazilian Democracy

Editorial

15

continued from page 1 — streaming in and out of a local gas station in abnormally large quantities. Officials believed that they had flagged a routine case of laundering in the nation’s capital and zeroed in on the usual suspect: small-time doleiros (black market dealers). What their investigation uncovered was even bigger and far more unsettling. What they found imprisoned presidents, bankrupted billionaires, and paved the way for Jair Bolsonaro’s election.

In 2014, Operation Lava Jato (Car Wash) was formally launched when police discovered a suspicious email correspondence in doleiro Alberto Youssef ’s inbox. Youssef had been involved and apprehended on laundering counts in the past, but had proven to be quite the recidivist. The email in question discussed a Range Rover that the doleiro had recently bought. But, this was no above-board car purchase. Youssef had bought a Range Rover for none other than the high profile Petrobras petroleum company executive, Paulo Roberto Costa. Under questioning, a somber Youssef informed police, “If I speak, the Republic is going to fall.”

And fall it did.

Operation Car Wash is Brazil’s largest corruption scandal to date. The operation earned its name from being hatched at the Brasilia gas station and car wash. The scheme began as a way for the construction conglomerate, Odebrecht, to secure constant and overly-lucrative business at the national petroleum company, Petrobras. To accomplish this, Odebrecht, the ringleader of the scandal, developed a cartel of engineering companies which set inflated contract prices for pet-

Ex-Brazilian President Lula pictured during his tenureship in April 2006.

Photo by Ricardo Stuckert, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>

rochemical complex building projects. In custody, Costa revealed how this intricate scheme functioned: first, Petrobras directors intentionally overpaid cartel contractors for construction, drilling, exploration vessels, and refinery.

Then, 1% to 5% of the profit from those shady contracts was funneled into clandestine slush funds.

Elected politicians (who incidentally appointed Petrobras officials) were the beneficiaries of the funds and used them to finance personal agendas and election campaigns.

Bribes were the currency of Brazil’s elite. Everyone involved in the scandal was paid off in cash, luxury automobiles, art, Rolex watches, yachts… Money cascaded into Swiss accounts, a bevy of oversea properties were purchased, elderly mules, strapped with bricks of cash, flew from city to city, inconspicuously distributing bank notes.

By the time Operation Car Wash

was on law enforcement’s radar, Petrobras and Odebrecht had paid off over 16 companies, 1,000 politicians, 50 congressmen, and four former presidents (including Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, better known as Lula) with a whopping sum of $5.3 billion.

The victims of this kafkaesque scheme? Average Brazilians. Not only was the potency of their vote diluted by this operation, but their own tax dollars were funding it. No strangers to institutional corruption, Brazilians directed the entirety of their rage at the once beloved former president, Lula, his successor, president Dilma Roussef, and other members of the Workers’ Party. The party was not the only culpable entity implicated in the scandal, but received the most popular backlash — and perhaps justifiably.

The political group ascended to

power to fight Brazil’s seemingly untreatable case of corruption.

Yet, the disease only seemed to have metastasized in the Lula administration. Elected in 2002, Lula suffered from having a minority Workers’ Party in congress. Although he denies any knowledge of involvement in the scheme, Operation Car Wash would have allowed for the president to buy the support of small parties, thus permitting him to pass legislation through congress. The Lula administration improved the condition of working class Brazilians through policies that reduced poverty and increased social safety nets and environmental controls. He left office with an unprecedented approval rating of 80%. Lula attributes his success to securing a symbolic majority in congress through political allegiances. Instead, the immense progress he made was found to have a morally and legally unsound infrastructure. These findings even-

16

Editorial

tually culminated in his 2018 arrest.

Brazilians have a complex relationship with Lula — they continue to reap the benefits of his presidency while lamenting his hypocrisy. The true test of national sentiment will be reflected in the result of the upcoming October presidential elections, which the now-released Lula has announced his candidacy for.

The imprisonment of Lula created an easy path to victory for the fringe right-wing candidate, Jair Bolsonaro. Due to the elimination of his main opponent and his anti-establishment, anti-corruption platform, Bolsonaro, sometimes referred to as the “Trump of the Tropics,” waltzed into office in spite of his notoriously racist, homophobic, and misogynistic public persona. However, the comparison to Trump is misleading. Despite sharing some qualities with the former United States president, Bolsonaro is more akin to the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte. And this makes him all the more dangerous. Unlike Trump, Bolsonaro and Duterte actually followed through with their alarming campaign trail claims.

Similarly to Duterte, Bolsonaro has an affinity for militarizing state police, cracking down on crime, and green-lighting extrajudicial killings. He waxes nostalgic for Brazil’s military dictatorship and has been openly threatening Brazil’s increasingly tenuous checks and balances.

According to United Nations human rights activist, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, the Bolsonaro administration encourages violence towards women, favela community leaders, journalists, quilombolas (Afro-Brazilians), and indigenous peoples. Bolsonaro shamelessly intimidates the Supreme Court, which has active investigations into his conduct, threatens his critics’ freedom of speech, and makes baseless claims about fraud in the Brazilian electoral system. To Voule, it is clear: the world’s fourth largest democracy hangs by a thread.

On September 7, 2021, Brazilian

APRIL 2022

Independence Day, Bolsonaro proclaimed, before tens of thousands of supporters, “Only God will remove me from power.” This ominous statement follows months of disinformation, propagated by Bolsonaro himself, about Brazil’s supposedly “fraudulent” electronic voting system. It has been speculated that such allegations intend to lay the groundwork for canceling the upcoming October 2022 elections or to contest a potential presidential loss.

With the president trailing behind his perennial foe Lula in the polls, fears that Bolsonaro will refuse to accept defeat have increased. As such, Brazil’s top election authority, Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (TSE), has invited the European Union and other international bodies to monitor the validity of the October elections. The EU plans to send a mission to Brazil this May to assess whether it can fulfill the duties of official observer.

From the outside, Operation Car Wash is a juicy scandal indeed.

But at its core, it is a tragic case of government inefficiency. Lula was charged with serious crimes, to be sure, but the consequences of his alleged actions should not spell another Bolsonaro victory. Brazil might not survive it. Democracy becomes more fragile every day that Bolsonaro presides. His record-level deforestation is leaving the Amazon more vulnerable than ever. Climate expert, Marcio Astrini, has determined that the forest will not be able to withstand another four years of a Bolsonaro presidency.

Brazilians are at a critical crossroads. On October 2, 2022 they may sow the seeds of their own destruction or secure their survival.

But if Brazil has learned anything from its past, it is that the power should and must, lie in the rightful hands. The people must be the final deciders — not between Lula or Bolsonaro — but rather life or death.

Cheer Team Article by Lilou d’Inca, guest reporter

to describe the cheer team this year is motivation. I know it’s quite common to say, but we really have a team which is consistently up for anything and everything. Very often, I have found myself super energized after training, no matter how shattered I could have been before

Picture the cliché, Netflix-series archetype of the cheerleader: she is shaking a pair of pom-poms with an artificial smile incessantly stamped on her lips; her pretty face conceals nothing but a frivolous, flighty personaliAs per Thorsén’s words, ty; and the “sport” she Menton cheer is “not only practices is little more a perfect creative outlet than a light-hearted outside academia, but it introduction to the has also most definitely “real” games in sports equipped me with motivatournaments. tion and cheerfulness —” If you have not yet witvalues which she looks fornessed our unmissable ward to displaying in Nancy.

Christmas show and Thus, allow yourself to be BDE performance, the transported by the cheer Sciences Po Menton team’s entrancing dance cheerleaders are as far battles and hypnotizing as possible from such canon movements. a typecast. Yes, our cheerleaders are indeed incredi- it, simply because of the energy our bly smiley and ebullient — in the cheerleaders bring.” gym, on the stage, and even in their Hellen agreed that the team is “an daily lives — but not because they energetic and resilient group [that] are shallow; rather, because they shows support for each other and are proud to boast the skills, live- pushes through the many chally character, and decidedly united lenges we have faced together this spirit of their team.

And, no, their bonds have not just been forged (or ruptured) by the permanent scars they share — from a stunting practice that dramatically ended with stitches for 1A Angeliki Vytogianni to the countless nose bleeds and bruises resulting from a few failed pyramids and backflips.

The so-called “Um-Miauu” has also reinforced itself over the past eight months thanks to the unyielding dedication of its captains, 2As Frida Hellen and Nikola Avramović, whose vibrant, bubbly personalities have fostered the team’s intrinsic dedication and energy. Avramović affirmed, “the [most apt] word 2A cheer captain and flyer, Frida Hellen, performs a stunt during a team practice.

Photo courtesy of the cheer team

Feature

APRIL 2022

17

of the campus, cheerleading is what brings life to the campus with their energy and enthusiasm, succeeding in gaining the support of the students on campus and funding their road to Minicrit!”

The cheer team takes a picture after one of its biweekly practice. Team members include Alva Can, Angeliki Vytogianni, Barbara Kuza-Tarkowska, Ben Vitenson, Cécile Toussaint, Daniel Santana, Felipe Boitard Barragan, Frida Hellen, Greta Murgia, Gabriella Hodes, Isabel Cronin, Krzysztof Kałużny, Lenora Dsouza, Lilinaz Hakimi, Lilou-Ornella D’Inca, Lise Thorsén, Lydia Juline, Nikola Avramović, Salim Ouaritini, Vanessa Lolomari, Viola Luraschi, Zélie Savinien.

Photo courtesy of the cheer team

year as a team.” Such enthusiasm is not only shown by the captains, but by all cheerleaders. 1A Lise Thorsén said, “The Ummah is not fulfilled without the campus cheer

tion as one, which is both marvelous for a motivated team, but also a huge drawback if even one member of the team is missing.”

Hellen added that, “practicing and

Due to poor financing and the overlap between the Sciences Po optional sports courses, the captains relied on their Um-miauu’s original initiatives to subsidize the purchase of pom-poms. team. Beyond [being] a sport, the Um-Miauu fosters an immaculate spirit rendering cheer sessions the highlight of my Menton quotidian.”

Cheerleading is indeed an integral part of its athletes’ routine since training is organized twice a week in the College Vento gymnasium and by the sea at Bastion — yes, even on the most piercingly windy nights. With such frequent sessions, a significant obstacle for the team has become, according to Avramović, “ensuring that everyone could make time in their busy schedules to attend practice. Many elements of cheer require the group to func-

teaching each other stunting skills and dance routines for minicrit” requires all athletes to be present at practice, hence why “the biggest challenge has been to find a way to make the time demand feasible with everyone’s crowded schedule, as well as the lack adequate training facilities in such a small town.”

Speaking of facilities, Hellen and Avramović had to display utmost perseverance and creativity to complement the team’s drive and maintain the team’s professional appearance. “After Minicrit [was] canceled for two years, Nikola and I started almost from scratch with

no equipment and little experience,” said Hellen. “We faced material and consequently institutional challenges, to say the least,” added Avramović.

Due to poor financing and the overlap between the Sciences Po optional sports courses, the captains relied on their Um-miauu’s original initiatives to subsidize the purchase of pom-poms. As 1A Felipe Boitard — the team’s darling gossip boy — explained, “the cheer team turned to the students on campus and organized a fundraising auction, where members of the cheerleading team would auction out a date experience with them. Dates varied from making pizza with Viola to going on a scooter adventure to Italy with Greta. The night was filled with high-intensity auction battles between friends and potential love interests to get a date with a cheerleader! With the help of all the students who showed up in support of the lovely cheerleaders, the team made much more than was expected and was thus able to buy the supply for the pom-poms. As much as it did not get the official support

Cheerleading will play a central role in the upcoming intercampus competition in Nancy alongside other sports including football, volleyball, thèque, and more. The Menton cheerleading team is thrilled to perform the fruit of its effort and resilience in an eight-minute upbeat, acrobatic choreography. In Hellen’s words, “the [personal evolution] of each member with regards to their dancing, gymnastics, and stunting skills, as well as the solidarity and hype among the athletes, continues to blow my mind, and I am beyond excited to show everyone the product of our hard work at the end of May.” Avramović said, “However cliché it sounds, it was thanks to the cheer team’s enthusiasm that we felt confident to fight for what the team needed. I am certain this has left our team much more tightly bound than ever, and really drives us to carry the Menton spirit at minicrit!”

As per Thorsén’s words, Menton cheer is “not only a perfect creative outlet outside academia, but it has also most definitely equipped me with motivation and cheerfulness —” values which she looks forward to displaying in Nancy. Thus, allow yourself to be transported by the cheer team’s entrancing dance battles and hypnotizing canon movements. But, above all, remember to appreciate the unified and enriching fusion of cultures, personalities, and backgrounds that will emerge from our dances, from the unique and friendly community that is Sciences Po Menton cheerleading team.

18

Feature

APRIL 2022

From the Streets of Greece to the Côte d’Azur A canine success story

Article by Celeste Abourjeili, Editor-in-Chief and Ata Tezel, guest reporter Just months ago, famed campus dweller, Ollie, was your average street dog in Greece. No longer. Ollie is better traveled than most of his human counterparts. From Greece, he made his way to the sunny Côte d’Azur. He spends his days lazing about the illustrious Sciences Po campus of Menton — a university that, with a less than 20% acceptance rate, many of us struggled to get into. But Sciences Po is just a temporary stop on Ollie’s journey to New York City, where he will ultimately reside.

Ollie is many things: he is a chronic gnawer, a frequent park-goer, a champion hide-and-seeker, and a people person — though he’s still shy around other dogs. But these skills are not just any canine hobbies, according to his owner, professor Daniel Traficonte. These tendencies stem from the survival skills Ollie developed living on the streets and were essential to his escape.

“He used his cuteness to survive in the streets and get fed by locals,” said Traficonte. One part of the strategy is that Ollie never barks and is tame around people. Anyone kind enough to pet him may even bear witness to his go-to two-leg-

ged dance move.

Though Ollie refused to comment on this, Traficonte asserts that a main cause of Ollie’s success had to do with his breed and size.

“He’s small enough to fit easily on a plane but also looks big enough to give a big dog vibe,” said Photo by Hugo Lagergren Traficonte, describing the compromise he had to season per year.. Nevertheless, we make with his wife to meet their asked Ollie whether he was excited differing desires in a dog. In fact, for New York. He answered with the couple had to do an intensive an inquisitive stare, eyes wide open internet search to find a dog fitting and tail rapidly wagging — a fitting this vision. The Kokoni, a native response for the Odysseus of dogs.

Greek breed, was the solution they found on an obscure Facebook Ollie is many things: he is a group. They journeyed chronic gnawer, a frequent to Greece. The rest is park-goer, a champion hidehistory. and-seeker, and a people

person — though he’s still

Professor Daniel Traficonte poses with his dog Ollie in front of Sciences Po. Photo by Hugo Lagergren

“I want to breed these shy around other dogs. But in New York,” said these skills are not just any Traficonte, arguing canine hobbies, according that if Americans to his owner, professor Danknew about these iel Traficonte. perfect house dogs, everyone would own one. Though Traficonte’s career as With a brand new chapter on the a future dog breeder is up in the air horizon for Ollie, the Mentonese with his wife opposing the career are bittersweet about his upcoming choice, one thing is certain: Ollie is departure. “It’s tough to see him going to love New York, and New leaving just as we became so close,” York is going to love him back. said one emotional Sciences Piste.

“Nonetheless, it will be incredible “We haven’t told [Ollie] yet,” Trafi- to watch him live the American conte said regarding the family’s Dream!” Only time will tell what eventual move to the Big Apple. Ollie will achieve in New York, but There, Traficonte will commute for now, he wishes for nothing but upstate to work as a tenured pro- friends and trips. fessor at Syracuse University one

Feature

APRIL 2022

19

Comprendre la Mafia:

looking back to the Day of Remembrance, looking forward to a weekend of anti-mafia resistance

Comprendre la Mafia runs a number of workshops which promoted awareness for Mafia victims during the weekend of April 23.

Photo courtesy of Comprendre la Mafia

Article by Greta Murgia, guest reporter on behalf of Comprendre la Mafia

to render people conscious of the presence of mafias — not only in the movies or in rural southern Italy, but also, and especially, in our idyllic Franco-Italian Riviera. After Saturday’s events, which will take place in Menton, the two associations will meet the president of Libera Imperia, Maura Orengo, in the city of Imperia. The president will hold a speech about the mafia in the Ligure Ponent, which will be followed by a lunch on the beach to conclude the weekend.

Students from Sciences Po and the Università degli Studi di Bologna will come together as one to discuss the mafia from its birth to its globalization and internationalization, to the daily civic engagement exercised by non-profit associations dedicated to the sensibilization of citizens and the condemnation of the mafia on local and national territory. One example of this civic engagement can be seen in Libera. Born as an association

The year is coming to an end and each one of us, whether 1A or 2A, English or French track, dual degree or three year program, is looking back on the year. We are making a mental account of the events, the ups and the downs, the achievements, and the instances of growth.

So is Comprendre la Mafia, Menton’s young anti-mafia association, founded only two years ago.

Between interventions in Italian and French schools, articles, conferences, debates, and bake sales, the association is now organizing a joint weekend with the youth group of Libera Bologna to be held in Menton between the 23rd and 24th of April. During this weekend, the unifying force will be the anti-mafia resistance and the and adults gather on the Franco-Italian border to protest determination to Students the behavior of the mafia and remember those who fell victim to the organized crime. spread knowledge Photo courtesy of Comprendre la Mafia

Protestors brandish a flag which said “LIBERA,” meaning free in Italian.

Photo courtesy of Comprendre la Mafia

unifying the survivors of mafia and relatives of victims of organized crime, Comprendre la Mafia is now the most important and vocal association engaged in the fight against the mafia, not only in Italy, but in all of Europe.

On the 21st of March, Comprendre la Mafia celebrated mafia victim Remembrance Day by organizing a march from the Sciences Po Menton campus to the Italian border.

There, followed by Nice-Matin and Sanremo News, it met members of Libera Ventimiglia, Sanremo, Imperia, and SPES of Ventimiglia, an association dedicated to helping people with disabilities. Several other Mentonese associations joined the march, such as the Feminist Union, Sciences Po Refugee Help, UNICEF, Environnementon, Alwanat, Union de la Gauche et des Ecologistes, and Bureau Des Arts.

On the border, the names and lives of some mafia victims were honored. Memorials were handwritten on the road to immortalize the mafia victims upon entry into Italy.

The Italian, French, and European anthems were then played in a sign of cross-country solidarity. To conclude, a lunch was held, hosted by the SPES of Ventimiglia and its director Matteo Lupi. Present were personalities such as the Tribunal Court Attorney in Imperia, Alberto Lari, Imperia’s Prefect, Armando Nanei, the Police Commissioner in Imperia, Giuseppe Felice Periore, the Director of Public Safety, Giuseppe Cucchiara, the President of Caritas Ventimiglia-Sanremo, Maurizio Marmo, the Witness of Justice Rocco Mangiardi and Colombian clergyman, Don Rito Alvarez, who is one of the main figures engaged in providing aid to migrants in Ventimiglia.

With more events to come and awareness to be spread, Comprendre la Mafia can consider itself satisfied with its successes this past year.

Its members are looking forward to seeing what the future holds for the association and for the Mentonese community.

20

Feature

Vagina Show

APRIL 2022

Article par Aïcha Yahaya, chroniqueuse invitée

Pourquoi un Vagina Show ?

Inspiré de la pièce de théâtre “Les Monologues du vagin” de l’auteure new-yorkaise Eve Ensler, le Vagina Show a pour but principal la création d’un espace libre pour les femmes, mais également pour les hommes !

A l’image de cette référence du féminisme contemporain, l’idée est avant tout de prôner la libération de la parole, et ce, par divers moyens. En effet, si le monologue occupe une place centrale, le Vagina Show n’en est pas moins resté ouvert à des formes d’arts diverses et variées entre danse, notamment menée par le club de Belly Dance, des chants spécialement préparés le Bureau des Arts, des poèmes et autres performances en tout genre laissant à chacun l’opportunité de faire ressortir sa créativité et ses talents cachés.

De quoi parle-t- on ?

Le choix du sujet est tout aussi libre ! Il existe mille et une façons d’exprimer sa féminité/masculinité et la question du genre et de la sex-

The belly dancing group gives a performance during the Vagina Show.

Photo courtesy of the Feminist Union

ualité de manière générale. Cette année, nos participant.e.s ont fait preuve d’inventivité et de toujours plus d’originalité dans leurs choix d’interprétation. Se réapproprier un monologue, créer un poème ou encore reprendre une chanson: tous les moyens étaient bons pour prendre la parole.

Les thèmes furent tout aussi multiples, traiter de l’intersectionnalité, de la condition des femmes selon les pays et/ou parler de leurs corps, tout cela en suivant un même principe : au diable le politiquement

Second year students Zelie Savinien, Mahaut de la Brosse, Lola Corbier and Manon Bleriot from the Feminist Union pictured on stage at the event which they organised.

Photo courtesy of the Feminist Union

correct ! Parce qu’évoquer ces différents sujets dans tout ce qu’ils ont de plus réel, et parfois de brutal, ne devrait pas être un tabou, le Vagina Show se veut être la scène qui offre à chacun et chacune le droit de porter sa voix à plus grande échelle, devenant ainsi le théâtre d’une ode à la liberté d’expression.

Plus qu’un moyen de s’exprimer, un moyen de partager Si exprimer sa pensée a pu être libérateur pour nos artistes, du côté du public, l’expérience fut davantage instructive et enrichissante.

Cette promenade artistique proposée par nos intervenants a en effet pu nous ouvrir à de nouvelles formes d’expression et à de nouvelles facettes de la féminité.

Le Vagina Show, c’est donc aussi un événement d’échange et de découverte pour chacun et chacune, toujours dans une ambiance chaleureuse et vivante propre à la Feminist Union !

Ce qu’il faut donc retenir Cette année, le Vagina Show a pu se tenir en présentiel pour la première fois depuis 2019, nous offrant ainsi un grand moment de de partage dynamique, vivant et marqué par la sororité inhérente à cet évènement unique sur notre campus.

Liberté, art et femmes formaient les maîtres-mots de cette soirée si spéciale, ne laissant aucune place à la gêne et la honte, prônant au contraire la parole libérée de toute censure et de tout blâme.

Il apparaît tout naturellement important de remercier dans un premier temps toutes nos participant.e.s pour leurs présentations plus que remarquables ayant fait de cette soirée un événement inoubliable pour plus d’un. La vivacité et l’enthousiasme dont le public a fait preuve tout au long de la soirée ont aussi contribué à rendre le Vagina Show si agréable et en faire un véritable succès cette année encore.

APRIL 2022

UEJF Trip to Israel

Feature

21

The group poses in front of Jerusalem’s Western Wall, a sacred site in Judaism.

Photo courtesy of UEJF

Article by Lionel Chambon, guest reporter In early February, I was approached by the Union des Étudiants Juifs de France (UEJF) Menton Chapter president, 2A Cécile Toussaint, about a potential week-long trip to Israel. I was both surprised and honored. I quickly found that nothing stood in the way of embarking on what would become an amazing week of visits, events, talks, and time spent with a wonderful group of people, many of whom I had not met before. The trip was organized by the national board of the UEJF in conjunction with Sciences Po’s UEJF Paris and Menton chapters.

UEJF had invited campus associations, be they political, cultural, or environmental, to send one or two representatives to take part in the trip. For a week, we would explore Israel’s historic sites, meet

with members of Israel’s civil society, and enjoy spending time in the region that us Mentonese students have been studying so passionately.

On February 28, early in the morning, the whole group met for the first time in Orly Airport. Traveling alongside the Sciences Po students was a group of students from Sorbonne-Paris I. By the early afternoon, we arrived at Ben Gurion International Airport. Despite one of us having Lebanese stamps in our passport, we all managed to clear customs, pass a mandatory PCRtest and get to our first destination, Neve Shalom, by the early evening.

A village situated between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Neve Shalom was founded in 1969, designed to accommodate inhabitants from all backgrounds. In 2006, Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) held a concert

there, attracting a crowd of around 40,000 people. Neve Shalom presented a great opportunity for us to settle in and get to know each other. There, we were introduced to our guide for the week, Moty Likwornik, who has been a guide in Israel for several decades and has even accompanied foreign government delegations. Moty talked to us about Israel’s history, its ancient civilizations, and geography. We got to appreciate the countryside and excellent Middle Eastern food.

Not only would Moty stick with us the entire week and share his expertise on the region, but also entertain us during bus rides with anecdotes and gossip he accumulated over the years.

We spent the following Tuesday, our first full day in Israel, in Jerusalem. In the morning, Moty guided us across Mount Zion into Jeru-

salem’s holy sites, which we were fortunate enough to visit in great weather and not too much commotion. From the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock to the Wall of Lamentations and the Holy Sepulcher, it was incredible to walk across the historical sites which have been at the root of civilization for thousands of years. Visiting these holy sites was a touching experience for many of us, especially Muslims and Jews. For many, this was the first time they were able to visit their religions’ holy sites. The Wall of Lamentations is allegedly all that is left of an ancient Jewish temple destroyed by the Babylonians, located not far from what is left of Mount Golgotha, where Jesus was once crucified. During the day, we also had some time to dive into one of Jerusalem’s Souqs, and discovered more of the local cuisine and arts scene. For many Jews

22

Feature

APRIL 2022

institutions. There, we commemorated the victims who died during a Hamas bombing of the university cafeteria during the Second Intifada, including David Gritz, who was a Sciences Po exchange student at the time. We listened to testimony from Dror Even-Sapir, who sat only a few chairs down from David and survived the attack. Today, he works as a journalist in Israel and France. We also met Benjamin Canet, a former president of the UEJF Sciences Po and Israeli citizen.

After leaving the university, we were supposed to visit the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. But, this was unfortunately cut from our agenda as an important vote took longer than expected and the deputies that had agreed to meet with us were no longer available.

A market in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem.

Photo courtesy of UEJF

in the group, it was their first time visiting Israel, making the exploration of the holy sites all the more special.

In Jerusalem, we also had the oppor-

day, we visited Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital and met a French-Israeli surgeon. It was enriching to hear from actors within Israeli civil society who experience all kinds of difficulties and conflicts, but also

When studying the Middle East, it is always enriching to visit the region to build on what we have learned in the lecture room. Visiting Israel has definitely contributed to my understanding of the region, its dynamics, and its conflicts. tunity to meet a Palestinian lawyer specialized in human rights law and an Israeli peace activist to discuss challenges Palestinian populations face within Israel, segregation, inequalities, and possible avenues for dialogue. For our final step of the

opportunities to work together to complete meaningful work in the hospital on a daily basis.

The following morning, we were greeted at the Hebrew University, one of Sciences Po’s Israeli partner

Nevertheless, we finished the day with a warm welcome in the Negev by a Bedouin tribe that hosted us.

We were fortunate to enjoy some traditional coffee, tea, and foods by a campfire. But, it was only after the sunrise that we truly grasped the breathtaking scenery that surrounded us.

The Negev surrounds the Dead Sea and stretches across Israel and Jordan. That Thursday, we woke up at 3:30 a.m. to climb Mount Masada in time for the sunrise. Masada is a very mythical place in Israeli and Jewish history, having been one of the last bastions of the Jews against Babylon. Up there, the view across the desert into Jordan and the Dead Sea is breathtaking, and Moty guided us through Masada’s ancient ruins.

Nevertheless, we were able to look at the Knesset from the outside before we moved on to our visit of Yad Vashem, Israel’s Shoah remembrance site. There, we met Shlomo Balsam, our museum guide and Shoah survivor, who shared his own story with us, as well as that of many other survivors he had met — stories of lives destroyed, immeasurable loss, suffering, and desperation. Yad Vashem explained the Shoah through the perspective of those who had lived it by exhibiting artifacts and possessions that survivors had donated The Western Wall is a popular destination for Jews around the to the museum. No newspa- world. per article could do justice Photo courtesy of UEJF to the thoughts and emotions that Next, we descended Masada and washed over us at Yad Vashem. relaxed by the Dead Sea for the Upon leaving, the mood among rest of the morning, which was surour group was despondent. The prisingly cold, yet very enjoyable drive from the remembrance site under the desert’s beaming sun. into the Negev desert was the only From the Dead Sea, we headed outing in the entire week during West to the Arab-Israeli village of which the bus remained silent. Abu Gosh. We were greeted by the

Feature

APRIL 2022

23

As well as Jerusalem, the group visited the beautiful surrounding area.

Photo courtesy of UEJF

town’s mayor, a Chechen Imam, a Catholic priest, and the French Consul-General of Jerusalem. Abu Gosh is known to host all religious communities. The mayor of the village stayed with us and shared insights on what governing such a diverse city was like before we departed for Tel Aviv later that night.

Tel Aviv is Israel’s economic center.

It is barely 100 years old and was built with socialist inspirations before gradually growing into a booming metropolis. Moty showed us Tel Aviv’s historical center and places such as Dizengoff Avenue, named after Tel Aviv’s first mayor, and Ben Gurion House, home of Israel’s founder and first prime minister. We also had the chance to discover Tel Aviv’s Souq before meeting with the French ambassador to Israel, Eric Danon. He talked to us about the war in Ukraine, chang-

ing dynamics in the Middle East following US disengagement, the

for many to learn more about Jewish traditions and customs.

UEJF had invited campus associations, be they political, cultural, or environmental, to send one or two representatives to take part in the trip. For a week, we would explore Israel’s historic sites, meet with members of Israel’s civil society, and enjoy spending time in the region that us Mentonese students have been studying so passionately. signing of the Abraham Accords, and France’s role in the region. We also met Denis Charbit, a leading French political scientist on Israel and the history of Zionism. We concluded the day by celebrating Shabbat together, an opportunity

During Shabbat, the day of rest, most of us used the opportunity to freely walk around Tel Aviv and discover other parts of the city.

Some headed to Yaffa, where the beautiful coastline along the Mediterranean Sea could be admired. On the walk to Yaffa, our surroundings shifted to more heavily reflect the Palestinian and Arab culture and lifestyle. After Shabbat was over, we had the occasion to dive into Tel Aviv’s nightlife, which is also one of its most popular attractions.

On our last day in Israel, we met

students from Tel Aviv University and paid tribute to Ytzhak Rabin, a former prime minister murdered by an Orthodox nationalist in 1994, who was heavily involved in the signing of the Oslo Accords.

After six days packed with experiences and memories, it was time for us to head back to the airport for our flight back to Paris.

When studying the Middle East, it is always enriching to visit the region to build on what we have learned in the lecture room. Visiting Israel has definitely contributed to my understanding of the region, its dynamics, and its conflicts.

I would like to thank the UEJF France and the UEJF of Sciences Po, especially Cécile Toussaint, for their hard work and dedication in making this trip possible and accessible to all of us. It was definitely a week to remember.

24

Sports

APRIL 2022

Sports Recap — April 2022

Article by Hugo Lagergren, staff reporter

Football

United and Red Bull Leipzig also won their respective quarter-finals.

struggling AS Roma.

With only four games remaining, and just one point separating Chelsea and Arsenal, the tension is ri-

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, Jurgen Klopp (pictured left) and Pep Guardiola (pictured right) battle each other in England after years of versing in Germany. as Villareal managed to eliminate Photo by Mehdi Bolourian, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0> favorite Bayern Munich with a late goal from Samuel ChukwuePossibly the biggest surprise of With 29 out of the 32 teams having sing in the Women’s Super League, ze, setting up a semi-final against the competition was Glasgow’s already qualified for the 2022 as Arsenal attempts to steal the title Liverpool. Karim Benzema Rangers reaching the semi-finals Qatar World Cup, FIFA completed off Chelsea. Defending champions maintained his brilliant form by of a European tournament. This the draw of the group stages, clasChelsea, who have held the title eliminating the defending chamis the first time a Scottish side has sifying the 32 possible contenders for two years running now, will be pions, Chelsea, with a devastating reached the last four since 2008. into 8 groups. This decides the without star striker Fran Kirby for hat-trick, sending Real Madrid thpaths each team must take if they the rest of the season. Her absence, rough. Real Madrid will play Man In the inaugural season of the are to reach the World Cup final. according to Chelsea manager City, as Pep tries to win the only Europa Conference League, EuroEmma Hayes, can be attributed to trophy that pe’s tertiFollowing a poor display of form, a case of “fatigue.” has eluded Following a poor display of ary club OGC Nice dropped out of contenhim during form, OGC Nice dropped out football tion for the Champions League, In the Women’s FA Cup, Chelsea his time at of contention for the Champi- compedespite reaching the final of the beat rivals Arsenal comfortably to City. ons League, despite reaching tition, French Cup. This has undoubtedly reach the final, where they will play the final of the French Cup. Olymdampened the mood on the Côte Man City at Wembley.

The Europa This has undoubtedly damp- pique de D’Azur, as Nice look likely to miss League, ened the mood on the Côte Marseout on the top-tier of European On March 22, FC Barcelona UEFA’s D’Azur, as Nice look likely ille, has football, once again. With six announced a four-year partnership second tier to miss out on the top-tier managed games left in the season, none of with UNHCR. Audiences will see competiof European football, once to reach which are against teams currently the UN Refugee Agency’s logo tion, also again. the sein the top five, Nice are looking appear on the back of the Barceproduced a mi-finals, to reverse its poor form by taking lona kit. Moreover, the Barcelona number of where it the maximum number of points Foundation pledged to supply shock results. The biggest was Eint- will play Dutch side Feyenoord. possible whilst also hoping that the UNHCR with an annual €400,000 racht Frankfurt’s defeat of BarceLeicester City defeated PSV to set teams above them drop points. cash contribution and an additilona at the Camp Nou. West Ham up a semi-final against Mourinho’s onal annual €100,000 worth of

Sports

APRIL 2022 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.

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 tournaOn March 22, FC Barcelona ment, holding off late announced a four-year part- pushes from Cameron nership with UNHCR. Audi- Smith and Rory McIlroy. ences will see the UN Refu- Last year, Scheffler finisgee Agency’s logo appear on hed 18th and his highest the back of the Barcelona finish at any previous kit. major was fourth place.

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

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.

25

La saison des Invincibles Article par Samy El Maloui, chroniqueur invité Le bruit du ballon en cuir qui roule sur le terrain synthétique.

Les éclats de voix, pour exprimer la désapprobation face à un geste raté ou l’émerveillement suivant un dribble chaloupé. La sueur stigmate de l’engagement des joueurs sur le pré (ou le cardio aberrant de certains, mais c’est un autre sujet).

Les premiers automatismes qui se forgent et les premières affinités qui se créent. Le temps était doux en cette soirée qui marque la fin du mois d’août et tout doucement celle de l’été. La semaine d’intégration, les rencontres entre 1A et 2A (voire 3A un peu trop accrochés à la perle de la french riviera), l’agitation estudiantine dans la cité mentonnaise, mais surtout, la reprise de la pratique du sport roi pour les lions des Alpes. La rareté du fait donne de la valeur à la chose. Après quasiment un an d’arrêt en raison d’une pandémie qui avait mis un terme dès octobre 2020 à la rencontre, à l’interaction, au contact, à la vie en somme. Mais enfin, c’était le moment. Nous étions fringants. Après deux mois de vacances où certains traînèrent leurs carcasses à Dubaï et d’autres en Franche-Comté (grand respect pour le Football Club de Sochaux Montbéliard nonobstant), les mines étaient pleinement revitalisées, les jambes fourmillantes à l’idée d’un objectif. Le seul, l’unique, celui qui prenait toute la place dans les esprits et surtout celui du néo-capitaine : le Minicrit.

Devenu un mythe pour certains, la compétition fétiche des campus de

Sciences Po avait semblé avoir disparu pendant deux longues années estampillé COVID-19. Les joueurs étaient donc logiquement surmotivés à l’idée de se frotter aux dijonnais, havrais, nancéiens, parisiens, poitevins et autres rémois. Mais avant cette perspective excitante, il s’agissait de s’entraîner dur pour arriver prêt et ne pas être frauduleux à Nancy, ville d’accueil du Minicrit pour cette année. Ainsi s’enchaînèrent les séances, montrant le talent exacerbé de certains, destinés aux plus grandes carrières mais qui se retrouvaient sur ce terrain de foot

Nour Dermoug reçoit le ballon pendant un entraînement de l’équipe.

Photo courtesy of BDS

à 5 miteux dans une ville peuplée en majorité de vieillards séniles.

Les semaines passèrent, au gré du passage au temps automnal puis hivernal, l’obscurité de la nuit qui arrivait de plus en plus tôt, la présence de certains qui se faisaient de plus en rare, en corrélation avec le

26

Sports

froid mordant qui avait remplacé de Oro, Diego Maradona, avait la brise chaleureuse de l’été révolu. foulé de ses pas en mai 1995 ?

Le mois de novembre marquait un Notre capitaine, fort de ses talents match contre l’école de commerde persuasion et négociation, se ce niçoise de l’IPAG dont vous lançait alors dans ce qui serait un connaissez sûrement l’épilogue bras de fer avec celle-dont-on-ne: rappelons que ces cuistres de doit-pas-citer-le-nom, la terrible, futurs dévots à la start-up nation l’infernale, la coriace… administrane méritaient sûrement pas de tion. Par respect pour ses membres l’emporter mais sans rancune, nous qui ne sont pas tous à blâmer dans avions un cette joueur de affaire, champ et L’administration ne semblait nous utiaccessopas vouloir répondre à nos liserons irement revendications légitimes, uniquedanseur celles de perpétuer l’héritage ment ce émérite pré-Covid de nos prédéces- terme dans les seurs qui s’entraînaient lors plus buts. Mais des matinées du cinquième général alors que jour de la semaine... Alors désignant l’année que l’espoir semblait mort et l’institubattait son enterré, et que le rêve de se tion à l’oplein et que mouvoir sur le terrain syn- rigine de nous nous thétique du plus beau stade tous nos approchide la ville s’éloignait de plus atermoons tout en plus, le deuxième seme- iements. doucement stre avait apporté son lot de S’enchade la fin miracles. inèrent un du premier premier semestre, mail, un constat clair et net s’imposait deux mails, trois mails, quarante, dans les esprits. Pourquoi diable deux-cent cinquante, trois-mille ne pourrait-on pas s’entraîner sur quarante… mais toujours pas de le non moins célèbre stade Lucien réponse satisfaisante et la lassitude Rhein, celui-là même que El Pibe commençait tout doucement à faire son lit. L’administration ne semblait pas vouloir répondre à nos revendications légitimes, celles de perpétuer l’héritage pré-Covid de nos prédécesseurs qui s’entraînaient lors des matinées du cinquième jour de la semaine. Le créneau était même en temps normal entièrement alloué à cet effet alors que nous avions, pour notre part, l’obligation d’assister à des cours plus ou moins monotones. Alors que l’espoir semblait mort Naji Mari et Noor Dermoug discutent la tactique pour le Minicrit. et enterré, et que le Photo courtesy of BDS rêve de se mouvoir sur

APRIL 2022

Maxime Jbilou s’entraîne lors d’une des seules séances où l’équipe avait accès au terrain Photo courtesy of BDS

le terrain synthétique du plus beau stade de la ville s’éloignait de plus en plus, le deuxième semestre avait apporté son lot de miracles. Malheureusement, M. Amouri n’était pas toujours pas venu nous gratifier de ses talents intergénérationnels sur le terrain mais nous avions enfin eu des échos positifs et obtenu un créneau après tous ces efforts. Nous allions enfin pouvoir avoir accès à ce qui semblait être l’impossible, avec un entraîneur spécialement réquisitionné pour nous afin de nous préparer dans les meilleures conditions pour le Minicrit. Après de nombreux aléas et imprévus, qui ne l’étaient parfois pas vraiment, nous nous retrouvions dans une position difficile avec de nombreux absents avant cette compétition. Mais qu’à cela tienne ! Nous étions motivés, ragaillardis, prêts à croiser le fer avec des Dijonnais inconnus, des Poitevins forts de leur préparation digne d’une équipe professionnelle avec de (très) nombreux matchs de préparations (en même temps, que peut-

on faire de mieux à Poitiers…) et des Havrais que nous étions prêts à rétamer, pour leur montrer que la mer Méditerranée sera toujours meilleure que la Manche. Face à toutes les difficultés que nous avions pu rencontrer cette année spéciale, nous avions toujours cette fougue au fond de nous, celle du feu sacré. Le désir d’aller contre tous les pronostics, de rendre fier tout un campus, de montrer que le cholismo n’est pas mort, en bref ; montrer aux yeux du monde (ou au moins quelques centaines de sciencepistes) que oui, Menton n’est pas mort, Menton ne baissera pas la tête, Menton va rivaliser et bien plus que cela, que nous n’avons jamais été aussi forts qu’aujourd’hui, plus qu’hier et moins que demain.

« Le sport va chercher la peur pour la dominer, la fatigue pour en triompher, la difficulté pour la vaincre. » Pierre de Coubertin

Sports

APRIL 2022

Critique du film “Le Stade”

Article par Solenn Ravenel, chroniqueuse invitée

lieu sacralisé, secret, normalement impénétrable pour les mortels que nous sommes. Il permet donc de briser ce qui pourrait être appelé le quatrième mur.

Mercredi 13 mars, j’ai eu la chance d’aller voir Le Stade au cinéma. Le film réalisé par Eric Hannezo et Matthieu Vollaire est une magnifique plongée dans l’aventure Le film peut aussi intéresser les d’une saison, au sein du vestiaire fans de rugby, sans que ceux-ci du Stade supportent Toulouquelque soit votre niveau forcément sain. J’ai de connaissance du rugby, le stade entendu quelque soit votre club de toulousain. parler de cœur, le film Le Stade pourra Pour Ugo la sortie vous séduire pour une seule Mola, coach de ce raison : parce qu’il raconte, de l’équifilm, une avec passion, une passion. pe: “Ceux première qui nous dans le rugby français, depuis pluaiment un peu vont nous aimer sieurs mois. Supporters toulouun peu plus et ceux qui nous sains impatients, interviews des détestent risquent nous détester joueurs dans les médias, cela fait un peu plus.” (RMC sport). Et maintenant une semaine que ce malgré l’importance d’Ugo Mola film fait sortir le rugby du microdans ce film, permettez-moi d’être cosme du monde de l’ovalie. en désaccord avec cette affirmaBon spoiler, ce film ne révolutiontion. Chaque supporter peut se nera pas le milieu du cinéma, ni retrouver dans ce que souligne ce celui du sport. Mais pourquoi est-il film. Les discours d’Ugo Mola qui néanmoins intéressant ? rythment le film sont autant de leitmotivs qui rappellent que le D’abord, le film semble passionner rugby est un sport de “valeurs”. Il les supporters toulousains. Dans la est vrai que celles-ci souvent mises salle de Cagnes sur mer ce mercre- en avant peuvent paraître prétendi, plusieurs spectateurs arboraient tieuses, soulignant une prétendue fierement leurs maillots rouge et supériorité du rugby sur les autres noir. Cela n’est pas étonnant. Le sports. Il est bien sûr possible de Stade est peut être avant tout pour le voir comme cela. Cependant, je ses supporters, toujours présents. vois dans ces valeurs : l’humilité, Malgré le covid, malgré les stades le sens de l’équipe, le travail, la cavides, ces derniers se sont massés maraderie, l’amitié, la famille, et le au départ du bus pour encouraclub, un socle commun qui permet ger leur équipe. Des supporters à tous de se retrouver. Chaque toujours présents, même lorsque supporter peut ainsi s’identifier, le silence des stades soulignait leur quelque soit le club qu’il aime, la cruel manque. Des supporters qui famille ou les amis qui l’entourent. ont poussé leur équipe à la victoire, Le Stade, monté sans voix-off ni ou plutôt aux victoires. Celles de la interview face cam, illustre ce que coupe d’Europe et du top 14, mais les supporters aiment le plus dans aussi celles qui écrivent l’histoile rugby : les émotions. re, chaque week-end. Ce film est également une plongée dans le Pourquoi ce film peut-il aussi vestiaire de leurs joueurs préférés: intéresser les débutants en rugby?

Toi, qui n’as regardé qu’un match mais qui a zappé parce que tu n’as rien compris ! Ou encore toi, qui as seulement suivi la finale du grand chelem lors du tournoi des VI Nations ! Parce que ce film ne parle ni de jeu, ni de tactiques, pas besoin de comprendre le plan de jeu d’Ugo Mola : “bleu, bleu, munster” pour le comprendre.

Avec Le Stade, vous découvrirez le rugby sous son angle le plus beau.

Il peut être une belle porte d’entrée dans ce “sport d’initiés” (Ugo Mola). Peut être que vous serez parfois perdus pour comprendre l’organisation des compétitions, ou encore la place particulière du stade toulousain dans le rugby français et européen. Cependant, vous ne pourrez louper les larmes, les rires, les sourires. Vous ne pourrez louper ce pourquoi les supporters

27

revient sur les matchs de l’équipe de France. La première saison relate la tournée d’automne 2021 du XV de France, qui s’est achevée avec une victoire des Bleus face aux All Blacks.

La seconde saison, elle, illustre le magnifique Grand Chelem lors du tournoi des VI Nations en 2022.

La série est donc une magnifique image du XV de France d’aujourd’hui, les images des victoires et les témoignages des acteurs sont magnifiques. La série souligne le travail du staff : kinés, coachs, analystes vidéos… mais également l’importance de l’extra sportif : soirées, chansons, jeux…

Pour aller encore plus loin, si vous souhaitez en apprendre plus sur le rugby international, découvrez

Pourquoi ce film peut-il aussi intéresser les débutants en rugby? Toi, qui n’as regardé qu’un match mais qui a zappé parce que tu n’as rien compris ! ... Avec Le Stade, vous découvrirez le rugby sous son angle le plus beau. continuent semaine après semaine de se passionner pour ce sport si particulier. L’aventure humaine, racontée à travers une esthétique cinématographique : images, noir et blanc, musique… ne pourra que vous émouvoir. Et quelque soit votre histoire, vous pourrez vous identifier à ces moments de vie qui, malgré leur caractère sportif, sont souvent universels.

Si après avoir vu Le Stade, vous voulez continuer à regarder des films sur le rugby, n’hésitez pas à regarder les épisodes de la série Destins mêlés sur la chaîne YouTube de France Rugby, qui

Chasing the sun : le sacre des springboks sur Canal+. La série raconte le chemin de l’équipe sud-africaine vers la victoire de la coupe du monde en 2019. Plus sous forme de docu-série avec davantage de moment d’interviews, la série est un vrai reportage en immersion dans la préparation et la compétition des Springboks.

Finalement, quelque soit votre niveau de connaissance du rugby, quelque soit votre club de cœur, le film Le Stade pourra vous séduire pour une seule raison : parce qu’il raconte, avec passion, une passion.

28

Mdou Moctar

Arts and Entertainment

continued from page 1 in Libyan military training camps these training camps, a different The genre bending noise that in the 1970s, an intricate fusion of manifestation of the Tuareg desire flooded Paris’ 18th Arrondisse- rock, blues, and traditional Tuareg for emancipation and autonomy: ment this weekend was all thanks sounds.

Desert Blues. to Mdou Moctar – a four-piece Tuareg musical act that took the stage The Tuareg, a historically nomadic It was a band by the name of Tiof “Le Hasard Ludique” by storm, sub-group of the Amazigh residing nariwen that pioneered this genre. clad in daraa and tagelmusts, armed with electric guitars, and biting political lyrics all in Tamasheq.

About twenty20 minutes into the concert, frontman Mahamadou Souleymane stopped the music. In solemn and simple words, he stated “Africa suffers.

We are suffering.” He continued, demanding an explanation for the deployment of French and American troops in numerous African nations, stating “it is not the 15th century.”

Yet, colonial practices prevail. Souleymane described the extraction of resources from his home country of Niger at the hands of French mining com- A Tuareg man rides a camel.

Photo by Noureddine Belfethi, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0> via pexels.com panies, underlining how his people had seen no prof- in the Sahara-Sahel region, have Front man Ibrahim Ag Alhabib it from their own nation’s riches. long -faced subjugation in the na- met his band mates in a guerrilla Leaving his words to settle in the tions across which their people training camp in Libya. The young humid air of the cramped concert reside. There is a strong sepaeratist men began to write songs about hall, Souleymane stepped back, movement within the Tuareg com- their struggles, the horrors that had raised his guitar, and launched into munity, which has acted as a signif- forced them to flee their homes, a whining guitar lick. As the rest of icant source of conflict since the and the subjugation of Tuareg peothe band joined, the song took the Saharan-Sahel nations gained in- ple. They formed a musical group, form of a typical Mdou Moctar bal- dependence. In the 1980s, Gaddafi playing at weddings and parties,lad – rife with rhythm and spirit, a opened the Libyan borders to Tu- speaking to the longing and sufsoul-catching groove layered with areg refugees fleeing persecution fering of their fellow Tuareg exiles. melodic vocals and lively drums. and began recruiting them into Soon they came to be known as This interlude was a stark remind- his army. Libyan military camps “Kel Tinariwen,” which translates er that what we, the crowd, had flooded with young Tuareg men, to “The Desert Boys” in Tamasheq. gathered to listen to was not sim- fuelling a number of insurrections And so began Tinariwen, the first ply music, but a political demon- and rebellions across the Sahara in Desert Blues group, whichwho stration. Such has always been the the 1990s. However, another un- expertly combined traditional case of desert blues – a genre born expected outcome emerged from Tuareg sounds with bluesy gui-

APRIL 2022

tar riffs and unfalteringly political lyrics. In 1985, Tinariwen set up a makeshift studio where they wrote and recorded songs. They offered these recordings for free to all who could provide a blank cassette tape.

These tapes were exchanged and dispersed across the Sahara by rebel groups fighting for Tuareg independence.

Ti n a r i w e n were the first of many bands from the Sahara-Sahel region to use music as a tool both in support of their own p e o p l e’s spirit and to draw the eyes of the world to their suffering. Mdou Moctar in many ways is inspired by Tinariwen’s model.

Especially with regards to his most recent album, “Afrique Victime,”, Mdou Moctar’s lyrics are harshly anti-imperialist. Although distinctly Tuareg in musical style, “Afrique Victime” speaks for the continent of Africa as a whole, using music to condemn its exploitation and violation by Wwestern powers. During his speech regarding the modern colonial behaviour of France, Souleymane pleaded with the audience to write to their politicians and to condemn the French government for acts often not properly documented by Wwestern media.

Mahamadou Souleymane is Tuareg, born in a small village in the

APRIL 2022

mid-80s in Niger. Due to resistance interview, stating “I am calling the from his parents, Souleymane took whole world to stand up and revolt up guitar, first by fashioning bike against the conditions we face. We wires to a piece of wood and teach- don’t have the technology here in ing himself to play in secret on this Niger to manufacture weapons, so makeshift instrument. Inspired by how are they entering the country? music emerging from the neighbouring coun- The music of Mdou Moctar is try of Nigeria, Moctar not only a stunning auditory fused traditional Tuareg experience, but also deeply sounds with drum ma- powerful and moving. Such is chine tracks and auto- the nature of political music, tune. His creations be- for it is from conflict and margan to circulate around ginalization that the most the Sahara, and some- compelling art arises... Mdou how made their way to Moctar, in its embrace of this American music blog- genre, has extended its politger Chris Kirkley. Awe- ical demands to represent all struck by the musical those that suffer beneath the innovation Moctar was burden of imperialism. creating, Kirkley departed to Niger to attempt to find the Why are other nations storing tools mysterious musician behind these of war on our land? France, the US, haunting tracks.

NATO — they’re all complicit.

After successfully locating Souley- Why are they here? Why?” Soumane, Kirkley’s label, Sahel sounds, leymane offereds a damning final helped to produce a number of sentiment: “They’re playing with Mdou Moctar albums which have my people.” garnered increasing international recognition. But music for Sou- Mdou Mmoctar utilizses itstheir leymane is merely an accessory music to dissolve the simplistic to his central mission of bettering portrait of the marginalizsed as the lives of those within his com- weak and miserable. ItThey draws munity. Each time Moctar releases attention to the evils of imperialism an album, he builds a well, a vital through a medium which showcasresource in his community where es the joy and beauty of Tuareg culaccess to water is a continual issue. ture. Souleymane is shockingly talSouleymane lives and works for ented, a compelling speaker, and an the most part in Tahoua, he knows internationally recognized artist, all the community, plays at local wed- the while remaining an integral part dings, and rents out his car for a of his community. He advocates for small fee – that is, when he’s not his people from within. touring the world with his band. In The music of Mdou Moctar is not recent years, the fame achieved by only a stunning auditory experiMdou Moctar has provided Sou- ence, but also deeply emotionleymane with a platform to prop- al. Such is the nature of political agate his message tofor Wwestern music, for it is from conflict and powers and audiences. In an inter- marginalizsation that the most view with Dazed magazine, Souley- compelling art arises. Desert blues mane stated that French “[French] have provided the Tuareg with a companies have extracted all the means to document itstheir struguranium and gold in Niger but help gle, to draw the eyes of the world none of our problems. I’ve seen it to itstheir needs. Mdou Moctar, in since I was a small child. It’s mod- its embrace of this genre, hashave ern slavery, racism, and colonialism extended itstheir political demands combined.” He continueds in this to represent all those that suffer beneath the burden of imperialism.

Arts and Entertainment

29

Arab Netflix: To Stream or not to Stream?

Article by Lara Nour Walton, staff reporter 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 interna-

tional 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.

30

Arts and Entertainment

APRIL 2022

La Chapelle Saint-Pierre: un chef d’oeuvre à Villefranchesur-Mer

“Car il ne s’agit plus de créer une belle oeuvre, mais de créer la plus belle des œvres et que sa puissance secrète rayonne avec une douceur pareille aux rages dévastatrices d’un explosif (...)

Toutes les courbes doivent être des arcs qui tirent directement leurs flèches dans le cœur.”

Jean Cocteau Article par Maria Azadian, chroniqueuse invitée Tout a commencé quand une enseignante d’arts de mon école s’est débarrassée d’un vieux tas de cartes postales. Ayant commencé ma collection depuis quelques semaines seulement , cette pile de supposés détritus m’a attirée. J’en ai piqué deux ou trois, un peu au hasard. L’une des cartes postales représentait l’affiche du Testament d’Orphée: le dernier film du réalisateur Jean Cocteau.

Je l’admets, celle-ci est restée affichée sur mon mur pendant quelques mois, sans que j’y pense réellement. Ceci, jusqu’à un fameux jour l’an dernier où j’ai pris la décision que ma quarantaine passée à visionner The Office pour la onzième fois m’ennuyait un peu trop.

J’ai jeté un autre coup d’œil à ma carte postale, et j’ai tapé les mots “Jean Cocteau Orphée” sur le clavier de mon portable.

Depuis, comme j’ai eu la chance de m’installer sur la Côte d’Azur, je tiens à visiter ses traces dans la région où il a passé la dernière partie de sa vie. La visite de la Chapelle Saint-Pierre est une étape essentielle pour mener à bien cette mission.

Mais qui est Jean Cocteau?

Pour commencer, il faut dresser un portrait de Jean Cocteau. Un homme de haute moyenne classe qui a perdu son père par lesuicide, homosexuel dans une societé qui ne l’acceptait pas mais également apolitique pendant une periode où il ne fallait peut-être pas l’être: Cocteau est un personnage compliqué.

L’artiste publie son premier recueil de poèmes, La Lampe d’Aladdin, inspiré des Mille et Une Nuits, à l’âge de 20 ans. Au début de sa carrière, il se lie d’amitié et participe à la création des Six, un groupe musical néoclassique d’avant-garde. Cocteau et les six musiciens se font connaître pour passer de nombreuses soirées au cabaret-bar parisien Le Boeuf sur le Toit.

Cocteau devient un artiste extrêmement prolifique. Dans ses livres, films, et pièces de théâtre, son style néo-classique le démarque et le révèle comme anti-moderniste. Un thème récurrent dans ses œuvres reste l’intersection entre le désir et le pouvoir, surtout à travers ses représentations de l’homme “idéal”, “héroïque” – des représentations naïves – qui font écho à l’art grec classique antique.

La Rue Obscure de Jean Cocteau qui se trouve a Villefranche-sur-Mer.

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/bysa/4.0>

Il passe également du temps au Moyen-Orient. Sa tournée de trois mois, de mars à mai 1949, pour la représentation de plusieurs de ses pièces l’amène, entre autres, à Beyrouth et en Égypte. Il documente son voyage dans un journal, qu’il publie plus tard sous le titre de Maalesh.

Sa trilogie Orphique, composée de Le Sang d’un poète (1930), Orphée (1950) et Le Testament d’Orphée (1960), qui met en vedette Jean Marais, constitue une merveille du cinéma avant-garde du vingtième siècle. Un mélange magistral du mythe et de la réalité au point que l’un ne se distingue pas de l’autre, une étude de la logique du rêve, alliés à une esthétique irréprochable font de ceux-ci des classiques du film français.

Cocteau est décédé le 11 octobre 1963 dans son château à Milly-laForêt, quelques heures après avoir appris la mort de son amie proche, Édith Piaf. Il est enterré sous la

Chapelle Saint-Blaise dans cette même ville.

Jean Cocteau à Villefranche-sur-Mer Cocteau a séjourné plusieurs fois à l’hôtel Welcome, à Villefranchesur-Mer. Son ami Albert Lorent, délégué au tourisme de la ville, l’invite d’abord à exposer une œuvre à l’entrée de la chapelle. Pour ceci, Cocteau dessine un visage en face de la fameuse rue Obscure. Suite au grand succès de ce dessin, Lorent lui offre la chance de décorer la Chapelle Saint-Pierre, qui deviendra par la suite l’une de ses œuvres les plus remarquables pendant sesannées sur la Côte d’Azur. Il repe int cette ancienne chapelle de pêcheurs datant de la fin du 16ème siècle en 1957, alors qu’elle était encore utilisée comme remise à filets. Aujourd’hui, à moins d’une dizaine de minutes de marche de la station de train de Villefranchesur-Mer, elle représente un des plus grands chefs-d’œuvre de la Côte

APRIL 2022

d’Azur.

Bien que l’entrée soit quelque peu coûteuse – trois euros pour une visite qui dure à peu près une vingtaine de minutes – soyez rassuré ! Celle-ci en vaut réellement la peine. Malheureusement, vous ne serez pas autorisé à photographier l’intérieur de la chapelle. Par contre, dès l’instant où vous poserez les pieds à l’intérieur, vous serez transporté dans une réalité autre et lointaine, séparé de la rue animée seulement par un mur d’une épaisseur de quinze centimètres.

Les yeux dorés et présents à chaque côté de la porte sont répliqués sur deux chandeliers sur l’autel, se trouvant eux-mêmes à chaque côté d’une statuette d’un oiseau en envol. Ils vous donnent l’impression d’être observé pendant que vous vous promenez dans la chapelle.

Ils vous tiennent responsable des endroits où vous choisissez de vous arrêter, de ceux que vous choisissez d’examiner plus en détail comme ceux que vous manquez.

Les murs sont décorés de fresques représentant des scènes de la vie méditerranéenne et de l’apôtre Saint Pierre. Le plafond, quant à lui, est recouvert de représentations hypnotisantes d’anges. Les couleurs douces et les lignes peu définies des fresques sont intentionnelles, pour donner l’impression d’être dans un paradis nuageux, brumeux - comme dans un rêve.. Le style de Cocteau est simple, presque naïf représentatif de la mentalité de l’artiste. Cependant, il reste évocateur et puissant.

Jean Cocteau est inextricable de l’héritage artistique de la Côte d’Azur. Après un brunch dans un des petits restaurants sur le bord de mer, la chapelle Saint-Pierre est un incontournable de toute visite à Villefranche-sur-mer.

Arts and Entertainment

One step forward for South India

31

The success of Bridgerton

Article by Lenora D’souza, staff reporter Radiant greenery, the abundant culture and bewitching landscapes that make up the basis of South India. Recent years have seen an increased amount of South Asian representation and characters of color in the limelight of Hollywood.

However, nothing quite sparked conversation like the new season of Bridgerton, which saw two main South Indian female leads.

Bridgerton has surpassed Indian cinema — Bollywood — in all aspects of promoting women of color and shedding a different light on them than before. Bridgerton has placed them in a light of appreciation and beauty. After the release of this new Netflix series, we are seeing a widespread romanticization of South Indian women, and a newfound admiration for their culture, charm and allure. Bollywood, on the other hand has had a history of downplaying and even denigrating South Indian women, favoring fairer skin as the status quo. The constant advertising of ‘Fair & Lovely’ — a skin brightening cream — has made younger girls feel the need to lighten their skin tones in an unhealthy manner.

Bridgerton, in that respect, broke past the long built up Indian stereotype of darker skin tones being unwanted and undesired. Yet, the insufficient research and awareness of Indian diversity in culture and time frame, takes away from what was achieved. The two leads Simone Ashley (Kate Sharma)

Photo courtesy of netflix.com, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0> via Wikimedia Commons

and Charithra Chandran (Edwina Sharma) come from South India, but the specific region or location remains a mystery. The name ‘Sharma’ is typically a North Indian name that counterfeits their South Indian origins. The melange of languages used by the characters ranging from Hindi (‘didi,’ which means sister) to Tamil (‘appa,’ which means father) to Bengali (‘bon,’ which means sister) displays the lack of attention to detail from the playwrights. Additionally, the entrance line of ‘baap re’ (‘Oh Father’) by Kate Sharma is highly inaccurate for the regency era the series is set in. Such a phrase would not be used by a woman of high status. Whilst the distaste for British Tea was widely acclaimed, the ‘Masala Chai’ with its range of aromatic spices was only introduced long after the Indian Regency era which ended in the 1820s.

Despite this lacking in detail and accuracy, we can focus on what Bridgerton got right. The integration of Indian culture into multiple scenes of the show presents a massive win for many. The ‘Haldi’ ceremony

prior to the wedding, the jewellery, the details and colors of their gowns, the hair oil massage, and the use of Kate’s full name at the end of the season. All these factors mark success and wins for South Indian women. Whilst Bridgerton may not have proved perfect, it achieved more than Bollywood has in its past few decades. We could focus on the imperfections, but then we would completely miss the main point of the show and all that it does for South Indians.

From a personal standpoint, Bridgerton’s second season made me feel proud. It didn’t really matter whether the show denoted Indian culture down to a T, what really mattered was this interpretation and viewpoint that South Indian women are truly beautiful. It felt like magic to see women who shared similar if not the same skin color as me and I think that was the most powerful aspect of the show.

Bridgerton renewed my appreciation for my culture and roots — a feat that not many shows have had the power to do.

32

Arts and Entertainment

APRIL 2022

L’expansion de l’art engagé en Algérie

Article par Raja Madani, chroniqueuse invitée “C’est pourquoi il faut que les artistes, les écrivains et les savants, qui ont en dépôt certains des acquis les plus rares de l’histoire humaine, apprennent à se servir contre l’État de la liberté que leur assure l’État” Pierre Bourdieu À l’occasion de la Semaine des Arts ayant récemment eue lieu à Sciences Po, cet article s’intéresse à l’utilisation de l’art comme moyen d’engagement politique, en prenant pour angle d’étude la place prépondérante occupée par l’art engagé en Algérie, dans la quête de liberté et dans la manifestation des espoirs.

Trois ans maintenant. En un vendredi ensoleillé de la fin du mois de février 2019, la jeunesse algérienne avait gagné les rues des villes principales du pays pour protester contre l’éternelle reproduction d’un système politique qui l’étouffe.

Ce moment de symbiose qui a progressivement réuni les multiples spécificités de la population a donné lieu , par sa répétition chaque mardi et vendredi, à celle que l’on qualifie aujourd’hui de « révolution du sourire », ou autrement dit: de Hirak. La population algérienne, encore très marquée par la violence extrême qui l’a touchée au plus près lors de l’épisode de la décennie noire des années 90, a dû s’armer d’outils lui permettant de faire circuler en puissance ses revendications, tout en plaçant la paix en véritable maître mot du mouvement. L’art est alors apparu comme le moyen de combiner ces objectifs.

L’art et la dénonciation, des éléments qui s’auto-génèrent Paroles extraites du chant de supporters, devenu chant de manifestants algériens, lui-même inspiré de la chanson de lutte des ouvrières des rizières de la Vallée du Pô Bella ciao : « La Casa Del Mouradia », Ouled El Bahja. ‫ حشاوهانال بالعشرية‬،‫» نقولوا جازت‬ « Le premier {mandat}, on dira qu’il est passé.

Ils nous ont eu avec la décennie {noire} ‫فالثانية الحكاية بانت‬ “La Casa Del Mouradia » Au deuxième, l’histoire est devenue claire, La Casa d’El Mouradia {= commune à Alger} ‫فالثالثة البالد شيانت مالمصالح الشخصية‬ Au troisième, le pays s’est amaigri. À cause des intérêts personnels « ‫ ومازالت القضية‬،‫فالرابعة البوبية ماتت‬ Au quatrième, la poupée est morte… Mais l’affaire suit son cours ».

Via le mouvement de protestation du Hirak sont nés au sein de la société algérienne des artistes qui ont su puiser dans leur inspiration de quoi servir la cause de la dénonciation. Le mouvement s’est présenté pour chaque algérienne et chaque algérien comme une vérita-

L’école Luce Benaben de la couture arabe.

Photo courtesy of Library of Congress, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-sa/4.0>

ble occasion de développer une elles montreront comment des fibre artistique jusque-là peu en- citoyens anonymes se sont mobicouragée. C’est par exemple le cas lisés ». Parmi les talents méconnus de Liasmine Fodil, habitante de la révélés par le Hirak, on retrouve ville de Tizi Ouzou, qui a vu dans également Mohamed Kechacha, le mouvement du Hirak l’occasion chanteur de chaâbi: un genre mude se reconvertir en photographe, sical algérois. Ce dernier s’est fait afin d’être d’une utilité à la commu- connaître par son vidéo-clip intitnauté des insurgés. Elle expliquait ulé 1000 milliards, en référence aux il y a quelques mois son choix au rentes pétrolières du pays. Enfin, média Web Arts Résistances par et surtout, la foule en elle-même a un devoir constitué un d’ i n f o rAujourd’hui encore, l’art, corps d’arm a t i o n parce qu’il est un instrument tistes à l’unicet de de contestation pacifique qui ité foisonmémoire revêt une efficacité prouvée, nante. Par la envers les est un objet soumis à une création de f u t u r e s menace de musèlement que chants et de g é n é r a - la population algérienne n’a slogans, de tions : « de cesse de défier. pancartes, Je sentais de danses, q u e ou encore de c’était urgent de dire que ça se pas- peintures : de semaine en semaine, sait partout et pas seulement dans l’expression artistique a su se dévella capitale. {…} Dans quelques an- opper au fur et à mesure que le nées nos photos seront des archives, mouvement évoluait.

Arts and Entertainment

APRIL 2022

33

Le Kasbah d’Algers Photo courtesy of Iñaki do Campo Gan, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>

En parallèle à ce foisonnement de nouvelles voix artistiques du Hirak, des artistes algériens affirmés de plus longue date ont su faire de leur art un instrument en faveur de la lutte pour la liberté et la démocratie en Algérie. C’est ainsi qu’en 2019, dans son célèbre titre intitulé « Liberté », le rappeur Soolking chantait le ras-le-bol des algériens envers le caractère sans issue de leur système politique. Il a fait de son morceau une véritable ode à la liberté, à laquelle il aspire pour l’Algérie. Mais impossible d’évoquer la combinaison du mouvement de contestation du Hirak avec l’art sans avoir une pensée particulière pour les caricaturistes. Sous le ton de l’humour, ces derniers ne manquent jamais d’exposer leur point de vue et de partager avec les Algériens des dessins de presse toujours plus engagés. De cette manière, des dessinateurs de presse comme Le Hic, Nime, Dilem ou encore Slim, en n’ayant de cesse de mêler art, humour, et conscience politique, se sont érigés en véritables symboles d’une autodérision voilant à peine un sens profond.

Un phénomène raciné

en-

Bien qu’il ait connu un essoufflement particulièrement important avec l’épisode sanglant de la décennie noire, il serait erroné de croire que l’art engagé était inexistant avant sa montée en puissance au moment du Hirak. On a en effet tendance à oublier que ce dernier a joué un rôle considérable dans la construction et la consolidation de l’identité nationale algérienne dans la période 1952-1970. Face à ce constat, l’historienne Anissa Bouayed, dans son ouvrage L’art et l’Algérie insurgée. Les traces de l’épreuve : 1954-1962, s’est donné pour mission de traiter la Guerre d’Algérie à partir des productions artistiques de peintres internationaux et algériens. De Issiakhem, à Khadda tout en passant par Fares, l’autrice de ce livre d’art particulièrement novateur tend à expliquer que «l’’œuvre est sans doute au-delà de toute catégorie englobante. Elle rend compte dans un condensé fulgurant, des positions critiques majeures con-

tre la guerre, et des aspirations à la liberté, à la fois en dénonçant la torture dans plusieurs tableaux et en représentant les manifestations algériennes ».

Une menace de censure qui demeure

tiques et de la société civile, ainsi que des journalistes, simplement parce qu’ils avaient exprimé leur opinion ou fait leur travail ». La liberté d’expression se voit alors particulièrement menacée en Algérie ces dernières années et les artistes n’en sont pas moins épargnés. Aujourd’hui encore, l’art, parce qu’il est un instrument de contestation pacifique qui revêt une efficacité prouvée, est un objet soumis à une menace de musèlement que la population algérienne n’a de cesse de défier.

Le 16 décembre 2019, l’artiste bédéiste Nime a été condamné à un an d’emprisonnement pour ses dessins politiques. Le 10 août 2020, c’est le journaliste et activiste Khaled Drareni qui a été condamné à trois années de prison ferme pour En parallèle à ce foisonnedes activités liées à son ment de nouvelles voix artismétier. Plus récem- tiques du Hirak, des artistes ment, le 4 janvier 2021, algériens affirmés de plus le jeune artiste Walid longue date ont su faire de Kechida a été à son tour leur art un instrument en condamné à trois ans de faveur de la lutte pour la prison ferme. Pas plus liberté et la démocratie en tard que dans son rapAlgérie. C’est ainsi qu’en port annuel 2021-2022, 2019, dans son célèbre titre l’organisation de défense intitulé « Liberté », le rappeur des droits de l’Homme Soolking chantait le ras-leAmnesty International bol des algériens envers le dénonçait l’arrestation caractère sans issue de leur et la détention de « censystème politique. taines de militants poli-

34

Arts and Entertainment

APRIL 2022

La Semaine des Arts — Realizing Your Inner Artistic Potential

Article by Colin Lim, staff reporter

the Minicrit in collaboration with the Bureau des Sports (BDS), and a chant-learning session at Soundproof.

During the week of April 11-15, the Bureau des Arts (BDA) organized the Semaine des Arts to gather the Sciences Po Menton communi- The focal point of this week of celety and highlight students’ artistic bration was the live performance in abilities in a supportive and welcoming environ- 2A Eliana Seroussi, the BDA ment. president, reflected on her

relationship with the arts:

The BDA hosted events “Honestly, the arts mean throughout the week, everything to me. I couldn’t collaborating with othimagine my life without at er student associations least a hint of creativity. and inviting external It just means being free, guests.

On campus, speaking with something othstudents could frequent er than words, and connectthe second-hand vintage ing with people on a level you clothing stand run by would have never expected.” entrepreneur Giulia Castellucci, attend theater workshops the grand amphitheater on Thursled by comedian Lucas Gimello, day evening — the culmination participate in a dance workshop of weeks and months of preparataught by Marie-Pierre Genovese, tion by dozens of students who and learn dabke, a Levantine dance performed with their clubs, friend workshop guidedby 1A Riwa Has- groups, and artistic workshops. san in collaboration with Sciences The building’s main entrance showPalestine. Other festivities includ- cased a student art gallery that feaed a bake sale to raise funds for tured numerous physical mediums

Arabic calligraphy lines the walls of Sciences Po campus of Menton.

Photo by Hugo Lagergren

Photographs from students are exhibited at the entrance of the campus.

Photo by Hugo Lagergren

such as mosaics, ceramics, photographs, and Arabic calligraphy.

The show in the grand amphitheater began with the music club’s energetic performance of “Runaway Baby” from Bruno Mars’ debut album, followed by “Redbone” by Childish Gambino. Vocalist and guitarist Sienna Bertamini (1A), bassist Saoirse Aherne (1A), and drummer Cameron Sterling (1A) faithfully captured the spirit of the original renditions of both songs while adding a unique flair in their interpretation. Shortly afterward, Raphaël Phanor (2A) captivated the audience with an eloquent French spoken ode to the memories he made and the people he met during his two years in Menton. He concluded his talk with a poignant reminder to the rising 2As that it will not be too long before they are in his position, reminiscing on the time they spent at Sciences Po. There were other musical performances and short theatrical pieces, and an improvised percussive jazz and maqam-inspired piece by

the vocal music artistic workshop.

The evening was rounded out by the oriental dance and polyphonic singing artistic workshops and a lively routine by the cheerleading team.

The show was an opportunity for students to celebrate one another and discover the latent talent within their classmates. The entire week would not have been possible without the time and effort of the BDA. 2A Eliana Seroussi, the BDA president, reflected on her relationship with the arts: “Honestly, the arts mean everything to me. I couldn’t imagine my life without at least a hint of creativity. It just means being free, speaking with something other than words, and connecting with people on a level you would have never expected.” She continued, “Of course, organi(zing the events) is tiring and takes up your energy and commitment, but in the end it’s all worth it, as long as it gets one person to smile and escape for a bit. That’s the beauty of art.”