Le Soulèvement des Femmes Arabes

Edition Avril 2013
Journal étudiant du Campus Moyen-Orient Méditerranée
Retrouvez tout nos articles sur www.lezadig.com
Yellah Mentonminions, spring has arrived! The sun is out, bringing warm sandy beaches, budding flowers, singing birds, and a mindboggling amount of work. That’s right, a classic love story: while the weather has morphed into that glorious temptress who drew us to
this city, we are inside. Reading.
But this past weekend brought a much-needed break from all this. The Menton branch of Model United Nations hosted MEDMUN, the
first MUN to take place on this campus. As a novice to MUN, I was intrigued to understand this cult-like attitude of those who have previously participated. Phrases such as: “France was so annoying today, I’m just going to align with Denmark instead,” “China, if you unite
with us, we’ll ignore the human rights violations ” or “Yo, did you see India hooking up with Belgium last night?” finally have begun to
make sense. The idea of merging international politics with young adult social interactions is quite an ambitious one. Yet, as I witnessed
over the past three days, the two combine quite nicely. It was interesting to be around familiar faces, yet looking at them in completely
new light. I watched a Norwegian morph into the UK, a German staunchly defending Israel, an American embodying the USSR. My
committee attempted to renegotiate the war in Lebanon in 1982, while ECOSOC battled out the role of woman after the Arab Spring.
Meanwhile the Arab League, as they put it, “solved the issues of the Middle East.” While some argue that this is just an official game of
Pretend, to me it was a relief to see a concrete example of the politics that we have devoted three years to study. It was nice to see progress, to work on negotiation skills, and to view these issues through a new lens.
Needless to say, I am a quick-convert to these conferences, for by the end of day one, I found myself turning to Ireland and saying “God,
I wish Japan would just make up his mind.”
So as we enter this final month of classes, I urge everyone to embrace what we are doing here and to remind ourselves that we are all here
together. I have a renewed appreciation for this community and a new appreciation of this campus, for remember: even if we cannot be
on the beach, we have an unbeatable view of those who are enjoying the sun.
Stay strong and shine on,
Olivia Wolpe
2
Sommaire / Table of Contents
Avril 2013
APRIL / AVRIL 2013
Culture
Upcoming Plays
3
International
This Week in the World
6
Sexual Violence: A Raising Concern Both Domestically and Globally
8
Claire Lanini
9
Kathleen Sullivan
9
Seth Huiras
Trouble at the Pyramids
11
Rolf Braathu
Le Soulèvement des Femmes Arabes
12
Malek Lakhal
14
Hussan Gudal
14
Raphaël Beauregard Lacroix
15
Anaïs Pacheco
Asia
Sledgehammer Sham
USA
As Court Dates Approach, Public Statements Released
on Same-Sex Marriage
Arab World / Monde Arabe
Sub-Saharan Africa / Afrique Subsaharienne
Robin Hood Complex
Ideas / Idées
L’Europe des Musées
MEDMUN
“From an infinitely Mediterranean city, a new vision
of the Mediterranean and the United Nations.”
Avril 2013
Upcoming plays
3
4
Upcoming Plays
Avril 2013
Avril 2013
Upcoming plays
5
6
This Week in
Avril 2013
Canada: Liberal Party of Canada will elect their new
leader this week.
USA: Boston Celtics perform surprisingly well after losing two starters
to season-ending injuries.
USA: American Idol’s final 8 contestants will
compete on Wednesday.
USA: Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of gay marriage
this week.
USA: March Madness, the university basketball tournament has begun.
USA:Last week, scientists at a meeting in Texas said it was likely that a
speeding comet, and not a meteor, hit Earth 65 million years ago and
causing the end of the dinosaur era.
Irak: Al-Qaeda has begun
retaliating against the
government through
bombings and kidnappings
throughout Shia
communities. This is just a
few weeks after the 10th
anniversary of the Iraq War.
Saudi Arabia: 3 major
cities of Saudi Arabia
went dark for Earth Day
this year.
Iran: Celebrated the
Persian New Year, Newroz,
last week.
Pakistan: Former military
ruler Pervez Musharraf of
Pakistan will return to the
country after four years in
exile.
Avril 2013
The World
Norway: Norwegian
soccer team lost to
Albania last week.
France : SciencesPo Paris,
Campus du Menton, hosted
MEDMUN, and held the firstever MUN council in Arabic.
France: PSG has played against
F.C. Barcelona.
Italy: Last week,
President Napolitano
asked the leader of
the Democratic Party
in Italy to form a
government.
Sweden : Skiing
championships are
going to be held in
Falun.
Belgium: A recent survey
pointed out that 7 our of 10
people in Brussels opt for
Brussels’ independence in a
case of a Belgium split-up.
However, the survey also
showed that only 1 out of 3
people think that the split will
take place.
Germany: Germany might
join the UK and France on
supplying to Syria rebels.
Foreign minister Guido
Westerwelle signaled
openness towards
negotiations about the
BSUEN. However, there is
still a lot of skepticism,
Austria:
Snowbombing
Music
Frestival kicks
off this week.
Bosnia: Zeljko
Komsic’s new
party will be
called the
Democratic Front.
Morocco: Frustration is
growing as plans to close
the “abbattoir a
Casablanca” this week.
After being a center for
cultural events for many
years, the owners are
thinking of closing due to
high property taxes.
7
Turkey: The government
is reaching out to PKK
leaders in prison Abdullah
Öcalan
with the mediation of
BDP (Kurdish Political
Party) to end the 30 year
war and bring peace to
Turks and Kurds so they
can live together.
Lebanon :
Lebanese Prime
Minister Najib
Mikati resigned
last week. The
reason is rumored
This Week in the World
Contributions thanks to MEDMUN delegate
Compiled by Olivia Wolpe
At this past weekend Mediterranean Model United Nations Conference (MEDMUN), hosted by SciencesPo Menton’s MUN chapter, Le Zadig asked for events that are happening, this week in the world,
ranging from culture to sports to politics.
8
International
Sexual Violence: A raising concern both domestically and globally
by Claire Lanini
On March 17th, Trent
Mays, 16 years of age, was
sentenced to two years in prison and Ma'lik Richmond, 16,
was sentenced to one year for
raping a 16-year old girl at a
football party in Steubenville,
Ohio the night of August 11th,
2012. During the course of the
night, photos and video of her
being violated were uploaded
to social media sites including
Instagram and Twitter. Both
boys played football for the local team, the Big Reds. This
case is far from unique, but the
way the media has portrayed it
and how the public has reacted
speaks volumes about a deeper
issue present in society.
The media has tended to
focus on the boys' side of the
story. Candy Crowley, a reporter for CNN opened a broadcast
on the day of the trial by explaining that it is "incredibly
difficult...to watch what happened as these two young men
that had such promising futures, star football players, very
good students, literally watched
as they believed their lives fell
apart." An article from The
Guardian published on the
same day quickly summed up
the situation: "At issue for
many residents was not the
specifics of the case alone:
whether two stars of the town's
much-loved high school football team raped a drunken teenage girl during a night of wild
parties... It was also whether
the town itself was being seen
to be on trial."
But perhaps even more
telling are the comments not on
the news. Nate Hubbard, one of
Big Red's coaches has been
quoted as saying "The rape was
just an excuse, I think. What
else are you going to tell your
parents when you come home
drunk like that and after a night
like that? She had to make up
something." On Twitter, many
have blamed Jane Doe for
"asking for it."
The truth is that there is an
imbalance between how rapists
and victims are represented,
especially when the victim is
female. Too often the victim is
told that they were the one at
fault and so rape often goes unreported. It was indeed only on
March 20th that CNN published an article entitled "What
about the Victim?"
A Global issue:
At the end of December 2012,
in India, a twenty-three year
old woman was murdered after
being the victim of a gang rape.
In the capital of New Delhi,
there were six hundred and
thirty-five reported rape cases
in 2012, but only one made it
to court. In January of this
year, The Guardian estimated
sixty-nine thousand females
and nine thousand males are
raped every year in England
and Wales alone, but less than
sixteen thousand are recorded
by the police, and less than a
thousand five hundred are convicted.
Avril 2013
According to the World
Health Organization, 30-60%
of women will be victims of
sexual and domestic violence
and yet the United Nation's
Convention for the Elimination
of All Discrimination Against
Women, adopted in 1979 by
the General Assembly is
signed, but not ratified by the
US and South Sudan, and is not
signed at all by the Holy See,
Iran, Sudan or Somalia.
But there has been progress:
A petition on Change.org calling for CNN to apologize for
its sympathetic portrayal of the
Steubenville rapists has currently amassed more than two
hundred and fifty thousand signatures. In the United States,
the Violence Against Women
Act, originally passed in 1994
under Bill Clinton, was reauthorized in 2005 by Barack
Obama, while an extension of
the bill passed in February of
this year. It now includes provisions to set aside government
funding to ensure the quality of
rape test kits, to increase preventative programs on campuses, and to close the gap between the number of domestic
and sexual assaults committed
and the number reported.
What remains to be done:
The underlying issue is
still how we view victims, especially female victims, of sexual assault and domestic violence. Lindiwe Mazibuko, the
parliamentary leader of the
Democratic Alliance in South
Africa has contended: "We live
Avril 2013
in a deeply patriarchal and injured society where the rights
of women are not respected.
Indeed, there is a silent war
against the children and women
of this country – and we need
all South Africans to unite in
the fight against it."
The knee jerk response is
too often to that the woman
should have acted differently she shouldn't have let herself
get drunk, she shouldn't have
worn that short skirt - but rarely do we hear the blame immediately being put on the rapist.
But why is it the case? Does it
not put the man in the default
position of a rapist?
As the status of women in
society continues to improve,
women will be seen less as sexual objects or a means of proclaiming authority and power.
But it will take more than a
class on gender violence while
incarcerated or a short-term jail
sentence to change the way we
think about rape and victimization, and what is says about us
as human beings.
Asia / Asie
Sledgehammer Sham
By Kathleen Sullivan
Turkey is often portrayed as a progressive and secular, the poster-child for Middle Eastern democracy. But the
completion of a series of questionable trials this March suggests another trend in Turkish
politics.
Asia
When the Justice and
Development Party (AKP)
came into government, they began to subtly eliminate their
opposition. The first group they
targeted were military officers,
followed by journalists, professors, and people working for
NGO’s. Countless arrests were
made, and the accused were
held for years at a time in special detention facilities without
being informed of the charges
being brought against them.
In the Sledgehammer trial, which began in 2010, 365
high ranking military officers
and two civilians were charged
with planning a terrorist plot to
overthrow the AKP government. The evidence brought by
the prosecution was full of
holes, such as one alarming
fact that a report referred to a
file written in 2002 that used a
font not introduced by Microsoft until 2007. The prevalence of this type of mistake
has led many to the conclusion
that most, if not the entire trial
was forged.
The Turkish army is entrusted with the duty to intervene in the government if the
republic is threatened. It is a
traditionally strong institution,
and was considered a staunch
protector of secularism, though
it is weakening under Erdogan’s government, who has
vastly changed this perception.
On September 21, 2012,
roughly 300 of the military officers accused in the Sledgehammer plot were sentenced to
prison terms, ranging from six
years to lifelong terms.
9
A small segment of
Turkish society supports a diminished role of the military in
preserving the republic, and
therefore is not opposed to
these events. However, another
segment contends that, even if
something regarding the military’s role should be changed,
sham trials like this are not the
solution; they are unlawful and
undermine the nation’s democratic principles.
In March, 64 people, including high ranking retired
military generals, professors,
NGO workers, and journalists
were sentenced to intensified
lifetime imprisonment. They
were accused of actively trying
to overthrow the government,
similarly to the military officials convicted in September.
These affairs show that
the credit given to Turkey as a
model for other countries, particularly those emerging from
the context of the Arab Spring,
may in fact be a distorted image.
USA
As Court Dates Approach, Public Statements Released on Same
-Sex Marriage
By Seth Huiras
The American Academy
of Pediatrics (AAP), the
world’s largest pediatric publisher, released a statement Thursday endorsing same-sex marriage and adoption rights in the
10
USA
United States no matter the pa- The Court will also address
rents’ sexual orientation.
whether a marriage is defined
as only between a man and a
Its policy statement, Promoting woman — a controversial decithe Well-Being of Children sion by the state of California
Whose Parents Are Gay or Les- known as Proposition 8.
bian, said research shows that
Barack Obama became
no causal connection exists bet- the first sitting president to puween parents’ sexual orienta- blicly support same-sex martion and children’s emotional, riage, and recently, other public
psychosocial and behavioral leaders have followed suit. Last
development. Moreover, a two- week, Hillary Clinton said the
parent family is in the best inte- LGBT community deserves
rests of children because of the equal rights as citizens. Refersecurity and socio-economic ring to marriage for lesbian and
support it provides. This posi- gay couples, she said, “I suption will be a factor in the port it personally and as a matupcoming decisions about the ter of policy and law.”
constitutionality of same-sex Republican Senator Rob Portmarriage.
man has also announced his
The academy also said it re- support for gay marriage after
ported that it views the Defense learning his son is gay, making
of Marriage Act (DOMA) as him the only sitting Republican
unconstitutional because it senator to support gay mar“denies members of married riage. He is not unique in his
same-gender households access views, and many Republicans
and benefits equivalent to those have recently asked the Suavailable to households headed preme Court to declare gay
by married parents of different couples’ right to marry as consgenders.”
titutional.
This statement was released at
Aside from politicians,
a critical time when many are public support for gay marriage
reevaluating their position on has also gained traction. A regay-marriage. The Boy Scouts port from the Pew Research
of America, for example, are Center showed that Portman’s
currently surveying the organi- reasoning is the most popular
zation on whether gay mem- among Americans for supporbers and leaders should be ban- ting same-sex marriage.
ned.
The report, titled Growing SupOn a national level, two port for Gay Marriage:
Supreme Court cases will de- Changed Minds and Changing
cide the future of gay marriage Demographics, was released
next week. A review of same- Wednesday and said that “rise
sex marriage laws will take in support for same-sex marplace centering on the benefits riage over the past decade is
of DOMA and topics such as among the largest changes in
social customs and religion. opinion on any policy issue
Avril 2013
over this time period.” According to the center’s 2013 survey, 49 percent of Americans
supported same-sex marriage
while 44 percent opposed it. A
2003 poll reported 33 and 58
percent respectively. A third of
respondents said they changed
their views because they know
someone who is homosexual.
This month, a number of
other associations have reinforced their support for same-sex
marriage. The American Psychological Association (APA),
the world’s largest association
of psychologists with over
137,000 researchers and members, said same-sex couples
cannot be denied marriage or
the benefits of it based on
scientific reasons. The association reaffirms that same-sex
couples are as likely as heterosexual couples to raise healthy
children. Its brief to the Supreme Court expressing scientific backing for same-sex marriage will play into the court’s
decisions regarding marriage as
an institution.
Not all organizations side with
the AAP, however, such as the
Heritage Foundation, the Love
and Fidelity Network and the
National Organization for Marriage. The Heritage Foundation, for example, supports the
idea of traditional marriage, a
stance taken to move the debate away from gay rights. The
foundation’s report released
last week says that redefining
marriage would deny “the idea
that children need a mother and
father,” and it would lower incentives for a husband to stay
Avril 2013
Arab World / Monde Arabe
The report also mentions how a
new definition would erode religious liberties, which has
been a point of contention
against opponents of Proposition 8 and DOMA.
Arab
World
Monde Arabe
/
Trouble at the Pyramids
By Rolf Braathu
Egypt has been marred
by political intrigues and disputes ever since Mohammed
Morsi came to power after the
democratic elections of 2012.
However, Egypt does not just
face problems in the political
sphere of life, but in the economic one as well.
Egypt currently has an
unemployment rate of approximately 13%, which would be
deemed fairly “unhealthy” by
most economists. Moreover,
the Egyptian public debt currently stands at over 80% of the
country’s GDP, signaling that
the government has taken a few
liberties in the past with regards to loans. There are now
demands from the IMF that
Egypt cease to provide much
needed subsidies to bread and
other foodstuffs within the
state. By doing this, food prices
would drastically rise, compared to present day levels,
which would put further pressure on the Egyptian populace.
Ever since the dissolution of the Egyptian lower
house, the situation in Egypt
has been rather tense. The second chamber of the parliament
has acted as the official legislature in the meantime, with the
intention of doing so until new
elections for the lower house
are held in April this year.
Some would cite this as
the main reasons as to why
Egypt has stalled on accepting
the abovementioned IMF loan
of 4.8 billion USD. It is believed that once the elections
have been held, and some sense
of calm is returned to Egypt,
the procedures enabling the
Egyptian state receive the loan
can be undertaken. Then again,
this all depends on politics, so
nothing is for sure.
In the times of Nasser
and Sadat, the Egyptian economy was much more central
than it is today. It was during
Sadat’s infitah reforms in the
1970s that the Egyptian economy abandoned its socialist credentials and began to embrace
the capitalist open market
economy. This lead to the government privatizing a large
amount of once public firms, as
well as opening up the country
to foreign direct investment.
Though over 6 million Egyptians still work for the state today, it is a lower ratio than it
was before, and much lower
compared to the ratio of public
sector workers to private sector
workers in, for example, the
Gulf states. Around 80% of the
Kuwaiti labor force works for
the government, in some way
or another, which creates high
amounts of inefficiency in the
11
economy.
As a result of the privatization process, a minority of
the
Egyptian
population
achieved extremely high levels
of wealth as a result of doing
business with foreigners or acquisitions of companies. Meanwhile, the Egyptian middle
class withered and a large portion of Egyptian society today
live on wages below the poverty line.
Perhaps the lesson we can draw
from this is that too much liberalization may be harmful to
economies and its people.
Maybe Egypt could have
learned something from former
developing countries such as
Japan and South Korea, or even
the Anatolian Tigers in achieving economic growth beneficial
to the majority of the populace.
A decrease in tensions of
the country would certainly
help in increasing business
confidence though the high unemployment rate is a frightening pair of digits to keep in
mind. The fact that the IMF has
the discontinuation of certain
food subsidies on its list of demands if Egypt were to accept
the loan, is also troubling, and
certainly why Morsi does not
want to go through with it
now; the last thing he wants is
further demonstrations against
higher food prices.
However, a loan is a
loan, and this loan will have to
be repaid sometime in the future. Indeed, to pay back such a
loan will be a challenging feat
considering the amount of
money the Egyptian state
12
Arab World / Monde Arabe
spends on the infamous subsidies per year. Further reform in
Egypt may be needed to stimulate the economy and help the
Egyptian people regain some of
its footing.
The Keynesian in me
would argue that the Egyptian
state ought to use a chunk of
that IMF money, once it’s
granted, to increase government spending in the economy.
After all, your income is my
income. An increase in government spending ought to stimulate other parts of the economy,
and if the central bank were to
decrease interest rates as well
through increasing the money
supply, Egyptian businesses
would be encouraged to invest
more in the economy.
However, these are all the random-though I would dare to
say, somewhat logical, albeit
too theoretical- musings of a
student not living in Egypt.
There are bound to be thousands of other variables that
will react and affect such
changes; it’s not all just about
theory. Spending time in Cairo
and familiarizing oneself with
the workings of the Egyptian
economy would be the thing to
do.
The bottom line is that the
Egyptian economy is still reeling, even after the inlet of democracy into the country. We
will have to wait and see first
how the political issues in
Egypt are resolved, worthy of
another article, before further
conclusions can be drawn.
Once that is done, we will see
how the IMF loan, if it is taken
up, will affect Egypt’s economic outlook; sadly, jobs are not
guaranteed by having free and
fair elections.
Le Soulèvement
Femmes Arabes
des
Par Malek Lakhal
Depuis plusieurs mois,
une page Facebook agite le
paysage arabe « The Uprising
of Arab Women ». La fête de la
femme a été l'occasion pour le
mouvement de sortir des écrans
d'ordinateurs et de passer directement dans la rue avec des
campagnes publicitaires de
sensibilisation à la cause féministe dans le monde arabe.
L'occasion de revenir sur le féminisme dans le monde arabe :
Un sujet qu'on pourrait ressasser des jours durant tant il est
sujet à polémiques, à débats,
tant le chemin qui reste à parcourir semble long et tortueux.
Si l'homme arabe est un soussujet traité comme un minable
dont on peut aisément disposer,
la femme, elle, est encore
moins. La femme dans le
monde arabe, c'est la mère et
puis tout le reste, c'est des hymens à protéger, des libertés à
confisquer, et quelques poignées de cheveux à couvrir. Sa
sentence est double, l’État reconnaît expressément son infériorité, et une bonne partie des
débats qui passionnent les
foules traitent de son corps, de
son apparence, du degré de liberté à lui accorder, et de
Avril 2013
l'autre côté, dans la société,
c'est une pas grand chose, voir
bien souvent une rien du tout.
Sans vouloir tomber dans les
clichés, mais combien de
femmes, transportées comme
du bétail pour combler les fantasmes d'un quelconque magnat
du pétrole ? Ou bien, ce jeune
homme, qui, lassé de l'âpreté
de la misère, espérait vendre sa
petite sœur à quelque obèse du
Golfe, assoiffé de chair juvénile contre laquelle frotter la
sienne ?
Bien sûr ce sont quelques
cas extrêmes, la plupart des
femmes ne passent pas par là,
mais au fond, que savonsnous ? Combien de jeunes
filles retirés de l'école pour aider leur mère au ménage ?
Combien d'enfants (toujours
des filles) données par leurs familles à une riche famille, qui
va soit disant l'éduquer et l'intégrer à la leur, alors qu'elle ne
fera que servir ses « frères » et
« sœurs » qui eux, ont eu la
chance de naître sous de meilleurs auspices.
Et même les bons auspices semblent bien maussades
à mieux y regarder, car la
femme dans le quotidien, c'est
l'éternelle harcelée. Pas une seconde où l'on puisse marcher
sans ressentir une quelconque
tension : je me rappelle encore
cette fois où m'étant posée
seule sur une plage pour lire un
bouquin, un jeune homme s'est
assis à côté de moi, pour me
faire la conversation ; et qu'au
bout de dix minutes de réponses acerbes, ouvertement
méchantes, m'étant mise en tête
Avril 2013
Arab World / Monde Arabe
de le chasser à force de me moquer de lui, c'est quand même
moi qui ai fini par me casser
tant il insistait, tant mes paroles
passaient sur lui comme du
vent. Ça m'a rappelé cette
vieille expression qui dit que
quand une femme dit « non »,
c'est un « oui, mais ». J'avais
insisté sur mon « non », j'avais
pris beaucoup de plaisir à le
mettre en gras, à le souligner,
et pourtant, rien. Je n'étais toujours que ce « oui mais »,
j'étais une femme, ma parole
valait à peut près un bout de
pain rassis. C'était gênant.
Il est assez déconcertant
aussi de découvrir, des fois, à
quel point on n'est pas la bienvenue dans la rue : Si on met
de côté les sifflements, les
klaxons, tous ces petits signes
d'une inutilité assez ahurissante
pour signifier à la femme
qu'elle est plaisante, il y a aussi
des aspects plus clairs, mais qui
ne donnent pas lieu à une confrontation : par exemple, les
regards quelques peu ahuris de
certains quand des femmes entrent dans un bar, ou s'installent
dans un café habituellement
réservé aux hommes, ou justement, dans certains bars, voir
avec amusement que dans les
couples, on verra souvent
l'homme boire une bière tandis
que la femme boira un jus, en
évitant de jeter des regards autour d'elle.
Il y aurait milles autres
anecdotes à raconter, des bien
moins drôles, d'autres un peu
plus. Mais ce n'est que pour illustrer le degré de contrôle auquel les femmes sont sujettes :
leur corps est contrôlé, on attend d'elle des comportements
clairement définis qui se résument à être une bonne épouse
et une bonne mère, certains
lieux lui sont fortement déconseillés, les assemblées débattent de leur statut complémentaire à l'homme ou pas (dans un
pays qui se targue depuis une
éternité d'être un précurseur en
matière des droits de la femme,
féminisme d’État, qui justifiait
aux yeux de bon nombre de
pays occidentaux la « douce
dictature tunisienne ») ou encore, si elles sont toujours
bonnes à baiser six ou neuf
heures après la mort. On entendra des gens parler d'excision,
de vertus, de pureté, de chasteté.
Mais la partie vient à
peine de commencer, car enfin,
les femmes bougent, commencent à réclamer. Elles vont aux
manifestations et de là, réclament l'égalité. Elles manifestent pour leurs droits, et à
quelques masochistes près,
celles dont le cerveau a moisi à
force de le plonger dans les
chaines qui diffusent des prédicateurs dont la taille de la barbe
rivalise avec celle de leur connerie, elles veulent l'égalité. Ça
se bat comme ça peut : les
femmes bourgeoises d'un côté,
les ouvrières de l'autre, les manifestations de prostituées,
celle des chômeuses, toutes
s'approprient l'espace public,
toutes crient pour leur droits,
toutes se battent contre les
mille et une injustices quotidiennes qu'elles doivent subir
au nom de la prétendue supé-
13
riorité de l'homme : celle qui
fait que l'homme le plus minable, celui qui sera traité
comme un bout de moisi dans
la société pourra toujours se
consoler en humiliant quelque
femme qui passera son chemin.
Ça se bat pas toujours de
la bonne façon, souvent on verra les femmes non-voilées mépriser les voilées qu'elles trouvent soumises, alors que toutes,
de la doctorante à la cuisinière
sont victimes du patriarcat, on
verra des femmes, notamment
en Tunisie, réclamer le maintien du Code du Statut Personnel (le texte de loi datant de
1956 qui donnait aux femmes
la quasi égalité avec les
hommes) alors qu'il y a deux
ans, elles voulaient le modifier
pour supprimer toute trace
d'inégalité. On verra des
femmes dire que le Coran ne
veut pas de cette égalité, intériorisant elles-mêmes l'idée
qu'elles sont inférieures. On
verra une fille se mettre nue sur
le web, pour dire merde à tout
le monde, et surtout aux soit
disant progressistes qui chuchoteront paniqués « ce n'est
pas le moment », comme s'il
fallait attendre gentiment que
certains daignent voir en la
femme plus qu'un appareil génital, pour commencer à s'exprimer.
Les lignes commencent à
bouger, et les femmes les bougent elles-mêmes, dans tous les
pays, elles ont compris que
pour le coup,l'un des aspects
les plus saillants de l'unité
arabe résidait dans le fait d'être
traitée comme une chose, une
14
lutte pour l'émancipation des
femmes ne pourra aboutir que
si elle est portée par toutes les
femmes, transcendant les frontières et les a priori. Si « on ne
nait pas femme, on le devient », la femme arabe pourrait ajouter « on n'est pas rien,
on vous prévient »
Sub-Saharan Africa
angry Somali fishermen then
decided to join forces and
board foreign vessels to demand “fees,” effectively acting
as coast guards, but more badass. The report also points out
that these defensible beginnings have evolved into a ruthless multimillion-dollar enterprise. Today, pirates are
blunt about their motives. In
2012, a band of pirates seized a
Ukrainian freighter and demanded $25 million for its release. When pirate Ahmed Ali
was asked about the incident,
he told a reporter: « We just
want the money. »
Idées / Ideas
L’Europe des musées
Afrique
Subsaharienne
/
SubSaharan Africa
Robin Hood Complex
By Hassan Gudal
A recent report by the
Brussel-based NGO International Crisis Group shows that
many Somali pirates see
themselves as the good guys.
And at one point in history,
they actually were. After the
government in Mogadishu collapsed in 1991, neighboring
countries began to illegally fish
in Somali waters with an estimated $300 million in tuna,
shrimp and lobster being
poached every year. A group of
by Raphaël Beaucregard Lacroix
L’Europe des musées,
c’est elle que les touristes veulent voir. Ils n’ont que peu à
faire
des
banlieues,
de
l’extrême-droite et de la pauvreté. L’Europe est un exotisme
connu, une autre sans les désagréments de l’Asie ou de
l’Afrique. Une autre accessible
et développée, on y trouve encore du beurre de peanut. Les
problèmes,
lorsqu’on
les
évoque, on les met sur le dos
d’une forme d’immoralité, ou
d’exagération dans le progressisme : après tout, c’est à Amsterdam qu’on peut « fumer » en
toute tranquillité et en Belgique
qu’on peut amener grand-papa
qui en a assez d’avoir mal…
Avril 2013
que d’immoralités! Et puis ces
problèmes ne nous concernent
pas puisque l’on vient en Europe pour y voir des musées,
des ruines, des vieilles choses
qui témoignent d’un temps qui
baigne aujourd’hui dans un formol romantique. On y passe et
ne revient plus.
Le concept de voyage se transforme toutefois, car les touristes ne sont plus seuls : en effet, les semester abroad font
voyager tout un chacun et on se
pose certes moins de questions
sur la signification de vivre, ne
serait-ce que pour peu de
temps, en un autre endroit. Il
devient ordinaire de voyager et
par ce nouveau type de « touriste » l’autre est beaucoup
moins « autre » qu’il l’était auparavant (on veut tout de même
avoir ses propres photos du Colisée!), mais aussi parce que le
semester
abroad, le voyage en
Avril 2013
Europe du jeune adulte américain marque le passage d’une
certaine époque de la vie et
l’appartenance à un groupe
plus large. On s’éloigne du touriste ordinaire, peut-être, mais
ce qui est étrange est la routinisation.
Certains pourraient dire que
c’est déjà bien qu’il y ait plus
de voyages qu’il y en avait
avant; toutefois, la routinisation
du processus enlève un exotisme à la 1000e photo du colisée que l’on voit passer sur Facebook. Lorsqu’on le fait soimême, c’est une expérience
marquante, certainement, et positive aussi. Mais il reste que
Avril 2013
l’esprit est tourné différemment; on ne part plus maintenant de la même manière que
l’on partait il y a 10 ans, 20
ans. S’il y a danger, c’est dans
le fait de ne pas s’en rendre
compte.
Malgré tout, le temps
reste nécessaire pour comprendre les « vraies différences
», celles qui comptent vraiment. La routine et la banalité
qui guettent, un jour peut-être,
le fameux semester abroad,
pourraient nous les faire oublier, au profit de l’Europe des
musées.
MEDMUN
“From an infinitely
Mediterranean city, a
new vision of the Mediterranean and the United Nations.”
Par Anaïs Pacheco
Pendant 3 jours, près de
150 étudiants ont envahi les
salles de classes et les amphithéâtres du campus MoyenOrient
Méditerranée
de
SciencesPo Paris. Venus d’horizons divers; de l’Université
de Princeton (Etats-Unis) au
lycée François d’Assise Nicolas Barré (Monaco), les
« délégués » du MEDMUN ont
pu se mettre quelques temps
dans la peau de grands diplomates à l’ONU. Débattant de
sujets tels que « la condition de
la femme au Moyen-Orient
avant et après le Printemps
MEDMUN
arabe » ou encore de la prévention
du
cyber-terrorisme
(« Prevention
of
Cyberterrorism »), le MEDMUN
était pour beaucoup d’entre
eux, leur première expérience
des Model United Nations. Et
ce ne fût pas des moindres.
Farshid Farouk, honorable délégué du Rwanda dans le comité anglais « Security Council »
et étudiant en 1ère année Programme Français sur le Campus de Menton (SciencesPo Paris) témoigne : « J'étais dans le
Conseil de Sécurité et bien
qu'au début déçu d’être le
Rwanda, j'ai appris que,
comme l'a dit l'invité Qatari :
Size doesn't matter. Mon comité
m'a énormément plu, il était
dynamique, les délégués étaient
très bons, en particulier ceux
de la Russie et de la Chine
(après tout ce sont ceux qui ont
gagné des prix). Je referai le
MEDMUN l'année prochaine
et compte faire d'autres MUN.
Comme anecdote, vers la fin, le
Comité Anti-Terroriste a décidé
que l'OTAN allait envahir la
Syrie et en moins de 4 minutes,
nous avons pu trouver un consensus et faire passer une résolution, nous avions l'impression
d'avoir sauvé le monde, enfin,
le monde de MEDMUN. »
C’est exactement cette sensation qu’aura laissé cette première édition du MEDMUN, à
la grande majorité des délégués. « Sauver le monde », résoudre les conflits, c’est ce à
quoi aspirent certains d’entre
eux comme Hind Alaissi qui
voudrait un jour être diplomate : «Étant moi-même une
15
étudiante en école de commerce qui envisage une carrière diplomatique, ce MEDMUN a renforcé mon enthousiasme et mon intérêt pour les
métiers de la diplomatie et les
carrières proposés par l'ONU.
Pourquoi l'ONU? Pourquoi ne
pas rejoindre plutôt un cabinet
de conseil ou d'audit ou un
fonds d'investissement qui affiche une santé financière vigoureuse et un taux élevé de
satisfaction-client? Pourquoi
se lancer plutôt dans la quête
semé d'embuche pour entrer
dans une institution qui aux
yeux de certains médias et
hommes politiques n'a pas encore gagné un bâton de maréchal ? Parce qu'il le faut. Au
risque d'être vue comme une
idéaliste de plus. Au risque de
ne pas voir les décisions votées
appliquées d'une manière satisfaisante. ».
Les délégués avaient le choix
lors de leur inscription entre
des comités en anglais pour
ceux préférant la langue de
Shakespeare, des comités en
Français pour les fidèles de
Molière (Enormes remerciements à Juliette Esneau), et
pour la première fois dans
l’histoire des Model United
Nation, un comité en langue
arabe !
Dans le comité français,
le plus jeune délégué, Lilian
Vimal de Murs (Lycée François
d’Assise Nicolas Barré de Monaco) a été aussi le plus jeune
délégué primé lors de cette première édition du MEDMUN.
Le MEDMUN pour Lilian ?
« Pour une première expé-
Avril 2013
rience, je trouve le MUN vraiment génial, enrichissant culturellement, intellectuellement et
tous les autres éléments qu’on
pourrait y ajouter. De quoi renvoyer au bac à sable tout ce
que je fais au lycée, c’est déprimant. Voir des gens du monde
entier avec des opinions différentes et qui pensent différemment etc… c’est vraiment génial. Sortir de son petit microcosme habituel en quelque
sorte, c’est vraiment une expérience de partage de valeurs
magnifique ». C’est donc avec
des rêves plein en tête que le
jeune homme retourne au lycée
MEDMUN
où il étudie en classe de première. Il envisage même de
créer un MUN à plus petite
échelle dans son établissement,
un « MUN familial » entre lycées monégasques et quelques
étudiants du campus de
SciencesPo.
Le comité français, animé par
un président (Selim Khrouf) et
un vice-président (Aghilès AïtLarbi) a eu beaucoup de succès.
Le plus par son nombre de participants mais aussi par son
nombre de résolutions, en aura
vu naître six en trois jours, dont
les ¾ ont été adoptées.
Pendant ce MEDMUN, les
16
« délégués » ont eu la possibilité d’assister aux conférences et
de poser des questions à des invités prestigieux tel que
l’Ambassadeur du Qatar à
l’UNESCO ou encore le président de la FAO, Mr Alhéritière.
Au terme de cette conférence,
des prix ont été remis aux meilleurs délégués de chaque comité. Marwan Issa, honorable délégué de la Syrie, a reçu le titre
de « meilleur délégué du comité ECOSOC » après avoir défendu avec talent et persévérance, les intérêts d’un pays qui
ne figurait pas parmi les plus
simples du MEDMUN . C’est