“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…” or so the story goes. Christopher Columbus discovered a new continent, invited the locals to the first Thanksgiving, and oversaw the creation of a new world – one with star-spangled freedom at its heart. God bless America, right? As we know today, this tale is only plausible if […]
Tag: France
Behind the Facade of French Colorblindness
If you’ve ever taken a train through the less glamorous fringes of Paris, you’ve seen another side of the city, one that is a far departure from Hollywood fantasies. There’s a palpable gulf. Before reaching the glamorous eighth arrondissement and scenes that look straight out of Emily in Paris, one must traverse what the French […]
How the French Left Shot Itself in the Foot
Just a few months ago, leftists and liberals worldwide braced for a grim future. Right-wing parties and candidates across Europe—boasting a common catalog of xenophobia, Euroscepticism, and Islamophobia—were gaining traction. In elections for the European Parliament, these parties rattled long-standing balances. The once-taboo, far-right National Rally (RN) in France trounced President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist coalition, […]
France Constitutionally Protects Abortion in Monumental Vote by Legislators
In an era where reproductive rights are a hot-button issue in many countries, France has managed to explicitly codify abortion within its constitution—the most extensive protection of abortion and assertion of reproductive rights a nation has enacted in history. In response to an amalgamation of tension elsewhere over abortion, as well as persistent activism within […]
The Dangers of Politicizing Western Humanitarian Aid
At the dawn of the 20th century, failing dictatorships and crumbling empires left millions of people vulnerable to poverty, hunger, war, and extermination. The “free” world, with all its graciousness, has aided tens of nations to alleviate their suffering. Statistically, numerous humanitarian assistance projects, which the Western bloc primarily manages and funds, have shaped the […]
How Government Inaction Threatens Migrants’ Lives in a French Refugee Camp
Every year in northern France, between the popular tourist venues of the Opal Coast and the cold Flemish beaches at the border with Belgium, thousands of people hide behind dunes and between bushes waiting for the sun to set. When the sky is dark and the air still, they drag on the shore precarious embarkations—commonly […]
France’s Ban on Religious Symbols Violates Free Expression
France, a nation with a history entangled with the church and fraught with religious conflict, has become staunchly secularist in modern politics, prompting a decades-long political controversy over the existence of Islamic symbols in public schools. On September 4, 67 girls were sent home from French public schools after refusing to remove their abayas, a […]
How Gabon’s Coup Marks the End of an Era for France
On August 30, shortly after President Ali Bongo was reelected for his third term, a group of Gabonese military officers from the presidential unit seized Bongo, his son, and six other individuals and held them prisoner in his palace. The instigators of the coup justified this abduction on account of Bongo and his accomplices allegedly […]
Situating Haiti’s Current Crisis Within a History of Imperial Abuse
The small Caribbean nation of Haiti is currently experiencing a crisis, the likes of which are difficult to comprehend. Having seen its president assassinated by foreign mercenaries two years ago, it currently has no elected government officials; the entire nation, but particularly the capital Port-au-Prince, is ravaged by gang violence, kidnappings, and murders; nearly half […]
Reworking Rocky Relations: What Burkina Faso’s New Alliances Mean for the Region
Last month, Burkina Faso rocked global news when it announced the termination of its military agreement with France. The ex-colonial European power had been occupying the jihadist-hit West African state since 2014. It has dispersed around 400 special troops in efforts to expand its presence in the Sahel region. Burkina Faso is still combatting an […]
What is Driving the Rise of Anti-Immigration Sentiment in Europe?
As the far-right Sweden Democrats party won 20 percent of the votes in Sweden’s general election this September, many predict the rise of the nationalism and anti-immigration sentiment throughout the country—even in places previously considered safe havens for immigrants. Nativist parties such as Sweden Democrats, who perceive immigrants as a threat to their state’s national […]
Where do Tacos Come from? // History of Things (Transcript)
This is a transcript of Bearly Political’s most recent podcast. Listen to the full episode here. Zachary: Like a lot of people during the pandemic, I took up a new hobby: hiking. At the time, I was living in Southern France, near these alpine foothills, and every week or so I’d trek across those Mediterranean mountaintops […]
France, The Sahelian Insurgency, Climate Change, and The Recent Coup d’etats
One Day In January Early Sunday, January 23, 2022, intense gunfire was heard outside of military bases and Burkina Faso’s presidential palace in Ouagadougou. Mutinous troops demanded the dismissal of their country’s military chiefs and more significant resources to fight the Islamist insurgency, which killed 2000 and displaced over 1.5 million in recent years. On […]
The Irony of the Balaclava
As we start our roaring 20s wearing face masks and getting vaccinated, it makes sense that companies are scrambling to meet their consumers’ needs. On top of the pandemic, climate change has been causing record-breaking cold temperature changes worldwide. Enter the balaclava—France’s newest fashion trend. As Paris continues its fashion week, viewers can expect to […]
Where Will Universal Jurisdiction Go from Here?
In mid-January, Germany drew headlines when a Koblenz court found Syrian colonel Anwar Raslan guilty of torture, murder, and sexual violence. A few months before the conviction of Raslan, a French court determined that legal action against a member of Syrian state security, Abdulhamid C., could not proceed. A common theme unites the two cases: […]
What does AUKUS mean for future geopolitics?
On September 15th, 2021, US President Biden, Australian Prime Minister Morrison and UK Prime Minister Johnson announced the finalization of a new Indo-Pacific security deal, dubbed AUKUS. At first glance, AUKUS looks like a mutually beneficial agreement. It allows for a greater sharing of intelligence from the United States and the United Kingdom to Australia, […]
Post-Charlie Hebdo: After the Nice Attacks in 2020, When Will France Address The True Elephant In The Room?
Two men march into an office building at around midday. They were not extraordinary men, yet they were loaded with rifles and other weapons. Within the next few hours, they would take hostage and kill 12 people. The two suspects identified were Said and Cherif Kouachi. The date was 7th January 2015. This would be […]
BLM Protests Challenge France’s Colorblindness
Justice Pour Adama As Assa Traoré, a French anti-racism activist of Malian descent, followed the murder of George Floyd in late May 2020 and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests that erupted across the United States, she saw in it the opportunity to seek justice for her brother and awaken a colorblind France to the […]
No Exit? A Complicated Situation for the EU in Mali
Four hundred European and Malian troops were sleeping or standing guard at the Koulikoro training center at three in the morning when the two pickup trucks drove up. The driver of the first truck got stuck on a bump outside the camp, but the second truck made it all the way to the entrance and […]
NATO: Losing Sight of the North Atlantic?
President Trump’s campaign trail rhetoric focused heavily on presenting a tough, assertive image of American power. Indeed, he broke new ground in toughness — not only did he take traditional US opponents to task, but traditional allies as well. At a July 2016 campaign rally in Wisconsin, Trump had harsh words for the North Atlantic Treaty […]
French Labor Laws: Between Liberalism and the Revolution of the Socioeconomic Order
RESOLVED: The Republic of France should liberalize its labor laws. Affirmative Constructive Speech (Laura Millo) France’s September 2017 labor reforms are vital to renew the dynamism of the French economy. The new labor laws of the French Ministry of labor adopted on September 22nd, 2017 provide more flexibility to the labor system in France. In fact, the […]
Terrorism in Context: the Stigmatization of Islam in France
With growing religious tensions in France regarding Islamism and the threat of terrorism, the stigmatization of Islam is a significant concern for the stability of France. Central to this discussion is the rising rate of Muslim conversions in France. Maia de la Baume’s article “More in France Are Turning to Islam, Challenging a Nation’s Idea […]
Qui est Emmanuel Macron?
On the evening of May 7th, spectators across the world took a deep breath of relief, as French rejected an extreme-right presidential candidate. Despite the (at least) momentary respite and the soaring optimism in the ‘heart of Europe’, the question remains if the new President, Emmanuel Macron, can transform the momentum of his campaign into […]
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité threatened in 2017 French Election
A conservative wind is sweeping through the so-called Western liberal democracies- staunching liberal reform and creating a political conversion of protectionism intertwined in a nationalistic discourse. France has proven no exception to this political trend. In the wake of the April 23 presidential election, two populist candidates- Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron are leading […]
France’s Burkini War: Conflating Islam and Terrorism
On July 28, the French Riviera town of Cannes implemented a new law that would quickly become a trend: they banned the wearing of the “burkini”, a full-body covering swimsuit that allows conservative Muslim women to cover up while at the beach. A number of coastal French towns soon followed suit, leading to incidents such […]
The Deal of the Decade
Many thought this day would never come. In an interesting turn of events, negotiations between the United States and Iran over a developing nuclear deal are currently underway. Secretary of State John Kerry has led negotiations with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif over a deal in which sanctions on Iran would be lifted on […]
A Story of Sisyphus – Islamophobia
The start of 2015 has been wrought with extremism: from the Charlie Hebdo attacks to an increasingly violent ISIS, Islam has began the year with an increasingly detrimental reputation for terrorism and chaos. However, in light of the recent tragedy in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where a Caucasian man murdered three Muslim university students, important questions […]
Paris, Baga, and Peshawar
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] World leaders gather at the unity rally in Paris, France on January 11th to show solidarity for survivors of the Charlie Hebdo attacks. On January 9th, African militant group Boko Haram carried out a violent attack in the northeastern Nigerian town of Baga, killing an estimated 2,000 people and causing the mass flight of […]
Britain De-Unionizing
Britain is closer than ever to walking out of the E.U. Source: conservativehome.com After narrowly dodging a political bullet when the 2014 referendum for Scottish independence failed to pass, British Prime Minister David Cameron found himself caught in yet another European political struggle, this time on a larger scale. Now, Cameron faces newfound political […]
The Anti-Israel Alias: The European Disguise for Anti-Semitism
Europeans insist that since World War II, their society has largely overcome any remaining anti-Semitic biases, and has successfully transformed into a progressive, tolerant culture. This widespread belief can be attributed to European leaders who have publicly attacked anti-Semitism and promoted meaningful discussions about the Holocaust, as well as the existence of numerous laws against Holocaust denial. However, twenty-first century […]
The Re-Emergence of the European Far-Right
This article originally appeared in the Winter 2013 print edition, which can be found here. Walking through a neighborhood in England while campaigning for the 2010 parliamentary elections, Gordon Brown encountered Gillian Duffy, a loyal Labor Party voter. Brown, former Prime Minister and leader of the Labor Party, was likely expecting a normal campaign meet-and-greet […]