28/09/2023
N°8 – Into The Flames
This summer, Nicolas and 24 other French firefighters spent a month and a half in Greece on a pre-positioning mission. The mission, which was created by the European Civil Protection Mechanism, was designed to enable units from different European countries to coordinate their forces in anticipation of the summer fires. Over the course of two months, Nicolas and his colleagues fought fires that ravaged hundreds of thousands of hectares of countryside. As the mission draws to a close, the captain looks back on these difficult weeks.
28/09/2023
N°7 – Queer in exile
As a trans person, Mark didn’t feel he was in a very “supportive environment” in his native Russia and had long dreamed of leaving. The conflict in Ukraine and the possibility of being called up prompted him to do so sooner than expected. But the various requests he has made for a humanitarian visa in order to pursue his life elsewhere, have not yet been answered, leaving Mark “stuck” in Tajikistan, for eleven months, just waiting.
10/08/2023
N°5 – Occupy McDonald’s
Nour was manager of the McDonald’s restaurant in Saint-Barthélémy, in the northern suburbs of Marseille, and is now manager of Après M, the fast-food restaurant created by former employees of the American firm after a long struggle. He has chosen to recount one of the first particularly intense stages of this struggle, which he believes proves that you have to be prepared to go all the way, because “it may take 1 year, 2 years, 10 years, 20 years, but it will pay off”.
10/08/2023
N°4 – The Two Sides Of Nagorno-Karabakh
When Marat was born in Baku in 1989, the Soviet Union was on its last legs and the first war between Armenia and Azerbaijan was breaking out. The creation of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh by the Armenians living in the region, which officially belonged to Azerbaijan, was at stake. The first war (1989-1994) was followed by a second in 2020. In the meantime, Marat, his Armenian father and his Azerbaijani mother, immigrated to Moscow and then Seattle. Marat tells us about the influence this conflict has had on his life and identity.
10/08/2023
N°3 – On the tip of my father’s tongue
Thomas is a Breton born and bred. He left the region when he was 18 and has been living in Malta for five years with his Hungarian wife and eight-year-old twins. Today, he is capable of conducting a conversation in eight languages, but he has one major regret. When he was a kid, his family never taught him Breton. And so, when his sons were born, he “naturally” decided to speak to them in the language.
10/08/2023
N°2 – Water and weapons
Simon is a Belgian environmental activist. On the 25th March, he, alongside thousands of others, took part in a two-day demonstration in Sainte-Soline, France, to prevent the construction of a mega-basin, a huge 628,000m3 water reservoir. The demonstration was severely repressed – more than 5,000 tear bombs were thrown – resulting in 47 gendarmes being injured and 200 demonstrators, including 40 seriously injured. By going to Sainte-Soline Simon feels that he has taken part in a very important moment in the environmental movement.
09/08/2023
N°1 – The gynaecologist and conscientious objection
Silvana is a retired gynaecologist in Italy but continues to provide consultations. In her country, abortion has been legal since 1978, but medical staff can invoke the right to ‘conscientious objection’ and refuse to perform abortions. In 2021, seven out of ten gynaecologists in Italy were conscientious objectors.
She chose to share with us a memory that illustrates the dangers of conscientious objection and her concerns about respect for the right to abortion in Italy.