I usually don\u2019t follow the news but recently, apart from living under a stone, it is impossible not to know all the bad things that are happening right now. This is scary. The question seems more like when war is coming to Europe rather than if the war comes to Europe. There is so much hate and fear around us. I don\u2019t have the solution and I don\u2019t pretend to fix the issues but I think that if each of us was a bit more generous, a bit more tolerant and a bit less selfish, we would live better. Or maybe, that\u2019s how humanity is going to be extinct, in a big bang of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
D\u2019habitude, je ne suis pas l\u2019actualit\u00e9 mais en ce moment, \u00e0 part vivre sous une pierre (comme disent les Anglais), il est impossible d\u2019ignorer ce qui se passe dans le monde. C’est effrayant. La question semble plut\u00f4t de savoir quand la guerre arrivera en Europe plut\u00f4t que si la guerre arrivera en Europe. Il y a tellement de haine et de peur autour de nous. Je n\u2019ai pas la solution et je n\u2019ai pas la pr\u00e9tention de r\u00e9gler les probl\u00e8mes mais je pense que si chacun de nous \u00e9tait un peu plus g\u00e9n\u00e9reux, un peu plus tol\u00e9rant et un peu moins \u00e9go\u00efste, nous vivrions mieux. Ou peut-\u00eatre que c\u2019est ainsi que l\u2019humanit\u00e9 va dispara\u00eetre, dans un big bang de guerre.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wow, that\u2019s dark. But yes, I am scared about the (not-so-far) future. Am I crazy for wanting to move back to London when everything is going to shit (forgive my French)? I think I am in this state of mind for 2 reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh l\u00e0 l\u00e0 ! Ce n\u2019est pas rigolo ! Mais oui, j’ai peur pour l’avenir (pas si lointain). Ne suis-je pas folle de vouloir retourner \u00e0 Londres alors que tout va mal ? Il me semble que je suis dans cet \u00e9tat d’esprit pour 2 raisons.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. I just finished a book called Dominion by C.J. Sampson. A very good book. It is a bit slow to start but when it has, you don\u2019t want to close the book. The plot takes place in Britain in 1952 in a parallel reality where Great Britain signed a peace treaty in 1940 and never went to war, where Hitler is still alive, fascism is all around Europe, and democracy and free speech are a thing of the past. It\u2019s a very interesting take on \u201cwhat if\u201d. At the end of the book, the author explains his reasons for writing the book. He has a very good analysis of nationalisms: he said that all nationalist parties promise that all will be ok once the foreigners are eradicated but they never really have concrete solution to solve unemployment, poverty or inequality; they are just a bunch of lies that makes us feel good, better than the others but without bringing any solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Je viens de terminer un livre intitul\u00e9 Dominion de C.J. Sampson. Un tr\u00e8s bon livre. Il est un peu lent \u00e0 d\u00e9marrer mais apr\u00e8s, on n\u2019a pas envie de fermer le livre. L’intrigue se d\u00e9roule en Grande-Bretagne en 1952, dans une r\u00e9alit\u00e9 parall\u00e8le o\u00f9 la Grande-Bretagne a sign\u00e9 un trait\u00e9 de paix en 1940 et n’est jamais entr\u00e9e en guerre, o\u00f9 Hitler est toujours en vie, o\u00f9 le fascisme est omnipr\u00e9sent en Europe et o\u00f9 la d\u00e9mocratie et la libert\u00e9 d’expression appartiennent au pass\u00e9. \u00c0 la fin du livre, l’auteur explique les raisons qui l’ont pouss\u00e9 \u00e0 \u00e9crire ce livre. Il a une tr\u00e8s bonne analyse des nationalismes : il dit que tous les partis nationalistes promettent que tout ira bien une fois les \u00e9trangers \u00e9radiqu\u00e9s mais qu’ils n’ont jamais vraiment de solution concr\u00e8te pour r\u00e9soudre le ch\u00f4mage, la pauvret\u00e9 ou les in\u00e9galit\u00e9s ; ce ne sont qu’un tas de mensonges qui nous font du bien, nous font sentir mieux que les autres mais sans apporter de solution.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. I listened to a series of podcasts about Palestine and Israel. 4 one-hour podcasts interviewing people from both sides, all walks of life, about the peace process, colonisation, terrorism, war, etc. Oh my god, this is bleak! I took away a few things: a) the solution will come from external politics, that the other countries will have to demand that Israel stops otherwise, it will continue gnawing at Palestine little by little. A bit like a misbehaving child who continues misbehaving until he gets told off by a parent. b) Nationalisms have been created from scratch at the end of the 19th<\/sup> century. Zionism started then. French identity was also built at the same time as well as everywhere else. It comes from a good idea, to belong to a group, a nation. But its limitation is in the intolerance of the others, in protecting this national identity at all cost. For someone like me or my kids who have several passports and lived in different countries, this feeling of belonging to a nation doesn\u2019t make much sense. Why want to stay French and refuse the influence of others? France has been built with so many influences. And the same can be said for most countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. J’ai \u00e9cout\u00e9 une s\u00e9rie de 4 \u00e9missions de Radio France sur la Palestine et Isra\u00ebl. Des documentaires d’une heure o\u00f9 interviennent des gens des deux c\u00f4t\u00e9s, de tous horizons, sur le processus de paix, la colonisation, le terrorisme, la guerre, etc. Oh mon dieu, comme c\u2019est triste et sans espoir ! J’en ai retenu plusieurs choses : a) la solution viendra de la politique ext\u00e9rieure, quand les autres pays exigeront qu’Isra\u00ebl arr\u00eate, sinon il continuera \u00e0 rogner la Palestine petit \u00e0 petit. Un peu comme un enfant qui se conduit mal et qui continue de se comporter mal jusqu’\u00e0 ce qu’un parent le gronde. b) Les nationalismes ont \u00e9t\u00e9 cr\u00e9\u00e9s de toutes pi\u00e8ces \u00e0 la fin du XIXe si\u00e8cle. Le sionisme a commenc\u00e9 \u00e0 cette \u00e9poque, mais pas seulement. L\u2019identit\u00e9 fran\u00e7aise s\u2019est aussi construite \u00e0 la m\u00eame p\u00e9riode comme un peu partout en Europe. Au d\u00e9part, c\u2019est une bonne id\u00e9e, appartenir \u00e0 un groupe, \u00e0 une nation. Mais sa limite r\u00e9side dans l\u2019intol\u00e9rance des autres, dans la protection \u00e0 tout prix de cette identit\u00e9 nationale. Pour quelqu\u2019un comme moi ou mes enfants qui avons plusieurs passeports et qui ont v\u00e9cu dans diff\u00e9rents pays, ce sentiment d\u2019appartenance \u00e0 une nation n\u2019a pas beaucoup de sens. Pourquoi vouloir rester fran\u00e7ais et refuser l\u2019influence des autres ? La France s’est construite avec tant d’influences. Et on peut en dire autant de la plupart des pays.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I had a discussion with a French woman in Hong Kong who was very passionate. She asked a very interesting question. What if at the second round of the French presidential election we have Marine Le Pen (far-right) versus a Muslim candidate? Who would you vote for? Who would be the bigger threat to our democracy? I leave you ponder this question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n J’ai eu une discussion anim\u00e9e avec une Fran\u00e7aise \u00e0 Hong Kong qui \u00e9tait tr\u00e8s passionn\u00e9e. Elle a pos\u00e9 une question tr\u00e8s int\u00e9ressante. Et si au second tour de l\u2019\u00e9lection pr\u00e9sidentielle fran\u00e7aise nous avions Marine Le Pen (extr\u00eame droite) contre un candidat musulman ? Pour qui voteriez-vous ? Qui repr\u00e9senterait la plus grande menace pour notre d\u00e9mocratie ? Je vous laisse ruminer cette question int\u00e9ressante<\/em>…<\/p>\n\n\n\n The picture at the top is an example of Peranakan art. Peranakan is a sub-culture that exists in the Malaysian peninsula. It’s a mix between Malay women and either Chinese or Indian men. The men brought by the sea (China on one side, India on the other side) who married local women and left them home to raise the children. An example of the wealth brought out when different cultures mix.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n L’image en haut est un exemple de l’art Peranakan. La sous-culture Peranakane existe uniquement dans la p\u00e9ninsule malaisienne. C’est un m\u00e9lange de femmes malaises et d’hommes chinois ou indiens. Les hommes amen\u00e9s par la mer (la Chine d’un c\u00f4t\u00e9, l’Inde de l’autre) qui ont \u00e9pous\u00e9 des femmes locales et les laissaient \u00e9lever les enfants. Un exemple de la richesse amen\u00e9e par le m\u00e9lange de diff\u00e9rentes cultures.<\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I usually don\u2019t follow the news but recently, apart from living under a stone, it is impossible not to know[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-fullwidth.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32940"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32952,"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32940\/revisions\/32952"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sebetanne.co.uk\/hkblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}