PORTFOLIOS
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
Social movements are joint actions of citizens, groups and communities linked by similar objectives and who organize themselves to act and overcome their condition, address together social problems or resist domination. A demonstration is a collective act expressing itself in favor or against a political opinion or for other causes.
To manifest is a fundamental right guaranteed and protected by international law, notably in Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
EXIL / REFUGEES / SOCIAL CLEANSING
Exiled: You may have already heard this word in the mouth of a member of an association or collective helping refugees, sometimes preferred to that of 'migrant'. He emphasizes distance, exile. Again, behind this term are hidden plural realities. The Larousse dictionary defines exile as the "situation of someone who is expelled or forced to live outside their homeland".
Refugee: According to the 1951 Geneva Convention, a text of fundamental international law, a refugee is a person who, 'fearing with reason to be persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of which she is a national and who cannot or, owing to such fear, does not want to claim the protection of this country. To summarize, a refugee is outside the borders of his country following a danger and needs international protection.
Social cleansing: any practice or intention to eliminate members of society considered "undesirable", including the homeless, criminals, street children, elderly people, sex workers, etc..
LEBANON / AFTERMATHS
On September 23, 2024, the conflict in the Middle East flared up and took a dramatic turn. Southern Lebanon near Israel’s northern border, the Bekaa region bordering Syria and the southern suburbs and centre of Beirut found themselves under fire from Israeli raids. This escalation is the most violent that the country has known since 2006. More than two months later, the bombing and ground offensive carried out by Israel extended to other regions, notably in the east and in the governorate of Balbeek-Hermel, northeast of Lebanon.
At least 4,047 people have been killed, including 316 children and 790 women since October 2023. civilians, journalists, medical personnel and medical structures have been targeted, which constitute war crimes under the Geneva and Hague Conventions
An estimated 1.8 million people have been displaced by the conflict. Prior to the ceasefire, there were 610,000 refugees in Syria and more than 33,000 in Iraq.
Since the ceasefire, agreed on November 27th 2024, Israel has violated it more than 4000 times.
SYRIA / FALL OF THE LION, RISE OF A FREE PEOPLE
On December 8, 2024, 12 days of rebel offensive, the Syria of the Assad dynasty is no more.
By transforming Syrian society into a frightful stranglehold tightening around civilians through arbitrary detentions, kidnappings, "exceptional" courts and a multitude of networks of hellish prisons, the violence and torture of flesh and spirit were the political instrument of the clan.
The country is closing in on itself: all forms of opposition and expression are muzzled, demonstrations banned and a state of emergency declared. And the numerous silenced crimes of war against its own people.
Millions of Syrians have suffered the barbarity of the al-Assad clan. Of all ages, all social classes, all faiths, all regions.
The Syria of the Assad dynasty is no more. Yet, this intimate feeling that everything is floating in weightlessness like two liquid bodies of different density cannot but must nevertheless mix, persists. The euphoria mixed with expectation. The tangible and the suspicion. The promising renewal and the ghosts of the past. Burned pages and ink that can finally flow without restraint. Welcome to Free Syria.
