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The Human Cost of the War on Drugs: A Critical Reflection on Felipe Calderón’s Visit to Sciences Po
Over the past two decades, violence has spread across Mexico, intensifying in waves as organized crime, weak institutions, and militarized security policies intersected, reshaping everyday life and leaving communities exposed to insecurity and fear. This escalation was particularly marked during the presidency of Felipe Calderón, whose so-called “war on drugs” deployed the military nationwide and set the stage for the violence and institutional fragility explored in this text. This article is the first in a series exploring Mexico’s struggles with narco violence, insecurity, and the human impact of organized crime, from articles, personal experiences and the families searching for the…
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Reporting from the Front Line: Ukraine’s other war against corruption
In Kharkiv Oblast, a village located 30 kilometers from the hottest frontline in Europen our journalist Paolo Zurlo met Vitalyi Shabunin, Ukraine’s most vocal anti-corruption activist. Together with Giovanni Kessler (former EU Anti-Corruption Office Director) and activists from the European Nonviolent Action Movement, Paolo asked Shabunin about another, less visible war that has been afflicting the country: the resistance of the Ukrainian people against political corruption. Author: Paolo Zurlo Photo credit: Vitalyi Shabunin, co-founder of AntAC, Ukraine’s leading corruption NGO. @Paolo Zurlo Shabunin is the co-founder of AntAC, Ukraine’s leading anti-corruption NGO. He founded the organisation in 2012, he explained, when he…
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Pirandello’s As You Desire Me: Capturing the beautiful and dangerous ideal on stage
The lights come up on a woman, assailed. Blindfolded, she vaults across the stage, dancing in and out of the embrace of a group of lusting men. Are these assailants her lovers or attackers? The audience hesitates: is it witnessing a debauched party, or is a more sinister violation being committed against this blinded figure ? As You Desire Me’s opening scene premises a play in which different perceptions of reality are pushed onto the stage, competing for legitimacy and power. The ‘unknown woman,’ ultimately a nameless entity, is a figure in which these competing realities clash. Chloé Réjon plays her with…
