Ultimate libertarian and subversive mode of artistic expression, the street art experienced a spectacular proliferation during the Covid-19 pandemic. At a time when museums, theatres, concert halls and cinemas were forced to close, and when the world of art and culture was suffering the full force of the horrors of confinement, street art managed to sneak out, literally and figuratively!
When this is over, if ever it is, they will mark the long-awaited day with televised displays of emotion and solemnity. Ministers, in their dark blue suits, will congratulate themselves on having won the war.
The pandemic that has hit the planet must make us realize that nothing will ever be the same again. There was a pre-coronavirus. There’s now going to be a geopolitical and geostrategic post-coronavirus. Today, several factors are cause for concern in Western chanceries: An American withdrawal from world affairs, especially in the Middle East, leaving the field open to Russia and Iran; China’s all-round offensive and divisions in Europe.
Emile Habibi, a Palestinian writer from Haïfa who stayed on in Israel after 1948, had coined a great word to describe the state of mind of those individuals who experience ambiguity on a daily basis: peptimist. It is a mixture of hope and weariness, somewhere at a juncture between optimism and pessimism. This is a most fitting word to use these days in light of the consequences the epidemic is having on religions.
In a recent warning note, the US FBI warned of the resurgence of bio-terrorist threats in the context of the Covid pandemic.
The Directorate General for Internal Security (DGSI) and the Central Service of Territorial Surveillance (SCRT) alerted the Ministry of the Interior to the risk of a resurgence of acts of civil disobedience this summer in the post-Covidian social context. The Services even fear possible attacks on State symbols, including law enforcement agencies, which could be carried out by radical right-wing and left-wing extremist groups. The alert is particularly concerned about the possible manipulation of the Yellow Vests by these radical groups.
The consequences of the coronavirus pandemic differ from one region of the world to another. They are most keenly felt in conflict areas where public healthcare systems have collapsed or are severely compromised. The greatest risk is that existing tensions and conflicts, such as those in the Middle East, might be heightened. The stability of this region, that stretches from the Persian Gulf to the Maghreb, is essential for economic and security balance in the world.
On April 16, three French senators, Christian Cambon, Olivier Cadic and Rachel Mazuire, all members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and the Armed Forces published a study tilted “Disinformation, Cyber attacks and cyber surveillance: The other COVID-19 war” that recommends for the Government to set up a cyber reaction force to fight against “false news” and respond to the strategy adopted by certain foreign powers to influence online readers.
While Taiwan has alerted the WHO to the emergence of the virus and the possibility of human-to-human transmission, several weeks before China, the UN specialized agency continues to boycott Taipei, at Beijing’s request.
