1

PROCRASTINATOR 1st April 2014 | Issue 02

2

3

4 What Can the International Community Do to Protect

Journalists’ Rights?

6 Preventing the Spread of a Venomous Ideology

8 Un Critique: the Films of Dany Boon

10 Why Study Languages?

Contents:

4

Alya Abu-Zayed

L ast September, the United Nations Human

Rights Council adopted a new resolution pro-

tecting the safety of journalists internationally,

proposed by several countries, including

France and Austria. Describing measures to protect the

media, it asks that member states “promote a safe and

enabling environment for journalists to perform their

work independently” and condemns communications

surveillance3 all recommended by Reporters Without

Borders (RWB), a non-profit organisation that defends

freedom of information.

According to the RWB, 62 journalists were killed and

another 176 imprisoned as of the 29th of November

2014 worldwide. With the highest being Syria on 12,

due to Islamic State, and 7 in Palestine-Israel, during

the siege on Gaza, it’s clear that recent global conflict

has significantly increased these figures. With the rise

of many more extremist terror groups, what is the in-

ternational community doing to stop this?

Well firstly, Human Rights Council decisions are non-

binding, and so this

resolution to protect journalists is simply a statement,

rather than any sort of law. It does nothing to monitor

the compliance of member states or send any form of

protection to journalists. RWB firmly states that gov-

ernments must establish investigative

procedures and prosecute those who do

harm to journalists, calls for a position in

the UN to monitor compliance, and for “the creation of

mechanisms for implementing international law.”

Do I agree that journalists should be protected? Well,

as a human being: yes. As an aspiring reporter, hell yes.

But whether or not I think that having a new position in

the UN for this specific job would work is another thing.

Having a Human Rights Council does very little to stop

human rights violations internationally, (see: extrajudi-

cial executions in DRC, collective punishment in Israeli

occupied territory, exploitation of workers in Qatar,

water shut-offs in Detroit. But apart from being

“condemned”, what happens? Since the UN is so divid-

ed on almost every issue, there’s always at least one

country that vetoes a resolution, preventing any sort of

French photojournalist Alexandra Boulat, 2002.

5

change or move forward. As a consequence, I find it

hard to believe that the RWB’s recommendation of a

new position to enforce journalists’ protection will really

work, due to the red tape that would stop them.

So what can be done? The French Defence Depart-

ment’s Delegation for Defence Information and Commu-

nication (DICoD) hosts two annual training sessions to

journalists with lessons on self-defence, first aid, from

stress management to weapon use. It’s supposed to

prepare them for life reporting a war zone9. RWB also

lends bullet proof clothing and GPS personal distress

beacons for free. However, these are all defensive ra-

ther than preventative measures to help journalists. It’d

be much better if we could find a way to stop violence

against journalists, rather than teach them how to use a

light machine gun7. But how to prevent the matter from

the root, I have no idea. Stop IS, I suppose. Easier said

than done.

However, that’s not all that can help journalists. The

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has

many measures in place to aid journalists in times of

crisis. “Since 1985 [the ICRC] have had a permanent hot-

line available to journalists who find themselves in trou-

ble, [or for others] to report a missing, wounded, or de-

tained journalist and request assistance”. In an interview

with Robin Geiss, an ICRC legal expert, he stated that

“existing laws do provide enough protection”, as they

are a “basis for shielding media professionals”. However,

he goes on to say that the “deficiency is not a lack of

rules, but rather a failure to implement existing rules

and to systematically investigate, prosecute, and punish

violations”11, and rightly so too, as many crimes against

the media often go unpunished.

But how can we punish violations? Firstly, we must find

who is directly accountable, as too often it is large

groups or governments. If found guilty, they should be

trialled under the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Without proper punishment, history repeats itself. And

before it gets to that stage, governments should sign

agreements agreeing to compliance in protecting jour-

nalists, and thusly taken to the ICC. Another option

would be economic sanctions against the guilty country,

but too often those countries that perpetrate violence

against journalists are the ones with extremist groups or

governments, and the ones with extremism are coun-

tries with severe social and economic issues. To punish

them in this way would potentially make them more

desperate and therefore radicalise them further.

“Well then,” I hear you ask, “If you have all the answers,

why is it all still happening?” I sit and ponder this ques-

tion, leaning back in my velvet armchair, cigar in hand.

Just kidding; I don’t smoke. Anyway, I have no idea. ■

6

I SIS has recently been hitting the headlines across the globe after the unexpected land grab by the group, which resulted in swathes of the Middle East being taken to establish a caliphate, or Islamic

State. The mass kidnapping (and subsequent enslave-ment) of Yazidi women in northern Iraq as well as the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Sunni and Shia Muslim men, women and children across Iraq and Syria has highlighted the potential threat to not only coun-tries in the region, but also across the globe, particularly due to the increasing numbers of foreign fighters, most-ly from Muslim minority nations, such as the UK and Australia, enlisting in the name of Islam to deliver Sharia Law to the world, ridding their new state of disbelievers – a message that many Muslims would argue is heretical against the name of their religion. So the question is, in the 21st century, how did such a backward organisation establish itself? What does it mean for the people of Britain?

With the growth of social media, recruitment of would-

be jihadists has never been easier for terrorist conspira-tors. A recent article published by The Guardian sug-gests that support for ISIS is in fact stronger in Arabic social media in Europe than in Syria. Why are so many people advocating in favour of the group’s central goal: to enforce Sharia Law and expand their state by any means necessary, even through the murder of innocent people? There are multiple reasons for this, I believe. Firstly, it is the very question which is a factor in contrib-uting to 15,000 people travelling to Iraq and Syria for this very purpose, but perhaps they do not believe that Da’esh - IS’ Arabic acronym – spread terror, but in fact impose what is right – puritanical Sharia Law or even, to an extent, provide relief for the Syrian people in the face of a similarly brutish leader, Bashar Al-Assad, whose regime of terror has caused a worldwide humanitarian crisis and meant that countless lives have been lost. Many in Britain, including members of the coalition gov-ernment, have indicated a policy of promoting ‘British values’ in schools to counteract extremism, however, what are said ‘values’? The term is extremely ambigu-

ous, particularly due the diversity – ethnically, reli-giously, etc. – that is evi-dent within the country, therefore, is there any common ground that is agreed upon by all which could be created into a consistent, water tight na-tional policy? I believe so: religious and racial toler-ance are of course integral (already defying ISIS’ policy of killing all non-Sunni Mus-lims, and even this is up for debate with the massacre of many Sunni people, par-

Andrew Kennedy

7

ticularly as many Kurds consider themselves Sunni and are in the crosshairs of Da’esh’s dogma), along with LGBT rights (as many wouldn’t be surprised, homosexu-ality is illegal and punishable by death inside the Islamic State, with many accused – mostly without trial of a Sharia court that IS states is at the core of their ‘just’ society – facing public execution, usually through be-heading) and finally, freedom of speech.

However, with the horrors of ISIS’ war crimes being de-picted across the media, it is ironic that many of the Gulf States, Britain’s allies in the ‘coalition’ to prevent and diminish Islamic State’s cancerous grip on the region, perpetrate acts similar to the organisation in which they are fighting. Saudi Arabia may be the most obvious ex-ample due its ultra-Orthodox, Wahhabi laws which in-clude preventing women from driving and corporal pun-ishment. In fact, 59 people have been publicly beheaded in Saudi in the first six months of 2014. How is it not a contradiction to criticise the executions in Raqa’a, Syria – ISIS territory – but inadvertently support the exact same act occurring in Riyadh through economic support, not to mention the selling of weapons to the House of Saud, Saudi’s absolute monarchy that imposes its tyran-

nical rule against its people. Furthermore, I would argue that British continuing and undivided support for Israel, despite the Jewish state displaying ‘callous indifference’ towards civilian life, after the ruthless attacks on Gaza during the summer of 2014, seems again hypocritical.

Finally, I think that an unexpected, but nevertheless im-portant outcome of the barbarism which has occurred as a result of ISIS is that it poses a question for modern Islam: the issue is with those who interpret the religious texts, particularly the Abrahamic faiths where there is significant cross over between Islam, Christianity and Judaism, I would argue that is integral to apply the teachings of God to the modern day world. Despite be-ing an atheist myself, everybody should be entitled to their own opinions and beliefs, because it is this that enables society to progress. ■

Iraqi Yazidi women

8

F oreign films are something scarce in Britain nowadays - despite the fact that English-speaking films dominate the rest of Europe's cinemas. I personally think that this is a great

shame as films are a simple and useful way to under-stand a culture, especially if you are learning languages. While staying with a French family in the south of France over the summer, I was shown many incredible films that not only helped my French, but gave me an-other perspective on the French culture. All of the films I watched had a link between them - they were either starred in, directed and written or had some involve-ment of French star Dany Boon. Boon began as a come-dian – whose humour in both his stand-up shows and films resembles British comedian Lee Evans – now typi-cally stars in and writes many French comedies (but also has done some other genres too). The four Boon films that I will be talking about are; Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (Welcome to the Sticks), Rien à Déclarer (Nothing to Declare), Un Plan Parfait (A Perfect Plan) and Super-condriaque (Hypochondriac). So, for the French students reading this, when you feel like you should be revising but just can't face doing actual work, I recommend that you "procrastinate" by watching these French films! Also, I'd like to point out that I am not a film student and a novice in terms of film terminology, so my review of these films will be purely a review from a cultural perspective.

So to begin with I will talk about Boon’s "breakout" role and most famous film - and the first that I watched - Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis. This film tells the story of a man from the south of France, played by Kad Merad, who begrudgingly gets relocated and gets sent away from his family to the dreaded 'North'.

At this point I should point out that this comedic ele-ment is based on the popular stereotype in France that the 'le nord' is home to drunkards and terrible weather. A way of translating this - though it is difficult to trans-

late any cultural aspect fully - is in Great Britain the cultural difference between the north and south, and how we both have different stereotypes that we hold to each other.

Back to the film, the man is devastated at the prospect of living in the north (more specifically Nord-Pas-De-Calais), but despite expecting to hate it, he ends up falling in love with the area. Another key cultural aspect of this film, which I personally find the most interesting, is that in Nord-Pas-De-Calais they speak a dialect of French called 'chtimi', which explains the title Bien-venue chez les Ch'tis, because that is the name they call the people that speak this dialect - like we call people from Liverpool and their dialect Scouse. Boon, the star that ties all of these films together, does not play the man from the south of France, but the main character from the north with the particularly stereotypical ac-cent and slapstick-style personality. As Boon originates from this area, he easily portrays this character with a mix of humour and endearing heart. I would recom-mend this film perhaps the most out of all these films because of its entertainment value, but also its cultural importance, because it will deepen your knowledge and understanding of French culture.

Secondly, Rien à Déclarer stars Boon, again not in the main role, but as the sec-ond protago-nist, Mathias. This film can be used to help un-

Ellie Stocks

Boon and his co-star, Poelvoorde, in Rien à Déclarer

9

derstand not only French culture, but Francophone countries in Europe, as the film depicts the stereotypes or perhaps racist conflicts - with a comic twist of course - between France and Belgium. The film is centred on two men - one of them being Boon - who work at bor-der control between France and Belgium. Their lives collide when they are forced to work together, and lat-er discover that there is a romantic connection be-tween the two families, which leads to many hilarious scenes. The humour in the film parodies a theme that could be considered quite serious and controversial, twisted to become light-hearted by poking fun at both countries instead of mocking one.

Un Plan Parfait stands out the most out of all these films, since it is a romantic comedy and unlike

previously mentioned films, Boon plays the joint main role along with his female

love interest, played by Diane Kruger. The film is centred

on a curse that has been passed

through the family

of

the female protagonist, whereby the woman's first marriage will be disastrous and end in divorce. This be-gins to worry her when she is planning to get married, so her "solution" to get out of this curse is to find some-one to elope with, then divorce them so she can marry her real love. This plan however changes when she meets Jean-Yves, Boon's character; comedy and ro-mance ensues. Boon has a certain touch of light-hearted, heart-warming humorous character that dis-tinguishes him and his style from any other writer or actor, and ‘Un Plan Parfait' clearly shows this, contrast-ed with the character of Kruger. I recommend this film particularly for any soppy love-story lovers - but also for those who love a good laugh, (assuming you get French jokes of course!).

Finally, and most recently released is Supercondriaque. This film follows more in the lines of Rien, given that it

is a traditional comedy with Boon’s aforementioned twist. The story follows Romain Faubert, an insanely serious hypochondriac who constantly pesters his doc-tor with his incessant and non-existent health prob-lems. This leads the doctor – played by Merad from Bienvenue - to "prescribe" him the solution of dating. Through this advice Romain becomes the subject of numerous shenanigans, from mistaken identity of him-self and a celebrity to falling in love with the doctor’s daughter. Though this film does not give much insight into the French culture like many of the others do, it still maintains a witty plot which will make "practising" French much more enjoyable.

With all the influence of Hollywood movies it can be easy to forget about the other foreign film industries, and I personally think that France – as well as Spain, and other European countries - are seriously underrat-ed for the quality of their films. I hope that these mini reviews will encourage you to give the films a go, and even if you don't speak French, it doesn’t hurt to learn about other cultures - especially when there are subti-tles!

Alors si vous parlez ou vous étudiez le français, vous pourriez comprendre cette petite section de mon

article - j'ai considéré traduire tout l'article mais il me semble qu'il serait assez en-

nuyeux de répéter la même chose une deuxième fois – où je parlerai d'une

partie du film Bienvenue chez les Cht'is qui m'intéresse beau-coup et qui parle du dialecte de ch'timi. Donc, le patois – que les linguistes appellent

'le picard' - origine de Nord-Pas-De-Calais (où le film est basé) et il est un des 75 dialectes officiels de la langue française. Comme tous les dialectes il est parlé au quotidien, cependant mainte-nant la moitié des habitants comprend le ch'timi mais seulement 20% parle du patois. La "grammaire" de cette langue a trois règles principales: on change le son de la lettre 'c' ou 'ç' en 'ch', 'en' devient 'in' et 'eau' de-vient 'iau'. Si on apprend le français depuis plusieurs années j'imagine que ces sons différents sont vraiment bizarres à entendre - aussi pour moi! Cependant, la con-naissance des petits aspects de la culture française peut vous aider beaucoup à avoir une meilleure compréhen-sion de la langue que vous apprenez - et peut-être vous pouvez l'utiliser dans vos examens ou si vous visitez la France? ■

Kruger and Boon Un Plan Parfait

10

D uring the February half term, I was offered the chance to attend a conference at Gon-ville and Caius College in Cambridge Univer-sity called 'Germany in 2015' with Sarah

Craddock and fellow German students, Lottie Jones and Geri Blackburn. This predominantly consisted of mini-talks given by undergraduates who study German from around the UK and discussions between profes-sors of esteemed universities, including Cambridge, and the audience that mostly contained other under-graduates. The conference was filled with interesting information, but I think the two main issues empha-sised were the year abroad - or Erasmus, if you're not studying a language - and the career prospects of stud-ying languages.

The year abroad is widely known to be a unique and highly useful part of a languages degree where you can be immersed in the target language and improve your language skills. However, it’s not only language stu-dents that can take a year abroad, thanks to the Eras-mus programme. The speakers at this panel were final year undergraduates who just returned from their year abroad. They spoke eagerly and emphasised how im-portant it was for speaking more proficiently. This in-terested me personally; however, the information and advice would also be useful for people thinking of tak-ing part in Erasmus.

Additionally, there was a panel on the careers that studying German had been used for, mainly in business and journalism, and how it’s a tool becoming more employable and versatile, especially since there is a shortage of people that speak a second language. So even if you are not interested in becoming a teacher or interpreter, learning and studying languages will prove to be much more useful that you realised!

This experience was particularly useful for me person-ally, as I was unsure whether I should carry on studying German next year as a part of my chosen degree, how-ever this has swayed me since I was shown what peo-ple have used their degree for and how important Ger-man and Germany is in the world of work.

Overall, though this day left me feeling slightly like a fish out of water – since the conference was mainly comprised of undergraduates and professors, I would greatly recommend attending a day like this at a uni-versity, especially if you’re thinking of studying modern

languages. ■

Ellie Stocks

The Cologne Cathedral in Germany

Gonville and Caius college, where the conference was held

11

The Brandenburg Gate, Germany. Study in Berlin and you could see sights like

this every evening.