Sorrentino’s new film, Parthenope, offers us yet another opportunity to delve deeper into the poetic vision of the Neapolitan director.

“Professor, what is anthropology?” asks Parthenope, the protagonist portrayed brilliantly by Celeste Della Porta, to the only man capable of truly capturing her attention and sparking her curiosity.

“Anthropology is seeing,” replies an extraordinary Silvio Orlando, playing university professor Devoto Marotta, after a moment of hesitation. Marotta is an iconic character, resistant to smiling and a healthy bearer of knowledge on the verge of extinction.

In this single phrase lies the essence of Sorrentino’s cinema—a cinema that is, above all, about characters. It is about faces that fill the frame, captured by a directorial style attuned to the portrait and its narrative power. Faces that stand out in the beauty of their imperfection.

Behind the caustic professor’s answer lies the key to decoding Sorrentino’s message: the director offers us his vision of the world, inviting us to observe the reality of the human condition in its extraordinary beauty and, simultaneously, in its misery.

“I will never judge you, and you will never judge me,” is the pact Prof. Marotta proposes to Parthenope. And she accepts it.

Because this is the challenge Sorrentino presents to us: to explore the infinite facets of human existence without passing judgment. The suspension of judgment is the key to truly understanding reality, setting aside the emotions that cloud, direct, and condition our perception.

Seeing. It is a complex exercise, forming the essence of cultural anthropology, and one we are not accustomed to practicing.

This is the great merit of Sorrentino’s cinematography: a gaze upon humanity free from ideologies and judgments. Because it is only in this way, and only in this way, that we can understand and accept others.

One unforgettable scene exemplifying this is from The Great Beauty, the 2014 Oscar-winning film. In it, the protagonist Jep Gambardella, played by Toni Servillo, ends a powerful monologue dismantling the façade of lies upheld by his friend Stefania, a representative of self-referential and hypocritical humanity:

“Stefà, mother and woman, you’re 53 years old and have a life as wrecked as the rest of us. So instead of lecturing us, looking at us with disdain, you should look at us with affection. We’re all on the edge of despair. The only remedy is to look each other in the face, keep each other company, poke a little fun at ourselves, don’t you think?”

Through Jep Gambardella’s words, Sorrentino encourages us to reflect on a reflection that should lead to understanding and action: we are all the same, with our beauty and our vulnerabilities. We are different, yet the same.

Learning to see the world helps us see ourselves, understand ourselves, and, in turn, understand others.

Go watch the film I Shall Not Hate by the talented Franco-American documentarian Tal Barda, and if you can, also read the book of the same name.

Izzeldin Abuelaish has endured the unimaginable. He has sought justice, but until now, in vain.

From his story of blood and pain emerges a personal crusade for reconciliation and the coexistence of two peoples, today more distant than ever.

Israel and Palestine. Two worlds, two different cultures, separated by the poison of hatred, which blinds and sows death in a schizophrenic and insane crescendo that erases every rule of national and international law.

And yet for years, in the name of these two peoples, Izzeldin Abuelaish has been fighting a deeply personal, but universal, war that overshadows and undermines the tragic war currently raging, demonstrating its illogicality and total uselessness.

It is a struggle profoundly different from the one fought with bombings and drones. It has different rules of engagement, different communication codes. It has an equally devastating impact but causes no death.

Izzeldin Abuelaish’s war is a war for peace. The word “war,” in reference to Dr. Abuelaish’s story and his global campaign against all forms of hatred and discrimination, is emptied of its sinister semantic weight and evokes the power of a benevolent force that spreads to deliver a message of love.

War can be a tool for achieving peace. But if the goal is Peace, and it is pursued through war, in between there are deaths, destruction, domination, desolation, and suffering.

Izzeldin Abuelaish fights for the salvation of his people, but he possesses no weapons that cause harm. His voice is the only weapon he has, and it becomes the tool to keep memory alive, to hold those responsible accountable for their crimes. It spreads like a virus, generating an indelible feeling of hope.

Izzeldin Abuelaish is a Palestinian doctor who, for years (he was the first Palestinian to do so), worked in an Israeli hospital. On one cursed night in 2009, an Israeli tank, positioned menacingly beneath his home in Gaza, bombed his daughters’ bedroom, killing three of them.

It was an enormous tragedy, reported live by Abuelaish himself during an Israeli news program, becoming one of the most dramatic iconic moments of the Israeli-Palestinian war.

Despite the overwhelming grief, Dr. Abuelaish immediately began to speak of peace and coexistence—defying every logic and expectation that would have seen him blinded by hatred and seeking revenge.

He sued the Israeli state only to obtain an apology (simply but symbolically, “Sorry”), but the outcome of his legal action is easy to predict. Yet he does not give up, he does not allow hatred to poison his thoughts, and he becomes an activist for peace and coexistence between the two peoples. He begins to make his voice heard and to spread his message of hope.

In memory of his daughters—Bessan, then 21, Mayar, 15, and Aya, 13—and his niece Noor, 17, Dr. Abuelaish founded the Daughters for Life Foundation, a charity that supports young women of Middle Eastern nationalities, regardless of their origin or religious affiliation, to access higher education.

Since that fateful 2009, the echo of his cry for peace has not faded; it is as strong and relevant as ever.

Speaking today about the coexistence of the Palestinian and Israeli peoples is a revolutionary act. It may be dismissed as a sterile exercise in romanticism, detached from an objective and realistic view of the endless conflict that has torn apart these two historic enemies for decades.

The term evokes a utopian scenario in which, finally, the two peoples recognize each other’s existence and dignity and live peacefully in mutual respect.

Coexistence is the presence of two distinct entities that do not renounce their identity but act to make their diversity an opportunity for harmony and cultural growth through the acceptance of the other and mutual enrichment.

Coexistence does not mean inclusion. It has a deeper value because it does not imply the existence of a subject that includes and decides how and when to include, according to a discriminatory logic that perpetuates ancient dynamics of domination and oppression.

What an extraordinary word, coexistence. It is universal, transversal, flexible, applicable to any context in which diversity and individual differences exist.

It is a way of seeing the world, resistant to the logic of domination, hatred, and revenge, which unexpectedly, in this tragic story, belongs to someone who, considering the wrongs he has suffered, should have very different terms in his vocabulary.

Such a strong and powerful message should receive legal recognition by a court, but law, as we know, is often subservient to reasons of state. This is a sad awareness, but it should not lead to surrender.

This is the story of Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish as told in the film I Shall Not Hate. The documentary opens the doors of Gaza for us and lets us breathe in the smell of death. But despite everything, thanks to the tenacity of its extraordinary protagonist, it manages to instill hope for a different future.

This film should be shown in schools, universities, and public squares. It should be made accessible and understandable to everyone.

Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish’s voice must become our voice. The voice of everyone. It’s never too late.

Georgia gained independence in 1991 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union but carried deep political and ethnic divisions. The main tensions have revolved around the separatist territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia

At the dawn of independence from the Soviet Union, tensions between Georgians and Ossetians increased. In 1990, the Supreme Council of Georgia annulled South Ossetia’s autonomous status, causing discontent among the Ossetian population, which declared independence from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, the following year.

What had been sporadic provocations until then erupted into a conflict in 1991 between Georgian troops and Ossetian rebels, who were supported and equipped by Russia. Many villages in the region were burned, including Georgian homes and schools in Tskhinvali, the de facto capital of South Ossetia. The conflict reached a stalemate in 1992 when Georgian President Shevardnadze (a former Soviet leader) agreed to a ceasefire, establishing a peacekeeping force composed of Russian, Georgian, and Ossetian soldiers

In 2004, nationalist Mikheil Saakashvili came to power in Georgia, winning over 90% of the votes in the elections. His government marked a radical shift for the country, steering it towards closer integration with Europe and the United States, and distancing it from Russia’s orbit. The flags of Georgia and the European Union began flying side by side and continue to do so today. Following this new Atlanticist direction, Tbilisi, the capital, also moved closer to NATO, even seeking membership. However, this policy of rapprochement with the West provoked a reaction from Moscow, which was concerned about the possibility of further NATO expansion eastward.

As part of this pro-Western agenda, Saakashvili also sought to fully reintegrate South Ossetia and Abkhazia under Georgian authority, exacerbating tensions with Russia.

Starting in April 2008, provocations between pro-Russian Ossetian separatists and the Georgian army significantly increased. Despite an attempt at a ceasefire promoted by President Saakashvili, the Ossetians continued their attacks on Georgian settlements. To restore order, Georgian defense forces were sent to the region, and within hours, they took control of Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia

On August 7, 2008, Russian troops advanced across the Georgian border into the Tskhinvali region in South Ossetia and western Georgia. During the fighting, hundreds of people lost their lives. This conflict forced 30,000 people to flee their homes, and they are still prevented from returning today. Russia justified the invasion as an operation to protect the Ossetian population, launching a large-scale invasion, advancing deep into Georgian territory, and also occupying the cities of Zugdidi, Senaki, and Poti.

South Ossetia, even during the Soviet era, held the status of an autonomous region within the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.

The population is primarily Ossetian, and most are Christian Orthodox. Originally from an Iranian ethnic group, they speak a dialect called ‘Ironian,’ which belongs to a branch of the Iranian language

The Ossetian dance, at Tbilisoba

South Ossetia today continues to operate as a de facto independent state, supported by Moscow, though not recognized by Tbilisi or the international community. In 2021, the European Court of Human Rights accused the Russian Federation of human rights violations in the occupied regions.

Meanwhile, on the Black Sea in western Georgia, another region was seeking independence: Abkhazia. Most of the population is Christian Orthodox, but there is a minority of Sunni Muslims. The Abkhazians are closely related ethnically to the Circassians. The Abkhaz language is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken in Abkhazia (approximately 100,000 speakers) and parts of Turkey (approximately 50,000 speakers).

Abkhazian dance performance

In 1991, during the turmoil in South Ossetia, Abkhazian separatists also mobilized against the capital, Tbilisi, with support from Russia. The rebels took control of Sukhumi, later declaring it the capital of the Autonomous Republic, but Georgian Defense Forces quickly regained control of the city.

In September 1992, under Russian mediation, a ceasefire was signed. However, alongside legions of pro-Russian paramilitaries, the Abkhazians violated the truce and attacked Gagra, killing 1,000-1,500 defenseless civilians and burying them in a mass grave. With support from the Russian navy, they retook the capital of Sukhumi. The conflict ended with the consolidation of Abkhazian control over the region, which continues to be supported by Russia despite the lack of international recognition.

On August 12, 2008, under the mediation of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a ceasefire was reached. The agreement called for the withdrawal of Russian and Georgian troops from the conflict areas and free access for humanitarian aid. However, it was never fully implemented, and Russian troops remained stationed in the separatist regions, which Moscow officially recognized as independent republics. Despite the tenacity of Georgian defenses, the Russian army managed to gain control of most of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, consolidating the ‘de facto’ separation of these regions from Georgia.

This recognition is condemned by the European Union and the international community, where Russia, with its military presence, continues to violate the human rights of these communities in Georgia..
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With a population of approximately 68 million, France has one of the largest populations in Europe. Among its inhabitants, over 7 million are of Arab descent. The South of France has a longstanding relationship with Arab communities, dating back centuries.

According to the 2022, population census in France, approximately 40% of children aged between 0 and 4 are either immigrants or have immigrant backgrounds.

During the medieval era, the South of France had extensive connections with the Islamic world thanks to its close proximity to North Africa and the Mediterranean. This allowed for trade, cultural interchange, and migration between the two regions. Diplomacy, warfare, and commerce all played important roles in these interactions. The area was once a part of Al-Andalus, a vast territory that included present-day Spain and portions of southern France.

Arab traders, academics frequented the region, influencing its cultural, linguistic, and architectural landscape.

More recently, during the colonial era, the relationship between France and North Africa greatly affected the Arab population in Southern France. With French colonial control over Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, there was a significant increase in the movement of workers from these regions to France, particularly after World War II. This led to the establishment of Arab communities in cities like Marseille, eventually contributing to the diverse cultural landscape of the region. According to the 2022 population census in France, approximately 40% of children aged between 0 and 4 are either immigrants or have immigrant backgrounds.

While traveling in the southern region of France,  is noticeable  the variations in the Arab population as one travels along the coast. 

Currently, Avignon serves as a key point for individuals with Arab heritage. In January 2016, a probe was carried out in the Reine-Jeanne district of Avignon, revealing a notable population of Salafist Muslims  that consider themselves the purest, most authentic form of Islam but also the most radical one.

.The inquiry uncovered a radical Islamic group, in which imams played a significant role in the process of radicalization. The region is home to ten mosques, including two of Turkish origin, one Algerian, and seven Salafist mosques, with imams who have mainly been trained in Morocco.

Marseille is home to a large Arab population, making up a considerable portion of the city’s residents, is also the third largest city in the country. 

While exploring this ancient city, one cannot help but observe the hints of Arab influence, with its street markets, stores selling North African goods, and bustling yet charming chaos that evokes feelings of nostalgia for North Africa. 

Exploring Noailles, an Arab concentrated area of Marseille, is reminiscent of traveling through the Mediterranean and beyond. The winding streets lack clear navigation, occasionally lead to quaint plazas, and frequently branch off into bustling alleyways filled with people. After French, Arabic is Noailles’ lingua franca. 

The Arab community in downtown Marseille is significant and diverse. This community has transformed the city’s landscape.

The Open Society Foundations report, “Muslims in Marseille,” highlights the city’s deep divisions and the vast inequities faced by Muslim residents, made up of a majority of Arabs from North African nations, in education, employment, and housing.

When heading East towards Italy, you can reach the coastal town of Nice that has the second highest number of extreme Muslims, closely behind the unstable Parisian suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis. In fact, when considering its relatively small size, Nice, with just over 343,000 residents, is the most radicalized area in France.

The North African population residing in Nice encounters many difficulties, such as prejudice and exclusion, leading to a feeling of detachment and separation among certain youths. As a result of gentrification in specific neighborhoods, some Muslim groups have been pushed to live in isolated suburbs. This trend further fuels religious divides and can potentially foster radicalization.

The French Riviera is also renowned for its luxurious and glamorous atmosphere, and this reputation is warranted and the French business world is greatly impacted by a powerful group of billionaires with Arab heritage. As reported by Forbes Middle East, the total net worth of the top five richest French billionaires with Arab roots is $37.1 billion. This group includes noteworthy individuals like Joseph Safra, the wealthiest banker in the world, whose lineage traces back to a Lebanese-Syrian family. In fact, all of these billionaires began their journey in southern French cities. The Saadé family, which boasts three French billionaires with Arab heritage, started their business empire in Marseille. Their father, Jacques Rodolphe Saadé, relocated to France during the Lebanese Civil War. 

To summarize, the Arab community in France has a long history that can be traced back for centuries. Today, their presence is evident in cities like Marseille, Avignon, and Nice, adding to the cultural diversity.

Regardless these challenges, the Arab community has made significant contributions to Marseille’s cultural scene, particularly musically, with the city being a breeding ground for emerging French hip-hop talent.

Despite facing difficulties such as economic and religious differences, the Arab population has greatly enriched the region’s culture.

Clarifying the meaning of terms is a good starting point to introduce a current and meaningful topic such as gender identity and sexual orientation.

If we attempt to explain it through the analysis of one of the most successful Netflix series of recent years, understanding is certainly facilitated.

And the law?

The law can help us frame the phenomenon, but it’s not necessarily the best tool to understand it. It depends on the worldview and understanding of the human gender prevailing in a specific country and historical period, which shapes the thoughts and actions of legislators and interpreters.

It’s important to keep this truth in mind because while the law is a wonderful invention, it unfortunately reflects the influence of the “dominant culture,” which may not always foresee and promote the recognition and protection of the multiple forms of human gender.

Let’s begin with the semantic aspect.

If the term “gender” identifies the condition of being male or female assigned to an individual at birth based on their external genitalia, “gender identity” expresses a person’s sense of belonging to a gender, which can be female, male, or non-binary. It represents the perception that each individual has of themselves as male or female or sometimes as belonging to categories other than male or female.

Gender dysphoria refers to the emotional and cognitive discomfort related to the gender assigned to us and consists of a condition of misalignment between sex (or gender assigned at birth) and gender identity: it concerns all individuals who feel they belong to a gender different from the one assigned to them at birth or who do not feel they fully belong to either the female or male gender, or whose gender identity is fluid, oscillating between male and female over time.

Gender identity is a “spectrum” that connects the two extremes of male and female gender, within which we find Cisgender (indicating individuals who identify with the gender corresponding to their biological sex), Transgender (indicating a person who does not conform to expectations, roles, and attitudes associated with the gender assigned at birth), Transsexual (a transgender person who – not identifying with their biological sex – has begun a treatment process to modify their body towards the preferred gender), Non-binary (a term adopted by those who do not recognize the binary construction of gender, meaning the idea that there are only female and male genders; this definition includes both genderqueer people, who identify with a personal mix of the two genders, and genderfluid people, whose gender identity is fluid and oscillates between male and female), Agender (people who refuse to identify with a gender). From a biological perspective, there is also the condition of intersex, which concerns those individuals whose sex chromosomes, hormones, or genital organs are not exclusively male or female.

While gender identity concerns self-perception, sexual orientation relates to how one relates to others and indicates physical or romantic attraction to a person. Sexual orientation does not coincide with gender: they are two different things that can intersect in many ways.

There are many types of sexual orientation, and all (it needs to be emphasized, even shouted if necessary) deserve protection.

There are Heterosexuals (those who identify with a gender and are exclusively attracted to people of the opposite gender), Homosexuals (attracted to people of their same gender; this definition includes lesbian women and gay men), Bisexuals (who are attracted to both male and female genders), Pansexuals (who feel attraction regardless of the other person’s gender, thus including those with a fluid or non-binary identity), Asexuals (who do not feel sexual attraction towards people of either gender but are capable of experiencing deep emotions and establishing important relationships).

Sexual orientation is not a static condition but a fluid one that can change – more or less – over the years, even in adulthood. Many psychological and scientific studies show that having a fluid sexual orientation is not uncommon. Sexual fluidity is manifested in both males and females because the ability to change one’s sexual tendencies is innate in humans.

This diverse framework of one of the most intimate and discriminated spheres gives us a beautiful picture of the heterogeneity of the human gender, its inclinations, and its infinite ways of conceiving and practicing sexual pleasure.

Libido. Every discussion about sexuality, gender identity, sexual orientation should actually begin with this term. Because it’s around the theme of sexual pleasure that a curtain of taboos and prejudices often falls, preventing us from grasping its true essence: the inherently subjective nature of pleasure as an expression of the diversity of those who practice it.

Sexual education is rarely included in school curricula, and when it is taught, it often reduces to a generic warning about the risks of unprotected sex and the consequences of unwanted pregnancies.

The topic of libido is left to private experience, yet it would be an extraordinary form of education about diversity. Pleasure is subjective and, when sought and practiced lawfully, is something inherently normal. Explaining its matrix and implications could help combat stereotypes and prejudices, promoting greater understanding and tolerance in society.

If we want to find a parallel with the cinematic and television world (always useful considering the didactic value of cinema and television), we cannot fail to mention the British series “Sex Education,” which aired on Netflix for 4 seasons from 2019 to 2023.

It is a true television gem that has forever changed the way of narrating the sexuality of teenagers, giving us a finally realistic and inclusive representation of the different gender identities and sexual experiences of young people dealing with the anatomical and emotional aspects related to sex. Characters like Otis, Eric, Ola, and Lily offer a glimpse into the complexity of gender identity and the challenges that LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people face in their daily lives.

The series reminds us of the importance of inclusive sexual education that takes into account all diversities. It is an anthem to freedom that uses the topic of sex as a means to talk about identity, friendship, respect, vulnerability, resilience, self-esteem. It should be screened in schools.

But let’s not digress and come to the law. Why talk about law after introducing topics such as gender identity, orientation, and sexual education?

Because the law is (and must be) a promoter of a culture opposed to any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It must contribute to creating conditions where lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people can fully enjoy their rights.

For years, the UN and the Council of Europe have been urging member states to adopt measures to combat discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

In resolution 1728 (2010), adopted on April 29, 2010, concerning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe invites States “to ensure, in legislation and practice, the rights [of transgender people] (…) to obtain official documents reflecting the chosen gender identity, without the prior requirement of undergoing sterilization or other medical procedures such as sex conversion surgery or hormone therapy.”

At this point, we need to ask a question. Do these enunciations of principles and values that translate into virtuous and proactive legislative recommendations find fertile ground in the legislative production of individual states?

The answer is not always, not in all states, especially in those where the rights of individuals and families have a religious matrix that reflects on the recognition and protection of fundamental human rights.

The answer is not always, not in all states, especially in those where the law concerning individuals and families has a religious foundation that influences the recognition and protection of fundamental human rights.

An example of this is Iraq. In April 2024, the Iraqi Parliament passed a law criminalizing homosexual relationships and gender transitions, with penalties of up to 15 years in prison. The law also prohibits “any organization that promotes homosexuality in Iraq,” with a seven-year prison sentence for “promoting” homosexual relationships. It prohibits “the change of biological sex based on individual desires or inclinations” and imposes a penalty of one to three years in prison for anyone or any doctor involved in this transition.

At the European level, there is a cultural and legal evolution towards recognizing the right to gender identity as a fundamental component of personal identity.

In June 2018, the European Court of Justice recognized the validity of same-sex marriage in all member countries “under the free movement of persons” (this ruling does not concern the approval of same-sex marriage in individual member states but the validity that such an institution, if celebrated in the European Union, must be recognized in a state without such regulation).

In more and more European countries, such as Germany, Finland, Spain, Portugal, Norway, and Switzerland, officially changing gender will only require a simple self-declaration, and surgical interventions will no longer be necessary. In Italy, gender change has been recognized since 1982, but “surgical correction” of gender is required. However, thanks to two rulings of the Court of Cassation and one of the Constitutional Court, today it is sufficient to accompany the request for a gender change with the opinion of an expert who evaluates the psychological conditions and motivation behind such requests.

Despite these significant steps forward for the full recognition of LGBT rights, there are unfortunately still worrying regressions resulting from a conservative and reactionary politics.

In Italy, a bill (DDL Zan) that would have established protections against discrimination for LGBT people was recently rejected.

In the world, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people continue to be victims of attacks and hate crimes.

There is still much to be done.

The hope is that the law will take on an increasingly proactive role in achieving and enforcing virtuous objectives and in making rights and freedoms a consolidated reality in a given social and cultural context.

1st photo: Netflix series “Sex Education”

Noam Shuster-Eliassi was a rising star among Israeli-Palestinian peace activists. She has spoken at conferences around the world, urging his generation of Israelis to chart a more progressive path. In the past she had considered the idea of entering diplomacy or politics.

She speaks fluent Arabic, Hebrew and English. The historical awareness, education, and linguistic fluency he acquired have given Shuster the ability to challenge today, through satirical comedy, systemic power imbalances between Israelis and Palestinians and between Israel’s European Jewish elite and Middle Eastern Jews.

  Shuster-Eliassi’s comedy isn’t just about politics. But it’s about identity: her identity, which is the most multifaceted thing you can imagine. She calls herself “half” and is half Ashkenazi and half Mizrachi (Ashkenazi Jews are of European origin; Mizrachi Jews are of Middle Eastern or North African origin). Raised in Israel’s Arab-Jewish intentional community, ” Neve Shalom – Wahat al Salam- Oasis of Peace”.

Shuster-Eliassi often tells the story of her family’s first Saturday in the new community, when her grandmother Mizrachi came to visit: “My grandmother couldn’t understand why my mother had intentionally moved to live with the Arabs. The grandmother said: “Come into the house and close the door tightly, there are Arabs outside! ‘”

In 2017, her career took a sudden turn, how? she started telling jokes.

These lines allowed Shuster-Eliassi to explore the nuances of identity and their interplay in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a way that peacebuilding never has. She believes that comedy can open the hearts and minds of Israelis, Palestinians, Jews and Arabs in the diaspora to an alternative reality.

The turning point came in 2018 with a set at the 1001 Laughs a

Palestine Comedy festival, founded a few years earlier by Palestinian-American comedian Amer Zahr. It was a risky booking: she was the first Jewish Israeli to perform at the festival and her name wasn’t even on the promotional material. On stage in occupied East Jerusalem, Shuster broke the ice with her opening line: “Don’t worry, I’m only here for seven minutes, not 70 years,” referring to Israel’s presence in the region.

“I was crying afterwards, the laughter and reception I received was overwhelming,” she says.

1001 Laughs Palestine Comedy festival

“I really want the audience to leave my shows with something that is beyond my capabilities,” she says: “There is no future for Israel and for the Jews without the involvement of the Palestinians.

This unleashed a wave of support and secured television slots on Israeli news channels. She was awarded New Jewish Comedian of the Year in 2019 at the JW3 Jewish Comedy festival in London. Then the pandemic turned everything into a “cancellation party”,

When she caught Covid she was sent by the Lebanese-Canadian director Amber Fares, to a quarantine accommodation (immediately nicknamed Hotel Corona) which became part of an experiment in coexistence with Israeli Jews and Palestinians. During this period, a strong bond is created between the cohabitants. “It was a radical getting along,” Shuster says. “In every decision made, the choices made by the people of Hotel Corona have been oriented towards unity rather than separation.”

Shuster’s quarantine trip presented logistical challenges for the film’s director, who says Shuster’s appeal lies in her ability to use her Jewish-Israeli comedic persona to spark debates that might otherwise be shut down. “Noam is a perfect example of a political ally, and that’s really important,” she says. “It transcends this conflict and can be applied to other movements, such as BLM (Black Lives Matter).

During the recent escalation of violence, many Israeli voices opposed to Israel’s bombing of Gaza have been marginalized and subjected to verbal abuse. But it’s in those moments of political isolation, Shuster says, that she feels most compelled to speak out. As she says in Reckoning with Laughter: “There is nothing radical about calling for equality between Jews and Arabs.

Well, then let’s finally open these doors!

Armenians died after the Ottoman genocide, caused by the Turks who killed one and a half million people. In 1915, they began to flee to various directions and countries, including Lebanon, where they settled in large numbers and it became a homeland to them.

In Lebanon, their numbers rapidly surged after they arrived, as refugees, settled in villages in the Bekaa Valley and the Metn region. In the 1925 the government of the cedars, granted the Lebanese citizenship to the Armenian. Since the beginning the Armenians did not engage in Lebanese political life. During the Lebanese Civil War, Armenians in Lebanon entrenched themselves in their neighborhoods and refused to take up arms, aligning neither with the Muslim supporters of the Palestinian Liberation Organization nor with the major Christian parties like the Kataeb and the Lebanese Forces. Whenever any of the warring factions approached them, they either expelled or eliminated them, allowing them to maintain their neutrality until the end of the civil war in 1990.

Lebanese of Armenian origin founded a thriving neighborhood in Beirut that still exists today, commonly called Bourj Hammoud.

Armenians entered the Lebanese way of life through the economy and the first factor is due to the fact that Armenians were an organized nation of people . Armenians founded colleges and universities, preserving the Armenian language. The secondary factor is their knowledge of professions.

Haigazian University in Beirut is named in honor of Dr. Armenag Haigazian an Armenian theologian, scientist, linguist and musician

Their presence in the refugee camps in Aleppo, for example, taught them different crafts and professions, and when they arrived in Lebanon most of them were craftsmen, and from here they quickly made their way into the economy, and the Lebanese industry flourished when they turned their craft into an industry.

The Bourj Hammoud area, situated in the north of Beirut, is considered the capital of the Armenians in Lebanon it remained, along with some of the surrounding areas, witness to a unique experience in the world of economy, finance, trade, and industry. When you go to these areas, you see the overwhelming Armenian presence through the names of the streets, the shops, and institutions, in addition to school, university, clubs. Lebanese environment was conducive to work and productivity, with low taxes and few laws that hinder work. And these people were able, despite the language barrier, to “develop themselves and acquire extensive and advanced scientific knowledge.”

Over time, especially in the last ten years, the characteristics of the region have begun to change.

What became clear was not the decline of the Armenian presence in and of itself, but what subsequent crises had done to them, closing dozens of businesses, hence the migration of young people to countries abroad, especially with the exacerbation of the political conflict and economic crisis in Lebanon after 2019 and with the Beirut port explosion in 2020 was accompanied by the emergence of many communities of different nationalities in that region to the detriment of the Armenian presence.

Arax Street in Bourj Hammoud, Beirut 

April 24, Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day in Lebanon

Today, unfortunately, all of Lebanon is suffering from the crisis and the entire Lebanese people are experiencing this situation, including the Lebanese of Armenian origin.

Lebanon has not conducted a population census since the 1930s, but media estimates currently place the Armenian population at around 150.000.

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The Hazaras in Afghanistan speak Persian, predominantly practice Shiite Islam and constitute approximately 8 million people, making up approximately 20 percent of the Afghan population. For much of its history they have been “the other” in the “Afghan nation,” which is based on Sunni Islam, ethnic identity and the Pashto language.

The Hazaras live mainly in Afghanistan but also in Pakistan and Iran, where some have found refuge, but many others have emigrated, mostly forcibly due to persecution, to Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and Northern Europe (Denmark and Sweden) .

In the last twenty years, when the 2004 Afghan Constitution guaranteed, at least in theory, freedom and equal rights to all citizens, the Hazaras have sought education as a fundamental resource to emerge.

However, both the Taliban and other Islamic extremist groups have continued to target them and the Afghan government has failed to guarantee the safety of their community.

With the Taliban returning to power in 2021, Hazaras faced further persecution.

The Taliban, strengthened by their “victory” and not discouraged by the international community, have intensified the persecution against them.

Recently, they have begun to arbitrarily detain Hazara women and girls for “not wearing the correct hijab,” although much evidence and testimony suggests that these detentions are motivated less by “enforcement of the hijab” and more by the intention to marginalize and persecute the Hazaras even more.

Images from detention centers show Taliban “policewomen” arresting women with their heads completely covered who have been detained by the Taliban for almost a month.

Hazara women and girls, in their own ways, resisted the infliction of terror and fear by the Taliban who closed schools, but Hazara girls went to educational centers where many sought to learn a foreign language and seek a education abroad. Then, when the Taliban realized they couldn’t stop the girls, they started arbitrarily detaining them, accusing them of not wearing proper clothing. But hijab and Islam are excuses.”

Taliban detention was terrible for many of them who were forced to fast during the day, pray at night and were sometimes punished for falling asleep. The Taliban despise women and girls, especially Hazara ones because, in their eyes, they are born with four unforgivable sins:

Hazara, women, Shiites and those seeking education.

Their community’s rights are further threatened by the Taliban’s religious homogenization policies, which particularly target the religious freedom of Shia Hazaras.

In early 2023, the Taliban eliminated Shiite theology taught in universities in Hazara-dominated provinces such as Bamiyan from the curricula. They later ordered private universities to purge their libraries of non-Sunni Islamic texts, including Shia and other religious books.

Since the return of the Taliban, hundreds of Hazaras have been killed or injured in attacks claimed by ISIS across the country. The Taliban, as the “de facto authority”, did not hesitate to tolerate these attacks.

In 2023, Pashtun residents of Urozgan-e Khas district in Urozgan province reportedly destroyed the properties of their Hazara neighbors, cut down their fruit trees, set fire to their houses and set fire to their crops of grain. According to locals, these acts of violence and abuse were carried out in coordination with the Taliban.

In a global appeal regarding the plight of the Hazara community, thousands of Afghan citizens have mobilized a global march to call for an end to “Hazara genocide” and “gender apartheid”.

It is necessary for the world community to increasingly understand the plight of the Hazara and act to counter incitement to violence and persecution against this community.

Let’s try to see the law, its current output and the challenges it faces through the lens of Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece film “Pulp Fiction”.

The parallelism may seem risky, almost provocative, but it is a useful narrative device to introduce the topic of this article.

The analysis of the American director’s film allows us to identify an element that made the film successful and which, with the necessary precautions, can and must be used to describe the new frontier of law: the theme of interdisciplinarity, contamination, of the development of new legal forms of reading and writing reality.

Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994, Oscar winner for best screenplay, Pulp Fiction mixes genres and styles, sublimating them in a masterful narrative within which space and time lose consistency, grotesque characters come to life between iconic dialogues and legendary music.

The result is that of a real revolution in the way of making cinema and, above all, in the cinematographic language which, thanks to Tarantino, has changed forever and has inspired new generations of directors.

How all this was possible is easily explainable in the light of the brilliant mind of its creator, an almost obsessive cinema lover (let’s also remove the almost), a profound connoisseur of the cinematographic medium, of its dynamics, of its potential and of its role as a thermometer of society and its aberrations.

The success of the film, which has become a cult object, is essentially due to Quentin Tarantino’s ability to bring his boundless knowledge of cinema to the screen and elaborate it, giving life to a new genre which is the synthesis of multiple genres.

Godard, Hitchcock, Fellini, Leone are the masters who inspired the American director: iconic and now engraved in the collective imagination is the scene of Uma Thurman and Jhon Travolta’s dance at Jack Rabbit’s Slim to the tune of You Never Can Tell. It is believed that this scene was inspired by a classic of French cinema, Bande à Parte, a 1964 film by Jean Luc Godard and by the famous dance sequence that goes down in history as The Madison Dance.

This mosaic of genres, characters and music distinguishes the revolutionary scope of the film and reveals an aptitude for the contamination of styles which, in turn, demonstrates a capacity for observation, in-depth analysis, and openness to external influences functional to a new narrative.

By creating a parallel with legal science, we can use Tarantino’s film to open a reflection on the importance of law in our time and on the need for legal thought to open up to contamination, in its positive meaning of overcoming a static identity, and to interdisciplinarity.

The main role of law is to translate a determined conception of the world into social action, but also to prevent and resolve problems that require transversal knowledge.

The task of the jurist, in particular of the legislator and judges (and, why not, also of lawyers), is therefore to be able to look beyond the boundaries of the legal discipline and open up to contamination with other sciences in a world that is increasingly interconnected and complex.

Legal issues are often intertwined with other disciplines such as economics, politics, ethics, social and behavioral sciences. Drawing on these disciplines, on their evaluation and analysis models, is a necessary prerequisite for law to be able to impose itself not only as an aseptic system of rules but also of ideas and values capable of influencing a specific vision of the world.

In an era like the current one dominated by environmental, economic and social problems, a capacity for adaptation, resilience and proactivity is required and, above all, a holistic vision of things for which law can become a vehicle and instrument of diffusion to give adequate responses to challenges that these problems entail.

Returning to Pulp Fiction and Tarantino, prophet of a new cinema which is the sum of many cinematographic genres, the hope is that at the basis of normative production and legal thought there will always be a multidisciplinary approach open to influences deriving from the knowledge of other disciplines and capable of synthesizing the most effective and innovative methodologies and interpretations into unique knowledge.

Let’s just think about how fascinating and useful it would be to address the topic of neurodiversity with a vision that incorporates but at the same time knows how to go beyond the medical gaze, which draws on behavioral sciences (such as pedagogy and anthropology) and knows how to encourage a criticism of the model dominant deficit that defines behaviors and attitudes in terms of lack and normality.

Let’s imagine a law that promotes this vision and is able to give effective protection to the rights of neurodiverse people (for example, autistic people), guaranteeing their real coexistence in the economic and social fabric of a society and hindering the spread of a culture based only on on ableism that excludes those who have different ways and times of learning.

When we talk about contamination and interdisciplinarity we must mean precisely this: uniting the knowledge of different scientific and academic disciplines in a single and harmonious vision of the world. To generate more effective models and solutions and hope for a better future.

Photo: Eric Robert, Getty images, protagonists of the movie Pulp Fiction

By Andrea Tucci,

Certainly, the creative flair of famous brands, over the years, also contributed to making them icons of social and cultural changes.

 Coca-Cola 

The Coca-Cola story began in 1886 when an Atlanta pharmacist, Dr. John Pemberton, who was wounded in the Civil War and became addicted to morphine, began his mission to create a better alternative. The first prototype, a flavoured syrup, created in Pemberton’s Eagle Drug and Chemical House, was mixed with carbonated water and sold at the local pharmacy. 

The Coca-Cola brand name was the brain-child of Pemberton’s bookkeeper and partner, Frank M. Robinson inspired by the two key ingredients; Coca leaves and Kola nuts (the source of caffeine). Robinson also created the icon logo saying “the two Cs would look well in advertising”.  A stroke of his pen and a stroke of genius that would last more than 100 years. 

Lego

The Lego brand story is as elegantly simple as the iconic plastic blocks themselves.

The company began in the workshop of Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1932 where he crafted wooden toys.

His inspiration for the name came from the Danish term for ‘play well’ – leg godt. By combining the first two letters of each word he created a unique and meaningful brand name that has transcended countries and generations.

Nike  

Founded in 1964 by University of Oregon athlete Phil Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman, Nike started its life as Blue Ribbon Sports, a sportswear distributor, selling gear out of the boot of Knight’s car.

Jeff Johnson the company’s first employee, who ran the East Coast factory, inspired by an article he’d read in an in-flight magazine, woke at 7 am with a brainwave – Nike – the Greek winged goddess of victory.

On May 30, 1971, Blue Ribbon Sports became Nike Inc. The swoosh logo was designed by Carolyn Davidson, Portland State University graphic design student. The brand logo is called “Swoosh”, an onomatopoeic word, which in English indicates the speed and rustle of the wind.

Sony 

In 1946 businessman Masaru Ibuka established Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo with a vision of “establishing an ideal factory that stresses a spirit of freedom and open-mindedness that will, through technology, contribute to Japanese culture.”

During a business trip to the United States, he quickly discovered that Americans had trouble pronouncing his company’s name. To be a successful international brand, Masaru realised he had to change the company name.

In 1958 the name ‘Sony’ was chosen – inspired by the Latin word ‘sonus’ meaning sonic and sound. The name had a second meaning – ‘sonny’, a Japanese slang term describing a smart and presentable young man.

Apple

The Apple logo was much more complex in its early days as it depicted the scene of Isaac Newton in his key moment with the apple, when he had his greatest inspiration. However, Steve Jobs thought it was too complicated and commissioned it to be redesigned, giving rise to the famous bitten apple.

When it first appeared, the apple had colored stripes, like a rainbow, probably to highlight the computer’s ability to reproduce colors, or simply to “humanize” the company. However, years later, the only restyling it received was to give it a unique, more serious and formal tone, switching to a single-colour black logo.

Google

 Google’s first logo was the word “BackRub” which was also its name because the search engine found pages through backlinks. However, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the two founders, wanted to give a name that could immediately communicate the ability to organize millions of pieces of information on the web. The choice therefore fell on the word “Googol”, then they made a mistake in registering the name “Google” and left it like that…

 Amazon 

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, now the richest man in the world, changed the brand name three times in the first year of business before finally settling on the name for, what is now, one of the world’s most iconic brands.

The first name Jeff registered was ‘Cadabra’. However, Jeff very quickly went cold on the idea when his accountant miss heard him and thought the name was ‘Cadava’ to close to cadaver….

Back to brainstorming –  Jeff’s next naming brainwave was ‘Relentless’. However, soon after registering the name and domains, Jeff’s friends and colleagues confessed that they thought the name sounded too sinister. 

In desperation, Jeff turned to the dictionary. He wanted the new name to start with the letter A so the company would appear first in a web search. It wasn’t long before he stumbled upon the perfect name – Amazon.

Amazon was exotic and different, just as he wanted his online store to be. It was also the largest river in the world, 10 times larger than the next contender ,perfectly fitting the vision Jeff had for his business.

Vodafone is one of the most recognised, iconic and valuable telecommunication brands in the world. However, the journey has been an interesting one with numerous owners and as many different names.

It all began in 1951 in West London with a company named Racal Ltd who designed and built radio receivers. 

In 1985 the name Vodafone was chosen for the network – “voice + data + phone” – inspired by the advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi and one of the original company directors. 

It’s all about how a small idea can grow into a global phenomenon, embracing change…Infact, some brands that have been strongly associated with historic changes in terms of sociological changes, freedom, and equality.

Levi’s: Levi’s jeans became an icon of social and cultural change, associated with youth rebellion and the culture of hard work. They were adopted by various countercultural movements, like the hippies of the 1960s and 1970s, who perceived Jeans as a symbol of nonconformity and freedom.

Volkswagen, particularly with its Beetle and Kombi model, indeed became an icon of social and cultural change, often associated with youth rebellion and a sense of individuality, adopted by various countercultural movements, like the hippies of the 1960/70s, who viewed these vehicles as a symbol of nonconformity and freedom.

Those Volkswagen model  influence extended beyond its function as a mode of transportation. It appeared in popular culture, including movies, television shows, and music, further solidifying its status as an icon of social change, representing youth rebellion and a shift away from traditional values.

Throughout these years, both McDonald’s and Coca-Cola emerged as iconic symbols of globalization and popular culture, mirroring societal and cultural shifts over time.

The history of a brand is not just a relic; it is a living entity.

Let’s not forget that the story behind a brand, often contains the secrets of the brand’s success…

Image: A group of individuals, embodying the spirit of counterculture, captured amidst the iconic Woodstock music festival of 1969 in the United States.