November 9-10
- Trump as a “blessing in disguise” for Ukraine
- Viral positivity
- New “anti-creep” tool
- … and much more.
⬇️ STARTER
Rise of the new walls “rebordering” our world — 35 years after the Berlin Wall fell
It's a routine scene on the Moroccan border in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta: On September 15, hundreds of migrants, having coordinated through social media, rushed the barbed-wire fence near the town of Fnideq.
But the Moroccan police held their ground against the collective push. No one managed to cross the open land and approach the Spanish side, where an even more formidable barrier awaited them: a double fence with metal grating and barbed wire, equipped with radars, thermal cameras and motion detectors. The attempted crossing into this so-called “promised land" ended with at least 60 arrests.
This was not enough to discourage Moroccan and sub-Saharan migrants. In August 2024 alone, Moroccan authorities foiled 11,300 attempts to enter Ceuta. Melilla, Spain's second enclave in Morocco, faces similar migrant surges — a situation that has persisted for nearly 30 years.
The border fortifications established in the early 1990s along Europe’s African outposts have become emblematic. These initial barriers marked the beginning of a larger process of fortifying the European continent in response to an increasing influx of migrants. Since then, more than 15 similar structures — incorporating concrete, steel, metal grates and barbed wire — have been erected at the edges of the Schengen area, the EU's visa-free travel zone.
The trend intensified after 2015, when a large wave of migration was spurred by the Syrian war and pushed migrants along the Balkan route. Greece led the way in 2012, building a fence along its border with Turkey. Hungary followed, protecting its border with Serbia.
To stem the flows of irregular entries, some states even constructed barriers along borders with other Schengen countries, such as Austria with Slovenia and Hungary with Croatia. The movement then shifted northward, with Poland erecting a fence along its border with Belarus in 2021, and Finland doing the same along its Russian border. France also set up anti-migrant barriers at Calais.
For political scientist Frédéric Encel “these constructions reflect a ‘brutalization’ of border enforcement. But more significantly, they signal a resurgence of the nation-state in an almost tribal form, driven by fears of an invasion perceived as hostile, from groups that are culturally and linguistically different.” [...]
— Read the full article by Stefano Lupieri for Les Echos, translated into English by Worldcrunch.
🎲 OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ
What do you remember from the news this week?
1. Donald Trump has become the oldest person ever to be elected U.S. president. How old is he?
2. What European government’s ruling coalition collapsed the day after the U.S. election?
3. Japan has successfully launched a small satellite, called LignoSat, into space. What surprising material is it made out of?
4. What is a communications company selling near Italy’s Lake Como?
Pizza-flavored vapes / Cans of “authentic air” / Sparkling lake water / Blades of grass from George Clooney’s villa
[Answers at the bottom of this newsletter]
#️⃣ TRENDING
A new Instagram and TikTok trend is spreading positivity by celebrating the simple, and sometimes counterintuitive joys of life with the phrase “What a privilege.” Posts — some of which racking up hundreds of thousands of likes — highlight gratitude for everyday moments, like a comfy bed after a long day, carrying a heavy bag while traveling, or choosing what to make for dinner, in a welcome respite from the negativity and criticism usually associated with social media.
🎭 5 CULTURE THINGS TO KNOW
• Oxford museum returns sun hat looted by colonizers. A bamboo sun hat which was “violently taken” from the Kenyah Badeng people of Sarawak, Borneo, by British colonizers during war expeditions in 1895 and 1896 was returned in a ceremony to the Kenyah Badeng Association. The cultural artifact, which was acquired in 1923 by Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, will be on display at the Borneo Cultures Museum in Kuching, Sarawak, which is part of modern-day Malaysia.
• Netflix releases movie adaption of Mexican novel that inspired Márquez. The streaming platform has released this week Pedro Páramo, the first film adaptation in almost 50 years of the 1955 novel by Mexican writer Juan Rulfo, which inspired Gabriel García Márquez to write One Hundred Years of Solitude. The magic-realist novel tells the story of Juan Preciado’s quest for his lost father in the ghost town of Comala.
• Japanese artist uses DNA from 100,000 Estonians in new show. Ryoji Ikeda, a Japanese artist and composer known for incorporating data and technology into his artworks, opened a solo exhibition at the Estonian National Museum in Tartu, which features an audiovisual installation displaying the DNA of 100,000 Estonians on LED screens. The artwork was created in collaboration with Estonian researchers and as part of a program celebrating Tartu as a 2024 European Capital of Culture. The exhibition will run until March 2, 2025.
• Dutch police detain suspect after botched Andy Warhol art heist. A 23-year-old man was arrested in the Netherlands on suspicion of involvement in a botched art heist at a gallery in the town of Oisterwijk last week, which targeted four valuable Andy Warhol screenprints. Thieves blew open the door of MPV Gallery, stole two artworks and abandoned two others, severely damaged, in the streets as they didn’t fit in the getaway car. Gallery owner Mark Peet Visser said the prints were “damaged beyond repair” by what he described as “amateurish” thieves.
• Nintendo confirms Switch games will be compatible with next console. The Japanese game giant’s President Shuntaro Furukawa said the company plans to include backwards compatibility in the successor to the Switch, which has become one of the best-selling consoles of all time since its 2017 launch. Sales however fell by 31% during the April-September period as gaming fans were waiting for news about an expected follow-up model next year.
🦛🦛 SMILE OF THE WEEK
Move over, Moo Deng! Edinburgh Zoo has introduced its newborn pygmy hippo, Haggis, ready to compete with the viral sensation from Thailand. With a playful “Moo Deng? Who deng?,” the zoo kicked off a friendly rivalry between these two adorable mammals, both named after famous meat dishes.
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🇺🇸 Donald Trump's success is also a revelation of the weaknesses of the American left, which is plagued by self-righteousness and the belief that painting your opponent as a threat to democracy is a political agenda.
— DIE ZEIT
🇮🇱 After the six-day war of 1967, the Three No's of an Arab Summit set a new hardline against Israel. That should be the model now.
— AL-MANASSA
🇺🇦 Could Donald Trump’s win at the U.S. election turn out to be a blessing in disguise for Ukraine in its war against Russia ?
— GAZETA WYBORCZA
⚖️ The natural disaster in Valencia is the reflection of a great societal failure, the result of the lack of public policies in organizing a sustainable and balanced model of life.
— LA MAREA
🌍 From combating invasive species in New Zealand to dealing with melting ice in Alaska, indigenous peoples are on the front lines of climate change adaptation and are doing whatever it takes to stay in their homelands and avoid becoming climate refugees.
— WORLDCRUNCH
🫸 BRIGHT IDEA
In Caen, northern France, 34-year-old 3D modeler Quentin Duteil has designed a thumb-sized, 3D-printed self-defense whistles, which he distributes to help fight against street harassment. Committed to accessibility, Duteil has pledged to sell his “repousse relou” (French for “warding off creeps”) at cost, declines patents and plans to release the design as open-source, allowing others to freely produce the whistle.
👓 WORLDCRUNCH MAGAZINE
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⏩ LOOKING AHEAD
• The November election marathon is not over yet: Mauritian general elections are on Nov. 10, Somaliland’s presidential vote follows on Nov. 13, Sri Lanka holds its parliamentary elections on Nov. 14, and Gabon will conduct a constitutional referendum on Nov. 16. Maybe, one of these will not end up in a nightmare.
• President Biden will visit Latin America from Nov. 14-19, marking the first U.S. president visit to the Amazon rainforest. Starting in Peru for the APEC summit, he’ll then head to Brazil to discuss environmental preservation with local leaders and meet President Lula.
• The Thailand National Science Museum will be running its 27th World Puppet Festival, with puppet troupes being asked to challenge the topics of environmental preservation and wildlife extinction.
News quiz answers:
1. At 78 years old, Donald Trump is now the oldest person in U.S. history to be elected president.
2. The ruling coalition of Germany collapsed after Chancellor Olaf Scholz sacked Finance Minister Christian Lindner. Scholz said he would call a vote of confidence in his government early next year, which is expected to lead to new national elections in the spring.
3. Japan’s LignoSat is the first wooden satellite to be launched into space. The palm-sized device was named after the Latin word for “wood” (ligno).
4. Tourists visiting Lake Como in Italy can now take home a 400-milliliter can of “100% authentic air” from the popular destination. Communications company ItalyComunica is selling the cans for €9.90 ($11) apiece.
✍️ Newsletter by Worldcrunch
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*Photo: Estonian National Museum