‘Artivism’ in the Arab World: a Major Driving Force towards Democracy

Long before the Arab Spring, it had already been repeatedly pointed out that youth constitute the largest part of the population in the Arab world, and that this established fact should be seriously taken into account as a key political feature of the region. However, if the economic consequences of this factor have been broadly analysed, it is surprisingly much less the case when it comes to its cultural impacts, which are of equally great importance. Young people have specific interests and behaviours, making up what is commonly called ‘youth culture,’ which is in turn directly related to a number of crucial economic and political issues in the region. To have a grasp of what contemporary youth culture means in the Arab world, we must consequently take a closer look at what today’s youth generally like and like doing – namely the music, films, literature, and art they prefer, places they like to go to, events they celebrate, topics they discuss most often, etc. (First two paragraphs

The new forms of politics production in the Arab World : the case of music festivals in Morocco : culture and politics in an authoritarian context

Les festivals de musique s'étant constitués progressivement depuis le milieu des années 1990 en un véritable phénomène de société au Maroc, cette thèse analyse, dans une perspective comparatiste, en quoi ces événements artistico-culturels et festifs favorisent des formes nouvelles, non-conventionnelles, de production du politique dans le monde arabe entre contestation et relégitimation de l'ordre établi. D'une part, les festivals de musique, appréhendés par le biais d'une analyse culturelle de l'action collective et des mouvements sociaux, révèlent un espace politique alternatif au potentiel initial fortement subversif, à l’origine d’une Nayda post-islamiste. D'autre part, les différents processus de récupération et de cooptation, directes et indirectes, dans lesquels entrent peu à peu ces événements, illustrent les ressorts de la domination et d'une politique culturelle autoritaire exercées par le makhzen. Enfin, cette politisation multiple, que permet l'ambivalence de l'artistico-culturel et du politique, est exacerbée dans le contexte du Mouvement du 20 février et du Printemps arabe entre radicalisation et saturation de la dynamique festivalière.Musical festivals in Morocco have progressively become a social phenomenon since the mid 1990's. This study takes a comparative perspective in order to analyse to what extent these artistic, cultural and festive events promote new and unconventional forms of politics production in the Arab world, which oscillate between a contestation and a relegitimation of the established order. On the one hand, music festivals, considered through the lense of a cultural analysis of collective action and social movements, constitute an alternative political space with an initially high subversive potential leading to a post-islamist Nayda. On the other hand, these events gradually enter diverse processes of direct and indirect distortion and co-optation, which illustrate the levers of the domination and the authoritarian cultural policy exercised by the makhzen. Finally, the multiple politicization allowed by the ambivalence of artistic, cultural and political expressions is exacerbated in the context of the Arab Spring and the 20 February Movement between a radicalisation and a saturation of the festival dynamics

Low incidence of SARS-CoV-2, risk factors of mortality and the course of illness in the French national cohort of dialysis patients

International audienceThe aim of this study was to estimate the incidence of COVID-19 disease in the French national population of dialysis patients, their course of illness and to identify the risk factors associated with mortality. Our study included all patients on dialysis recorded in the French REIN Registry in April 2020. Clinical characteristics at last follow-up and the evolution of COVID-19 illness severity over time were recorded for diagnosed cases (either suspicious clinical symptoms, characteristic signs on the chest scan or a positive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) for SARS-CoV-2. A total of 1,621 infected patients were reported on the REIN registry from March 16th, 2020 to May 4th, 2020. Of these, 344 died. The prevalence of COVID-19 patients varied from less than 1% to 10% between regions. The probability of being a case was higher in males, patients with diabetes, those in need of assistance for transfer or treated at a self-care unit. Dialysis at home was associated with a lower probability of being infected as was being a smoker, a former smoker, having an active malignancy, or peripheral vascular disease. Mortality in diagnosed cases (21%) was associated with the same causes as in the general population. Higher age, hypoalbuminemia and the presence of an ischemic heart disease were statistically independently associated with a higher risk of death. Being treated at a selfcare unit was associated with a lower risk. Thus, our study showed a relatively low frequency of COVID-19 among dialysis patients contrary to what might have been assumed