Previously, it was said that foreign policy had no place and influence on elections, that it was not a criterion for voters’ choice among candidates. Today, the trend seems to be reversing when public opinion perceives that external events, near or far, can have a negative impact on their daily lives, on their own security.
The war in Ukraine, the war in the Middle East around the Strait of Hormuz and their consequences on the supply of oil, gas, fertilizers, cereals, food products, value chains produce immediate concrete consequences on the growth rate, inflation, deficit, and the need to strengthen our security after decades of disarmament of the famous “peace dividends.”
In a masterful documentary (documentary available in the right column of the website through ARTE), Jean-François Colosimo shows, with images and statements, how “The Empires Strike Back” (Russia, China, Iran, India, United States) extend their power, if necessary at the expense of their neighbors. \nDuring the next presidential elections in France, in April 2027, will the international situation and foreign policy have an influence on voters’ political choices? Will humanitarian and development aid be present and convincing in the debates?
In this edition, we address this question whose relevance imposes itself on us between external threats, consequences and internal weaknesses, international solidarity.
In his article”How the vases break,” Cyprien Fabre highlights the fault lines that weaken us and a “resilience crisis that we all must now face,” calling to “build this resistance to shocks.”
In his opinion piece, Antoine Vaccaro warns us about the strong rise of “autocratic regimes,” the weakening of freedom and law, and calls for help, with Seneca and Marcel Mauss, the philanthropy of giving as an antiviral for a resistant and dynamic society.
While external threats can weaken the resilience capacities of a country and its population, as well as those of the European Union, our internal weaknesses are the best allies of those who consider us their “enemy.” The very existence of Ukraine ultimately depends only on its resistance.
Let us remember the lesson of historian Arnold Toynbee: “Societies do not die by murder, but by suicide.”
It is time to take stock of our strengths and internal weaknesses and to assess the external risks posed to us by Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and many other autocrats and dangers such as climate change, conflicts, uncontrolled population displacements worldwide, the grip of drug trafficking, terrorism, not to mention selfishness and frenzied consumerism.
We are living in a strange time, a moment of transition to something we do not yet know.Which anthropologist will be able to interpret the simultaneous release in France of films like “Les Rayons et les Ombres” by Xavier Giannoli about collaboration during the occupation from 1940 to 1944, but also Antonin Baudry’s two-part film “De Gaulle,” The Iron Age then I Write Your Name, and in October, the film by László Nems “Moulin”.
What will be the impact of these films and General de Gaulle on public opinion, and on the candidates themselves for the upcoming presidential election?
“The French Archipelago” or the “birth of a multiple and divided nation,” a remarkable study-book by Jérôme Fourquet, calls us more than ever to lucidity and unity.
So, what could be more symbolic in this troubled context than the entry of Marc Bloch into the Pantheon on June 23, 2026.
Marc Bloch, a graduate of the École Normale Supérieure, agrégé, historian, fought in the 1914-1918 war and then in the 1939-1945 war. In 1929, he created with Lucien Lefebvre the journal Annales d’histoire économique et sociale. In 1939, then over 50 years old and father of 6 children, he asked to return to service. After the defeat, he wrote the May 1940 report “The Strange Defeat,” a book to read and reread to understand. Jewish and French patriot, he then joined the resistance. He was arrested in Lyon on March 8, 1944, tortured by Klaus Barbieand summarily executed on June 16, 1944, along with about thirty other prisoners, a martyr of the French resistance.
My intention is not to say that history repeats itself because, as the philosopher says, “One does not bathe twice in the same river.” However, why does this past come back so strongly today in our collective memory and what lessons will we draw from it for the present times?
If we will not rewrite history, on the other hand, we need men and women of the caliber, courage, and intelligence of a Marc Bloc, a Jean Moulin, and the vision of a General de Gaulle. What applies to us applies to everyone everywhere. The countries of the world, members of the UN, must reposition themselves on the global chessboard that is unstable.
The lessons are many and diverse. Faced with aggression and totalitarianism, fighting from the start is the best way to prevent submission. If, as Churchill said, “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others,” that should not exempt it from hearing just criticisms and reforming itself in times of crisis. Its legitimacy depends on this. For we are weak because of our own weaknesses and divisions. There is no fatality; it depends first and foremost on us.
If philanthropy and humanitarian aid are not the solution to all its immense challenges, they constitute an essential condition for living together in the diversity of nation-states, alliances, identities in mutual respect and solidarity.
Alain Boinet.
Discover other articles from this edition :
- Interview with Maria Groenewald, VOICE Director : a plea in favour of European humanitarian aid
- The Sahel region, extensions Southward and New emerging Jihadist Fronts : A Deep Dive into the W-Arly-Pendjari Complex – Salomée Languille
- How vases break – Cyprien Fabre
- Donating as an Antiviral: Philanthropy Put to the Test in an Increasingly Brutal World – Antoine Vaccaro
Alain Boinet is the president of the association Défis Humanitaires which publishes the online review www.defishumanitaires.com. He is the founder of the humanitarian association Solidarités International of which he was director general for 35 years. Moreover, he is a member of the Humanitarian Consultation Group with the Crisis and Support Center of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, member of the Board of Directors of Solidarités International, of the French Water Partnership (PFE), of the Véolia Foundation, of the Think Tank (re)sources. He continues to go to the field (north-east Syria, Haut-Karabagh/Artsakh and Armenia) and to testify in the media.
