Features

By Haneen Mas’oud
Clinical Psychologist

Think of a situation, time or a conversation where suddenly a feeling springs up telling you, “I’ve been here before” and that the setting or situation looks very familiar. Like walking into a house you’ve never seen or been in and feeling as if you remember the place. This is what is called déjà vu! 

Déjà vu is originally a French phrase that means already seen; it describes a phenomenon that most of us have experienced at some point in our lives, where a specific event or situation feels familiar as if it has happened before.

Déjà vu takes a few seconds and sometimes leaves a person with overwhelming emotions and confusion of not linking the familiar situation with a previously lived experience. It is mostly experienced during adolescence to adulthood and decreases with the passing of time. 

Anyone can experience déjà vu. However, the more stressed and tired you are, the more your chances are of experiencing it.

What happens in the brain during déjà vu?

The reason why déjà vu occurs is not clear but observations in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy have led scientists to hypothesise. Our brain’s frontal areas (frontal lobe) are believed to be more active than the hippocampus (the part of your brain in charge of memory) during déjà vu. 

This means that during déjà vu, our memory is weak while our decision making is strong. It’s hard for the brain to figure out if the memory we are experiencing is a real or fake memory because, at the moment, memory ability is very weak.

What can increase the chances of déjà vu? 

Since stress affects our memory, stress increases the chances of experiencing déjà vu. Exhaustion and lack of sufficient sleep can also trigger more frequent experiences of déjà vu. 

There’s also the Split-Perception Theory — if we’re looking at our phone or distracted by something else, and only glance around quickly, our perception might be split into two parts rather than one and makes our hippocampus slightly confused. 

Thus, the more distracted we are, the more likely we are to experience déjà vu. Interestingly enough, déjà vu is commonly reported by patients with epilepsy.

Dealing with déjà vu

If you’re not suffering from epileptic seizures or any medical condition that affects memory, you likely don’t have anything to worry about. While we can’t prevent déjà vu, we can reduce stress as much as possible by using healthy strategies and self-care practices such as maintaining a healthy diet, exercise, sleep and practising breathing and relaxation exercises.

If you experience a psychological and physical reaction to déjà vu that affects your mood and daily functioning, I recommend seeing a therapist for support. 

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

KENNEDY SPACE CENTRE, Florida — From muscle loss to radiation exposure and the psychological effects of confinement, spaceflight takes a toll on those lucky enough to experience it. 

European Space Agency flight surgeon Adrianos Golemis, who is responsible for the health of astronaut Thomas Pesquet during the SpaceX Crew-2 mission, shared some insights on the field of space medicine.

Q: What are the major health challenges of space?

A: If we talk about low Earth orbit where the International Space Station (ISS) lies, you have almost zero gravity so that takes its toll on your bones and your muscles. 

Radiation is a major issue, because here on the ground we are protected by the magnetosphere (magnetic field) and by the atmosphere, but if we go beyond, this protection goes away.

And of course we should not forget we have things that we are just beginning to understand: For example eye pathology (disease), or venous thrombosis (blood clots) that some healthy astronauts develop.

Q: What have scientists learned so far about how much radiation our bodies can take?

A: You could fly two or three missions of six months to the ISS probably without a very significant effect on your health. 

What we are aiming for is that your risk of developing cancer should not be higher than 3 per cent as compared to a person exactly like you that has never gone to spaceflight. 

Q: What are the other impacts of weightlessness?

A: We are adapted for life in one G. 

If you take that away, the veins in your feet will still keep pushing blood to your head as if you were in one G, so you end up with more blood in the upper part of your body.

You can see sometimes they really have this puffy face in the beginning of the mission.

Eventually the circulatory system adapts, and the body becomes used to a lower volume of blood. Before they leave the ISS, we tell astronauts to drink a lot and eat a lot of salt.

Q: The astronauts are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, do they still need to be tested?

A: They are in a quarantine, but we did have two final PCR tests. And this is to be 100 per cent sure that they are not even carriers.

The immune system underperforms when we are without gravity. People can develop infections that they would normally not develop, even to the microbes that we naturally carry in our body

Q: The crew spend two hours a day on exercise equipment to keep them in shape — are you also routinely in touch?

A: We have a standard video call once a week for 15 minutes.

In the beginning of the mission we would mainly check for space motion sickness, after you go from one G to zero G. 

Your mind has a little bit of trouble, there is some sensory conflict between your inner ear, and what your eyes see. And this can create some vomiting.

Later in the mission, we will look for other effects: Notably, psychology, or cognitive performance.

When you stay in an environment like the ISS, you’re really in a very small place, so you don’t have new stimuli and that has an effect on you psychologically. 

Mentally, it’s not so easy to focus or retain information.

Q: Apart from being well stocked in medicine, what kind of medical equipment is up there?

A: We can for example analyse the hematocrit (a red blood cell test). We can understand from that if they are hydrated enough, and what the changes are going on in their circulatory system. 

A couple of years ago, we came across some observations of thrombosis. No one expected that in healthy individuals, and this also gives us some new understanding of how the body works on our planet.

We now have ultrasound capability, and if someone develops symptoms like pain or dilation, another member of the group can perform an ultrasound to assess if this is a clinical case of thrombosis.

If you have a case where the astronaut’s life or well-being is really threatened, we would go for evacuation. 

Luckily in the 21 years that ISS has flown, that hasn’t happened.

Q: What does it take to become a space physician?

A: For me it was a medical degree to start with. Then I did a master’s degree in space studies at the International Space University, (in Strasbourg, France).

I spent a year in Antarctica as a doctor so I got a good understanding of a situation which was akin to spaceflight medicine. Eventually I went to Toulouse to Medes, the French Institute of Space Medicine and Physiology.

Right now the European Space Agency is recruiting new astronauts and you can apply until the end of May. If you have a dream, you should always try.

The Devil, the gentleman in search of his lost princess, dark humour and a transcendent moral at the end are all found in “The Man Who Sold His Skin” that gathers all the necessary ingredients for a fantastic modern fable, that aims to denounce the commodification of human beings and the hypocrisy of the art world. 

And this recipe seems to be working; the movie is the first Tunisian production to be nominated at the 2021 Academy Awards, in the Best International Feature Film. 

In this revisited Faustian pact, director Kaouther Ben Hania presents Sam Ali (Yahya Mahyani), a young Syrian man enamoured with the beautiful of Abeer (Dea Liane). So smitten that he cannot help but declare his love on a public train, in a passionate speech with revolutionary overtones that draws the attention of the regime. The two lovers are thus quickly separated in exile. While he flees to Beirut, Abeer marries an influential diplomat and follows him to Brussels. 

Sam struggles to rebuild his life in Lebanon, but he is willing to do anything to join Abeer — even if it means selling his soul to the Devil. While sneaking into an art gallery to enjoy the buffet, he meets Jeffrey Godefroi (Koen de Bouw), a worldly artist who introduces himself as the Mephistopheles of contemporary art. He proposes a surprising pact: To tattoo a Schengen visa on his back in exchange for a one-way ticket to Europe. 

In his own words, by turning Sam into a canvas, the artist intends to criticise this society in which “it is easier to travel as a work of art than as a human being”. 

Sam Ali accepts without hesitation, but he quickly pays the price for this pact, stifled by the hypocrisy of the contemporary art world.

If this story seems absurd, the plot is based on true events. The director based her movie on the work of Wim Delvoye, a Belgian conceptual artist known for his controversial projects. In 2006, he started to tattoo a young man named Tim and contractually transformed him into a piece of art, which participates in various exhibitions around the world three times a year in exchange for a third of the profits. 

“The Man Who Sold His Skin” draws on this surprising controversy to criticise the intemperance of the art world and its hypocrisy. By opposing the world of a desperate refugee and the extravaganza of the mundane art world of the West, Ben Hania aims at criticising the marchandisation of human misery. 

This satire is strongly reminiscent of Ruben Östrun’s “The Square”, which won the Palme d’Or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. The two films have been compared, as they both denounce the hypocrisy of the disconcerting modern art world using a sarcastic tone and surrealistic dialogues. 

The actors take on the costumes of extravagant characters who accentuate the surreal dimension of the work. Mahyani stood out by his charisma and has been rewarded by the Best Actor Award at the 77th Venice Biennale. According to Ben Hania, in an interview given for the Academy Oscar, she gave Mahyani the freedom to interpret his character the way he wanted to. This freedom allowed him to transform a simple museum entrance scene into a transcendent choreography that reflects the charm and freshness of his character in search of freedom, the director said. 

A majority of critics also recognised the technical quality of the film, especially its photography. The cinematographer Christophe Aoun was congratulated for his work on the aesthetic of the movie, three years after “Capharnaüm” was nomination for an Academy Award. His composition reflect the narrative of the movie: He considers the frame as an artistic canvas, using geometric shapes and a bold colour palette as if the spectators were stranded in a baroque painting with the characters.

The quality of the film carries Ben Hania’s powerful message against the commodification of misery, despite some blunders. If we forgive the film’s occasional lack of subtlety, many critics expressed their disappointment regarding the somewhat hasty ending, made of Hollywood-like turn of events, without much finesse, which contrasted with the message of the movie.

Despite this, the movie remains particularly popular in festivals, and will thus mark the year 2021. The talent of the actors, Ben Hania’s humour and the intelligence of its composition make “The Man Who Sold His Skin” a refreshing and enjoyable film in this particular year in the world of cinema.

By Alexandra Del Peral
Agence France-Presse

PARIS — Dating apps are booming in lockdown — no longer just a way of hooking up but also of simple interaction at a time when the coronavirus inflicts loneliness on millions. 

Rodrigo, 18, had never considered joining a dating app until the months of lockdown boredom finally forced his hand. 

"At the start, we told ourselves the crisis will pass, that we just have to have a bit patience. But when temporary becomes permanent, you have to try new things," he said. 

With school mostly online and limited options for going out with friends, "I had the feeling I was spending my entire life with my parents." 

Rodrigo now visits dating apps every day. More than just chasing the thrill of a hook-up, they have become a place to simply hang out. 

He has made friends with four people his age through the apps and chats with them daily — a way of "relieving the stress and frustration" of the pandemic, he says. 

"It's all we have left," he sighs, especially since Portugal was plunged back into lockdown last month. 

Match, the group that includes several leading apps such as Tinder, Hinge and Meetic, says it added more than a million users in the last quarter of 2020, up some 12 per cent to around 11 million worldwide. 

"It sounds like a cliché, but the apps have really kept me from sinking," said Sebastien, a 19-year-old student in France. 

"When we can't go to college, and the bars, restaurants, and cinemas are all closed, we spend entire days on our own, stewing. It's horrific," he said. 

Watching yourself date

Exchanges start by text before moving on to video chats — a function that dating apps have increasingly focused on since the pandemic ruled out the usual next step of a physical date. 

Martha, a 41-year-old Londoner, has found Zoom dating a bit of a slog, even if it saves her having to bother with perfume. 

"The biggest challenge I found with Zoom dating... was how strange it is to watch yourself talking and laughing," she said. 

She suspects a lot of people felt like her — that the pandemic might actually be an opportunity to focus on meeting Mr or Mrs Right, "but somehow it's harder to motivate myself when I don't know when I'll meet them in person, when I'll be able to have a flirt and a snog."

Martha did eventually meet someone. She's not sure if it will last, but it has at least provided a little companionship through the dark winter months of Britain's extended lockdown. 

Others have had overnight success. 

Ana, 31, a Spaniard from Valladolid, took less than 24 hours to find someone on Tinder and they have remained a couple since. 

"Towards the end of 2020, I convinced myself to give it a try for a few days, while vowing that if the conversations made me feel uncomfortable, or if I didn't find a shoe that fits, that I would drop it," she said. 

On the other side of the world in Tokyo, 32-year-old Ambroise, a translator, has not been so lucky so far. 

Unwilling to risk meeting in person, she says most of her connections have fizzled out after a while, even if Tinder has provided an outlet when her morale dips.

"I don't really have hope [of finding love] online... but no hope at all in real life," she said, adding that when she leaves the house "I'm wearing a mask, and often comfy clothes with no make up... you know, pandemic fashion!"

By Andrew Marszal
Agence France-Presse

LOS ANGELES — In a year that saw movie theatres boarded up due to COVID-19, eight new films that did reach our screens impressed Academy voters enough that they are in contention for Hollywood’s biggest award — the Oscar for best picture.

The blockbusters may be absent, but an eclectic array of titles are in the mix, from a lavish Netflix ode to Tinseltown’s Golden Age to a tiny indie drama about Korean immigrants scraping out a living off the land in rural America.

Here are the eight movies battling for the top prize at Sunday’s Oscars ceremony:

‘The Father’

Starring Anthony Hopkins and adapted by French playwright Florian Zeller from his own stage production, “The Father” takes viewers on a terrifying voyage through the onset of dementia.

The film is set in a London apartment where ailing but stubborn father Anthony (Hopkins) has chased off his latest caregiver, forcing daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) to find a replacement before her departure for Paris.

But nothing in Anthony’s life is quite as it seems, with the audience increasingly questioning his perspective, as his faculties rapidly appear to fade.

Widely praised at its Sundance premiere in January 2020, the film has many admirers — particularly for Hopkins’ tour-de-force lead performance — but is a long shot for best picture.

‘Judas and the 

Black Messiah’

In a year that produced several acclaimed movies led by Black casts and filmmakers, only “Judas and the Black Messiah” made the Academy’s best picture shortlist.

A twist on the traditional biopic, the movie tells half of the story of slain Black Panther leader Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) from the perspective of the FBI informant who betrayed him, William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield).

Produced by Ryan Coogler — director of Marvel superhero film “Black Panther” — the 1960s Chicago-set movie follows Hampton’s efforts to galvanise activists against police violence, even as the FBI encircled him and his followers.

The latest entrant to the Oscars race, having only premiered to critics this February, has made a splash with six nominations but remains an outside bet.

‘Mank’

No film has more Oscar nominations this year than David Fincher’s “Mank”, a black-and-white prestige drama bankrolled by Netflix that dramatises — and heavily fictionalises — the making of “Citizen Kane”.

Conceived as a booze-soaked ode to Hollywood’s Golden Age, it features a who’s who of movie titans of old, including David O. Selznick, Louis B. Mayer and “Kane” creator Orson Welles himself.

The drama centres on aging screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) as he pens — apparently single-handedly — what would become arguably the greatest movie of all time, while mingling with studio bosses and corrupt politicians.

Despite its multiple nods and bona fide credentials, “Mank” has left critics and voters bitterly divided, and its best picture hopes appear to have gone the way of Rosebud.

‘Minari’

Korean-American director Lee Isaac Chung was on the verge of leaving his film career behind for teaching when he shot “Minari”, a final throw of the Hollywood dice, based on his own childhood.

Shot in both English and Korean, “Minari” is in many ways a quintessential American story — of scrappy immigrants trying to carve out a space for themselves, in this case by growing Korean vegetables in 1980s Arkansas.

The film — which brings together Korean-speaking actors from both sides of the Pacific, including “Walking Dead” star Steven Yeun and veteran South Korean actress Youn Yuh-Jung — focuses on intimate, family relationships rather than broader issues of race or ethnicity.

Almost universally admired if not loved, the film is arguably the least divisive of the best picture nominees and could be a dark horse thanks to the preferential, ranked voting system used by the Academy.

‘Nomadland’

It is rare for a film to dominate the fall festivals and still be the undeniable frontrunner months later at the Oscars, but Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland” has yet to falter this awards season.

A daring and distinctive blend of road movie, Western, drama and documentary, “Nomadland” depicts a community of older Americans who live off the grid in run-down vans after losing everything in the global financial crisis.

The cast, which features several real-life “nomads” playing versions of themselves, is anchored by a nuanced, earthy performance from Frances McDormand, who helped bring the movie to life as an early producer. 

Few analysts see any film other than “Nomadland” taking the top prize, and it is likely to earn several other Oscars.

‘Promising Young Woman’

With its pop soundtrack, colourful pink costumes and largely unknown director, “Promising Young Woman” is not a typical Oscar film — but then, it is not a typical film at all.

Emerald Fennell’s debut feature follows medical school dropout Cassie (Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan) as she plots revenge on the former classmates responsible for the rape of her best friend.

While she’s at it, Cassie’s avenging angel sows broader terror among her hometown’s misogynist men and the women who help them — and bops along to a Paris Hilton song in a grocery store aisle. 

It has five nominations and could be a dark horse for best picture, although the category’s unique voting system tends not to favour polarising titles like “Promising Young Woman”.

‘Sound of Metal’

The awards campaign for “Sound of Metal” has had a long gestation — the movie debuted at the 2019 Toronto film festival and gradually built word-of-mouth buzz to capture six nominations.

That alone is hugely impressive for a tiny-budget, indie movie about a rather unfashionable and potentially depressing subject — Ruben, a drummer (Riz Ahmed) who suffers hearing loss while also battling with addiction issues.

Ruben juggles his desire to recover his hearing via expensive implants with the peace he begins to find within his new, deaf community. 

Among the least likely to convert its best picture nomination, “Sound of Metal” has brought significant attention to the deaf community, and could win in technical categories — including sound.

‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’

With its mouth-watering ensemble cast, cerebral writer-director and extraordinary timeliness of release during 2020’s mass protests and divisive election, there is no doubting the Oscar credentials of “The Trial of the Chicago 7”.

Steven Spielberg asked Aaron Sorkin to pen a script about the 1968 anti-Vietnam War protests that shook Chicago, and the police violence and bizarre trial that followed. 

“West Wing” creator Sorkin eventually took on directing duties too, and brought in acting greats such as Mark Rylance and Frank Langella alongside younger A-listers like Sacha Baron Cohen and Eddie Redmayne.

If any film is going to unseat “Nomadland”, “Chicago 7” is widely seen as the most likely, having already won the Hollywood actors union’s prestigious top prize.

LOS ANGELES — A “teeny-tiny” red carpet, no invitations for Hollywood’s most powerful moguls, and a “central” role for masks — next weekend’s in-person Oscars are taking no risks when it comes to COVID-19, but the event still would have been “impossible” to hold just weeks earlier, producers said Saturday.

The 93rd Academy Awards will mark the first time Tinseltown’s finest have assembled in over a year, for a three-hour show that co-producer Steven Soderbergh said is “not going to be like anything that’s been done before”.

The delayed April 25 ceremony takes place barely a week after California opened vaccinations to all over-16s, with infection rates plummeting after a massive winter surge ripped through the state. Movie theatres are even reopening.

Asked by AFP about the impact of the show’s two-month postponement, Soderbergh said: “It would have been impossible for us to do what we’re gonna do... I don’t know how we would have done it.”

“This is the working definition of trying to build an airplane while it’s in the air,” the director told a virtual press conference, adding that his experience of making films during the pandemic — and his 2011 thriller “Contagion” — had proven invaluable. 

The ceremony will take place amid the “physical grandeur” of Los Angeles’s cavernous Union Station, with nominees mingling outdoors and then rotated in and out of the venue during the show.

The traditional red carpet will be dramatically downsized, and the guest list will be so limited that even powerful Disney boss Bob Iger “won’t be there”, said Soderbergh.

Speaking from the venue’s courtyard — where only nominees, their plus ones, and a handful of presenters will chat and drink — Soderbergh said he hopes the Oscars will present the world “a glimpse of what’s going to be possible when most people are vaccinated, and rapid, accurate, cheap testing is the norm”.

“Masks are going to play a very important role in the story of this evening,” he added. “If that’s cryptic, it’s meant to be — but that topic is very central to the narrative.”

‘Snapshot of movies’

Soderbergh and fellow producers Jesse Collins and Stacey Sher are keeping many details under wraps, but said the unusual and “hopefully unique” nature of a pandemic-era Oscars “certainly opened up an opportunity to try some things that haven’t been tried before”.

The ceremony will have “the aesthetic of a film as opposed to a TV show”, including use of movie-like “over-the-shoulder shots from within the audience” and high-resolution, widescreen formats, said Soderbergh. 

Most nominees are expected to attend in person, with hubs in London and Paris set up allowing Europeans unable to travel due to restrictions to dial in — but only via slick, industry-standard satellite hookups, not Zoom.

Recent awards shows have been slammed for their heavy use of remote calling for nominees, particularly after Daniel Kaluuya briefly lost audio as he accepted his Golden Globe for best supporting actor in “Judas and the Black Messiah”.

“Zoom has been a great thing, we’re on it constantly,” said Soderbergh. “It’s just in the context of this show... that doesn’t really fit.”

Following the awards-show-as-a-movie concept, no host has been announced, but presenters — billed as the ceremony’s “cast” — will be “playing themselves, or... a version of themselves.”

Previously announced A-list presenters include Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt and Reese Witherspoon, with more set to be unveiled before the show.

Nominees will be asked to share personal stories, in a show set to make extensive use of interviews. 

“The stories have been incredible, so helpful to us,” said Soderbergh. “And a wonderful archive — a snapshot of movies in 2020.”

Launched in Jordan and Middle East markets just last month, the seventh generation Honda City is an evolutionary take on the Japanese manufacturer’s smallest saloon. Acquiring a more assertive design direction reminiscent of the brand’s flagship Accord saloon, the new City, however, doesn’t stray from its predecessor’s core characteristics, and is still a very user-friendly and well thought out and executed daily driver. 

A well-balanced, unpretentiously honest package in terms of dynamics, performance, packaging and equipment, the City does so much so well without being over-ambitious.

‘Katana’ crease

Little larger than the car it replaces and riding on the same length wheelbase, the new City isn’t a car that has pushes beyond its traditional clientele’s needs, expectations or price points, but instead makes incremental improvements. 

Evolutionary even in overall design, the new City does make a more overtly aggressive statement with its front styling, as is the contemporary fashion. A more upright design, the new City trades its predecessor’s almost wedge-like and snouty fascia for a higher, more levelled waistline and noticeably more bulbous bonnet.

A more aggressive design with a defining “katana blade” crease extending from the front headlight to rear lights, the new City features a shark-nosed concave grille profile, with slim, squinting headlights recessed beneath a broad, seemingly full length and jutting chrome strip. Other sporting touches include a sharper lower lip and bigger intake-style bumper design elements, echoed at the rear by jutting built-in spoiler boot lid and faux vents. Raised and bulbous, the City’s clamshell bonnet emphasises the distance between the wheel-arch apex and bonnet line.

Eager ability

Powered by an upgraded and presumably better breathing DOHC version of its predecessor’s naturally-aspirated variable timing 16-valve 1.5-litre 4-cylinder engine, the new City’s performance figures are nearly identical, but with a single horsepower gain and 300rpm earlier torque peak. That said, the new City seems livelier, with more flexible lower and mid-range delivery. Given improved engine performance despite a marginal weight penalty, one estimates little changed 0-100km/h acceleration in 11.5-seconds or so, and 190km/h top speed. Fuel efficiency is slightly improved, at a claimed and frugal 4.74l/100km.

Progressively linear and smoothly eager to be revved right to its red line, the City engine’s headline figures are quoted at 119BHP arriving at 6,600rpm and 107lb/ft torque at 4,300rpm. A rev-happy engine with responsive throttle control, it is nevertheless confidently willing from idling and through mid-range as well. Driving the front wheels, the City’s engine is mated to a smooth and efficient continuously variable transmission (CVT). Operating to keep the engine revving at its most efficient, the City’s CVT isn’t as rev restrictive as other units.

Smooth and responsive

Willing to allow higher revs when necessary, the City’s CVT feature a “sport” setting where it more readily lets the engine play to its high revving nature in lieu of simulated gears or pre-set ratios to choose from. It also features a more restrictive low revving push button engaged “economy” mode. The sole option for the Middle East, the City’s CVT is well-executed and intuitive as such units go, but the 6-speed manual available to other markets would surely make for a more engagingly sportier driving experience.

With high revving engine and weighing just 1,126kg in DX specification, as driven, the Honda City is something that is becoming less common, in that it is a practical and uncomplicated yet fun to drive compact saloon. Stable and refined on motorways, and manoeuvrable in town, the City is nonetheless light on its feet and agile through twisting roads. Turning in responsively and eager to change direction with its light and quick steering, the City’s light weight is easily kept in control by MacPherson strut front and torsion beam rear suspension.

Connected comfort

Driving with more connectedness from its steering and chassis than many rivals, the City is willing and fluent through sprawling switchbacks, with good balance between grip and slip, to keep one engaged before electronic stability controls step in. Driven with engine simmering between peak torque and power to maintain momentum, the City covers ground at surprisingly brisk pace that is reassuring yet textured with feel for road, position and dynamic limits. Comfortably forgiving over all but the most jarring lumps and bumps, the City also has good, buttoned down vertical control.

Airy, neat and functionally well laid out inside, the City’s cabin has an upright and well-adjustable driving position and user-friendly controls within easy reach with a good mix of comfort, support and visibility, despite the taller bonnet line.

With little overstated premium pretentions, the City does, however, incorporate some soft textures, good fabric upholstery, pleasant layouts, useful equipment and a nice ergonomic steering wheel. Space is accommodating for larger occupants in front and fair in the rear, while boot volume is generous and equipment levels reasonably good in DX trim.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1.5-litre, transverse 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 73 x 89.4mm

Compression ratio: 10.6:1

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, variable valve timing

Gearbox: Continually variable transmission (CVT), front-wheel-drive

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 119 (121) [89] @6,600rpm

Specific power: 79.4BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 105.7BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 107 (145) @4,300rpm

Specific torque: 96.8Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 128.8Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 11.5-seconds (estimate)

Top speed: 190km/h (estimate)

Fuel consumption: 4.74-litres/100km (estimate)

Fuel capacity: 40-litres

Length: 4,553mm

Width: 1,748mm

Height: 1,467mm

Wheelbase: 2,600mm

Ground clearance: 134mm

Kerb weight: 1,126kg

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/torsion beam

Brakes, F/R: Ventilate discs/drums

Tyres: 185/60R15

Price: JD17,900 (on-the-road, third party insurance)

Decolonising Israel, Liberating Palestine: Zionism, Settler Colonialism, and the Case for One Democratic State

Jeff Halper
London: Pluto Press, 2021
Pp. 244

Trained as an anthropologist, the author of this book, Jeff Halper, is an anti-Zionist Israeli Jew who self-identifies as a “coloniser-who-refuses”, a phrase adopted from Tunisian Jew Albert Memmi. Having been involved in joint work with Palestinians for decades, chiefly via the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, which actively resists demolitions as well as helping to rebuild Palestinian homes, he has published extensively on the nature of the Israeli state. 

His political analysis led him to be a co-founder of the One Democratic State Campaign which groups Palestinian and Jewish intellectuals seeking to go beyond critique to outline not only a vision, but also a plan whereby the two sides can work together to replace the current status quo with a new polity in historical Palestine, based on justice and equality. A basic premise of his argument — and urgency — is the growing awareness, even among liberal Jews, that the two-state solution is “now dead and gone, buried under massive settlement blocs. We must move on”. (p. 195)

Another basic premise is that Israel has de facto established a single entity, an apartheid regime, throughout the land, while the majority of Israel Jews remain unconcerned, taking the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip for granted. Meanwhile, the official Palestinian leadership remains bogged down in the mentality of the post-Oslo, two-state negotiations. In Halper’s view, these negotiations can never lead anywhere (and, on Israel’s part, were never intended to). Though promoted as conflict resolution, they have never been more than conflict management. A total paradigm shift is called for, starting with a return to the concept of Israel as a colonial-settler state, thus the need for decolonisation, which was part of the original programme of both the PLO and the Israeli left.

The book is divided into three main parts: Zionism as settler colonial project; Three cycles of Zionist colonial development; and Decolonising Zionism, Liberating Palestine. 

The first two parts deliver a comprehensive, incisive analysis of the Israeli state and how it has created today’s apartheid reality, with useful references to the works of other scholars who have analysed Israel and other colonial projects. To Halper, analysis matters: It is necessary to know how settler colonialism works if only to dismantle it.

Part 3 is the most ground-breaking and downright tantalising to anyone, Palestinian, Israeli or otherwise, who is seriously interested in a real, viable solution. Engaging in decolonisation entails reframing the issues in such a way that both Palestinians and Israeli Jews can envision their role and advantage in joining this process. Halper begins by reviewing the Palestinians’ resistance, emphasising that it has been a constant throughout Zionism’s colonisation of their homeland. The problem lies in the lack a political programme or the inadequacy thereof — a gap which the book sets out to address. But Palestinians must also acquire what Halper terms summoning power, roughly equivalent to mobilising outside factors. As he points out, international law (UN resolutions and the Geneva Conventions) is not enforceable without the backup of powerful states. On the other hand, mobilising international civil society around a political programme is the most effective form of summoning power, as was shown by the ANC’s success in defeating apartheid in South Africa. Eventually, this international movement will impact on governments without whose backing Israel cannot continue. This, in turn, will impact on the position of Israeli Jews. Even now, “Israel’s panic over the BDS campaign demonstrates that it has already lost in the Court of Public Opinion”. (p. 171)

The book outlines the required steps for decolonisation. A reconciliation process would begin wherein Israeli Jews would acknowledge past colonial crimes and recognise the Palestinian right of return. Thereafter, they would be accepted as citizens in the new democratic state. Enabling the return of all those made refugees since 1948 is an imperative, as is holding Zionism accountable and instituting redress for colonial injustices. All colonial structures must be dismantled, such as the regimes for control of population, land and the economy, to allow for equal access to land and economic opportunity. The entire security system must be dismantled or reframed. 

At present, there is a need for establishing preliminary principles which Palestinians and Israeli Jews can agree on despite conflicting worldviews. Via joint struggle for decolonisation, a shared vision of the future will develop on “constructing a new political polity based on universal citizenship, equal rights, democracy and pluralism” and offering settlers a new role in a new community. (p. 135)

Halper discusses all these issues in detail and many more, frankly dealing with obstacles and unresolved questions, including the fears both Palestinians and Israeli Jews may have about entering such a process. He doesn’t pretend that creating one democratic state will be easy but he contends that it is the only way for Palestinians and Israelis to gain long-term security and a viable way of life.