WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, UCL AL #369 - Culture - Read: Émilien Bernard, "Head in the Wall: A Journalist in Disarray in Trumpistan" (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr) [machine translation]

 Following his previous book, Fortress Europe, journalist Émilien Bernard offers us a more focused journey of hardship: the Wall.

Through encounters, sometimes surreal, along the border between Mexico and the United States, he immerses us in a strange atmosphere, in this inhospitable, unlivable place where humans are crammed together, face to face, in a denial of humanity.
Written with a sarcastic style, the gallery of portraits sometimes turns into a nightmare, featuring fervent Trump supporters, evangelical preachers, and fentanyl-addled lunatics. Here, the unthinkable is commonplace, and the rejection of the other is expressed in all its brutality. The author dismantles the idyllic image of the American dream and plunges us into the horror of human misery.

This area between two borders, delineated by the Wall, this “metal monster,” is by no means an uninhabited region. Here, the Wall signifies the border between poverty and El Dorado, the limit of hope against which dreams are shattered. The author reminds us that the Wall is not solely Trump’s creation; its origins lie with his predecessors, Biden and Obama.

Between pessimism and a refusal to succumb to widespread apathy, no hope seems to emerge from these lands. Changing mindsets seems illusory on the outskirts of San Diego.

A glimmer of hope: Tijuana, torn apart by poverty and violence, harbors the Caracol Enclave, located near the border crossing, where gringos legally defy the ban in search of prostitution. Here, in these places of welcome and mutual support, lives a haven for female fighters. There are reportedly more than 300 havens of peace, offering shelter, food, and care.

A faint glimmer of hope, isolated in this barbaric world where paltry hopes cling.

This is followed by a Dantean evocation of the death train, or of the migrant women sexually abused (an estimated 8 out of 10), and the city of the dead, Ciudad Juarez, where 3,000 to 4,000 women are said to have disappeared, murdered.

Head in the Wall, a merciless X-ray of sick societies on both sides of the border.

Dominique Sureau (UCL Angers)

Émilien Bernard, Head in the Wall: A Journalist in Disarray in Trumpistan, Lux, 2026, 304 pages

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Lire-Emilien-Bernard-La-tete-dans-le-mur-Un-journaliste-en-deroute-au-Trumpistan
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Link: (en) France, UCL AL #369 - Culture - Read: Émilien Bernard, "Head in the Wall: A Journalist in Disarray in Trumpistan" (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr) [machine translation]

Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca