From our correspondent in Montreal,

Hundreds of events celebrating Quebec’s identity are held throughout Quebec on June 24, National Day. In Sir-Wilfrid-Laurier Park, in central Montreal, a small stage and barnums welcome hundreds of spectators, separatists or not, who have come to hear and celebrate concerts by local artists. The event is organized by the United Organizations for Quebec Independence, OUI Quebec.

That same morning, dozens of young volunteers were busy in the park making sure the stage was ready on time. Among them Sonalie, 22 years old. She has just joined the board of directors of OUI Québec. However, less than a year ago she was far from being a separatist. “I came to help organize the event last year because I enjoyed doing concerts. That’s when I was told about independence and it appealed to me because it wasn’t approached politically in the classic way, but through ideals, debates and events,” she explains passionately. His comrade Roxanne, 24, agrees: “Thanks to these events we really socialize, we develop a sense of community, it really lit a fire in me that I didn’t have before!” »

Alex Valiquette, one of the youth representatives of OUI Quebec, with her hair loose and the Quebec flag in hand, admires the scene that is being set up a little further away. “I am convinced that political struggles run through the culture,” the young 22-year-old affirms calmly. “We really promote a festive, liberating and inclusive independence that also includes civil society.” However, this strategy is anything but innocent. JA Quebec has made civil society its raison d’être, the cornerstone of restoring independence. But the most difficult thing is to revive the faith. “My parents voted for independence in the 1995 referendum, but losing so few votes discouraged them,” the young activist regrets.

Parties between retreat and reorganization

Indeed, to understand the current situation of separatism in Quebec, we must go back to the last referendum on self-determination organized in the province on October 30, 1995. After a tough election campaign, the “No” wins with almost 55,000 votes before the “Yes”, namely 50.58% and 49.42% of the votes.

Stunned by this horrific defeat, the Separatist political parties tried to reorganize but failed, disagreeing as to what action to take for the movement. “Then there was a break, a split between the separatists, for example the two provincial parties Québec Solidaire and Parti Québécois were supposed to come together, but they broke off negotiations and came into the provincial parliament in October, significantly weakened,” regrets Kristina Michaud, 30, member of the Federal Parliament and member of the Bloc Québécois, the independence group.

The political independence landscape in Quebec

At the Quebec level, the pro-independence political landscape is represented by two parties that faltered in the province’s last general election in late 2022. On the one hand, the Parti Quebecois (PQ), perceived as more “classic” and “classic”, led by Paul Saint-Pierre Plamondon, which has only three MPs in the Quebec Parliament. On the other hand, Québec Solidaire (QS), a progressive and ecological left-wing party, has twelve elected MPs, including Ruba Ghazal, who is running for the post of the party’s mixed speaker alongside leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. The majority centrist party, Quebec Premier François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), is made up of former separatists and is characterized more as a defender of Quebec but within Canada.

Despite this split, Québec Solidaire and the Parti Québécois occupied the media scene. The charismatic elected officials multiply the declarations and benefit from sharp communication on social networks. Recently, Paul Saint-Pierre Plamondon managed to get Parliament unanimously to open the archives on the 1995 “No” referendum campaign, in which irregularities were suspected.

What independence?

In this context, pro-independence civil society must play its part in trying to restructure the movement. According to polls, 30 to 40% of Quebecers want independence. The challenge, therefore, is to convince that the independence project has its place today. “It doesn’t matter to have 100 young activists, we need to have events where we bring together hundreds, thousands of people, young people who don’t really believe in independence and who understand,” explains Camille Goyette. Gingrat, thirty years old and President of OUI-Québec.

However, the new generation that Camille belongs to comes with new ideals. Independence is now in line with ecology, inclusivity and interculturality. Deputy candidate for Québec Solidaire spokesman Ruba Ghazal was born in Lebanon, of Palestinian origin, and “raised à la Québécoise”. She is a self-confessed Quebec Solidarity separatist who does not hesitate to highlight immigration’s interest in the cause provided they are allowed to integrate: “I arrived in Quebec, I was ten and a half years old, I didn’t speak any word French, but I got the opportunity to learn it and quickly became a separatist. Without comparing Quebec to Palestine since it is of Palestinian origin, it strikes me that Quebec is a non-independent nation. »

Defy the government

At the federal level, Quebec’s independence project is sparking a mixture of sarcasm and fear in the hallways of Ottawa’s parliament. “Some say we must move on, others say it’s not serious. There’s a kind of paternalism, but I think deep down there’s a little bit of fear,” laughs Kristina Michaud, MEP for the Bloc Québécois. According to the elected official, the French language itself is not treated equally: “We have to fight every day to get transcriptions and translations into French, in the corridors we mainly speak English.” »

Ecology is one of the MP’s main motives, who is one of Canada’s youngest elected officials. For them, Quebec could become a leader in terms of ecology, far from the “paradoxical” positions of Canada, which on the one hand ensures measures against climate change and on the other hand continues to invest in oil. A situation that annoys the MP: “Quebec is still being restricted in its ecological ambitions by the federal government, we are talking about hydroelectric power, wind power, we could go further in this direction, the Quebecers want that, but we are integrated into an oil association .” , which has great economic ambitions at this level.”

The separatists are leaving the door on the road to independence open for the time being. The Catalan and Chilean experiences in terms of civil society mobilization, referendums or even the creation of a constituent body are mentioned and enrich the speeches of all. At the moment, however, and everyone agrees, the main thing is to convince the people of Quebec of the merits of their struggle.

Several minutes of meditation a day can improve people’s physical and mental health and even reduce their risk of Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease. That’s what scientists say.

Still, the lack of evidence means health services are unwilling to make meditation accessible to all who might benefit, according to the leader of EU-funded research on the subject.

Push for change

“I believe that meditation is one of the tools that can help people become healthier and happier as they age,” said Gaël Chételat, coordinator of the MEDIT-AGEING project.

Although the project ended in March 2022 after six years, Chételat hopes the results will help bring about change in healthcare. She remains committed to this as Director of Research at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM).

According to the World Health Organization, the world population of people over 60 will reach 2.1 billion by 2050.

Chételat and her INSERM team had been studying Alzheimer’s disease and aging for more than 20 years when MEDIT-AGEING began in 2016.

Her own experience with “mindfulness” – a form of meditation that focuses on the present moment by attuning to breath, sounds or body sensations – provided inspiration to take a closer look at this area. Equally good was her knowledge of the main risk factors of neurodegenerative diseases.

“The more I practiced meditation, the more I came to the conclusion that it could be of great benefit to the aging population,” Chételat said.

There is evidence that mindfulness meditation improves concentration and memory, and reduces stress, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, and even the risk of heart disease.

According to Chételat, these are all factors associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Trial against elders

MEDIT-AGEING’s goal was to provide evidence to health authorities that they are incorporating mindfulness into their support for older people. The idea was that such a move could not only improve the quality of life for older people, but also reduce healthcare costs.

Between 2018 and 2020, MEDIT-AGEING conducted the world’s largest and longest study of the effects of mindfulness meditation on seniors, with a focus on people 65 and older.

In the 18-month study, 137 people were divided into three groups. One learned mindfulness meditation, a second learned English, and the third received no training.

Meditation and non-native language training included two-hour weekly group sessions, daily practice of 20 minutes or more at home, and a day of intense activity.

Questionnaires, blood tests and scans of people’s brains were used to assess general health and look for signs of chronic stress and Alzheimer’s. Sleep quality was also measured and cognitive tests were used to measure attention, executive functioning and memory.

Particular attention was paid to two parts of the brain known to be associated with cognition: the anterior cingulate cortex and the insular cortex.

These structures tend to deteriorate with age, increasing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. According to Chételat, meditation can slow this decline as we age.

language powers

A strength of the study was the use of foreign language learning.

Learning a foreign language, like meditation, requires cognitive mental training and has been shown to have a positive impact on some brain structures.

The results of the study confirmed that meditation had a significant impact on people’s attention span and ability to regulate their emotions. However, the brain scans did not reveal any significant changes.

While the study results were published in JAMA Neurology last October, Chételat’s team is now retesting the 137 participants to gain more insight.

One question is whether some bodily changes will not become apparent until participants spend more time meditating than in the experiment. A second question is whether such changes only occur several years after consistent meditation.

Study participants interviewed for a documentary about the process said it changed their lives, their relationships with others, their understanding of their bodies and their acceptance of themselves.

“Things like this are extremely difficult to measure,” Chételat said. “But what they say is very important, touching and positive.”

The MEDIT-AGEING team is developing a mindfulness and compassion meditation app for the elderly, to be available in early 2024.

student rehearsals

Ivana Burić, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, became interested in mindfulness while recovering from a traumatic traffic accident that required multiple surgeries.

Practicing mindfulness not only helped her with physical healing, but also led to positive repercussions in other areas of her life.

Now Burić is leading a two-year EU-funded project called INSPIRER, due to end in October.

Using tests similar to MEDIT-AGEING, she researches mindfulness in university students.

Burić, also a trained mindfulness teacher, says many of the benefits come from people learning to manage difficult thoughts or emotions without getting caught up in them.

Mindfulness practices lower stress levels — with important consequences that are not yet fully understood.

It can reduce stress-related inflammation that otherwise increases the risk of conditions such as anxiety, depression, asthma, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and neurodegenerative diseases.

“As an adjunct to standard treatments, it appears to help with most mental health problems and many physical ones,” Burić said.

mind and body functioning

Burić recruited 100 people — 50 meditators and 50 non-meditators — and conducted MRI scans, blood tests for signs of inflammation, and questionnaires on the participants’ mental and physical health.

The results of the questionnaire suggest that meditators have better physical and mental health and emotional regulation – and experience less stress.

Burić also recruited about 80 students from the University of Amsterdam for an experiment on the effects of an eight-week standard introductory course on mindfulness.

“We wanted to see if we could see changes in them in that short period of time and compare them to long-term meditators,” she said.

Initial results from questionnaires indicate an increase in mental and physical health.

Like Chételat, Burić hopes scientists will soon have enough evidence to convince policymakers to offer mindfulness to everyone with mental or chronic illness.

She also hopes it will become available in schools, universities and workplaces.

“Mindfulness meditation works, it’s very simple, it doesn’t cost a lot of money and anyone can do it,” Burić said.

The research in this article was funded by the EU and through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). This article was originally published in Horizon, the EU magazine for research and innovation.

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According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), 11 people, including seven civilians, were killed in Russian airstrikes on a rebel-held region in north-west Syria on Sunday.

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Russian forces allied to the Syrian regime carried out the attacks in Idleb province in response to rebel drone strikes that killed four civilians, including two children, last week, OSDH director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

On Sunday, “six civilians in Jisr Al-Choghour and three rebel fighters nearby were killed by Russian airstrikes,” according to the director of this UK-based NGO, which relies on a large network of sources in Syria.

Ahmed Yezidi, a member of the civil defense in the rebel-held town of Jisr Al-Choghour, reported nine people killed, without specifying whether any of them were militants.

According to OSDH and a local AFP correspondent, a fruit and vegetable market in that city was affected.

Ahmed Yezidi condemned “a direct attack on a popular market, a vital source of income for farmers”.

AFP

A civilian and a rebel fighter were also killed in an attack near the city of Idlib, said Rami Abdel Rahman.

At least 30 civilians were injured in these attacks, he added, adding that this assessment is likely preliminary.

Russia is the main supporter of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and has intervened militarily in Syria since 2015.

With the support of Russia and Iran, the Syrian regime has reclaimed most of the territory lost at the start of the war sparked by the 2011 repression of pro-democracy demonstrations.

The latest area of ​​armed opposition to the regime includes large areas of Idleb province (west), as well as areas bordering Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces.

The jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Cham (HTS), dominated by former local al-Qaeda offshoot, is the most important group in this region, which is also home to other less influential rebel groups, supported to varying degrees by Turkey become.

According to the OSDH, the war in Syria has claimed more than half a million lives and displaced several million people.