The Debate

By FRANCE 24 English

The Debate episodes

November 25, 2020 Abuse gone viral: How to stop online violence against women?
On this show we've often flagged the toxic culture of online speech. Now comes Covid-19. Just how much has all that extra screen time these past months amplified and enabled toxic behaviour? When people feel alienated or threatened, one reaction is to pick on others, to bully, and the number one targets are women. From cyberbullying classmates to abusive partners and total strangers who feel they can just let loose, how much of a toll has this pandemic taken on women? We ask our panel what can be done to stop online violence.
41 min
November 24, 2020 Is Christmas saved? Europe eyes easing of Covid-19 restrictions
Can Christmas be saved? Four weeks after France returned to lockdown, confinement is now starting to pay dividends with a decreasing Covid-19 infection rate. With the country due to ease restrictions, how to gradually deconfine while bearing in mind that winter is not summer and that a vaccine won't come to the rescue during the months when Europe migrates indoors? How radical should we be?
40 min
November 23, 2020 France, security and the media: Does the new law go too far?
France is caught in a row over the right to film police officers in the course of their duty. It's a controversy that has brought protesters onto the streets. A new security law goes to a final vote on Tuesday. The bill, with a controversial amendment, was passed for a first time by the National Assembly 146-24. Article 24 concerns the right to film the police. It raises fears and concerns among many media here in France about the right to report and inform. Police officers do have a tough job, but freedom to report is a foundation of democracy.
43 min
November 19, 2020 Pompeo's 'lame duck' trip: Middle East readies for end of Trump era
It's hard to think of a more symbolically provocative final act. Mike Pompeo is on a farewell tour of Israel, visiting the Golan Heights and a settlement in the West Bank. Such trips have never previously been made by a US Secretary of State. The gift to Israel has sparked more outrage from Palestinians, this at the tail end of a US presidency described by Donald Trump himself as "the most pro-Israel" in American history. We ask about Trump's legacy in the Middle East and what might come next. Will anything change under a Biden administration?
45 min
November 17, 2020 Could it soon be over? Covid-19 vaccine trials raise hopes for end of pandemic
This week has seen a second global sigh of relief with news of not just one Covid-19 vaccine, but two. As trials from Moderna show their vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective, some one billion people could be immunised against coronavirus by the end of 2021. But which billion people? Who will get the vaccine first? Who might miss out? And with an American company and a German-American firm leading the way, how might the vaccination programme be politicised? We discuss the geopolitics of the vaccine: will the rollout be unequal?
40 min
November 16, 2020 A new era for space travel? SpaceX makes history with first crewed mission
We're turning our eye to the skies above us: more specifically, to 400 km above Planet Earth, where a 27-hour voyage to the International Space Station is due to come to an end soon. In NASA's first fully crewed space mission to be launched from US soil in nine years, four astronauts are heading to the ISS to join two Russians and one American who flew out there last month from Kazakhstan.
44 min
November 12, 2020 The future of multilateralism: Covid-19, a game changer for international cooperation?
French President Emmanuel Macron has told the Paris Peace Forum that multilateralism is under threat. We examine the issue in this programme. This year's Forum is focusing on efforts to beat the Covid-19 crisis and $425 million has been pledged, $100 million of them from France alone. International cooperation is vital to making progress not just on the Covid-19 question, but also on matters of security, defence, business, climate change and coming back to the Forum's chief aim: peace.
42 min
November 11, 2020 The real vaccine? Pfizer claims its drug is 90% effective against Covid-19
News of a vaccine that is 90 percent effective against Covid-19 has sparked widespread hope across the world. The vaccine has been developed by the New York-based drug giant Pfizer and German company BioNTech. The EU Commission confirmed it will soon sign a contract with Pfizer and BioNTech for up to 300 million doses. We dig deeper with our panel and ask if this is the beginning of the end of the pandemic.
41 min
November 10, 2020 America and the world: Foreign policy challenges for Biden-Harris
After four years of a foreign policy roughly summarised as "America First", a change is expected. Almost immediately, US president-elect Joe Biden signalled an imminent return to the Paris climate accord, the one President Donald Trump pulled out of almost as soon as he was elected. Will there be a similar move on, for instance, the Iran nuclear deal? Will there be a review of the decision to cut financial support to the Gaza Strip? How will the Biden-Harris ticket recalibrate the global influence of the United States? We explore all these issues with our guests.
38 min
November 09, 2020 What next for Biden's America? Trump threatens to blight presidential transition
The celebrations and commiserations continue in the United States. Democratic supporters who voted in Joe Biden as the 46th US president literally danced in the streets this weekend after the result was announced. But as the corks were popping, Biden and his Vice President-elect Kamala Harris were turning their eye to business. Their plans include a task force to try to take control of the Covid-19 pandemic that has killed over 230,000 people in America. It's a key issue on the minds of Americans, coast to coast.
46 min

About The Debate

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A live debate on the topic of the day, with four guests. From Monday to Thursday at 7:10pm Paris time.

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