Podcast: Fighting drug crime, France's military service, (re)wrapping the Pont Neuf

About this episode

The episode discusses France's challenges with drug-related organized crime, the new military service, and the artistic wrapping of the Pont Neuf.

What France can learn from Italy's fight against the mafia as it tackles its growing problem with drug-related organised crime. A look at France's new military service. And wrapping Paris's oldest bridge, 40 years after it was transformed by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The recent murder in Marseille of 20-year-old Mehdi Kessaci, the younger brother of a well-known anti-drugs campaigner, has highlighted the growing problem of drug-related organised crime in France. The government has promised tougher repressive measures, but what if civil society also had a role to play? Inspired by the example of Italy, the Crim'HALT association campaigns for the official recognition of victims of organised crime. Its co-founder, Fabrice Rizzoli, talks about taking ordinary citizens to see firsthand how Italian anti-mafia initiatives work. Jean-Toussaint Plasenzotti, who founded the anti-mafia collective Massimu Susini following the murder of his nephew in 2019 in Corsica, and Hassna Arabi, whose relative Socayna was killed by a stray bullet in 2023, explain how travelling to Italy with Crim-HALT has helped their work back home. (Listen @0') As Europe looks to increase its defence capacity…

People in this episode

Guests: Fabrice Rizzoli, Jean-Toussaint Plasenzotti, Hassna Arabi

Topics covered

• drug crime
• military service
• organized crime
• civil society
• anti-mafia initiatives
• France
• Italy

Keywords

• drug crime
• military service
• organized crime
• anti-mafia
• France
• Italy
• civil society
• Christo and Jeanne-Claude
• Marseille
• Corsica

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Crim'HALT, Massimu Susini

Places: France, Italy, Corsica, Marseille, Paris

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