The aces of info | The inconvenient rainbow, an electric truck and the artist Banksy

Every Sunday, The Press broadcasts the content of Les As de l’info, a new youth digital platform entirely devoted to daily news.

The inconvenient rainbow

Before the start of the Soccer World Cup, several teams had decided to wear a multicolored armband called “One Love” during matches. It was a small piece of fabric with a heart filled with six colored stripes. It was supposed to symbolize inclusion and diversity and above all to mark the support of the wearer for the LGBTQ+ community. However, not everything went as planned…

Qatar and homosexuality, that’s two…

In Qatar, the country hosting the World Cup this year, homosexuality is illegal. Twelve days before the start of the matches, a Qatari World Cup ambassador even called homosexuality “mental damage”.

Wearing this kind of badge would therefore have been seen as a criticism of the host country and as a political act.

This is why FIFA (federation which organizes the World Cup) has decided to ban these armbands, to replace them with official armbands made available to the 32 teams in competition. These carry “positive” messages such as “Save the planet”, “Education for all” or “No to discrimination”. You can see an example of this in the photo below.

FIFA ready to punish

Fines were foreseen for teams who refused to get rid of the multicolored fabrics. Seven teams still decided to wear them. FIFA has therefore decided to act more severely. She warned that if the captains entered the field with this armband, they would be shown a yellow card.

“As national federations, we cannot ask our players to risk sporting sanctions, including yellow cards,” the federations of the seven nations wrote in a joint statement, announcing that they were giving up the armband. These are Germany, England, Belgium, Denmark, Scotland, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

All this history contributes to reinforce the tensions between FIFA and the various member countries. We’ll see what comes of it!

An electric truck that is good for our planet

Your outdoor game module is rusty and no longer in use? Your parents don’t know how to get rid of it? It’s true that it’s a bit big to fit in a car! How then to make it end up in a place that will recycle it?

Marianne DubéTrainee journalist, Les aces de l’info

The Joliette region has found an ingenious solution to prevent the large waste that citizens want to get rid of from ending up in the dump. The municipality lends them an electric van. They can thus bring their waste to the ecocentre, without polluting!

The ecocentre in the Joliette region recycles 65% of the approximately 3,000 tons of waste it receives each year. What was added this fall is a different transportation solution: an electric van that the ecocentre lends free of charge to citizens of the Joliette region who want to bring their bulky items. This is a first in Quebec! After twenty days of service, the vehicle had already been borrowed by thirty people.

Typically, someone who wants to get rid of a big sofa, for example, has to wait for the garbage trucks to pick it up — and it ends up in the dump.

Sending garbage collectors to pick up things in front of a citizen’s residence costs a fortune and takes two or three employees. Not to mention the fuel consumption of the truck: up to 125 liters per 100 kilometers, while an average car consumes around 10 liters per 100 kilometers travelled.

This initiative therefore reduces greenhouse gas emissions and, at the same time, makes electric vehicles known to citizens.

An example for others!

Nearly fifteen localities would perhaps like to do the same thing in their city.

The Joliette region is also developing new ways to recycle the materials received at the ecocentre. For example, cedar branches are sent to an essential oil manufacturer, and objects that are still in good condition are repaired! Stools, chairs, fans, tripods and other small pieces of furniture and accessories are now offered free of charge to those who bring materials, to reward them for their action!

Based on a text by Ariane Krol, The Press

Small portrait of the artist Banksy

Are you an art enthusiast? Today, I invite you to discover a very talented artist named Banksy.

Banksy is an artist who makes works in the streets. One of his strengths is that he takes a fresh look at difficult situations. It helps viewers see the positive or criticize certain events. He is a very committed artist.

One of Banksy’s latest works is a good example. On a destroyed building in Ukraine, he painted a gymnast, which represents a message of hope for Ukrainians. We explain to you!

Who is Banksy?

First of all, it must be understood that Banksy is an anonymous artist and this is very intriguing for the public. We do not know his true identity, only his artist name. What we also know is that he is a street artist from England, Europe.

The artist has been creating works with political messages since the 1990s. He paints mostly with can paint and stencils.

Banksy has an Instagram account followed by more than 11 million people. On this account, he displays his various works. What is intriguing is that he does not sign his works, so you have to wait until he publishes them on Instagram to know that he is the one who created them.

A symbol of resistance

The work he created in Ukraine was made on the wall of a building demolished by bombing in a village called Borodianka. This gymnast who balances on the ends of structures is a symbol of Ukrainian resistance, as a gymnast resists gravity to stay balanced.

Banksy has also created other works in Ukraine recently. One of them depicts a woman dancing above a large hole in a building. The other represents a child doing a judo hold to a man. You should know that judo is one of the favorite sports of Russian President Vladimir Putin…