Rare conjoined twins from Papua New Guinea had a seven-hour operation in Australia to surgically separate them on Sunday, but only one of the boys survived.
Tom and Sawong were rushed into emergency surgery at Sydney Children’s Hospital after Tom began to rapidly deteriorate.
The two-month-olds were medivacced from Port Moresby to Sydney on Thursday following medical advice that they undergo surgery as soon as possible.
A spokesperson for the family, Jurgen Ruh, said Sawong was in a stable condition and the parents were grieving the loss of his brother Tom.
“One body with two souls went into the operating theatre, and after seven hours of procedures we had two bodies and two souls,” Ruh said.
“Sadly we lost Tom but are happy to report that we still have two souls and Sawong has survived the operation.”
“They have accepted that they will lose Tom (the weaker twin) and there’s been many tears shed along the way,” he said previously.
The twins were fused at the lower abdomen but have their own limbs and genitals, however they share a single liver, bladder and parts of their gastrointestinal tract.
They also had spina bifida – a neural tube defect that affects the development of a newborn’s spine and spinal cord.
Tom had a congenital heart defect, only one kidney and malformed lungs.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Scientists have hailed the benefits of exercising early in life to lower the risk of your brain degenerating later. But new research suggests that even when you’re 45 or older, it’s not too late to try.
Having the highest levels of physical activity in midlife (45 to 64) and late life (65 to 88) was associated with a 41 percent and 45 percent lower risk of dementia, respectively, according to a study published in the journal JAMA Network Open on 19 November.
“This study shifts the conversation from ‘exercise is good for the brain’ to ‘there may be key windows when exercise matters most for brain health,'” says Dr Sanjula Singh, an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School.
Strength training a couple of times per week is recommended by the World Health Organisation.
Getty Images / Unsplash +
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
I was recently watching a scene from the 2025 film Weapons for a monograph I’m writing and noticed a familiar sound: a low, unsettling drone as a character walks down a hallway.
It’s the same kind of sound used in recent horror films such as Together. You can also hear it throughout the trailer forShelby Oaks (2025), where sound throbs like an invisible threat.
We never see what’s making this sound or where it comes from within the film’s world, which only makes it more disturbing.
In the 1959 film Ben-Hur, when Judah (Charlton Heston) declares to his friend Messala (Stephen Boyd), “I am against you,” a sharp orchestral shock of brass and strings announces their discord.
YouTube screenshot
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
By Max Saltman, Jennifer Hansler and Billy Stockwell, CNN
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a joint press conference with Turkey’s President following their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara on November 19, 2025Photo: AFP
Talks between US and Ukrainian negotiators over a proposed peace deal with Russia ended in Miami this weekend, with few new developments and lingering questions over security guarantees and territorial issues, according to Ukrainian officials.
As the talks concluded, the Kremlin welcomed US President Donald Trump’s new security strategy, saying it dropped the language of past US administrations describing Russia as a threat.
The marathon Miami meeting began on Thursday between US special envoy Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Ukrainian officials Rustem Umerov and Andriy Hnatov.
After three days of talks, “difficult issues remain,” Ukrainian Ambassador to the US Olga Stefanishyna said Saturday, “but both sides continue working to shape realistic and acceptable solutions.”
“The main challenges at this stage concern questions of territory and guarantees, and we are actively seeking optimal formats for addressing them,” Stefanishyna said. “More details will be provided once all information is compiled.”
Territory and security guarantees are long-standing sticking points for any possible deal. Ukraine maintains that a just end to the war would include reliable security guarantees and would not force it to surrender more territory to Russia.
As the meetings kicked off earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters in India that his country intends to seize Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region by any means.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, accompanied by economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev and aide Yuri Ushakov, meets with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on December 2, 2025Photo: AFP
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, accompanied by economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev and aide Yuri Ushakov, meets with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on December 2, 2025
The Miami talks had been preceded by a visit to Moscow by Kushner and Witkoff. Trump said Wednesday the US delegation had a “very good meeting” with Putin, and that they believed the Russian president “would like to see the war ended” – though the talks failed to yield a breakthrough.
In a social media post on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he had a “long” and “constructive” phone conversation with Witkoff and Kushner, as well as his Ukrainian delegation in Miami.
“We covered many aspects and went through key points that could ensure an end to the bloodshed and eliminate the threat of a new Russian full-scale invasion,” Zelensky said. “We agreed on the next steps and formats for talks with the United States.”
Also discussed on the call was “the risk of Russia failing to honour its promises, as has happened repeatedly in the past,” he said.
Zelensky said that Hnatov and Umerov are expected to deliver him a “detailed in person report” on the negotiations.
“Not everything can be discussed over the phone,” Zelensky said. “So we need to work closely with our teams on ideas and proposals.”
Peace and its conditions will also be the subject of a meeting on Monday between Zelensky and French, British and German leaders in London.
The discussion will cover “the situation and the ongoing negotiations within the framework of the American mediation,” French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday.
Kremlin welcomes removal of ‘threat’ label
Separately, the Kremlin has welcomed the new US national security strategy, released on Friday, which sets out the Trump administration’s realignment of US foreign policy and takes an an unprecedentedly confrontational posture toward Europe.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Trump administration’s document has dropped language describing Russia as a threat, state-owned news agency TASS reported.
“We considered this a positive step,” Peskov told the news agency.
“Overall, these messages are certainly in contrast with approaches of previous administrations.”
The strategy document says European nations regard Russia as “an existential threat,” but paints the US as having a significant role in diplomacy to re-establish “conditions of stability within Europe and strategic stability with Russia.”
A 2022 Biden-era national security strategy said Russia posed “an immediate threat to the free and open international system, recklessly flouting the basic laws of the international order today, as its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has shown.”
The Trump administration’s new document also reiterates its push for “ending the perception, and preventing the reality, of NATO as a perpetually expanding alliance.”
-CNN
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
An unusual email arrived in the inbox of a faculty member at the department of archeology at Simon Fraser University in the spring of 2024.
This email was from a thrift shop, Thrifty Boutique in Chilliwack, B.C. — unlike the many queries archeologists receive every year to authenticate objects that people have in their possession.
The shop wanted to determine whether items donated to the store (and initially put up for sale) were, in fact, ancient artifacts with historical significance. Shop employees relayed that a customer, who did not leave their name, stated the 11 rings and two medallions (though one may be a belt buckle) in the display case with a price tag of $30 were potentially ancient.
Thrifty Boutique wasn’t looking for a valuation of the objects, but rather guidance on their authenticity.
Eclectic collection
As archeology faculty, we analyzed these objects with Babara Hilden, director of Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Simon Fraser University, after the store arranged to bring the items to the museum.
The initial dating was based largely on the decorative motifs that adorn these objects. The smaller medallion appears to bear a Chi Rho (Christogram), which was popular in the late antiquity period. The larger medallion (or belt buckle) resembles comparable items from the Byzantine Period.
The disparities between the two objects, suggesting different time periods, make it unlikely they’re from the same hoard. We expect they were assembled into an eclectic collection by the unknown person (as of yet) who acquired them prior to their donation to Thrifty Boutique.
With the exciting revelation that the objects may be authentic ancient artifacts, the thrift store offered to donate them to SFU’s archeology museum. The museum had to carefully consider whether it had the capacity and expertise to care for these objects in perpetuity, and ultimately decided to commit to their care and stewardship because of the potential for student learning.
Officially accepting and officially transferring these objects to the museum took more than a year. We grappled with the ethical implications of acquiring a collection without known provenance (history of ownership) and balanced this against the learning opportunities that it might offer our students.
In accepting items without known provenance, museums must consider the ethical implications of doing so. The Canadian Museums Association Ethics Guidelines state that “museums must guard against any direct or indirect participation in the illicit traffic in cultural and natural objects.”
When archeological artifacts have no clear provenance, it is difficult — if not impossible — to determine where they originally came from. It is possible such artifacts were illegally acquired through looting, even though the Canadian Property Import and Export Act exists to restrict the importation and exportation of such objects.
We are keenly aware of the responsibility museums have to not entertain donations of illicitly acquired materials. However, in this situation, there is no clear information — as yet — about where these items came from and whether they are ancient artifacts or modern forgeries. Without knowing this, we cannot notify authorities nor facilitate returning them to their original source.
Various scientific techniques can help determine authenticity, but it can sometimes prove impossible to be 100 per cent certain because of the level of skill involved in creating convincing forgeries.
Copies of ancient artefacts
Other copies of ancient artifacts exist for honest purposes, such as those created for the tourist market or even for artistic purposes. Museums full of replicas still attract visitors, because they are another means of engaging with the past, and we are confident that the donation therefore has a place within the museum whether the objects are authentic or not.
By working closely with the objects, students will learn how to become archeological detectives and engage with the process of museum research from start to finish. The information gathered from this process will help to determine where the objects may have been originally uncovered or manufactured, how old they might be and what their original significance may have been.
The new archeology course we have designed, which will run at SFU in September 2026, will also focus heavily on questions of ethics and provenance, including what the process would look like if the objects — if determined to be authentic — could one day be returned to their country of origin.
The students will also benefit from the wide-ranging expertise of our colleagues in the department of archeology at SFU, including access to various technologies and avenues of archeological science that might help us learn more about the objects.
This will involve techniques such as X-ray fluorescence, which can be used to investigate elemental compositions of materials and using 3D scanners and printers to create resources for further study and outreach.
Mentoring with museum professionals
Local museum professionals have also agreed to help mentor the students in exhibition development and public engagement, a bonus for many of our students who aspire to have careers in museums or cultural heritage.
Overall, the course will afford our students a rare opportunity to work with objects from a regional context not currently represented in the museum while simultaneously piecing together the story of these items far from their probable original home across the Atlantic.
We are excited to be part of their new emerging story at Simon Fraser, and can’t wait to learn more about their mysterious past.
Cara Tremain receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Sabrina C. Higgins receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
An unusual email arrived in the inbox of a faculty member at the department of archeology at Simon Fraser University in the spring of 2024.
This email was from a thrift shop, Thrifty Boutique in Chilliwack, B.C. — unlike the many queries archeologists receive every year to authenticate objects that people have in their possession.
The shop wanted to determine whether items donated to the store (and initially put up for sale) were, in fact, ancient artifacts with historical significance. Shop employees relayed that a customer, who did not leave their name, stated the 11 rings and two medallions (though one may be a belt buckle) in the display case with a price tag of $30 were potentially ancient.
Thrifty Boutique wasn’t looking for a valuation of the objects, but rather guidance on their authenticity.
Eclectic collection
As archeology faculty, we analyzed these objects with Babara Hilden, director of Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Simon Fraser University, after the store arranged to bring the items to the museum.
The initial dating was based largely on the decorative motifs that adorn these objects. The smaller medallion appears to bear a Chi Rho (Christogram), which was popular in the late antiquity period. The larger medallion (or belt buckle) resembles comparable items from the Byzantine Period.
The disparities between the two objects, suggesting different time periods, make it unlikely they’re from the same hoard. We expect they were assembled into an eclectic collection by the unknown person (as of yet) who acquired them prior to their donation to Thrifty Boutique.
With the exciting revelation that the objects may be authentic ancient artifacts, the thrift store offered to donate them to SFU’s archeology museum. The museum had to carefully consider whether it had the capacity and expertise to care for these objects in perpetuity, and ultimately decided to commit to their care and stewardship because of the potential for student learning.
Officially accepting and officially transferring these objects to the museum took more than a year. We grappled with the ethical implications of acquiring a collection without known provenance (history of ownership) and balanced this against the learning opportunities that it might offer our students.
In accepting items without known provenance, museums must consider the ethical implications of doing so. The Canadian Museums Association Ethics Guidelines state that “museums must guard against any direct or indirect participation in the illicit traffic in cultural and natural objects.”
When archeological artifacts have no clear provenance, it is difficult — if not impossible — to determine where they originally came from. It is possible such artifacts were illegally acquired through looting, even though the Canadian Property Import and Export Act exists to restrict the importation and exportation of such objects.
We are keenly aware of the responsibility museums have to not entertain donations of illicitly acquired materials. However, in this situation, there is no clear information — as yet — about where these items came from and whether they are ancient artifacts or modern forgeries. Without knowing this, we cannot notify authorities nor facilitate returning them to their original source.
Various scientific techniques can help determine authenticity, but it can sometimes prove impossible to be 100 per cent certain because of the level of skill involved in creating convincing forgeries.
Copies of ancient artefacts
Other copies of ancient artifacts exist for honest purposes, such as those created for the tourist market or even for artistic purposes. Museums full of replicas still attract visitors, because they are another means of engaging with the past, and we are confident that the donation therefore has a place within the museum whether the objects are authentic or not.
By working closely with the objects, students will learn how to become archeological detectives and engage with the process of museum research from start to finish. The information gathered from this process will help to determine where the objects may have been originally uncovered or manufactured, how old they might be and what their original significance may have been.
The new archeology course we have designed, which will run at SFU in September 2026, will also focus heavily on questions of ethics and provenance, including what the process would look like if the objects — if determined to be authentic — could one day be returned to their country of origin.
The students will also benefit from the wide-ranging expertise of our colleagues in the department of archeology at SFU, including access to various technologies and avenues of archeological science that might help us learn more about the objects.
This will involve techniques such as X-ray fluorescence, which can be used to investigate elemental compositions of materials and using 3D scanners and printers to create resources for further study and outreach.
Mentoring with museum professionals
Local museum professionals have also agreed to help mentor the students in exhibition development and public engagement, a bonus for many of our students who aspire to have careers in museums or cultural heritage.
Overall, the course will afford our students a rare opportunity to work with objects from a regional context not currently represented in the museum while simultaneously piecing together the story of these items far from their probable original home across the Atlantic.
We are excited to be part of their new emerging story at Simon Fraser, and can’t wait to learn more about their mysterious past.
Cara Tremain receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Sabrina C. Higgins receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Even before AI, athletes have been pressured to look a certain way: thin, muscular and attractive. Coaches, opponents, spectators and the media shape how athletes think about their bodies.
Given the growing use of AI on social media, understanding just how AI depicts athlete and non-athlete bodies has become critical. What it shows, or doesn’t, as “normal” is widely viewed and may soon be normalized.
Lean, young, muscular — and mostly male
As researchers with expertise in body image, sport psychology and social media, we grounded our study in objectification and social media theories. We generated 300 images using different AI platforms to explore how male and female athlete and non-athlete bodies are depicted.
We documented demographics, levels of body fat and muscularity. We assessed clothing fit and type, facial attractiveness like having neat and shiny hair, symmetrical features or clear skin and body exposure in each image. Indicators of visible disabilities, like mobility devices, were also noted. We compared the characteristics of male versus female images as well as the characteristics of athlete and non-athlete images.
The AI-generated male images were frequently young (93.3 per cent), lean (68.4 per cent) and muscular (54.2 per cent). The images of females depicted youth (100 per cent), thinness (87.5 per cent) and revealing clothing (87.5 per cent).
The AI-generated images of athletes were lean (98.4 per cent), muscular (93.4 per cent) and dressed in tight (92.5 per cent) and revealing (100 per cent) exercise gear.
Non-athletes were shown wearing looser clothing and displaying more diversity of body sizes. Even when we asked for an image of just “an athlete,” 90 per cent of the generated images were male. No images showed visible disabilities, larger bodies, wrinkles or baldness.
These results reveal that generative AI perpetuates stereotypes of athletes, depicting them as only fitting into a narrow set of traits — lacking impairment, attractive, thin, muscular, exposed.
The findings of this research illustrate the ways in which three commonly used generative AI platforms — DALL-E, MidJourney and Stable Diffusion — reinforce problematic appearance ideals for all genders, athletes and non-athletes alike.
People with body fat, wrinkles or baldness were also largely absent.
Addressing bias in the next generation of AI
These patterns reveal that AI isn’t realistic or creative in its representations. Instead, it pulls from the massive database of media available online, where the same harmful appearance ideals dominate. It’s recycling our prejudices and forms of discrimination and offering them back to us.
AI learns body ideals from the same biased society that has long fuelled body image pressure. This leads to a lack of diversity and a vortex of unreachable standards. AI-generated images present exaggerated, idealized bodies that ultimately limit the diversity of humans and the lowered body image satisfaction that ensues is related greater loneliness.
And so, as original creators of the visual content that trains AI systems, society has a responsibility to ensure these technologies do not perpetuate ableism, racism, fatphobia and ageism. Users of generative AI must be intentional in how image prompts are written, and critical in how they are interpreted.
We need to limit the sort of body standards we internalize through AI. As AI-generated images continue to populate our media landscape, we must be conscious of our exposure to it. Because at the end of the day, if we want AI to reflect reality rather than distort it, we have to insist on seeing, and valuing, every kind of body.
Catherine Sabiston receives funding from the Canada Research Chairs program
Delaney Thibodeau and Sasha Gollish do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The bill eliminates key environmental protections and grants the provincial government sweeping powers to fast-track development with little to no oversight. This risks undermining the rights of Indigenous communities, the public and nature.
Bill 5 is an affront to Indigenous rights and natural law because it authorizes the government to potentially cause irreparable harm to lands and waters without the free, prior and informed consent of affected First Nations and community members.
Despite widespread opposition from First Nations, the public, municipalities, environmental organizations and labour groups across the province, the government continues to advance the policies, amendments and regulations that could further entrench the regressive legal reforms ushered in by Bill 5.
A series of proposed regulations, amendments and policies were posted on the Environmental Registry of Ontario for public comment for 45 days, with the comment periods closing in mid-November. The government now has to consider these comments before deciding whether to approve the proposals.
This proposed regulation sets out criteria to designate special economic zones. No objective or measurable criteria are provided. Rather, the regulation grants the government discretionary power to decide where, and to whom, legal safeguards that are key to protecting Indigenous rights, nature and the public interest will or won’t apply.
Archeological assessment exemption
This proposed regulation will exempt sites that the government deems economically significant from undergoing archeological assessment. Allowing projects to go ahead without considering the archeological value of a site threatens the protection of cultural heritage and jeopardizes Indigenous cultural sovereignty. It allows government to evade their constitutional duty to consult, as it is often these assessments that trigger that duty when a sacred site or artifact is found.
Species Conservation Act
Proposed regulations, amendments and policies under this new legislation would further weaken the protection of species at risk and their habitats. It would remove the public’s right under Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights to have a say in decisions that could have serious ecological impacts.
Undermining good governance
Processes like environmental assessments and opportunities for the public to participate in decision-making are in place for a reason. They are essential safeguards for public health, safety and the environment. Allowing governments to disregard them sets a dangerous precedent for decisions to be made without transparency and accountability.
The Ring of Fire is the name given by mining companies to a mineral-rich area in the Hudson-James Bay lowlands. The proposed Ring of Fire project has implications for all of us.
The Hudson-James Bay lowlands in Treaty 9 territory is a region of profound cultural and ecological significance that has been declared protected by Indigenous organizers under their laws.
This region is a refuge for wildlife, an immense carbon sink and the homeland for thousands of Omushkego people who have relied on it since time immemorial. Its protection is needed if Indigenous communities are to continue practising their inherent and treaty rights to live, hunt, fish and protect their lands and waters — and for the government to do their part in combating climate change and biodiversity loss.
Significantly, the impacts of Bill 5 and special economic zones aren’t limited to the North. There is no assurance that the Ontario government won’t set up more special economic zones in the future if it decides it’s “strategically important to Ontario’s economy.”
Overriding human rights and environmental health to advance economic interests is unacceptable. We must continue to urge our elected officials to repeal Bill 5.
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By James Horncastle, Assistant Professor and Edward and Emily McWhinney Professor in International Relations, Simon Fraser University
United States President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, and a key adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kirill Dmitriev, recently agreed to a 28-point peace plan to end the war in Ukraine.
Such an agreement, on the surface, would be cause for good news. The human toll of the conflict, although shrouded in secrecy by both Russia and Ukraine, is high.
In the aftermath of this failure, both Russia and Ukraine reverted to pursuing their own goals for the conflict. For Ukraine, this meant the complete restoration of its territory from Russian occupation. Ukraine’s failed summer 2023 counter-offensive, however, dashed hopes for a quick victory.
Since this failure, both Ukraine and Russia have accepted that a war of out-manoeuvring one another for a rapid victory is unlikely. Instead, the war in Ukraine is now a protracted, attrition-based conflict.
In such a scenario, the role of outside support is critical. Ukraine has advocated for American participation in peace negotiations, but the talks leading to the 28-point peace plan signalled the Americans were siding with Russia and acceding to Russian demands.
Ukraine’s supporters have rightfully argued that the 28-point peace plan heavily favours Russia. The plan’s bias was so evident that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly told senators it represented a Russian “wish list,” although he later denied saying that.
There are multiple provisions that make the deal unworkable from a Ukrainian perspective.
The first is that under the plan, Ukraine must cede all of Donetsk and Luhansk in the eastern reaches of the country to Russia. While Russia has seized Luhansk in its entirety, key portions of Donetsk remain under Ukrainian control.
Ukraine’s control of these parts of Donetsk goes beyond symbolic value. These areas consist of terrain and fortifications that are ideal for defensive operations. If Ukraine surrendered this territory to Russia, central Ukraine would be left vulnerable to rapid Russian assaults in the future.
Accepting a bad deal?
Ukrainian officials have struck a delicate balance since Trump announced his peace plan. If Ukrainian officials outright reject it, Trump will probably abandon Ukraine at a moment of need. If Ukraine fully acquiesces, it will be left vulnerable to future aggression. It’s also doubtful any officials who sign the Russia-friendly agreement will survive politically.
Ukrainian officials have consequently cultivated their ties with European officials while playing for time on the more contentious issues in the plan. Specifically, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the territorial aspects of the proposed agreement are the most troublesome.
Unfortunately, Trump appears desperate to reach an agreement, regardless of the cost, judging by the people he has placed in charge of negotiating with Russia — Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law.
Witkoff and Kushner are most notably involved when Trump wants results, regardless of the consequence.
Since entering politics in Trump’s first term, Witkoff has been an apologist for Russia and its actions. This stance has not changed in Trump’s second term. In fact, it appears Witkoff coached Russia on how to ingratiate itself to Trump, seemingly placing Russian interests above American.
Kushner’s past diplomacy efforts appear to have enriched him personally, something that does not bode well for the required neutral stance in Russia-Ukraine talks.
A lost moment
Unfortunately for Ukraine, these peace plan complications could not come at a worse time for their war efforts. While Russia pummels Ukrainian cities and is claiming it’s seized the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainians are simultaneously making sustainedattacks on the Russian energy industry.
Direct disruption of Russian energy is perhaps the one area where Ukrainian pressure could affect Putin’s war efforts.
Trump’s attempts to achieve a peace deal at any cost, however, could scuttle any Ukrainian breakthroughs.
James Horncastle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
L’inventeur du phalanstère parie sur l’association libre des attractions entre les êtres humains pour atteindre l’harmonie, y compris dans la sphère professionnelle. Plaisir et travail ne doivent pas être opposés.Wikimediacommons
Charles Fourier (1772-1837) est l’un des premiers auteurs à développer une critique du capitalisme libéral. Un philosophe dénigré par Karl Marx pour son socialisme utopique. Considéré tantôt comme un être fantasque, tantôt comme un inventeur encombrant, il exerce une carrière de commerçant durant une grande partie de sa vie. Une de ses réflexions résonne dans notre actualité : qu’est-ce qui peut motiver l’individu à l’égard de son travail ?
Il est probablement l’auteur le plus original parmi les socialistes français du XIXe siècle, considérés comme utopiques, tels Claude-Henri de Rouvroy de Saint-Simon (1760-1825) ou Étienne Cabet (1788-1856). Les travaux que j’ai menés dans le cadre d’une thèse d’État sur les socialistes utopiques ont mis en évidence l’idée que, chez Charles Fourier, le travail n’était pas l’élément premier, mais une activité entraînée par des motivations, une « attraction passionnée ».
L’idée principale qui se dégage de son œuvre ? Les transformations des structures de production nécessitée par les crises, le chômage et la misère, doivent prendre la forme d’un collectivisme décentralisé. Ce dernier repose sur une propriété associée dont l’élément central est constitué par « la phalange » ou commune sociétaire.
Les nouvelles relations sociales sont analysées notamment dans la Théorie des quatre mouvements et des destinées générales (1808), le Nouveau Monde industriel et sociétaire ou invention du procédé d’industrie attrayante et naturelle, distribuée en séries passionnées (1829), la Fausse Industrie morcelée, mensongère et l’antidote, l’industrie naturelle, combinée, attrayante, véridique donnant quadruple produit (1835-1836). Ces ouvrages mettent l’accent sur l’aliénation économique, doublée d’une aliénation affective qui ne peut être dépassée qu’en libérant l’individu de toutes les contraintes qui l’empêchent de se réaliser.
Dans ce nouveau système, par quoi les travailleurs et travailleuses sont-ils motivés, en dehors de l’argent ?
Motivations non pécuniaires
L’existence de rapports humains dans la production implique pour Charles Fourier la prise en considération des motivations non pécuniaires. Il critique dans le premier tome de la Théorie de l’unité universelle « les méthodes qui laissent dans l’oubli la plus vaste, la plus nécessaire des études, celle de l’Homme, c’est-à-dire de l’attraction passionnée ». Une organisation doit reposer sur l’association libre des attractions entre les êtres humains pour atteindre l’harmonie. Plaisirs et travail ne sont pas opposés, mais promus.
L’étude du monde du travail doit être « celle de l’homme social » centrée sur le « social et le passionnel », en d’autres termes sur l’analyse des motivations. L’unité de production, en tant qu’organisation, est commandée à la fois par les impératifs économiques et techniques de la production, mais également par les besoins psychologiques des travailleurs.
Luxe des ateliers et bagne de l’usine
Le point de départ de sa réflexion est celui de l’adaptation physiologique, du corps, de l’individu à son travail. Charles Fourier insiste sur la nécessité d’usines harmonieuses, « le luxe des ateliers » et sa conséquence sur la santé des travailleurs. Une usine ne doit pas être un bagne. Il met l’accent sur l’importance des couleurs, des peintures souvent refaites, des conditions de température et de propreté des ateliers.
Charles Fourier est le penseur du phalanstère, contraction de phalange et de monastère, le regroupement organique des éléments considérés nécessaires à la vie harmonieuse d’une communauté appelée phalange. Wikimedia
L’organisation du travail doit s’attacher à réduire les distances entre les postes de travail. Une opération de production va échoir à plusieurs groupes de travail et être décomposée en « éléments distincts ». Dans le Nouveau Monde industriel et sociétaire, il souligne que cet « exercice parcellaire en fonctions » va favoriser le passage d’un poste de travail à l’autre. Il s’agit de permettre « au travailleur exécutant » de replacer cette opération dans le tout de la production.
Papillonner contre la monotonie
Le passage d’un poste de travail à l’autre satisfait le besoin de variété, analysé sous le nom de « papillonne ». Les attitudes désignées sous le nom d’ennui, liées « à la monotonie d’un travail sans diversion » soulignées dans La Fausse Industrie, peuvent être réduites par l’alternance des tâches. Ces dernières nécessitent un fractionnement de la journée de travail et l’introduction de pauses.
« Le but serait manqué si cet enchaînement de plaisirs ne coopérait pas au bien de l’industrie active » dit-il dans le tome III de la Théorie de l’unité universelle.
Pour Charles Fourier, le temps de travail doit être découpé en séances de deux heures. Cette division quotidienne pas à négliger les aspects économiques, tels que l’accroissement de la production et de la productivité.
« Perfection du tout » dans le travail en groupe
Premier volume de la Théorie des quatre mouvements.
Il y a chez Charles Fourier l’idée que l’organisation du travail possède des propriétés sociales et psychologiques indépendantes de la technologie. Le machinisme ne peut répondre aux besoins des humains. C’est dans cette perspective qu’il faut développer le sentiment de coopération, d’appartenance à un groupe et l’émulation en favorisant le travail collectif.
C’est là que réside la profonde originalité du socialiste utopique. Son analyse rompt absolument avec l’hypothèse de la foule, associée à la perte du sentiment de responsabilité de l’individu, lorsqu’il rappelle dans le Nouveau Monde industriel et sociétaire que le groupe est « une masse liguée par identité de goût pour une fonction exercée ». Des hommes et femmes avec la même « attraction passionnée ».
Le groupe n’est pas une simple collection d’individus. Selon Charles Fourier, il implique des relations stables entre sept à neuf personnes. Il est analysé comme un moyen d’expression des motivations individuelles. Le travail en groupe satisfait le besoin de comprendre la signification de la tâche. La compréhension du but aiguise le besoin de contribuer à « la perfection du tout », le besoin d’achever.
Sens de la vie
La motivation est dénommée par l’auteur « composite ». Dans ce contexte, les considérations affectives deviennent aussi importantes que les considérations économiques comme le taux de salaire, les horaires, etc.
« Le lien ne serait que simple s’il se bornait à exciter l’émulation industrielle par appât du gain. Il faut y joindre des véhicules tirés d’autres passions comme les rencontres amicales », précise Charles Fourier dans la « Théorie de l’unité universelle ».
Les relations affectives, faites de coopération et d’émulation, au sein du groupe de travail sont analysées sous le nom de « cabaliste ». Bien entendu, la motivation pécuniaire existe, mais l’aspect relationnel a pour conséquence de rendre plus complexe l’interprétation du comportement humain. « Les membres du groupe sont entraînés au travail par émulation, amour-propre, et autres véhicules compatibles avec celui de l’intérêt » rappelle-t-il dans la Théorie des Quatre Mouvements.
L’amour-propre nous amène à tenir compte d’autrui. Cet échange réciproque satisfait le besoin de dignité, d’être reconnu dans son travail.
De Charles Fourier se dégage l’idée actuelle que l’accroissement de la productivité est souvent le résultat de la double exigence de la production et de la recherche d’un bien-être de l’individu. « Pour découvrir notre fin, il était deux conditions à remplir, la première de créer la grande industrie, fabriques, sciences et arts ; quand la grande industrie est créée, il reste à remplir la deuxième condition, la recherche du sens de notre vie » rappelle-t-il.
Bernard Guilhon ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.
