Welcome to Digital Transatlantic Dialogue, an online platform sent throughout the month to keep our community in discussion about transatlantic affairs while we suspend in-person events.

Today's Newsletter
  1. Webinar: The Cactus League
  2. In the News
  3. COVID-19 & the Impact of Inequality
  4. French & American Presidential Addresses
  5. Language learning with NaTakallam
  6. Breaking News/Statistics about COVID-19
Upcoming Webinar
We are very pleased to welcome Emily Nemens , writer, illustrator, and editor, as a guest speaker for our next Zoom webinar to introduce her new book, The Cactus League. You do not need a Zoom account to join!

with
Emily Nemens, author & editor at  The Paris Review


News
  • "Mayor London Breed’s early and aggressive moves to contain the outbreak have made San Francisco a national model in fighting the pandemic. (...)"

  • "To the sound of birdsong on rolling grassland, a pickup truck crawls up a dirt track to bring firewood and food to a Navajo family of seven whose father died of the coronavirus hours earlier. (...)"

OPEC in a Changing World , Council on Foreign Relations
  • "Western leaders have long criticized OPEC’s power to raise oil prices, but the bloc’s influence is on the wane as US oil production has soared and alternative energies have come to the fore. (...)"

First Responders , The New Yorker
  • "[Photography] On the front lines of New York City’s emergency. (...)"
The Impact of Inequality on COVID-19
A month after being declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, COVID-19 is exacerbating inequality throughout the globe. Below is a list of articles analyzing the topic with a focus on France and the US.

  • "A combination of cramped quarters, economic stress, and accusations of police abuse is inflaming tensions in the poorer districts around the city. (...)"

  • "Dr. Royal S. Copeland, the field marshal in New York City’s battle against the 1918 influenza epidemic, knew his enemy was more than just a virus... In Copeland’s estimation, the problem was not only influenza but also the city’s crowded tenements and endemic poverty. (...)"

  • "The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a harsh light on inequality. People living paycheck to paycheck in service sector jobs are in a very different position to those working in salaried jobs they can do from home. (...)"
Monday's Presidential Addresses: France & the US
  • "Au 28e jour de confinement, et lors de sa quatrième prise de parole devant les Français depuis le début de la crise sanitaire, Emmanuel Macron a esquissé, lundi 13 avril, des voies pour sortir de la crise sanitaire qui paralyse le pays. (...)"

  • "President Donald Trump claimed the 'total' authority to decide how and when to reopen the economy after weeks of tough social distancing guidelines aimed at fighting the new coronavirus. But governors from both parties were quick to push back, noting they have primary responsibility for ensuring public safety in their states and would decide when it’s safe to begin a return to normal operations. (...)"
Practice Your Language Skills With NaTakallam
The French-American Foundation is delighted to support the work of NaTakallam, an organization that employs refugees as online language instructors and translators of Arabic, French, Spanish, and Persian.

Message from NaTakallam:
  • "Consider working on your language skills with NaTakallam and learn Arabic, French, Persian, or Spanish with refugees. NaTakallam hires refugees as online tutors, teachers, and translators... While originally born to support Syrians teaching Arabic, NaTakallam's language sessions are now also offered in French (with refugees from Congo DRC, Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire), Persian (with Iranians + Afghans) and Spanish (with Venezuelans + Central Americans)."
  • Click HERE to learn more.
COVID-19 Sources
Breaking News
Statistics
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