In 1987, while Europe's ears were locked on Front National soundbites, another Tunisia was crossing the Mediterranean — networks, routes, convoys. The French press called it "Couscous Connection." Judges pointed at Habib Ben Ali. Newspapers talked about hashish, Opération Paname, Marseille to Panam.
Forty years later, we run the plot again. Not the crime — the culture. Same routes, different cargo. A vocabulary in Arabic, French, verlan. Graphic motifs pretending to be logos. Heavyweight jersey cut like a djebba.
It's streetwear, yes. But it's really cultural archaeology. We wear what the diaspora always knew: between the Medina and the Marais, there's only a metro ride. That a 3am kebab and a merguez-frites are the same hunger. That "Paname" and "پانام" are the same city — depending who's reading it.
Couscous Connection releases pieces. Drops we call chapters. Each chapter, an operation.