Global Voices » Fabienne Flessel

Guadeloupe: “Political Manipulation”

Fabienne Flessel — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:39:18 +0000

In a post entitled “On Kalkil Politik” [Cr], Guadeloupean blogger Gwakafwika explains his complete distrust in the recent appointment of 1 Guianese and 2 Guadeloupean-born Ministers in the new socialist French government. He calls it a political manipulation.

Haiti: Haitian Flag Day

Fabienne Flessel — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:36:55 +0000

Haitians all over the world recently celebrated the 209th Haitian Flag Day along with the country's educational system. Martinican blogger at Bel Balawou publishes a stream of pictures [Fr], taken during the event in Haiti, while Haitian Alterpresse explains and comments [Fr] on the main speeches of the day.

French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique: Ministers Appointed for Skills or as Tokens?

Fabienne Flessel — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:30:43 +0000

Before his election as the 24th President of the French Republic, left-wing candidate Francois Hollande, had promised a new government with two specificities: an equal number of women and men and ministers - and from all ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

With a great majority of voters for candidate Hollande in the presidential elections hailing from the overseas regions, French-Caribbean bloggers were impatient to see which French Guyanese, Martinican or Guadeloupean politicians would be assigned a key government ministry.

Prior to the official announcement on May 16th 2012, a Guadeloupean blogger at Indiscrétions [fr] thought it was unlikely that Christiane Taubira would get any major position:

Christiane Taubiraby, image taken from her own blog. Photo by Jean Francois Robert. Visit Taubira's blog @http://chtaubira.tumblr.com/

La guyanaise Christiane Taubira, qu'on a entendu et réentendu en boucle sur les médias oraux nationaux le 10 mai, pourrait être ministre. Un ministère symbolique, tout comme sa présence d'ailleurs. Car, malheureusement, on ne donne que des fonctions symboliques aux ressortissants d'outre-mer quand on les prend au gouvernement. A quand un vrai ministère, comme le Budget ou l'Agriculture ?

French Guyanese Christiane Taubira, whom we have heard over and over again on French national media, on May 10th, could become a minister - of a token ministry, just like her presence by the way. Because, unfortunately when French Overseas-born are appointed in the government, it is only to be in charge of minor ministries. When will they be assigned significant positions as Minister of Budget and Public Finances or Minister of Agriculture?

This time around things are different and as Martinican Bel Balawou announces [fr]:

Christiane Taubira originaire de la Guyane, a été nommée ministre de la justice et garde des sceaux dans le gouvernement de Jean-Marc Ayrault.

Christiane Taubira, born in French Guyana, was appointed as the Minister of Justice in the government of Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.

Guyanese blogger at Blada reposts [fr] some of the official messages sent to congratulate the newly-appointed, but expresses, nevertheless, some mixed feelings:

Deux raisons de faire sauter les bouchons de champagne sous les palmiers… ou d'avaler cul sec un bol de vinaigre lorsqu'on a une haute idée de ce que peut être la justice.

Two reasons to pop bottles of champagne under the palm trees [Ed: of Cayenne, French Guyana]…or to drink bottoms up, a glass of vinegar, when you hold justice in high esteem.

Official government publicity photo of George Pau Langevin taken from her profile on the website of the French National Assembly (http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/)

Bel Balawou also congratulates [fr] George Pau Langevin, a Guadeloupean-born political woman who was chosen to become the Junior Minister in charge of Education Achievement.

Among these well-acclaimed assignments, reactions to the appointment of Victorin Lurel to the Ministry of the Overseas Departments is discordant. Guadeloupean blogger at Carib Creole News publishes a post entitled “Victorin Lurel, Last Minister of the Last Colonies [fr] in which he denounces the inconsistencies of the new Minister:

Lurel ministre, qui s’en étonne ? Personne. Lurel ministre des « outremers» (à CCN nous disons des Dernières Colonies : MDC) c’est la big surprise. Notre ex président de Région avait toujours clamé urbi et orbi, qu’il ne souhaitait surtout pas, ce ministère qu’il considérait comme « dévalué ».
Sa « préférence » allait vers l’agriculture ou les collectivités territoriales. Mais il semble bien que Lurel n’ait guère eu la possibilité de choisir.

Lurel is one of the Ministers, is it a surprise? Absolutely not. Lurel is the minister of the “Overseas” regions (at CCN, we say of the Last Colonies: MLC), here is the big surprise. The former president of our former local executive, had loudly proclaimed all over the place that, he definitely did not want this ministry which he regarded as “underrated”.
He declared he would prefer ministries like the ones in charge of agriculture or devolved administrations. Yet, it seems that he did not have a choice.

In this same post, CCN reminds his readers that since the 2009 social crisis in Guadeloupe, Lurel who was then member of the left-wing parliamentary opposition to Sarkozy's government, never stopped tackling the numerous causes of the discontent (prices, employment, status of Creole language, education and vocational training and governance) and condemning the policies enforced by the government then. He wonders how the new minister is going to solve the problems he once pointed at.

Victorin Lurel; photo taken from his Twitter profile @VictorinLurel

Regarding Lurel's appointment, Bel Balawou publishes no personal comment but reposts a letter [fr] from Patrick Karam, a Guadeloupean-born former junior minister in Sarkozy's government, who unexpectedly expresses his complete support to his former rival, Victorin Lurel.

Le plus compétent et populaire des ultramarins, qui fut de tous les combats en faveur des outre-mer, l’homme qui a tenu bon face au LKP pendant la crise de 2009 et dont le comportement irréprochable et courageux avait été salué par le Président de la République Nicolas Sarkozy […]

The most able and popular of the Overseas-born [Ed: politicians], who has defended the Overseas regions in all their struggles, who stood in front of the LKP at the time of the 2009 social crisis and whose honest and brave behavior had been ackowledged by President Nicolas Sarkozy […]

These inconstencies are also pointed at by Martinican blogger at Montray Kréyol, who publishes a letter from Victorin Lurel, in a post entitled “The Contortions of Toto” (Toto being Lurel's nickname in his native Guadeloupe) [fr]. In this letter, Lurel, before being appointed, legitimizes President Hollande's choice to honor French stateman Jules Ferry on his inauguration day. The choice was judged awkward and Lurel's support even moreso, since Ferry was the well-known advocate of the French colonial expansion.

Martinican blogger at Bondamanjak humorously wonders [fr] why no Martinican-born politican was appointed in this new government.

Le hic dans cette histoire c'est que la Martinique, terre d'Aimé Césaire… creuset de la démocratie participative est étrangement absence de cette réunion de compétences.

The problem here is that Martinique, land of Aimé Césaire…the soil of partipatory democracy is surprisingly missing from this combination of skills.

Visit French mainstream online magazine, Le Nouvel Obs [fr], to see the new faces of the French executive.

The thumbnail image used in this post, “The French National Assembly”, is by tiseb, used under an Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) Creative Commons license. Visit tiseb's flickr photostream.

Martinique: “Think Like A Man”, Just Not in France

Fabienne Flessel — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:47:34 +0000

UPDATE: May 23, 2012, 9:20 pm We understand from the Allo Ciné cinema website that the status of the film “Think Like a Man” is “prochainement” (coming soon), as it has been for quite some time. Sony, the film's distributor, just issued a statement here, saying that there were never any plans for a French release date for the movie. Thus, while Afro-American films are generally not “cancelled”, strictly speaking, they are often not released, with no explanation. One possible reason for this could be the nature of the film distribution system in the country: major companies do not customize releases; they release a film in hundreds of movie theaters, or not at all. Smaller companies may release “arty” films that are likely to attract a niche audience in independent movie houses. The Afro-French community does not, by and large, have specific movie houses or distribution systems in France, perhaps because census, geolocalization, surveys and marketing based on racial standards and statistics are strictly forbidden in the country. Thus, movie-goers interested by Afro-american films usually have to wait for their video release.

Just weeks after the debate surrounding the election of Miss Black France 2012, another question is being discussed by French people of African descent: the ~~cancellation~~ alleged [fr] cancellation of the release of the American movie “Think Like A Man” in French movie theaters.

How does an American movie find a place in the French social debate?

Surprising as it may be, the answer lies in the fact that the film has an all-black cast. French cinema is often pointed at for not fairly displaying all components of the country's multiethnic population. Although the recent success of the movie Les Intouchables, which earned French African actor Omar Sy the Cesar award for Best Actor in 2012, caused great pride and hope among French nationals from Africa and the Caribbean, it was not to be the turning point for a deep and lasting change.

Movie Poster for "Think Like a Man"

Martinican blogger Bondamanjak is very cynical after this tainted victory, as he explains [fr] that Omar Sy's award nomination did not come all naturally, but was rather due to the great number of viewers in theaters.

Et la France comme un seul homme oublie que Omar Sy ne figurait pas sur la liste des nominés aux Césars […] Il a fallu que ‘Intouchables' touche la barre des 19 000 000 d'entrées que ça râle un peu beaucoup pour que ce flagrant délit de mauvais scénario soit reconnu par l'immonde monde du cinéma français. Mais qu'on se rassure, cette récompense n'est qu'une opportuniste goutte d'eau dans un désert qui avance.

And all French people as one man forget that Omar Sy was not initially shortlisted as a nominee for the Cesars […] It was only when the ‘Intouchables' reached 19 000 000 viewers in theaters, that people started calling out to the French movie industry about its indignant attitude, and that they acknowledged the wrong. However be sure that this award is only an opportunistic drop of water in a desert which keeps moving forward.

How can racial profiling in cinema be explained?

Martinican blog People Bo Kay reposts a note published [fr] on the Facebook page of Negro News, entitled “France does not want all-black couples in movies”. This analysis, which has now gone viral, develops ideas about communalism and politics in France, which are supposed to explain the rejection of the movie.

Il faut rappeler qu'il y a dans l’État français, une stratégie socio-politique qui tend à prôner le métissage plutôt que la valorisation des communautés. Dans la comédie ‘Think like a Man', les couples noirs sont mis en avant.

The French state has had a sociopolitical strategy which favors interracial relationships rather than valuing communities. In the comedy ‘Think like a Man', the focus is on black couples.

According to this note, the other explanation to the blocking of African-American films in France (despite their profitability) is that:

À noter, les films de l'acteur et producteur noir Tyler Perry ne sont jamais programmés dans les salles françaises ou alors ils sortent directement en DVD. Pourtant ce producteur a pour habitude de dominer le box-office américain avec des films comme ‘Why did I get Married' et “For Colored Girls”. La société française dans toute son hypocrisie ne veut surtout pas diffuser des films de producteurs noirs qui gagnent des millions de dollars en faisant passer un message positif pour la diaspora africaine grâce à leurs films.

Black actor and producer Tyler Perry's movies are never scheduled in any French movie theaters or are only released in DVDs, even though he has been used to leading the US box-office, as with ‘Why did I get Married' and ‘For Colored Girls'. The French society acts hypocritically, when it refuses to show movies from black producers who earn millions from conveying a positive message to the African diaspora through their films.

In the same vein, other French Afro-Caribbean netizens, like the collective of female bloggers at La Scandaleuse condemns [fr] how some well-known French movie magazines and websites have openly underrated the movie and its cast:

Première.fr ne comprend pas comment un film avec une majorité d’acteurs noirs peut-être premier du box office! Ne connaissant aucun acteur, ils se permettent alors d’écrire «cette comédie au pitch classique et sans tête d’affiche (le chanteur Chris Brown est le nom le plus connu du générique).» Faut il vous faire la filmographie de tous les acteurs ? Non car cela est votre travail !

Première.fr does not understand how a movie with a mainly black cast could actually lead the box-office! Since they know none of the actors, they dare to write ‘this comedy has a conventional plot and no famous actors (singer Chris Brown is the best known in this cast).' Should the readers make filmographies for all actors? No that's your job!

This lack of knowledge about African-American actors, even when they are world-famous, echoes, according to La Scandaleuse, a French trend:

Mais peut-être que dans un pays comme la France où on a du mal à faire tourner des acteurs noirs, la surprise ne peut-être que grande face au succès de «Think Like a Man» ! Qui, d’ailleurs, n’est pas présenté comme un film afro par ses acteurs ni par son réalisateur, c’est un film universel, ce qui explique son succès au box office!

Maybe in a country like France, where black actors hardly play in any movies, it is very surprising to understand the great success of ‘Think Like a Man'! A movie, which is not presented as exclusively African-American, neither by the actors nor the director. It is a universal movie, which explains its success in the charts!

African diaspora-oriented Afrik.com weighs in by adding [fr]:

Si l’article de Première.fr semble certainement mal documenté, c’est avant tout un exemple parmi d’autres du refus des diffuseurs et du milieu du cinéma français de miser sur des films dans lesquels la majorité des acteurs sont noirs ou même de miser sur leur éventuel succès. Sous couvert de logiques économiques frileuses, ce «genre» de films, qu’ils soient américains ou français, n’existent quasiment pas dans les salles françaises.

The article published on Première.fr most definitely suffers a lack of research. But it is above all an example, among others, of the refusal expressed by the French cinema industry to bank on movies where the cast is mainly black or to bank on their potential success. They hide behind a non-daring financial rationale to block these ‘types' of movies, whether French or American, from French movie theaters.

The image used in this post, “Think Like a Man”, is by Film_Poster, used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) Creative Commons license. Visit Film_Poster's flickr photostream.

Haiti: Raoul Peck & the 2012 Cannes Festival

Fabienne Flessel — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:01:50 +0000

The award-winning Haitian movie director and once Haitian Minister of Culture, Raoul Peck [Fr], has been chosen to be a member of the jury of the world-famous Cannes International Film Festival, according to hpnhaiti [Fr].

Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana: Is “Miss Black France” Acceptable?

Fabienne Flessel — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:47:03 +0000

While French people are still in the midst of the presidential elections with its second round coming up on May 5-6th 2012, another vote buzzed last week: the “Miss Black France” [fr] contest.

The home page of the event scheduled on Saturday April 28, 2012, says [fr]:

Célébrons la Beauté Noire!

Let's Celebrate Black Beauty!

The Official Poster of Miss Black France

The “About” section of the Facebook page [fr] of the contest explains:

Les jeunes femmes noires vont enfin avoir leur élection. Jusqu’à aujourd’hui très peu représentée en France – et en tout cas pas dans les concours de « Miss » que l’on connait –, la beauté noire va pouvoir être mise en avant à sa juste valeur.

L’élection Miss Black France est ouverte à toutes les jeunes femmes françaises ou étrangères vivant en France, de métropole, des DOM-TOM ou d'Afrique, âgée…s d’au moins 16 ans, sans autre critère que l’élégance et le charme.

Black young women are eventually going to have their election. Black beauty, which has been very little promoted in France up to this date -at least, not in the usual ‘beauty pageants'- will be showcased there.

All young women, French nationals or foreign residents, natives of France, the French Overseas Regions or Africa are eligible if they are at least 16 years old and with no other criteria than elegance and glamour.

This introduction to the genesis of this pageant has raised many questions among French people and bloggers, among which Bondamanjak from Martinique [fr], who wonders:

Dérive communautariste ? Acte militant ? Impérialisme yankee ? Bizness ?

Excessive communalism? Activist move? Yankee imperialism? Business?

These questions are justified by the founding motto of the French nation, according to which all citizens are equal and cannot be distinguished on account of ethnicity or religion. In this perspective, having a national contest based on the ethnicity of the pageants seems heretical to many netizens.

A post published on a Martinican blog People Bo Kay explains both points of view [fr] and where the division lies.

Supporters of the pageant advocate the need for more visibility [fr]:

mettre la lumière sur ces femmes noires extrêmement nombreuses que l'on voit peu dans les médias.

cast the light on these extremely numerous Black women, who are little represented in the media.

En France, les seules miss noires que nous avons connues étaient soit métissées ou originaires d'outre-mer. Il n'y a jamais eu de filles issues de parents sénégalais ou algériens. Ces filles là ne se reconnaissent pas encore dans le concours de Miss France. Elles pensent qu'il n'est pas pour elles et donc s'auto-censurent.

In France, the only Black pageant winners that we have ever known were either mixed-raced or natives of the French overseas regions. There has never been any girls from Senegalese or Algerian parents. They cannot identify with the Miss France pageant yet. They think it is not made for them and become self-conscious to the extent of self-censorship.

This last point was made by historian and specialist of cultural diversity matters, François Durpaire [fr], during an interview on French national channel, France 2.

One of the cons to this pageant was that to some, it symbolizes reverse discrimination - the most recurrent question being, “What if a fair blonde French young woman wants to participate?”

A comment published following the post at Bondamanjak says [fr]:

La couleur noire n'est ni une identité, ni une classe cela est ridicule de faire une quelconque différence face à une miss blanche. Le combat qu'on doit mener n'est pas à ce niveau. Contruisons avant une communauté unie , solidaire défendant notre mémoire pour contruire une vraie identité.

The color black is not an identity, nor a social class. It is ridiculous to make any difference with a white contestant. Our struggle does not belong there. Let's build a united and self-reliant community to defend our collective memory and our true identity.

Although this beauty pageant has been very controversial and triggered much division among people over its legitimacy, one thing make people come together: why use the adjective “black” in French, instead of “noire”.
The answer is that black sounds more like a marketing success than “noire”.

The results of the pageant are published along with the picture of the winners on this post at People Bo Kay:

A 21-year-old marketing student from Senegal, Tiah Beye was crowned ‘Miss Black France 2012′ along with her two runners-up, 22-year-old, Ivorian-born Romy Niaba and 23-year-old, Aissata Soumah from Guinea.

Martinique: Where has Creole gone?

Fabienne Flessel — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:12:15 +0000

On Martinican collective blog Montray Kreyol, a recent post [Fr/Fr Cr] wonders why Martinique 1ère [Fr], which is the local relay of the French National Broadcast Network, Fance Television [En], has almost no Creole language spoken on air.

Guadeloupe: A Cuban-born Mulatto, Mayor of Paris

Fabienne Flessel — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:57:13 +0000

Guadeloupean blogger B.World Connection posts about the release of a book about the first non-white Mayor of Paris, who accomplished much towards secularity and social progress in the 19th century French Republic, yet fell into complete oblivion until now.

Martinique, USA, France: Jesse Jackson's message to Serge Letchimy

Fabienne Flessel — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:48:36 +0000

B.World Connection posts a letter [En/Fr] with the heading of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition whose leader is Reverend Jesse Jackson: apparently, the Reverend would support the reaction of MP Serge Letchimy, discussed here, in the name of the Black Diaspora and all humanity.

Martinique, Guadeloupe, France: MP Letchimy Against Minister Guéant

Fabienne Flessel — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:27:50 +0000

Bloggers and mainstream journalists around the French-speaking blogosphere have been buzzing once more about French Minister of Home Affairs, Claude Guéant. He is notorious for suggesting extreme right-wing policies about national identity, religion and immigration, as confirmed by this headline [fr] from French mainstream information website Le Monde:

Claude Guéant, habitué des polémiques

Claude Guéant, serial controversy-maker

which covers different ideas developed by Guéant like:

La ‘croisade' en Libye

‘Crusade' in Lybia

Pas de 'signes religieux' pour les “usagers du service public”

No ‘religious symbols' for ‘users of public facilities and administrations'

One of his extremely controversial ideas regarding the visas delivered to foreign graduates in France has been discussed here on Global Voices.

With the tense atmosphere of the upcoming French presidential elections, every word uttered by front-rank politicians from all parties are closely examined and judged - no surprise, then, that this sentence from Guéant in a meeting organized by a right-wing students' union on January 6, 2012, has unleashed a fury among the public opinion:

Toutes les civilisations ne se valent pas…

All civilizations are not equal…

The reactions have been numerous and varied, some agreeing and others vehemently disagreeing - even in his own political family - but to this day the most memorable response has come from Serge Letchimy, a left-wing MP from Martinique, French West Indies, who condemned Guéant's words and ideas in a letter published on his own blog [fr] and read before all the MPs:

Vous nous ramenez, jour après jour, à ces idéologies européennes qui ont donné naissance aux camps de concentration, au bout du long chapelet esclavagiste et colonial.
Monsieur Guéant le régime nazi, si soucieux de purification, si hostile à toutes les différences, était-ce une civilisation ? La barbarie de l’esclavage et de la colonisation, était-ce une mission civilisatrice ?

You bring us back, day after day, to these European ideologies which gave birth to the concentration camps as a conclusion to a theory started with slavery and colonialization.
Mr Guéant, was the Nazi regime, obsessed with purification and hostile to differences, a civilization? Was the barbarity of slavery and colonization part of a civilizing mission?

Here [fr] is the video showing Letchimy reading his letter, the content of which caused a wave of indignation among the right-wing MPs and members of the French Government, who left the benches of the French National Assembly under the pretext that Letchimy was outrageously associating the Minister with the Nazi regime. They later asked for official apologies, to show their support to Claude Guéant.

However, his words visibly inspired a movement of opposition against the Minister of Home Affairs among French West Indian and French bloggers and readers alike. In a post at Montray Kréyol [fr], renowned Martinican author Patrick Chamoiseau explains why Letchimy's ideas deserve to be defended.

M. Letchimy a donc vu juste et a dit ce qu'il fallait dire comme il fallait le dire.
Et il a fait honneur non seulement à la Martinique mais à la France et à son Assemblée Nationale toute entière. Car enfin, sans lui, le « célébrant des civilisations supérieures » serait venu, se serait assis, aurait écouté je ne sais [quelle] politiquerie, et serait reparti sans que rien ni personne ne lui trouble la conscience.

Letchimy got it right and said what needed to be said just how it needed to be said.
By doing so, he honored not only Martinique but also France and its whole National Assembly. Indeed, had he not spoken, the “celebrator of the superior civilizations” would have come, sat down, listened to political questions and left the place, with his conscience unquestioned by anyone or anything.

On No apologies, no disciplinary measures, full support to Mr Letchimy” and “Petition in support of Serge Letchimy” [fr].

Coincidentally or not, this controversy took place a couple days before Claude Guéant visits Martinique and Guadeloupe, in order to launch the presidential campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy in the Overseas regions of France. Grabbing the opportunity to show their ideological and political opposition to the Minister, two Guadeloupean political personalities, a left-wing Minister of Parliament and a Senator, released a statement [fr], published by Caraib Creole News:

Nous avons été informés de votre prochain déplacement en Guadeloupe et nous sommes au regret de vous faire savoir que nous ne pourrons vous y recevoir.

We have been informed of your upcoming visit to Guadeloupe and we regret to let you know that we will not welcome you here.

They conclude their statement with a reminder of a similar decision made by the late Aimé Césaire in 2005.

En décembre 2005, afin de marquer son indignation suite au vote d’une loi reconnaissant « le rôle positif de la présence française outre-mer », Aimé Césaire avait refusé de rencontrer le ministre de l’Intérieur de l’époque, Nicolas Sarkozy, en déplacement en Martinique. Nous avions alors tous, outre-mer, salué la portée de son geste.
Nous choisirons par conséquent, en toute modestie, de lui emboîter le pas.

In December 2005, in order to signify his indignation after the vote of a law acknowledging “the positive role of the French presence overseas” Aimé Césaire refused to meet the then Minister of Home Affaires, Nicolas Sarkozy who was visiting Martinique. In the overseas regions, we all recognized the importance of this decision.
We will therefore, with all due modesty, follow his path.

The conclusion is worth noting since Aimé Césaire was the political mentor of the MP Letchimy and his letter to Mr Guéant was highly inspired by Césaire's “Discourse on Colonialism“.

The thumbnail image used in this post is by UMP Photos, used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) Creative Commons license. Visit UMP Photos' flickr photostream.

Martinique: All together around Creole

Fabienne Flessel — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:59:44 +0000

The Creole language in the Caribbean and the cooperation between islands were recently discussed during the Creole-speaking Regions Days, as explained in this post on Tous Créoles [Fr Cr/Fr]. One of the most debated issues was a visa waiving program between the French Caribbean islands and the rest of the West Indies.

Antigua, Guadeloupe: From the Common Past

Fabienne Flessel — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:50:25 +0000

For the past decade, the tight historical and geographical bonds between the West Indian islands of Antigua and Guadeloupe have been analyzed by historians. A recent conference entitled “Antigua: From the Amerindians to an Independant Nation” [Fr] was organized in Guadeloupe by the group Yo Té Pou Nou Sé. Bloggers at PerspeKtives [Fr] explain the importance of this project.

Martinique, Guadeloupe: French Football Flop now Racial Controversy?

Fabienne Flessel — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:54:52 +0000

The French national football team has been through some rough times prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but the past three days have stirred up old issues around “Les Bleus“.

In the buildup to the FIFA World Cup, the honeymoon between the the French football team and French journalists came to an end; the divorce was officially announced when native Martinican player Nicolas Anelka allegedly insulted his coach in the locker room (information unveiled by French main sports newspaper, L'Equipe). Guadeloupean blogger B. World Connection reacted soon after in a post entitled “Nicolas Anelka, kicked out of the French football team” and discussed the player's future [Fr]:

Selon toute vraisemblance, Nicolas Anelka ne revétira plus jamais le maillot de l'équipe de France…A moins que Laurent Blanc arrive à le convaincre de revenir. Au niveau de l'opinion général des français ça sera plus dur.

Nicolas Anelka will most likely never wear the French team jersey ever again…Unless Laurent Blanc [the future coach] succeeds in convincing him to come back. However as far as the French public opinion is concerned, things are going to be more difficult.

Although most French West Indian bloggers condemned Anelka's attitude, they have also been discussing the various issues revolving around the incident.

Some comments to B. World Connection's post [Fr] blame the incident on coach Raymond Domenech:

En voyant ce déferlement médiatique à l'encontre d'ANELKA, je me suis dit c'est clair la chasse aux sorcières à commencé. La FFF et DOMENECK ont besoin d'un bouc émissaire pour sauver la face. Et il vont comme à l'habitude sacrifier un “nègre”.

Looking at the media surge against Anelka, I said to myself that the witch hunt had started. The French Football Federation and DOMENECK need a scapegoat to come out clean. And as usual, they will sacrifice a “negro”.

Blogger Bel Balawou weighs in on this analysis of the coach [Fr]:

Cette équipe de France est dirigée pas un entraineur incompétent, un homme ayant pratiquement rien réussi de lui-même…

This French team is coached by an inept manager, a man who has managed only little by himself…

A disturbing scenario followed this already disastrous situation: The French team went on strike just two days before their final round match against Bafana-Bafana. Their decision opened the door to a giant wave of criticism, some of it along seemingly racist lines.

The once-welcomed multicultural feature of “les Bleus” may now have become their worst flaw. Here is the title of Martinican Bondamanjak's post in reaction to some comments about the team:

Les Antillais de l'Equipe de France sont déjà des Français entièrement à part…

The French West Indians of the French football team are already fully isolated…

Bondamanjak's conclusion came after a radio interview with controversial French philosopher, Alain Finkielkraut, who allegedly said [Fr]:

« Tout ça c'est la faute des racailles de banlieue, même ceux de l'équipe de France et qui n'aiment pas la France ».

“This is all to be blamed on the suburbs scum, even those of the French team who don't like France”.

From a sporting perspective, the failure of the French football team has reached social, cultural and even historical levels. For instance, the use of the term “suburbs scum” to descrbe some of the team's players left Bondamanjak bitter [Fr]:

Tant que les Antillais gagnent ils sont partie intégrante de la “nation arc en ciel”… il n'y a plus de couleurs (ni de culture) NOUS SOMMES TOUS BLEUS…
mais au premier nuage, les “gens des cités” (?) sont rétrogradés en seconde classe

As long as the French West Indians win, they are part of the “rainbow nation”…everyone is colorblind (and culture blind) WE ARE ALL “BLEUS”… but when the first cloud covers this blue sky, “people from the suburbs” (?) are sent back to their second-class [citizenship]”

Similarly, Bel Balawou says [Fr]:

Une équipe sportive, d'ailleurs pas que dans le football où se trouve en majorité des gens issus de la banlieue, des Noirs et des Arabes […] : Cela ne le fait pas !

A sport team, incidentally not only in football, where most of the players, Blacks and Arabs, come from the suburbs: […]: It's not right!

According to some bloggers, the reactions against specific players are because of either their background or their religion. Bondamanjak posts this portrait of Nicolas Anelka [Fr]:

Il ne mange pas de saucisson, ne boit pas de pinard. Il est noir, banlieusard et musulman. Il est donc le parfait bouc émissaire le doux mouton noir qui doit être sacrifié pour apaiser la pénible déception offerte par l'équipe de France de football au Mondial en Afrique du Sud.

He doesn't eat sausages, doesn't drink wine. He is black, from the suburbs and Muslim. Thus, he is the perfect scapegoat, the nice black sheep which has to be sacrificied in order to calm down the harsh disappointment caused by the French football team at the South Africa World Cup”.

B. World Connection also publishes a post which suggests that Anelka is a hero [Fr]:

Depuis le temps de l'esclavage, le Nègre n'a jamais cessé de maronner , d'échapper à ses fers, solides ou immatériels, en gagnant les bois, le zyiann…
Nicolas Anelka est de cette race-là…

Since the times of slavery, the Negro has never stopped marooning, escaping from their bondage either materially or spiritually and fleeing to the woods, “zyiann”….
Nicolas Anelka is one of them…

Obviously, the era of the “Black, Blanc, Beur” French society (which means Blacks, Whites and Arabs) inherited from the 1998 FIFA World Cup victory is over.

In conclusion, Gwadaboy, commenting onB. World Connection's post approaches the issue in a more balanced way [Fr]:

Et dire que Zidane a privé la France d'une 2eme coupe du monde avec son coup de boule. Lui il a eu droit aux honneurs de la nation, n'est ce pas monsieur Chirac? Ceci dit Anelka n'est pas excusable,quoi qu'il arrive on doit respecter son entraineur et ses COEQUIPIERS. Après le match on peut rêgler nos comptes mais pas à la mi-temps car “je” pénalise mes potes et mon équipe.

And to think that Zidane deprived France of a 2nd World Cup victory because of his headbutt. He got honors from his country, didn't he Mr Chirac? That being said, Anelka's words cannot be tolerated, in any case he owed his coach and CO-PLAYERS respect. His issues could have been settled after the game but not at half-time because He prejudiced his buddies and his team.

The thumbnail image used in this post, “Watching Mexico vs France”, is by Steve Rhodes, used under a Creative Commons license. Visit Steve Rhodes' flickr photostream.

Guadeloupe: The Blogging Priest

Fabienne Flessel — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:21:56 +0000

Each week, a Guadeloupean Catholic priest posts his thoughts about religion, society and his everyday life in a blog named Lemoulefatima [Fr].

Haiti: Farmers fighting against Monsanto's seeds

Fabienne Flessel — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:36:17 +0000

Espas Ayisyen Toulouse republishes [Fr] Haitian Peasant Movement of Papaye's (PMP) official declaration after their long demonstration against the deal between the Haitian Government and the American firm Monsanto, to provide hybrid seeds to Haitian farmers.