Stories about France from October, 2013
15-Year-Old Roma Girl's Deportation Shakes Up France's Immigration Debate
In the Leonarda deportation scandal, everything is controversial: the way in which the police acted, the media management of the scandal and the peculiarity of the family.
Walk in a Homeless Person's Shoes via Twitter
October 17 was the international Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Four groups, the Abbé Pierre Foundation, France Inter, Génération réactive et la Fondation Agir contre l'exclusion de Seine-Saint-Denis decided to give four homeless persons a platform on twitter to narrate their everyday lives. They live in different cities of France:...
Gift from French Investing Group Bolloré to Ivorian University Stirs Controversy
French investing group Bolloré [fr] made a donation of 6 electric buses to the University of Felix Houphouët Boigny at Cocody in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. The first two buses were delivered on October 16 under great scrutiny from the Ivorian press and social media. In fact, the donation stirred a...
Léonarda, 15, Arrested During a School Trip and Deported
Léonarda Dibrani, 15, was on field trip with her schoolmates when she was detained by the french police, near Levier, France. She was later deported with the rest of her family [fr] to Kosovo as illegal immigrants. The Dibrani family fled Kosovo about five years ago because they are Roma. Léonarda...
Marking The 30th Anniversary Of The Beurs’ March For Equality
30 years ago (October 15, 1983), a march for equality against racism [fr] began in Marseille with 32 people, mostly of Arab origin, to ask for the right to vote and a 10-year resident card. The Beurs’ March (Beur is a colloquial french term for people with roots in Northern Africa) arrived in Paris on December 3...
French MP Heckles Female Colleague by Clucking in Parliament
French MP Philippe Le Ray came under fire with accusation of sexism because he was heckling a fellow colleague, Veronique Massonneau, during her speech at the national assembly. Below is the video of the incident [fr]: Cackling is often used as a derogatory term for women chatter in France. This...
Central African Republic: “Don't Forget About Us!”
The Central African Republic conflict between the Central African government and Seleka rebels has worsened alarmingly since December 2012. The humanitarian situation is catastrophic in certain towns but especially in the interior of the country.
