Un petit mot par rapport à l'éléction présidentielle

Un collectif des français d’origine étrangère a publié au Monde une lettre très intéressante, dénonçant le discours xénophobe de la campagne présidentielle. Partout dans la presse, à la fois française et étrangère, l’on voit des analyses de l’effet LePen sur le discours de Sarkozy. La lettre déplore les attaques sur les personnes ayant une origine étrangère, surtout sur la porte-parole de Monsieur Hollande, qui prétende que ses orignie marocaines l’empêche d’être loyale à sa partie.

Ils s’expliquent:

“Ce ‘trop de monde’, c'est nous. Depuis cinq ans, nous, Français d'origine étrangère, subissons les attaques répétées de la majorité qui remet de plus en plus brutalement en cause notre appartenance à la France.”

Et puis ils en énumèrent:

“Le ‘débat’ sur l'identité nationale qui ne questionnait en réalité que l'identité de certains Français trop bronzés pour être honnêtes, les incessants débats sur la laïcité plaçant dans le viseur celles et ceux d'entre nous qui avaient le malheur d'être musulmans, le discours de Grenoble prononcé par Nicolas Sarkozy dans l'optique de dépouiller certains Français de leur nationalité - comme si celle-ci était une option -, les difficultés et humiliations que nous avons rencontrées pour renouveler une simple carte d'identité dès lors qu'un de nos aïeux était lié à un pays étrangers... Ces agressions répétées nous ont placés dans la plus grande insécurité identitaire.”

Moi, comme étrangère travaillant en France (et en banlieue dificile!) a bien connu ce genre d’humiliation…mais ce n’était pas moi qui l’a subi. Petite, blonde aux yeux bleues, j’étais systématiquement la seule à ne pas être contrôller dans le RER, à ne pas avoir besoin de montrer ma carte d’identité même pour le trucs les plus banales, à avoir la porte tenue pour moi lorsque c’était claquée dans le nez de celle qui passait avant ou après moi. Et pourtant, moi je n’étais ni résidente ni citoyenne, je n’avais pris aucun engagement envers la France, sauf mon contract de travail.

Soyons francs. Moi, je passais deux beaux séjours en France, comme étudiante et après comme employée. J’ai goûté aux plaisirs qui font de la France une si belle déstination. Mais j’étais bien consciente que ces plaisirs n’étaient pas offerts à tous et chacun. Il s’agit d’une discrimination flagrante, ce qui empêche les français, toutes sortes confondues, de viser et achever des buts communs.

Être citoyen c’est un pacte, oui, mais c’est un pacte qui va dans les deux sens. Ce n’est pas normal que l’on demande aux français d’origine étrangère d’avoir à chaque moment de la journée de se montrer plus français que les franco-français. Ni que l’on fasse d’eux le bouc émissaire de tous les maux de la France.

Au cours du débat, les candidats ont évoqué les préstations sociales et l’idée que “les étrangers” en abusent. S’il existe vraiment des problèmes à la CAF, essayons de les réussir. S’il existent des problèmes sécuritaires, abordez-les. Mais, en stigmatisant une certaine partie de la population, l’on a tendance, non seulement ne pas résoudre les problèmes réelles, mais d’aggraver la fracture et de faire monter les tensions, là où il serait mieux de les apaiser.

What does Garry Kasparov have to say about Democracy?

The power of pawns.

Earlier this month, your blogger had the opportunity to see Garry Kasparov. And what does chess have to do with democracy, you might ask? Quite a lot, it turns out.

After reminiscing about his chess career, Kasparov got down to political business. Here's the gist of what he had to say:

   1.  It's important to work across ideologies. If we wait to work together only with people whose views we share entirely, we'll never get anywhere. For instance, in Russia, leftist, nationalists and others all need to work together. Another key part of protest needs to be the principle of non-violence. Non-violence lets you keep the moral high ground.

Kasparov was also adamant that Revolution seeks dignity, and fights against corruption and impunity. He warned that it is unwise to say that certain groups aren't ready for democracy and one of the worst things that other countries can do is provide democratic cover to countries like Russia by pretending they are functioning democracies and including them in groups like the G8. He emphasized that appearing at conferences like that is a huge propaganda win for authoritarian rulers.

2. He reiterated the importance of crowd-sourcing and social media as conduits for expression. He compared them to many drops, which together make a wave that can be very powerful and that the trends build over time. Then he compared the web to print and evoked Luther and the Reformation and the dissemination of those ideas with Gutenberg's press. More than ever, now, according to Kasparov, information is easier to access and is no longer an elite privilege.
   
   
3. Then he spoke about progress. He said he was very, very worried because of the slow down in innovation and that people are afraid to take risks. He gave some examples; the moon landing, the development of credit, automobiles. All in the past. While these are important developments, new things aren't happening and if they are, they are in tiny increments. He said don't be satisfied with the status quo; always question it.

None of this is specific to Russia. They are applicable to the Arab Spring, to many African nations, and to people everywhere who are hoping to make their societies more equitable and transparent.

What's going on in Mali?

If Kal at the Moor Next Door can post first thoughts in response to something, your blogger thinks she can too.

Every day seems to bring new news about the coup in Mali, so any definitive view is premature. So far, coverage has mostly been negative.  Latest reports also indicate that in addition to sanctions by fellow West African nations, the coup leaders lost control of Timbuktu to the Tuareg rebels. 

Here are the main thoughts, which will be developed later:

1. Is this really so surprising? Things have been getting out of hand in Mali for a while, but regional focus had been on Wade in Senegal and his desire to extend his term.

2. Foreign Policy had a blog post asking "Why are coups always led by colonels?" but specifically in West Africa, there are even more junior officers: Rawlings in Ghana, Tolbert in Liberia was ousted by privates and NCOs, Thomas Sankara was a captain...

3. Noise has been made about US training of the coup leaders. That might be important or it might not. Lots of people do military training in the US, because the US has facilities and resources. It doesn't automatically make every trainee a US agent, any more than doing a post-doc at CERN commands a scientist to work forever exclusively for Switzerland's benefit.

Finally, your blogger has been doing a lot of catch-up background reading. However, she'll need to bump up Why Nations Fail since it's just been mentioned by Tom Friedman and therefore will probably be hugely popular with library patrons.

An Historical Perspective / Un regard historique

It's always interesting to take a look at the past, and even more interesting to rediscover something. As the events of the past year have forced people worldwide to take another look around, your blogger investigated the familiarity people in the United States had with world events a century ago.

 This article looks at how people in the past were introduced to other countries and cultures.

C’est toujours passionant de considérer le passé, et encore plus intéressant de redécouvrir quelque chose. Comme les évènements de l’année passée ont poussé des gens à regarder autour d’eux, votre bloggueuse a mené une enquête sur les connaissances des Américains il y a un siècle. 

Cet article s’interroge sur la découverte d’autres pays et cultures dans le passé.

Anthony Shadid RIP

Veteran Foreign correspondent for the New York Times Anthony Shadid passed away Thursday, while reporting inside Syria, of an asthma attack. Shadid was reporting with photographer Tyler Hicks. If it seems that those two names together ring a bell, they were both kidnapped and held, along with two others, in Libya last year.

While this blogger did not always agree with the conclusions Shadid drew, the quality of his reporting and his dedication were impressive. It is important to remember that while information seems so readily available these days, many people, both professional journalists and civilians, put themselves in danger in order to make this possible.

Condolences to Shadid's wife, Nada Bakri, also a Times reporter, their son Malik, and Shadid's daughter Leila.

Anthony SHADID, journaliste correspondent à l’étranger pour le New York Times, est décédé jeudi, suite à une crise d’asthme, en mission en Syrie. Shadid était accompagné par le photographe Tyler Hicks. Si les deux noms sautent aux yeux, c’est parce qu’ils étaient enlevés et détenus avec deux collègues en Libye, l’année dernière.

Malgré que votre bloggeuse ne partageait toujours pas les mêmes avis que Shadid, la qualité de ses reportages et son engagement passionnée imposait le respect. Il est très important de se souvenir que même si l’on a l’impression d’avoir un accès facile aux informations, c’est du au travail hasardeux des journalistes professionnels et des civiles sur place.

Sincères condoléances à sa femme Nada Bakri, également journaliste du New York Times, leur fils Malik et la fille de Shadid, Leila.

Music, Message and Solidarity

Mali Yaro and Goumbe Star

On Saturday, your blogger attended a performance by Mali Yaro and Goumbe Star  at the Calvary Center in West Philadelphia. It was put together by Crossroads Music, which bring musicians from all over the world and promotes understanding and cross-cultural respect through music. Mali Yaro (Doulai Boureima) and his expected guest, Hadiza Mangou are from Niger, in the Sahel region of West Africa. Their music deals with social issues, like disease, armed conflict, and women's issues.

The performance was very entertaining. The combo was Mali Yaro as lead singer, Mahamadoul-Habibou Elh Amadou on bass, and Seydou Mounkaila on percussion and Omar Tankari on guitar. (The last two might be incorrect, as they were only introduced very briefly at the end of the concert.) Apparently, sometimes there are additional musicians, including a rhythm guitarist and a trumpet player, but they were not there Saturday. The music ranged from slow love songs to upbeat, bluesy numbers conducive to dancing.

The true pièce de résistance was their dancer, who appeared to have dwarfism. He was an energetic and acrobatic performer, who encouraged audience participation and, at one point, engaged in a frenetic dance-off with a particularly enthusiastic audience member. The other aspect of the audience participation was something common to griot (jeli) performances, where audience members shower the performers with dollar bills. Both the West African members of the audience and others took part in this ritual, which created a sense of complicity in the room. Since the majority of the songs were in Hausa, at various points throughout the evening, an audience member came up on stage and explained the themes discussed in the music. A couple of songs were sung in French, one “Niger uni et prospère” which talks about different groups in Niger coming together and laying aside their arms in order to build a better future.

Besides being an enjoyable experience, music like this is important for two reasons. The first is the ability to circulate messages within societies, especially those where the populations are spread out and rural (as in Niger) and where other media, like TV or the internet might be hard to access or incomprehensible to populations with high levels of illiteracy. The second reason goes beyond Niger and encompasses the cross-cultural element that Crossroads seeks to facilitate. Experiencing the music and dance of another culture is a window for others onto that culture, and helps create links and mutual respect and understanding. This is particularly important, given the current political context, where we have an unfortunate tendency to view other cultures with hostility and suspicion.

The New York Times had an interesting op-ed about music and its political power. It focuses on rap and explains the power that rap has to communicate ideas among young people. More controversially, it considers the case of Youssou N’Dour and asserts:

“...mbalax singers are typically seen as older entertainers who often support the government in power. In contrast, rappers, according to the Senegalese rapper Keyti, 'are closer to the streets and can bring into their music the general feeling of frustration among people.'”

However, the assertion that older singers, or singers who use a different style, are close to the government is problematic. First of all, as Mali Yaro and Goumbé Star demonstrate, singers using different styles are capable of transmitting powerful social messages. Another example is Salif Keita, whose music also carries an important social message and speaks out against discrimination.

While the Times article argues that this is inaccessible to many people, since “Rapping can simulate a political speech or address, rhetorical conventions that are generally inaccessible to the marginal youth who form the base of this movement.” your blogger finds this reasoning to be condescending. Later in the article, the author draws an analogy between the way rappers convey messages and the traditional art form of griots. If West Africans were able to understand the (sometimes complicated) cultural conventions of griots in the past, there is no good reason that they should now lack this ability, unless they are ignorant of their own cultural heritage. If so, that is a larger problem.

Furthermore, the article takes an overly rosy view of the messages that rappers transmit. While some might critique the corrupt actions of government or pernicious social problems, others might use rap to attack others, like in the case of the rapper Psyco-M. Additionally, rap is not necessarily the product of mature reflection, but people can be taken in by fine words, and be persuaded by form rather than content.

However, whatever the message that rap contains, it is certainly useful to create a conversation. Societies across Africa and the Middle East that were previously subject to strict controls on speech are now able to express themselves freely. It's a process, and like electoral politics, it would be naïve to expect these processes of transition to be overly smooth.

As mentioned earlier, music serves a broader purpose as well. It allows people around the world to see into other cultures and to gain appreciation and understanding for them. The internet makes it easier to diffuse music and other creative art forms and makes it possible to exchange ideas that are not only on an elite or professional level. Music helps people to relate to on another and to remember that even faraway people share many of the same hopes and dreams that we do. Each little step towards greater solidarity, each small concert, has a worth, that when put together, is far greater than the sum of its parts.

Lending a hand at Nawaat

This blogger has been doing a little bit of translation for Nawaat. It's been keeping her quite busy, which explains the lack of new articles.

There will be several articles appearing soon, but in the meantime, take a look at some coverage of Freedom of Expression issues: http://wp.me/p16NIR-2RK and http://wp.me/p16NIR-2OG