]]>On November 13, 2015, France underwent the bloodiest attack in modern history, leaving our country in shock. While the hostages were being taken, French President François Hollande, a socialist, announced a state of emergency, an exceptional state that gives administrative authorities such as prefects and police, the power to limit freedoms without recourse to a judicial mandate or warrant. A year later, France, the Country of the Enlightment, is still under the effect of a measure that was meant to be temporary and which is slowly but surely ushering in a police state that is suppressing its citizens’ freedom of speech and making them victims of institutional oppression. It is even more worrisome in the context of Donald Trump’s victory in the United States echoing the rise of the extreme right in Europe.
A colonial regime
This exceptional measure was actually created in 1955 to counter Algerian independence revolutionaries at war against colonial France. Since then, the present circumstances mark only the third time that this exceptional measure has been applied. From 1985 to 1987, in New Caledonia, it was put in place against a pro-independence anti-colonial uprising. In 2005, it was again used when revolts broke out in French inner cities, following the deaths while being chased by the police of two youths of color. In all these cases the use of such an exceptional measure was to repress colonial subjects or their descendants who today are targeted by systemic racism, leftover from the colonial era.
When proclaimed by the government, the state of emergency is not supposed to last longer than twelve days. Any extension must be approved by a Parliamentary vote. It was on November 20, granting a three-month extension.
The law also authorizes a person be put under house arrest, with permission from the Interior Minister, if there are “serious reasons to believe that his behavior is a threat to public security and order” as long as the state of emergency remains in effect. Additionally, administrative searches, data seizures and even holding minors on the site of searched premises for up to four hours are authorized. Neither a warrant nor a formal charge is required.
France advised the European Council on November twenty-fourth of its intention to forego some of the provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights.
From the very first days of the state of emergency, some prefects and the Interior Ministry began to extensively apply these measures.
Brutal and abusives searches
According to the Magistrates Union, there were almost 400 house arrests made, of which not a single one resulted in an indictment. Amnesty International has denounced searches done by the French Police in homes, restaurants, sports clubs and mosques. And according to a report by the Parliamentary Investigation Commission on the means of fighting terrorism, of the 3,594 administrative searches done, only six resulted in trials.
The Rights Defender in France received several complaints denouncing abuses tied to the state of emergency and errors regarding erroneous addresses.
In January 2016, Human Rights Watch conducted interviews of 18 people who were believed to have been placed under house arrest or searched in an abusive manner. One witness says agents broke a disabled man’s teeth before noticing that he was not the man they were looking for. A single mother had her children taken and placed in foster care following a search. Several witnesses admitted being afraid of the police and experiencing rejection and suspicion by their neighbors.
But the state of emergency has not merely served its original purpose.
Coincidentally, the UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris (COP 21) began on November 29th.
Ecology activists were planning demonstrations to disturb the peace of the world leaders attending the event.
A few days before the opening of the COP21, twenty-four of the activists, having committed no crime, were placed under house arrest that wasn’t terminated until December 12th, the date the conference ended. It seems legitimate to call it a “hijacking.”
A few months later, the country was overrun by a strong opposition to a labor reform law proposed by the government, that gave rise to frequent and massive demonstrations.
Under the specter of a “terrorist threat” the Interior Minister decided to banish certain activists from protest marches. Ten or so people in the Paris region were forbidden to participate in the May 17th march.
The right to demonstrate is protected by the Constitution and therefore is impossible to revoke. The state of emergency is no more than a convenient pretext to derogate this principle.
Add to that calling into question the freedom of speech.
Freedom of speech threatened
Even before the January 2015 attacks, the government had taken a very restrictive stance on free speech in its anti-terrorist policy. In France, hate speech falls under a unique law governing the press. Since November 2014, all statements considered to be sympathetic to terrorism or inciting terrorism are repressed under penal law.
In the fifteen days following the January attacks in Paris, 117 persons were arrested and followed on the charge of being “terrorist apologists.”
For example, a man, stopped on a tramway because he didn’t have a ticket, yelled at the conductors, “The Kouachi brothers are just the beginning. I should have been with them, to kill more people.”
This outburst is legitimately shocking but it seems highly unlikely that this man had any real intention to take part in a terrorist attack. `Yet he was jailed for ten months.
Several young people were arrested for saying, “I am not Charlie.” In Nice, an eight-year old boy was summoned with his father to a local police precinct for having declared in front of his friends, “I am not Charlie. I’m with the terrorists.” An eight year old…
This ‘Terrorism apology” notion risks being used to criminalize comments made without the necessary intention to define the infringement of a law, and without the possibility of provoking the violence mentioned.
An endless extension
Despite this climate, denounced by numerous international organizations, the state of emergency has been extended three times since the November 20th law.
On January 19th, five special UN rapporteurs called on the French government to not extend the state of emergency any further, deploring the fact that the application of the voted measures were no longer in sync with the “specific objective that inspired them.”
Notwithstanding, it was once again extended for three months on February 26 and again for two months on May 26 because of the European Soccer Championship.
During his Bastille Day speech on July 14, President Hollande announced the end of the state of emergency, saying “It would make no sense for us to prolong the state of emergency eternally. That would mean that we are no longer a republic, with a law capable of being applied in all circumstances.”
The terrible attacked committed that same evening caused the president to retract his earlier statement. On July 21, Parliament voted a six-month extension of the state of emergency.
And Prime Minister Manuel Valls has just announced his intention to once again prolong it, for which the highest administrative authority in the land, the State Council, has issued a warning indicating that “this state of crisis not be indefinitely reneAnti-terrorist specialists when asked during an parliamentary investigating commission, stated that a state of emergency in not an effective instrument; and this one, in effect since November 2015 will last until January 2017. More than a year of an exceptional state in a democratic country. What might happen if an extreme right party that could abuse this institutional imbalance at will comes to power in 2017? In the hands of an authoritarian regime, a state of emergency could be a dangerous weapon.
The trivialization of a state intended as an exceptional measure that gives excessive powers to the police constitutes a danger because it allows a disproportionate, even rogue use that saps citizens confidence in their institutions. In such a climate of defiance, hate and extremism prosper.
On the eve of an uncertain future, France, purportedly the country of human rights, must show the world that it is a healthy democracy, sure of itself and its values and able to protect the fundamental rights of its citizens.
Translation: Alberta Wilson
]]>How do you deal with the fact of not fitting to the norm? When you’re black and live in a world designed for men and white people? When you don’t look French enough although you feel every inch Parisian? How do you make the world acknowledge who you are?
THE VIDEO IS BELOW
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Adama Traore was a Black man.
While the eyes of the world have been riveted on the United States where in the same week, two Black men, Alton Sterling and Philandro Castile died at the hands of policemen, the death of a French Black man in similar circumstances does not seem to provoke the same reaction. In the political sphere, the voices of extremists were heard spouting their nauseating gall in condemnation of truth-seeking demonstrators.
Tous unis avec nos policiers qui font face à la haine des émeutiers-délinquants de #BeaumontSurOise.
— Marion Le Pen (@Marion_M_Le_Pen) July 20, 2016
#BeaumontSurOise Soutien aux forces de l’ordre et à la population face aux racailles !
— Florian Philippot (@f_philippot) July 20, 2016
Artists and everyday citizens are the ones who sent messages of solidarity to the family.
On perd encore un Frere Adama Traoré paix à son âme que la terre lui soit légère #Persan #BeaumontSurOise bon courage à la famille
— #SONSOFAFRICA (@Mokobe113) July 20, 2016
Toutes mes prières pour Adama Traoré, toutes mes pensées pour ses proches. Que justice soit faite en sa mémoire. Qu’il repose en paix.
— Omar Sy (@OmarSy) July 21, 2016
Most of the media coverage has come from activists on the ground.
“Où sont les médias ? Pr parler des voitures brûlées y a du monde mais pour le reste y a personne”#BeaumontSurOise pic./woTnoJlwTJ
— Sihame Assbague (@s_assbague) July 20, 2016
La gendarmerie est sortie et a gazé et matraqué tout le monde sans sommation.
#BeaumontSurOise pic./B5oW6FltKq— Sihame Assbague (@s_assbague) July 20, 2016
And when the media does mention this tragedy, the racial aspect is systematically omitted. Why keep the evidence quiet?
Adama Traore was a young Black man who lived in the inner city.
Undoubtedly, this cost him his life. In France, this description corresponds to the profile of those unfortunates who lose their lives each year during or following a police intervention; this has been denounced by Amnesty International for several years.
In our country where the racism of American police are promptly denounced for being racist, I am stunned by this incredible ability to omit the obviously racial aspect of this kind of tragedy when it occurs on our soil.
A few days after marching in New York by the sides of my #BlackLivesMatter comrades, I note with immense sadness that once again in France as in the US, racism shows itself to be the product of a system that needs urgently to be dismantled.
Justice for Adama!
Translated by Alberta Wilson
]]>Written by actress, Danai Gurira (seen in The Walking Dead and Mother of George, Andrew Dosunmu’s dazzling film) and directed by Liesl Tommy, the play tells the story of the Liberian Civil War from the perspective of five women.
After its successful run at the Public Theater, the play opened at the Golden Theater. Not only is this the first time in Broadway history that women entirely run a production, but it is run by Black women. This season, it is also the only new play written by a woman.
Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o is a member of the remarkable cast, in the lead role but the other talents are impressive as well: Pascale Armand, Akous Busia, Zainab Jah and Saycon Sengbloh.
The powerful script is well rendered by the impeccable interpretation of these women that we would love to see more often and on the big screen.
If you are in New York or are just passing through, I recommend you see it!
Translated by Alberta Wilson
]]>During a stopover in Palo Alto, I took a side trip to Stanford where the African and African American Studies Department was hosting its annual St. Clair Drake Memorial Lecture.
The guest speaker was Nate Parker, first seen a few years ago with Denzel Washington in The Great Debaters. He came to screen his first full-length film and present his militant stance with strong and unequivocal statements.
Referring to the permanent “state of emergency” in America, he cited the murder of young Mike Brown in Ferguson, the prison system that disproportionately jails Blacks and concluded with his long-time hero, Nat Turner.
Nat Turner is the main character of The Birth of a Nation. His name may be relatively unknown in France but he is by no means a fictional character. This slave, a hero of the Black struggle, organized a slave uprising in 1831. Nate Turner’s film tells the story of that bloody uprising.
The title of the film deliberately echoes the D.W. Griffith movie, well-known for its depiction of the abject state of the racist ideology that flourished in the U.S. at that time. To ensure that his film would be seen by the greatest number of viewers, especially high school students, Nate Parker refused Netflix’s financially attractive offer to finally settle with Fox Searchlight.
Like most of those at the conference, I was impressed by the powerful presentation of this committed actor whose sharp reserve is more remiscent of media personalities.
Let’s hope this film will shake up the white consensus that has pervaded the Oscars for the past few years and obtain its due in the 2017 ceremonies.
]]>Traditionally, the ceremony is held in February, Black History Month. But snowzilla hit, pushing it into March. BET HONORS began in 2008 to recognize African Americans who excel in such varied fields as business, entertainment, film or public service.
This year’s awards went to:
Lee Daniels (TV and Film) – Director of The Butler, among others and creator of the hit TV series, Empire; Eric Holder (Public Service) – former US Attorney General; Mellody Hobson (Corporate Citizen); Patti LaBelle (Music Arts) – iconic singer with over 50 million albums sold worldwide; L.A. Reid (Excellence in Entertainment) – CEO of Epic Records who launched the careers of several musical talents, such as Jermaine Jackson, P!NK and Outkast.
Honoring them, a slew of celebrities whose lives and careers they touched, took to the stage. Among them were Toni Braxton and Usher, discovered by L.A. Reid, Jussie Smollet, star of the series, Empire, created by Lee Daniel, Janelle Monae, acknowledging the advice she got from businesswoman, Mellody Hobson and Monica Brown, still floored by Patti LaBelle’s astounding talent.
I was privileged to interview the honorees and those closest to them. You can see it all on BET this Sunday.
The host for the evening was Arsenio Hall (Coming to America, Harlem Nights, Black Dynamite) and it took place in the famous Warner Theater in Washington D.C., not only the US capital but the historically Black city where Martin Luther King, Jr. made his immortal I have a dream speech – the dream to see all talents recognized with racial distinction.
]]>As your network correspondent in the US, I’ll keep you posted on goings-on in the heart of African American culture and will bring you exclusives on the biggest events through reports from New York, interviews and conferences, like for example, the one I took part in at the iconic Apollo Theater in Harlem. I’ll also take you inside the BET Studios in Washington and backstage at the network’s most important ceremonies like BET HONORS, coming up in March.
I’ll tell all about Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month. You will also be introduced to celebrities on a regular basis.
As usual, you can watch me on BET presenting exclusive documentaries.
BET BUZZ – Monday through Friday at 8:10 PM All the lifestyle and celebrity news presented every week by RAPHAL, HEDIA and myself.
LES DOCS INEDITS – every Sunday at 9:05 PM Every week, a new BET exclusive documentary presented by ROKHAYA
]]>Dr Eddie Glaude, Jr, , Ph.D. – Author and Chair of Princeton University’s African-American Studies Department and Taylor Branch – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and historian best known for his award-wining trilogy of books chronicling the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement, were among the panelists. AT the standing room only event, our moderator, Brian Lehrer, asked each of us to share our views on racism and white privilege.
It was a magical moment!
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We were undecided about the cover photo but my editor came up with the idea to have Brigitte photograph me and use my head shot as the cover. Taking into account the subject of the book, I had to put my hair in the best hands.
I made an appointment at my favorite salon, Polished Haircare where they know how to treat all types of hair. As unlikely as it seems, it’s a real trial to find a good salon for curly or kinky hair in Paris in 2015. Polished Haircare is where I located knowledgeable professionals for both treatment and styling.
On the day I went, Nicole Pembrook, hair stylist and salon owner, after an Aveda oil treatment, created a voluminous style for the book cover. One of the advantages of curly hair is that it can be worn short or straightened to play with its length.
My Hair finished, I went to the famous Make Up Forever, that created the Black Beauty Academy whose make-up artists are trained to bring out the best in black and non-white skin. The blogger, Fatou N’diaye was instrumental in its creation.
Fanny Miosotis was waiting for me at the shop located on the rue des Francs Bourgeois.
Noticing that I don’t use make-up very often, she chose a light and natural look. It was right in line with the Afro! spirit. You be the judge.
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