The Afghan authorities, faced for two months with a vast Taliban offensive that they are struggling to stop, decreed, Saturday, July 24, a night curfew on the entire territory with the exception of three provinces.
“In order to stem the violence and limit the movements of the Taliban, a curfew is decreed in 31 provinces of the country” which has 34, said the interior ministry in a statement. Only the provinces of Kabul, Panchir in the northeast and Nangarhar in the east are not concerned. Deputy ministry spokesman Ahmad Zia Zia said in a message to reporters that the curfew would be in effect from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. He did not specify for how long the measure would be applied.
The insurgents launched an all-out offensive against Afghan forces in early May. This push across the country benefits from the final withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan, now practically complete, most of the 9,500 foreign troops having left the country in the past two months.
The Taliban have seized large rural parts of the country and several important border posts with Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan. The Afghan forces put up little resistance to the offensive and now only control the main roads and the provincial capitals.
American strikes
After three days of relative calm on the ground, on the occasion of Eid el-Adha, the Muslim feast of the Sacrifice, the Afghan authorities have, however, announced the launch of multiple military operations since Friday, in some fifteen provinces. , in an attempt to regain ground from the Taliban. A correspondent for Agence France-Presse reported on Saturday that army operations were underway in the northern province of Kunduz, in an attempt to retake areas that had fallen into the hands of the insurgents.
The defense ministry announced on Friday that the army had taken over an important district of the western province of Herat, bordering Iran. The United States, whose withdrawal of troops is 95% complete, according to the chief of staff of the American army, confirmed, for its part, to have provided air support to the Afghan army, which in sorely missed. “We continue to carry out strikes to support the Afghan forces”, said the spokesman for the US Department of Defense, John Kirby, refusing to specify where and when these strikes were carried out.
The Taliban, for their part, described“Barbarian attacks” those American strikes. They denounced the martial tone of President Ashraf Ghani, who announced major operations of Afghan special forces over the next six months. ?During this six-month period, responsibility for any military developments will rest with the leadership of the government in Kabul. The fighters [talibans] will fiercely defend their territories and will not remain in a defensive posture if the enemy insists on waging war ?, warned Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesperson for the Taliban.
The Taliban seek to modernize their image
This spokesperson strongly denied the accusations of the government which, in recent days, has documented atrocities committed against civilians by the Taliban in the district of Spin Boldak, bordering Pakistan, which they seized on July 14. ?We strongly deny such propaganda. After the capture of the Spin Boldak district by the combatants [talibans], nobody was harmed, nobody was mistreated “, he said.
Since Washington announced in 2020 its plan for the final departure of foreign troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban have been trying to display a more modern and moderate image, especially vis-à-vis abroad and claim to be supporters of a “Political agreement” to end the conflict.
Launched in September in Doha, the inter-Afghan talks are, however, at a standstill. A cycle of discussions, again sterile, ended on July 18. The Afghan government and the Taliban accuse each other of being responsible for the failure of the negotiations and of not wanting peace.
Also listen Can the Taliban take back power in Afghanistan?
The Afghan authorities, faced for two months with a vast Taliban offensive that they are struggling to stop, decreed, Saturday, July 24, a night curfew on the entire territory with the exception of three provinces.
“In order to stem the violence and limit the movements of the Taliban, a curfew is decreed in 31 provinces of the country” which has 34, said the interior ministry in a statement. Only the provinces of Kabul, Panchir in the northeast and Nangarhar in the east are not concerned. Deputy ministry spokesman Ahmad Zia Zia said in a message to reporters that the curfew would be in effect from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. He did not specify for how long the measure would be applied.
The insurgents launched an all-out offensive against Afghan forces in early May. This push across the country benefits from the final withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan, now practically complete, most of the 9,500 foreign troops having left the country in the past two months.
The Taliban have seized large rural parts of the country and several important border posts with Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan. The Afghan forces put up little resistance to the offensive and now only control the main roads and the provincial capitals.
American strikes
After three days of relative calm on the ground, on the occasion of Eid el-Adha, the Muslim feast of the Sacrifice, the Afghan authorities have, however, announced the launch of multiple military operations since Friday, in some fifteen provinces. , in an attempt to regain ground from the Taliban. A correspondent for Agence France-Presse reported on Saturday that army operations were underway in the northern province of Kunduz, in an attempt to retake areas that had fallen into the hands of the insurgents.
The defense ministry announced on Friday that the army had taken over an important district of the western province of Herat, bordering Iran. The United States, whose withdrawal of troops is 95% complete, according to the chief of staff of the American army, confirmed, for its part, to have provided air support to the Afghan army, which in sorely missed. “We continue to carry out strikes to support the Afghan forces”, said the spokesman for the US Department of Defense, John Kirby, refusing to specify where and when these strikes were carried out.
The Taliban, for their part, described“Barbarian attacks” those American strikes. They denounced the martial tone of President Ashraf Ghani, who announced major operations of Afghan special forces over the next six months. ?During this six-month period, responsibility for any military developments will rest with the leadership of the government in Kabul. The fighters [talibans] will fiercely defend their territories and will not remain in a defensive posture if the enemy insists on waging war ?, warned Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesperson for the Taliban.
The Taliban seek to modernize their image
This spokesperson strongly denied the accusations of the government which, in recent days, has documented atrocities committed against civilians by the Taliban in the district of Spin Boldak, bordering Pakistan, which they seized on July 14. ?We strongly deny such propaganda. After the capture of the Spin Boldak district by the combatants [talibans], nobody was harmed, nobody was mistreated “, he said.
Since Washington announced in 2020 its plan for the final departure of foreign troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban have been trying to display a more modern and moderate image, especially vis-à-vis abroad and claim to be supporters of a “Political agreement” to end the conflict.
Launched in September in Doha, the inter-Afghan talks are, however, at a standstill. A cycle of discussions, again sterile, ended on July 18. The Afghan government and the Taliban accuse each other of being responsible for the failure of the negotiations and of not wanting peace.
Also listen Can the Taliban take back power in Afghanistan?
MaintenanceIn 2019, the company discovered that NSO Group was using a flaw in its software to infect phones with Pegasus. Its leader reacted strongly to the revelations of “Project Pegasus” in an interview with the “Guardian”.
Will Cathcart is the CEO of WhatsApp. In 2019, the company discovered that NSO Group was using a flaw in its software to infect phones with Pegasus. WhatsApp had then sealed the flaw, filed a complaint, and warned 1,400 victims of this attack. The company’s observations at the time corroborate those of “Project Pegasus.”
Also listen Pegasus: at the heart of a global investigation into phone spying
What is your take on the revelations released this week regarding Pegasus?
Well, first of all I can say that these revelations match what we saw in the attack we fought two years ago. These revelations are perfectly consistent with what we have learned. Among the 1,400 victims and potential victims attacked in 2019 through WhatsApp, there were also government officials, including in senior positions, and allies of the United States, in addition to journalists, human rights activists. the man, and other people who had no reason to be watched in any way.
More generally, I think this is also an Internet security alert. Either phones are safe for everyone or they are not safe for anyone. Either we can all have private chats or no one can. I think it’s a good time for governments to stop asking us to deliberately weaken security [des messageries], and so that instead we have an industry-wide discussion on how best to make the Internet and our communications more secure. This is what we need.
You talk about government officials who have been attacked. Can you give more details? Have these people been notified?
We have warned everyone, everyone who has been attacked has been notified. (?) We have discussed these attacks with some governments, we have described to them what we have discovered, of course being very careful to protect the privacy of the victims. But you have to remember, and this is also what your revelations show, that the attack we foiled was only active for a few weeks. And over that short period, we counted 1,400 victims; over a longer period, over several years, the number of people attacked is very high. Although we were able to block this WhatsApp attack, we know that NSO is also directly attacking mobile operating systems. Something had to be done to draw attention to this problem.
In fact, analyzes carried out by Amnesty International’s Security Lab have shown that even the very latest versions of iOS, the core iPhone software, are vulnerable to Pegasus.
From our perspective, if you really want to protect the privacy of the users of your service, of course you need to do everything in your power to make it technically secure, but you also need to make some noise. You have to talk about what you see, file a complaint, make sure that the attackers are held responsible, share information with the victims, computer security researchers …
This is why we were very happy that Microsoft, Google and the Internet Association [qui représente de nombreuses entreprises technologiques, mais pas Apple] are filing written motions to support us in our lawsuit against NSO. I hope Apple will also decide to follow this approach, make some noise and join the proceedings.
We can’t just say to ourselves that these problems only concern a tiny minority of our users. These are subjects that affect journalists, human rights defenders all over the world, and therefore it affects us all. Any security breach is a problem for everyone. That’s why the entire industry must come together to end spyware and change the way governments think about it.
Where is your lawsuit against NSO?
I can’t go into details, but overall NSO asserted at the last hearing in the United States that they could be immune from lawsuits because their clients are governments. We disagree, and the court ruled in our favor. NSO has appealed this decision, and we are awaiting the appeal court’s decision.
Many governments, and in particular that of the United Kingdom, ask you to introduce security holes in the encryption …
Yes, several governments are publicly calling for the weakening of communications encryption, and we believe that is a mistake. We have said it over and over again, and we will continue to do so: if we weaken communications security, there will be abuse. [Pegasus] allows access to phones one by one; imagine what would happen if an attacker could simultaneously attack all phones at the same time. It would be a disaster. What is needed, on the contrary, is to completely reverse this debate: the most important question is to know what we can do to improve the security and confidentiality of the discussions. This is what governments should be asking of us, the private companies.
But is there a solution? Is it possible to imagine a phone that would be completely secure?
Just because things can never be perfect doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about it. We should be able to make phones and their software more secure – anything that can make it difficult for attackers is helpful. If you install a heavy-duty lock and an alarm system in your house, and the police are patrolling your neighborhood, you are making a burglar’s job much more difficult. On a phone, and in computers, it’s a bit the same thing: security is a series of layers of protection. But also, of course, the culprits have to be prosecuted and held accountable – otherwise, you make it seem like what they did was not a problem.
The Biden administration has implemented a doctrine, in part inspired by the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which provides for sanctions for governments that illegally harass or monitor opponents. Our revelations show that this is the case in many countries, such as Rwanda …
Yes, and it is the role of all governments to help bring the bad actors face to face with their responsibilities. NSO says that many countries have purchased its software. This means that many countries, even those that monitor their use of Pegasus more carefully, are funding this tool. Should they stop? Should they ask about other customers?
NSO claims its software does not work on US phones. Is this consistent with what you saw in 2019?
NSO says a lot of things (?). And a computer code can easily be changed. It’s kind of like saying you build missiles, but promise they’ll only explode in certain parts of the world. Missiles don’t work that way. Security vulnerabilities exploited by NSO exist on American phones just as they exist everywhere else in the world.
MaintenanceIn 2019, the company discovered that NSO Group was using a flaw in its software to infect phones with Pegasus. Its leader reacted strongly to the revelations of “Project Pegasus” in an interview with the “Guardian”.
Will Cathcart is the CEO of WhatsApp. In 2019, the company discovered that NSO Group was using a flaw in its software to infect phones with Pegasus. WhatsApp had then sealed the flaw, filed a complaint, and warned 1,400 victims of this attack. The company’s observations at the time corroborate those of “Project Pegasus.”
Also listen Pegasus: at the heart of a global investigation into phone spying
What is your take on the revelations released this week regarding Pegasus?
Well, first of all I can say that these revelations match what we saw in the attack we fought two years ago. These revelations are perfectly consistent with what we have learned. Among the 1,400 victims and potential victims attacked in 2019 through WhatsApp, there were also government officials, including in senior positions, and allies of the United States, in addition to journalists, human rights activists. the man, and other people who had no reason to be watched in any way.
More generally, I think this is also an Internet security alert. Either phones are safe for everyone or they are not safe for anyone. Either we can all have private chats or no one can. I think it’s a good time for governments to stop asking us to deliberately weaken security [des messageries], and so that instead we have an industry-wide discussion on how best to make the Internet and our communications more secure. This is what we need.
You talk about government officials who have been attacked. Can you give more details? Have these people been notified?
We have warned everyone, everyone who has been attacked has been notified. (?) We have discussed these attacks with some governments, we have described to them what we have discovered, of course being very careful to protect the privacy of the victims. But you have to remember, and this is also what your revelations show, that the attack we foiled was only active for a few weeks. And over that short period, we counted 1,400 victims; over a longer period, over several years, the number of people attacked is very high. Although we were able to block this WhatsApp attack, we know that NSO is also directly attacking mobile operating systems. Something had to be done to draw attention to this problem.
In fact, analyzes carried out by Amnesty International’s Security Lab have shown that even the very latest versions of iOS, the core iPhone software, are vulnerable to Pegasus.
From our perspective, if you really want to protect the privacy of the users of your service, of course you need to do everything in your power to make it technically secure, but you also need to make some noise. You have to talk about what you see, file a complaint, make sure that the attackers are held responsible, share information with the victims, computer security researchers …
This is why we were very happy that Microsoft, Google and the Internet Association [qui représente de nombreuses entreprises technologiques, mais pas Apple] are filing written motions to support us in our lawsuit against NSO. I hope Apple will also decide to follow this approach, make some noise and join the proceedings.
We can’t just say to ourselves that these problems only concern a tiny minority of our users. These are subjects that affect journalists, human rights defenders all over the world, and therefore it affects us all. Any security breach is a problem for everyone. That’s why the entire industry must come together to end spyware and change the way governments think about it.
Where is your lawsuit against NSO?
I can’t go into details, but overall NSO asserted at the last hearing in the United States that they could be immune from lawsuits because their clients are governments. We disagree, and the court ruled in our favor. NSO has appealed this decision, and we are awaiting the appeal court’s decision.
Many governments, and in particular that of the United Kingdom, ask you to introduce security holes in the encryption …
Yes, several governments are publicly calling for the weakening of communications encryption, and we believe that is a mistake. We have said it over and over again, and we will continue to do so: if we weaken communications security, there will be abuse. [Pegasus] allows access to phones one by one; imagine what would happen if an attacker could simultaneously attack all phones at the same time. It would be a disaster. What is needed, on the contrary, is to completely reverse this debate: the most important question is to know what we can do to improve the security and confidentiality of the discussions. This is what governments should be asking of us, the private companies.
But is there a solution? Is it possible to imagine a phone that would be completely secure?
Just because things can never be perfect doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about it. We should be able to make phones and their software more secure – anything that can make it difficult for attackers is helpful. If you install a heavy-duty lock and an alarm system in your house, and the police are patrolling your neighborhood, you are making a burglar’s job much more difficult. On a phone, and in computers, it’s a bit the same thing: security is a series of layers of protection. But also, of course, the culprits have to be prosecuted and held accountable – otherwise, you make it seem like what they did was not a problem.
The Biden administration has implemented a doctrine, in part inspired by the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which provides for sanctions for governments that illegally harass or monitor opponents. Our revelations show that this is the case in many countries, such as Rwanda …
Yes, and it is the role of all governments to help bring the bad actors face to face with their responsibilities. NSO says that many countries have purchased its software. This means that many countries, even those that monitor their use of Pegasus more carefully, are funding this tool. Should they stop? Should they ask about other customers?
NSO claims its software does not work on US phones. Is this consistent with what you saw in 2019?
NSO says a lot of things (?). And a computer code can easily be changed. It’s kind of like saying you build missiles, but promise they’ll only explode in certain parts of the world. Missiles don’t work that way. Security vulnerabilities exploited by NSO exist on American phones just as they exist everywhere else in the world.
?We are going to become a people of migrants and prisoners. But, at least, we can no longer say that the Cubans did nothing to free themselves from this regime. “ With quavering voice and damp eyes, Lucia (the name has been changed), 29-year-old artistic producer, chains cigarettes nervously on her terrace in the Vedado district of Havana, in the muggy and overwhelming heat of this Monday, July 19. . For days, in the Cuban capital, opponents of the regime have been living with fear in their stomachs.
The unprecedented demonstrations of Sunday, July 11, which saw thousands of people spontaneously leave the streets of the island to the cry of ” We are hungry “ and “Down with the dictatorship”, were followed by a wave of repression. If the communist president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, recognized a death and dozens of wounded among the demonstrators, the human rights NGO Cubalex for its part recorded more than 600 arrests and disappearances, during the protests. then the following days, the police going to their homes to look for suspected dissidents.
Many have since been released. But others remain imprisoned, such as the 33-year-old protest artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, leader of the San Isidro movement – a group of artists mobilized for three years against Decree 349, which requires them to obtain permission from the government to perform on stage or sell their works. How many others, anonymous, are still in prison? The authorities refuse to say so.
?Because I’m talking with you here, telling you what I think, the police can come and get me. But it doesn’t matter if I’m afraid: the country must change, says Lucia. For the first time on Sunday we realized that there are not just a few of us who think differently. There is no reversing possible. The whole people are fed up. Its misery is the product of a failed system. Cuba is a country of pain. Everyone can now see the true face of this dictatorship. “
Summary trials
On July 20, the first summary trials began, with more than a dozen demonstrators sentenced to one year in prison for public disorder or disobedience. Among them, 25-year-old filmmaker Anyelo Troya, co-director of the music video for the Cuban rap song Homeland and Life, became a hymn against the regime, taken up in chorus by the demonstrators. He was accused of having wanted to film the demonstration with his cell phone.
You have 76.97% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
?We are going to become a people of migrants and prisoners. But, at least, we can no longer say that the Cubans did nothing to free themselves from this regime. “ With quavering voice and damp eyes, Lucia (the name has been changed), 29-year-old artistic producer, chains cigarettes nervously on her terrace in the Vedado district of Havana, in the muggy and overwhelming heat of this Monday, July 19. . For days, in the Cuban capital, opponents of the regime have been living with fear in their stomachs.
The unprecedented demonstrations of Sunday, July 11, which saw thousands of people spontaneously leave the streets of the island to the cry of ” We are hungry “ and “Down with the dictatorship”, were followed by a wave of repression. If the communist president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, recognized a death and dozens of wounded among the demonstrators, the human rights NGO Cubalex for its part recorded more than 600 arrests and disappearances, during the protests. then the following days, the police going to their homes to look for suspected dissidents.
Many have since been released. But others remain imprisoned, such as the 33-year-old protest artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, leader of the San Isidro movement – a group of artists mobilized for three years against Decree 349, which requires them to obtain permission from the government to perform on stage or sell their works. How many others, anonymous, are still in prison? The authorities refuse to say so.
?Because I’m talking with you here, telling you what I think, the police can come and get me. But it doesn’t matter if I’m afraid: the country must change, says Lucia. For the first time on Sunday we realized that there are not just a few of us who think differently. There is no reversing possible. The whole people are fed up. Its misery is the product of a failed system. Cuba is a country of pain. Everyone can now see the true face of this dictatorship. “
Summary trials
On July 20, the first summary trials began, with more than a dozen demonstrators sentenced to one year in prison for public disorder or disobedience. Among them, 25-year-old filmmaker Anyelo Troya, co-director of the music video for the Cuban rap song Homeland and Life, became a hymn against the regime, taken up in chorus by the demonstrators. He was accused of having wanted to film the demonstration with his cell phone.
You have 76.97% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
To stay up to date on African news, subscribe to the ?Monde Afrique? newsletter from this link. Every Saturday at 6 am, find a week of current events and debates treated by the editorial staff of “Monde Afrique”.
She got scared. Fear of falling, of missing an obstacle, of losing. Because a whole country is betting on it: at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984, Nawal Al-Moutawakel was the only female athlete in the Moroccan delegation.
This August 8, the young sprinter of 22 years is in the final of the 400 meters hurdles. It is hot and humid. She is concentrated and already imagines her crossing of the Memorial Coliseum. Outside of Morocco, however, no one expects a perfect race from this almost unknown woman with bib 272 from Casablanca.
In the absence of the USSR as well as of fourteen other countries from the communist bloc which boycotted these Games, the contenders for the supreme title are the Romanian Cristina Cojocaru, the Indian PT Usha and the American Judi Brown, copiously applauded by a crowded stadium. Nawal Al-Moutawakel studied, with her coaches, the strengths and weaknesses of her competitors: she feels capable of beating them.
For a few months now, the Moroccan woman has been studying for a master’s degree in physical education at the University of Iowa. And it is in this corner of the American Midwest that she progresses: she improves her strides, her speed, her technique to cross hurdles, eventually gaining precious tenths of a second.
Insolent ease
From a modest 56”59 at the Mediterranean Games in Casablanca in 1983 (which she won), she rose to 55”84 at the American university championships. At the start of the year, she even carried the African distance record at 55”37. The stopwatch is his new ally.
The eight sprinters are in the starting blocks. False start. Nawal Al-Moutawakel, red shorts and green jersey, line 3, believes that she is the culprit. We must not lose our focus. New start. The Moroccan star runs at full speed in his corridor, runs as if his life depended on it, crosses the ten hurdles with insolent ease.
A few meters from the finish, she takes a look on the left, another on the right: but where are his adversaries? Could there have been another false start and would she be the only one galloping? No, her rivals are just light years behind her.
Nawal Al-Moutawakel won the gold medal in 54”61. She almost fainted. American Judi Brown, second in the final, and Jamaican Sandra Farmer-Patrick (last) hold her back before hugging her. Moroccan flag in hand, she cries and thinks of her father, who died a few months earlier, who always encouraged her to embrace this discipline.
A turning point for sportswomen
Her feat is eternal: she brings Morocco the first Olympic title in its history and becomes the first North African, the first Arab, the first Muslim and the first African to win gold at the Games.
Who would have bet their dollars on this petite woman (1.59 m), with her tomboy look and footballer cut? International journalists understand that she comes from? Monaco. She must constantly remember that she represents the « Morocco » (Morocco in English). In the country, pride is at its height and King Hassan II decrees that all girls born on August 8, 1984 must be named Nawal.
This is the first time that the women’s 400-meter hurdles have been on the Olympic program. Just like the marathon or the heptathlon. Los Angeles was a turning point for sportswomen: the Olympics are becoming even more feminine. This situation would have displeased Pierre de Coubertin: the father of the modern Games did not want to see female competitors participating in his prestigious tournament.
?The true Olympic hero to me is the individual adult male. The Olympic Games should be reserved for men, the role of women should be above all to crown the winners. A female Olympiad would be impractical, uninteresting, unsightly and incorrect ?, he had declared.
Nawal Al-Moutawakel will fight for the cause of women, “Too rare” in the world of sport. This fight is not limited to practice, but also relates to access to governing bodies. Thus, the Moroccan entered, in 1998, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and multiplies the mandates: vice-president of the IOC (2012-2016), she headed the evaluation committee of the 2012 London Games or even the coordination commission for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games …
In her country, she was, among others, appointed Minister of Youth and Sports (2007-2009). At 59, Nawal Al-Moutawakel is one of the most influential women in world sport.
Summary of our series “These Africans who made the Olympics”
To stay up to date on African news, subscribe to the ?Monde Afrique? newsletter from this link. Every Saturday at 6 am, find a week of current events and debates treated by the editorial staff of “Monde Afrique”.
She got scared. Fear of falling, of missing an obstacle, of losing. Because a whole country is betting on it: at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984, Nawal Al-Moutawakel was the only female athlete in the Moroccan delegation.
This August 8, the young sprinter of 22 years is in the final of the 400 meters hurdles. It is hot and humid. She is concentrated and already imagines her crossing of the Memorial Coliseum. Outside of Morocco, however, no one expects a perfect race from this almost unknown woman with bib 272 from Casablanca.
In the absence of the USSR as well as of fourteen other countries from the communist bloc which boycotted these Games, the contenders for the supreme title are the Romanian Cristina Cojocaru, the Indian PT Usha and the American Judi Brown, copiously applauded by a crowded stadium. Nawal Al-Moutawakel studied, with her coaches, the strengths and weaknesses of her competitors: she feels capable of beating them.
For a few months now, the Moroccan woman has been studying for a master’s degree in physical education at the University of Iowa. And it is in this corner of the American Midwest that she progresses: she improves her strides, her speed, her technique to cross hurdles, eventually gaining precious tenths of a second.
Insolent ease
From a modest 56”59 at the Mediterranean Games in Casablanca in 1983 (which she won), she rose to 55”84 at the American university championships. At the start of the year, she even carried the African distance record at 55”37. The stopwatch is his new ally.
The eight sprinters are in the starting blocks. False start. Nawal Al-Moutawakel, red shorts and green jersey, line 3, believes that she is the culprit. We must not lose our focus. New start. The Moroccan star runs at full speed in his corridor, runs as if his life depended on it, crosses the ten hurdles with insolent ease.
A few meters from the finish, she takes a look on the left, another on the right: but where are his adversaries? Could there have been another false start and would she be the only one galloping? No, her rivals are just light years behind her.
Nawal Al-Moutawakel won the gold medal in 54”61. She almost fainted. American Judi Brown, second in the final, and Jamaican Sandra Farmer-Patrick (last) hold her back before hugging her. Moroccan flag in hand, she cries and thinks of her father, who died a few months earlier, who always encouraged her to embrace this discipline.
A turning point for sportswomen
Her feat is eternal: she brings Morocco the first Olympic title in its history and becomes the first North African, the first Arab, the first Muslim and the first African to win gold at the Games.
Who would have bet their dollars on this petite woman (1.59 m), with her tomboy look and footballer cut? International journalists understand that she comes from? Monaco. She must constantly remember that she represents the « Morocco » (Morocco in English). In the country, pride is at its height and King Hassan II decrees that all girls born on August 8, 1984 must be named Nawal.
This is the first time that the women’s 400-meter hurdles have been on the Olympic program. Just like the marathon or the heptathlon. Los Angeles was a turning point for sportswomen: the Olympics are becoming even more feminine. This situation would have displeased Pierre de Coubertin: the father of the modern Games did not want to see female competitors participating in his prestigious tournament.
?The true Olympic hero to me is the individual adult male. The Olympic Games should be reserved for men, the role of women should be above all to crown the winners. A female Olympiad would be impractical, uninteresting, unsightly and incorrect ?, he had declared.
Nawal Al-Moutawakel will fight for the cause of women, “Too rare” in the world of sport. This fight is not limited to practice, but also relates to access to governing bodies. Thus, the Moroccan entered, in 1998, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and multiplies the mandates: vice-president of the IOC (2012-2016), she headed the evaluation committee of the 2012 London Games or even the coordination commission for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games …
In her country, she was, among others, appointed Minister of Youth and Sports (2007-2009). At 59, Nawal Al-Moutawakel is one of the most influential women in world sport.
Summary of our series “These Africans who made the Olympics”
The Free Britney movement entered the US Congress. Tuesday, July 20, two members of the House of Representatives tabled a bill aimed at reforming the terms of trusteeship in the United States. The text would give individuals placed under guardianship a right of scrutiny over the guardian appointed by the courts. Name given to the bill by its promoters: the “Free Britney Act”, in tribute to the singer deprived of a large part of her autonomy for thirteen years. “If this nightmare happens to her, it can happen to anyone”, said one of the two authors of the text, Republican Representative Nancy Mace, from South Carolina.
The parliamentarians’ initiative is the latest manifestation of the extraordinary echo gathered in the United States by the star, in his fight against a supervision exercised until 2019 entirely by his father and provided jointly since with a named tutor. by justice. Pop star hyper-popular among adolescents in the 2000s, when she was not 20 years old, known for her escapades, pursued by the celebrity press, hospitalized for psychiatric disorders, Britney Spears suddenly became credible. The emblem of a redemptive cause: the defense of the rights of the million Americans who are, like her, under guardianship, because of a physical or mental incapacity. The slogan “Free Britney”, long the prerogative of a group of fans persuaded, even to the point of conspiracy, that the star was held against her will and that she sent cryptic signs of distress in her posts on social networks ( “She put on a yellow top”!), Is now adopted even in the establishment.
Also listen Britney Spears, a tragic fate under the watchful eye of the cameras
After the New York Times, including the documentary Framing Britney Spears had given substance, in February, to the accusations against his father Jamie Spears, Ronan Farrow, the journalist killer of Harvey Weinstein, took up the Britney case. Saturday July 3, he showed, in an article of New Yorker, that she was practically sequestered (her accounts on social networks are managed by the public relations company CrowdSurf, the only one authorized to publish her messages, we learn). The day before the first hearing, she called the emergency services to declare herself a victim of abuse of supervision, sowing panic in those around her, reveals the journalist.
The #metoo movement has also embraced Britney. It is true that during his first public statement, Wednesday June 23, a torrent of revolt of 24 minutes, the star had confessed that at 39 years old, she does not even have the right to remove the IUD that was imposed (mother of two teenagers, she would like to have a third child). Even the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) took its side: Tuesday, July 13, the venerable civil rights organization supported, along with twenty-five other organizations, the recluse’s request to be able to choose her own lawyer. From Paris Hilton to Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Miley Cyrus, Vera Wang, entertainment and fashion celebrities have joined the hashtag #FreeBritney. ?For four years, we let someone completely unstable run this country. I think we can let Britney have a credit card ?, summarized the comedian satirist Bill Maher.
You have 35.75% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
The Free Britney movement entered the US Congress. Tuesday, July 20, two members of the House of Representatives tabled a bill aimed at reforming the terms of trusteeship in the United States. The text would give individuals placed under guardianship a right of scrutiny over the guardian appointed by the courts. Name given to the bill by its promoters: the “Free Britney Act”, in tribute to the singer deprived of a large part of her autonomy for thirteen years. “If this nightmare happens to her, it can happen to anyone”, said one of the two authors of the text, Republican Representative Nancy Mace, from South Carolina.
The parliamentarians’ initiative is the latest manifestation of the extraordinary echo gathered in the United States by the star, in his fight against a supervision exercised until 2019 entirely by his father and provided jointly since with a named tutor. by justice. Pop star hyper-popular among adolescents in the 2000s, when she was not 20 years old, known for her escapades, pursued by the celebrity press, hospitalized for psychiatric disorders, Britney Spears suddenly became credible. The emblem of a redemptive cause: the defense of the rights of the million Americans who are, like her, under guardianship, because of a physical or mental incapacity. The slogan “Free Britney”, long the prerogative of a group of fans persuaded, even to the point of conspiracy, that the star was held against her will and that she sent cryptic signs of distress in her posts on social networks ( “She put on a yellow top”!), Is now adopted even in the establishment.
Also listen Britney Spears, a tragic fate under the watchful eye of the cameras
After the New York Times, including the documentary Framing Britney Spears had given substance, in February, to the accusations against his father Jamie Spears, Ronan Farrow, the journalist killer of Harvey Weinstein, took up the Britney case. Saturday July 3, he showed, in an article of New Yorker, that she was practically sequestered (her accounts on social networks are managed by the public relations company CrowdSurf, the only one authorized to publish her messages, we learn). The day before the first hearing, she called the emergency services to declare herself a victim of abuse of supervision, sowing panic in those around her, reveals the journalist.
The #metoo movement has also embraced Britney. It is true that during his first public statement, Wednesday June 23, a torrent of revolt of 24 minutes, the star had confessed that at 39 years old, she does not even have the right to remove the IUD that was imposed (mother of two teenagers, she would like to have a third child). Even the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) took its side: Tuesday, July 13, the venerable civil rights organization supported, along with twenty-five other organizations, the recluse’s request to be able to choose her own lawyer. From Paris Hilton to Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Miley Cyrus, Vera Wang, entertainment and fashion celebrities have joined the hashtag #FreeBritney. ?For four years, we let someone completely unstable run this country. I think we can let Britney have a credit card ?, summarized the comedian satirist Bill Maher.
You have 35.75% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games (OG) of “Tokyo 2020”, Friday July 23, was like the Olympiads maintained in the midst of a pandemic and in opposition to the majority of the Japanese population. In the new 68,000-seat national stadium, in front of barely a thousand official guests, including French President Emmanuel Macron, the only head of state of the G7 member countries present, Emperor Naruhito announced that the Games of the XXXIIe Olympiad were open.
The interminable ceremony, lacking in rhythm and conviction – except for a beautiful image of the Earth drawn by a swarm of drones on the night of the capital and the lighting of the flame by the popular tennis player Naomi Osaka -, was only enlivened by the parades of delegations which, for the first time, gave a little gaiety to an event trapped in its bubble. The volume of sound and fireworks, which punctuated the evening, did not cover the “Stop the Olympics” tirelessly chanted by opponents, gathered at different entrances to the stadium access area and surrounded by an impressive deployment of police forces and soldiers.
During the day, hot and humid in Tokyo, as usual in this season, warning messages had regularly appeared, as every day, on the screens of cell phones. ?Risk of heat stroke, let’s avoid physical activities. “
These messages, as the Games begin, are indicative of the two parallel worlds in which Japan lives today: on the one hand, the media drumbeat of the ?Olympic family?, which has ignored this seasonal fact to please others. American televisions, such as NBC, which did not want to change the American football or basketball seasons that begin in the fall; on the other, the daily feeling of the inhabitants of the archipelago. The majority of Japanese are worried about an event held in the midst of the resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic, in a city under a state of emergency.
WHO puts a damper on the enthusiasm forged by the media
The capital records nearly 2,000 new cases of contagion every day. This assessment could, according to the medical expert with the government, Shigeru Omi, pass to 3,000 at the beginning of August, while the hospital system is already on the verge of saturation.
The organizers of the Olympics and the agency Dentsu – the advertising giant, a big shadow partner of the Liberal Democratic Party, the conservative PLD in power, and with enormous power of influence – are counting on the first medals obtained by Japanese athletes to defuse the anxiety-provoking runaway.
You have 59.87% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games (OG) of “Tokyo 2020”, Friday July 23, was like the Olympiads maintained in the midst of a pandemic and in opposition to the majority of the Japanese population. In the new 68,000-seat national stadium, in front of barely a thousand official guests, including French President Emmanuel Macron, the only head of state of the G7 member countries present, Emperor Naruhito announced that the Games of the XXXIIe Olympiad were open.
The interminable ceremony, lacking in rhythm and conviction – except for a beautiful image of the Earth drawn by a swarm of drones on the night of the capital and the lighting of the flame by the popular tennis player Naomi Osaka -, was only enlivened by the parades of delegations which, for the first time, gave a little gaiety to an event trapped in its bubble. The volume of sound and fireworks, which punctuated the evening, did not cover the “Stop the Olympics” tirelessly chanted by opponents, gathered at different entrances to the stadium access area and surrounded by an impressive deployment of police forces and soldiers.
During the day, hot and humid in Tokyo, as usual in this season, warning messages had regularly appeared, as every day, on the screens of cell phones. ?Risk of heat stroke, let’s avoid physical activities. “
These messages, as the Games begin, are indicative of the two parallel worlds in which Japan lives today: on the one hand, the media drumbeat of the ?Olympic family?, which has ignored this seasonal fact to please others. American televisions, such as NBC, which did not want to change the American football or basketball seasons that begin in the fall; on the other, the daily feeling of the inhabitants of the archipelago. The majority of Japanese are worried about an event held in the midst of the resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic, in a city under a state of emergency.
WHO puts a damper on the enthusiasm forged by the media
The capital records nearly 2,000 new cases of contagion every day. This assessment could, according to the medical expert with the government, Shigeru Omi, pass to 3,000 at the beginning of August, while the hospital system is already on the verge of saturation.
The organizers of the Olympics and the agency Dentsu – the advertising giant, a big shadow partner of the Liberal Democratic Party, the conservative PLD in power, and with enormous power of influence – are counting on the first medals obtained by Japanese athletes to defuse the anxiety-provoking runaway.
You have 59.87% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
« It was like an endless nightmare, I couldn’t sleep anymore. ” Karim (names have been changed for anonymity), 13, was held for more than five months in the detention center on the Greek island of Kos, along with his mother, 14-year-old sister and brother 8 years old. After the authorities rejected their asylum request, the Syrian family was moved to another part of the camp, located on the heights of a hill with thorny shrubs, 3 km from the peaceful village of Pyli.
Locked in a white container with a tiny window, they could neither go out, nor have contact with the outside world, take courses, receive NGOs or lawyers. ” When the police told us that we could stay in this prison for another year, I cried, I couldn’t stop? ?, says the teenager, still traumatized. Overwhelmed by stress and boredom, Karim can no longer even make a video call with his father, who is in Germany. The police destroy all the cameras on the migrants’ mobile phones. ?No one is telling what is going on inside. The food distributed has expired. A man died during our stay. My children were terrified and asked me if we too were going to die here? ?, relates, moved, the mother, Sarah.
On March 24, Macky Diabete, 44, a Guinean national, died following an intestinal obstruction a few meters from them. An investigation into the circumstances of his death has been opened. According to Amin, detained for eighteen months in the same center and interviewed by the NGO Refugee Support Aegean (RSA), “For three days, he begged to be taken to see a doctor, the police replied that there was no car to transport him or a doctor able to move around “. A few days later, a 24-year-old Kurd committed suicide in the Corinth detention camp, 80 km from Athens.
Detention as the norm
While in detention, Karim “Has already thought of the worst. He had many panic attacks and went without food for several days ?Sarah admits. No psychological help was offered to him. Only a doctor and a nurse visited them a few times and recommended that they take ” sleeping tablets ».
The High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) pointed out the lack of free legal aid. “These detention centers are a gray area, where asylum seekers do not know how long they have to stay, or why they are there, since they have not committed any crime. Says the legal aid association Equal Rights Beyond Borders. ” We are going crazy. In the eighteen months that I have been here, I have already witnessed three suicide attempts and it is we, the other detainees, who have prevented them from going all the way, not the police ?, reports Amin.
You have 50.08% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
« It was like an endless nightmare, I couldn’t sleep anymore. ” Karim (names have been changed for anonymity), 13, was held for more than five months in the detention center on the Greek island of Kos, along with his mother, 14-year-old sister and brother 8 years old. After the authorities rejected their asylum request, the Syrian family was moved to another part of the camp, located on the heights of a hill with thorny shrubs, 3 km from the peaceful village of Pyli.
Locked in a white container with a tiny window, they could neither go out, nor have contact with the outside world, take courses, receive NGOs or lawyers. ” When the police told us that we could stay in this prison for another year, I cried, I couldn’t stop? ?, says the teenager, still traumatized. Overwhelmed by stress and boredom, Karim can no longer even make a video call with his father, who is in Germany. The police destroy all the cameras on the migrants’ mobile phones. ?No one is telling what is going on inside. The food distributed has expired. A man died during our stay. My children were terrified and asked me if we too were going to die here? ?, relates, moved, the mother, Sarah.
On March 24, Macky Diabete, 44, a Guinean national, died following an intestinal obstruction a few meters from them. An investigation into the circumstances of his death has been opened. According to Amin, detained for eighteen months in the same center and interviewed by the NGO Refugee Support Aegean (RSA), “For three days, he begged to be taken to see a doctor, the police replied that there was no car to transport him or a doctor able to move around “. A few days later, a 24-year-old Kurd committed suicide in the Corinth detention camp, 80 km from Athens.
Detention as the norm
While in detention, Karim “Has already thought of the worst. He had many panic attacks and went without food for several days ?Sarah admits. No psychological help was offered to him. Only a doctor and a nurse visited them a few times and recommended that they take ” sleeping tablets ».
The High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) pointed out the lack of free legal aid. “These detention centers are a gray area, where asylum seekers do not know how long they have to stay, or why they are there, since they have not committed any crime. Says the legal aid association Equal Rights Beyond Borders. ” We are going crazy. In the eighteen months that I have been here, I have already witnessed three suicide attempts and it is we, the other detainees, who have prevented them from going all the way, not the police ?, reports Amin.
You have 50.08% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
The Haitians paid Friday July 23 a last tribute under high security to their assassinated president Jovenel Moïse, during a national funeral in a city where violence broke out, illustrating the instability of the country. The solemn ceremony took place in Cap-Haitien, the northern metropolis of Haiti. Mr. Moïse, killed by an armed commando on July 7 at his home in the capital Port-au-Prince, was from the north of the country.
Police officers had been deployed all over the streets but they did not prevent, like the day before, an outburst of aggression. Gunshots even resounded outside the compound where the funeral was taking place, forcing the hasty departure of some participants in clouds of tear gas launched by the police.
Jovenel Moïse’s coffin, covered with the national flag and the presidential scarf, was exposed on an esplanade, adorned with flowers. The remains were guarded by soldiers from the Haitian armed forces. Martine Moïse, the president’s widow, seriously injured in the attack, was present, her arm in a sling after being treated in a hospital in Florida. Her face crossed out with a mask bearing a photo of her husband, she bowed to her coffin.
Foreign delegations
Representatives of foreign delegations, the diplomatic corps and members of the government had followed one another to offer him their condolences. US President Joe Biden sent a delegation led by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, also including Daniel Foote, the new US envoy for Haiti. They didn’t last forever.
“The presidential delegation is safe and complete after the shots reported during the funeral”White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. “The people of Haiti deserve peace, security and a better future”, said Ms. Thomas-Greenfield, back in the United States.
A battalion paid military honors to the head of state, who was 53 years old, including the presidential anthem, followed by the national anthem. The religious office was headed by five priests. The president’s widow paid tribute to her husband, to the successful entrepreneurial career before entering politics, and lamented his tragic end, “Savagely murdered”, “Abandoned and betrayed”. “What crime have you committed to deserve such punishment? “, asked the grieving wife, wearing a black hat.
Barricades and burning vehicles
The inhabitants of northern Haiti recall that Jovenel Moïse is the fifth head of state from their region to have been killed in the west, where the capital, Port-au-Prince is located. Some accuse the wealthy class of Western Haitians of having carried out these assassinations. This resentment put Cap-Haitien in turmoil on Friday, with roads blocked by barricades and flaming vehicles. Private companies were set on fire. Foreign and local journalists have been assaulted by protesters.
On Thursday, residents had already erected barricades on the national roads leading to the city in order to prevent the inhabitants of Port-au-Prince from coming to attend the funeral. Ariel Henry, the new prime minister who took office on Tuesday, has promised to bring the assassins of the head of state to justice and to organize presidential and legislative elections demanded by the population and the international community. In the middle of the day, the body of Jovenel Moïse was buried in small groups in the privacy of the gardens of the family residence.
The Haitians paid Friday July 23 a last tribute under high security to their assassinated president Jovenel Moïse, during a national funeral in a city where violence broke out, illustrating the instability of the country. The solemn ceremony took place in Cap-Haitien, the northern metropolis of Haiti. Mr. Moïse, killed by an armed commando on July 7 at his home in the capital Port-au-Prince, was from the north of the country.
Police officers had been deployed all over the streets but they did not prevent, like the day before, an outburst of aggression. Gunshots even resounded outside the compound where the funeral was taking place, forcing the hasty departure of some participants in clouds of tear gas launched by the police.
Jovenel Moïse’s coffin, covered with the national flag and the presidential scarf, was exposed on an esplanade, adorned with flowers. The remains were guarded by soldiers from the Haitian armed forces. Martine Moïse, the president’s widow, seriously injured in the attack, was present, her arm in a sling after being treated in a hospital in Florida. Her face crossed out with a mask bearing a photo of her husband, she bowed to her coffin.
Foreign delegations
Representatives of foreign delegations, the diplomatic corps and members of the government had followed one another to offer him their condolences. US President Joe Biden sent a delegation led by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, also including Daniel Foote, the new US envoy for Haiti. They didn’t last forever.
“The presidential delegation is safe and complete after the shots reported during the funeral”White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. “The people of Haiti deserve peace, security and a better future”, said Ms. Thomas-Greenfield, back in the United States.
A battalion paid military honors to the head of state, who was 53 years old, including the presidential anthem, followed by the national anthem. The religious office was headed by five priests. The president’s widow paid tribute to her husband, to the successful entrepreneurial career before entering politics, and lamented his tragic end, “Savagely murdered”, “Abandoned and betrayed”. “What crime have you committed to deserve such punishment? “, asked the grieving wife, wearing a black hat.
Barricades and burning vehicles
The inhabitants of northern Haiti recall that Jovenel Moïse is the fifth head of state from their region to have been killed in the west, where the capital, Port-au-Prince is located. Some accuse the wealthy class of Western Haitians of having carried out these assassinations. This resentment put Cap-Haitien in turmoil on Friday, with roads blocked by barricades and flaming vehicles. Private companies were set on fire. Foreign and local journalists have been assaulted by protesters.
On Thursday, residents had already erected barricades on the national roads leading to the city in order to prevent the inhabitants of Port-au-Prince from coming to attend the funeral. Ariel Henry, the new prime minister who took office on Tuesday, has promised to bring the assassins of the head of state to justice and to organize presidential and legislative elections demanded by the population and the international community. In the middle of the day, the body of Jovenel Moïse was buried in small groups in the privacy of the gardens of the family residence.
To stay up to date on African news, subscribe to the ?Monde Afrique? newsletter from this link. Every Saturday at 6 am, find a week of current events and debates treated by the editorial staff of “Monde Afrique”.
« I’m with Abderrahmane Sissako, he wants to re-type a cinema in Bamako, are you up for it? The French architect Jean-Marc Lalo still remembers the phone call by Claude-Eric Poiroux, founder of the network of independent theaters Europa Cinémas. It was in 2007. He had just completed in Morocco the rehabilitation of the old Rif cinema, renamed the Tangier film library. And had only one hurry, to leave.
A week later, he finds himself in the Malian capital, in the abandoned premises of the Soudan Ciné. Built in the 1960s, this room had closed fifteen years earlier, a victim of competition from television and video. Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako wanted to give it back its past luster.
The first consultations start, a subscription is launched to raise funds. The old armchairs in the great room are on sale, at 5,000 euros each. Alas, the civil war that began in 2012 plunged the country into chaos. The project falls into limbo.
This is one of the rare regrets of Jean-Marc Lalo, 58, who has to his credit the renovation or construction of four cinemas in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and an establishment, the Guimbi, in Bobo-Dioulasso. , in Burkina Faso, which is scheduled to open in October. Also under study, the creation of nine rooms in a new district of Berges du lac, in Tunis.
Relaunch the dream machine
This jovial and modest Niçois had never imagined becoming one of the architects of the new cinemas in Africa. After working in a construction company as a quantity surveyor, management controller and then works engineer, Jean-Marc Lalo resumed his studies at the age of 32 to become an architect. In 2001, he opened his own agency and created the Plateau-Frac Ile-de-France space, an art center in Paris.
The following year, he was recruited to redevelop the Ariana cinema in Kabul, just after the American intervention in Afghanistan. This field experience will be very valuable to him in Africa, where Jean-Marc Lalo tackles each project ” like a human adventure ».
On the subject, he is inexhaustible. ” In this continent, the cinema has long been in the open air, it was a party, he explains. People were talking during the movies, there were refreshments where they would go to cool off during the screening. It was anything but a dark and silent room. But, little by little, the public deserted. Rents are becoming too expensive for operators. The arrival of DVDs ends to suffocate the last cinemas which were trying to survive.
There are of course idealists, who try to restart the dream machine. But their enthusiasm is often dampened by complicated financial arrangements and high borrowing rates, sometimes of the order of 17%. Correlated to the ability to raise funds, the construction time is fatally long, around ten years at a minimum.
“A big mess”
It is also difficult to find locally materials that comply with international standards, in particular fire-retardant armchairs, often imported from Europe. Once opened, attendance rates remain modest.
As for the principals, they sometimes prove to be versatile. In 2010, Jean-Marc Lalo was asked to build a cinema in a commercial space in Dakar, next to the Radisson Blu hotel built by the Teyliom group, owned by Senegalese businessman Yerim Habib Sow.
Jean-Marc Lalo is initially excited. A young entrepreneur, who surrounds himself with African talents trained in the best universities in the world, and moreover wants to create a cinema in a shopping complex, it does not run the streets. But the site suffers the moods of the promoter who arbitrates according to his priorities of the moment. Three years ago, Jean-Marc Lalo slammed the door: ?A big mess. “
The experience with the Ivorian group Majestic will be much more convincing. In 2016, the architect rehabilitated a room with a rococo red molded ceiling in the Hôtel Ivoire, in Abidjan. Three other cinemas will follow in the Ivorian capital, backed by shopping centers.
“Provide a place to live”
In Burkina Faso, it is in a restaurant in Bobo-Dioulasso that Jean-Marc Lalo laid down, on a corner of a tablecloth, the design of the Sahel-inspired metal vault which now envelops the building of the Guimbi cinema. The project dates back to 2013. At the Cannes Film Festival, during a conference by Europa Cinemas, the architect met Berni Goldblat. The Swiss-Burkinabe director dreams of reviving this legendary room, inaugurated in 1957, on the eve of independence and abandoned since 2005.
Funding is a real way of the cross. We must show a white footing to the French Development Agency, worried about the economic viability and the societal relevance of the project. After two and a half years, Berni Glodblat manages to raise 600,000 euros in European public funds, to which are added some 800,000 euros of private windfall.
Jean-Marc Lalo is thinking big, despite the cautious forecasts of 250,000 spectators per year: an outdoor projection space with 250 seats, two indoor rooms, a restaurant, a cinema resource center nestled on a green roof which, once rented, will generate additional income.
The architect knows that programming, even blockbusters, is not enough to attract the local public. ” So that people agree to leave their sofas and their TV to go to the cinema, he explains, we have to offer them a place to live. »
One method: impregnation
Jean-Marc Lalo may have carved out a reputation for himself as a goldsmith in this area, he is still struggling to get rid of the impostor syndrome. His fear? That his constructions be judged above ground, illegitimate, shifted, ” French white projects “. To guard against pitfalls, it has a method: impregnation. ” The first thing i do, he explains, it is going to cafes and urban places, to smell the city, to understand how people make it their own, to feel the codes. »
Then comes the stage of maturing the first feelings of which he has learned to be wary, ” because there is a lot of naivety and projection mingled with it “. Even awkwardness. At the site of the Guimbi cinema, there was thus a women’s market that had to be moved by one block to start the work. The subject is delicate, even inflammable, as this small informal economy is a crucial link in the social fabric.
One day when Jean-Marc Lalo wanders among the shopkeepers, a woman calls out to him. ” What are you doing here? ?Immediately the architect takes out his iPad, explains the project with a lot of simulation. Around him, the circle grows, the women of the neighborhood seem conquered.
Some time later, while drilling the earth to find a source of irrigation, the workers discovered a deposit of water so important that a fountain project was studied. ” In the neighborhood, the relationship with the cinema has suddenly changed », Smiles Jean-Marc Lalo, satisfied that the Guimbi cinema is at the same time an object of local pride and of public utility.
African cinemas
The World Africa and his correspondents went to meet African cinemas. Those of a lost golden age as in Ivory Coast or Algeria where, a few decades ago, we thronged in the dark rooms to discover the latest action films or rediscover the classics of national creation.
“Cinemas did not survive the switch from analog to digital” of the early 2000s, regrets the Ivorian film critic Yacouba Sangaré. There as elsewhere, the seventh art had to take side roads to continue to reach its audience. Video stores – from VHS tapes to DVDs – have nurtured a generation of moviegoers.
Some today are trying to revive mythical venues and their demanding programming, as in Morocco or Burkina Faso. Others see in the series a new mode of fertile creation. From fans of the Tangier film library to the conservative cinema of Kannywood, in northern Nigeria, they make African cinema today.
To stay up to date on African news, subscribe to the ?Monde Afrique? newsletter from this link. Every Saturday at 6 am, find a week of current events and debates treated by the editorial staff of “Monde Afrique”.
« I’m with Abderrahmane Sissako, he wants to re-type a cinema in Bamako, are you up for it? The French architect Jean-Marc Lalo still remembers the phone call by Claude-Eric Poiroux, founder of the network of independent theaters Europa Cinémas. It was in 2007. He had just completed in Morocco the rehabilitation of the old Rif cinema, renamed the Tangier film library. And had only one hurry, to leave.
A week later, he finds himself in the Malian capital, in the abandoned premises of the Soudan Ciné. Built in the 1960s, this room had closed fifteen years earlier, a victim of competition from television and video. Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako wanted to give it back its past luster.
The first consultations start, a subscription is launched to raise funds. The old armchairs in the great room are on sale, at 5,000 euros each. Alas, the civil war that began in 2012 plunged the country into chaos. The project falls into limbo.
This is one of the rare regrets of Jean-Marc Lalo, 58, who has to his credit the renovation or construction of four cinemas in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and an establishment, the Guimbi, in Bobo-Dioulasso. , in Burkina Faso, which is scheduled to open in October. Also under study, the creation of nine rooms in a new district of Berges du lac, in Tunis.
Relaunch the dream machine
This jovial and modest Niçois had never imagined becoming one of the architects of the new cinemas in Africa. After working in a construction company as a quantity surveyor, management controller and then works engineer, Jean-Marc Lalo resumed his studies at the age of 32 to become an architect. In 2001, he opened his own agency and created the Plateau-Frac Ile-de-France space, an art center in Paris.
The following year, he was recruited to redevelop the Ariana cinema in Kabul, just after the American intervention in Afghanistan. This field experience will be very valuable to him in Africa, where Jean-Marc Lalo tackles each project ” like a human adventure ».
On the subject, he is inexhaustible. ” In this continent, the cinema has long been in the open air, it was a party, he explains. People were talking during the movies, there were refreshments where they would go to cool off during the screening. It was anything but a dark and silent room. But, little by little, the public deserted. Rents are becoming too expensive for operators. The arrival of DVDs ends to suffocate the last cinemas which were trying to survive.
There are of course idealists, who try to restart the dream machine. But their enthusiasm is often dampened by complicated financial arrangements and high borrowing rates, sometimes of the order of 17%. Correlated to the ability to raise funds, the construction time is fatally long, around ten years at a minimum.
“A big mess”
It is also difficult to find locally materials that comply with international standards, in particular fire-retardant armchairs, often imported from Europe. Once opened, attendance rates remain modest.
As for the principals, they sometimes prove to be versatile. In 2010, Jean-Marc Lalo was asked to build a cinema in a commercial space in Dakar, next to the Radisson Blu hotel built by the Teyliom group, owned by Senegalese businessman Yerim Habib Sow.
Jean-Marc Lalo is initially excited. A young entrepreneur, who surrounds himself with African talents trained in the best universities in the world, and moreover wants to create a cinema in a shopping complex, it does not run the streets. But the site suffers the moods of the promoter who arbitrates according to his priorities of the moment. Three years ago, Jean-Marc Lalo slammed the door: ?A big mess. “
The experience with the Ivorian group Majestic will be much more convincing. In 2016, the architect rehabilitated a room with a rococo red molded ceiling in the Hôtel Ivoire, in Abidjan. Three other cinemas will follow in the Ivorian capital, backed by shopping centers.
“Provide a place to live”
In Burkina Faso, it is in a restaurant in Bobo-Dioulasso that Jean-Marc Lalo laid down, on a corner of a tablecloth, the design of the Sahel-inspired metal vault which now envelops the building of the Guimbi cinema. The project dates back to 2013. At the Cannes Film Festival, during a conference by Europa Cinemas, the architect met Berni Goldblat. The Swiss-Burkinabe director dreams of reviving this legendary room, inaugurated in 1957, on the eve of independence and abandoned since 2005.
Funding is a real way of the cross. We must show a white footing to the French Development Agency, worried about the economic viability and the societal relevance of the project. After two and a half years, Berni Glodblat manages to raise 600,000 euros in European public funds, to which are added some 800,000 euros of private windfall.
Jean-Marc Lalo is thinking big, despite the cautious forecasts of 250,000 spectators per year: an outdoor projection space with 250 seats, two indoor rooms, a restaurant, a cinema resource center nestled on a green roof which, once rented, will generate additional income.
The architect knows that programming, even blockbusters, is not enough to attract the local public. ” So that people agree to leave their sofas and their TV to go to the cinema, he explains, we have to offer them a place to live. »
One method: impregnation
Jean-Marc Lalo may have carved out a reputation for himself as a goldsmith in this area, he is still struggling to get rid of the impostor syndrome. His fear? That his constructions be judged above ground, illegitimate, shifted, ” French white projects “. To guard against pitfalls, it has a method: impregnation. ” The first thing i do, he explains, it is going to cafes and urban places, to smell the city, to understand how people make it their own, to feel the codes. »
Then comes the stage of maturing the first feelings of which he has learned to be wary, ” because there is a lot of naivety and projection mingled with it “. Even awkwardness. At the site of the Guimbi cinema, there was thus a women’s market that had to be moved by one block to start the work. The subject is delicate, even inflammable, as this small informal economy is a crucial link in the social fabric.
One day when Jean-Marc Lalo wanders among the shopkeepers, a woman calls out to him. ” What are you doing here? ?Immediately the architect takes out his iPad, explains the project with a lot of simulation. Around him, the circle grows, the women of the neighborhood seem conquered.
Some time later, while drilling the earth to find a source of irrigation, the workers discovered a deposit of water so important that a fountain project was studied. ” In the neighborhood, the relationship with the cinema has suddenly changed », Smiles Jean-Marc Lalo, satisfied that the Guimbi cinema is at the same time an object of local pride and of public utility.
African cinemas
The World Africa and his correspondents went to meet African cinemas. Those of a lost golden age as in Ivory Coast or Algeria where, a few decades ago, we thronged in the dark rooms to discover the latest action films or rediscover the classics of national creation.
“Cinemas did not survive the switch from analog to digital” of the early 2000s, regrets the Ivorian film critic Yacouba Sangaré. There as elsewhere, the seventh art had to take side roads to continue to reach its audience. Video stores – from VHS tapes to DVDs – have nurtured a generation of moviegoers.
Some today are trying to revive mythical venues and their demanding programming, as in Morocco or Burkina Faso. Others see in the series a new mode of fertile creation. From fans of the Tangier film library to the conservative cinema of Kannywood, in northern Nigeria, they make African cinema today.
Factual?The other Japan? (2/6). Among its many vulnerabilities, aging Japanese society is seeing the generational gap widening.
The heavy buildings of the Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine impose their austerity in the evening falling on the ancient Japanese capital. Opposite, behind a row of trees, wooden panels covered with calls in Japanese and Russian to demonstrate or to break one’s chains, reminiscent of the dazibaos of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, frame the entrance to the Yoshida dormitory.
Built in 1913, this dark wood building sits at the end of an overgrown alley. Inside reigns a mess of books, boxes, tired armchairs. The walls are covered with posters, some from the 1970s against the Vietnam War. Windows are broken.
The Yoshida dormitory is threatened with destruction by the prestigious university, owner of the site, which sees it only as an island of insalubrity. A trial is underway but its 150 occupants, supported by teachers and former students, are doing everything to preserve Japan’s last self-managed university dormitory, apolitical and proud of its ideal of total freedom, promoted since the 1960s.
“Here, we can say everything and write everything”, appreciates Sho Sasaki, a sociology student who, from high school, wanted to come, while others, like Ryosuke Hanzawa, an agricultural engineering student, discovered it when reading Yojohan Shinwa Taikei (The mythical Chronicles on four and a half tatami mats, Kadokawa, 2004) novel by Tomihiko Morimi adapted into an animated series. In this book, the author, formerly of the university, makes the dormitory a mythical place. ?He convinced me to move there. “
Such a movement remains rare in Japan. According to sociologist Kyoko Tominaga of Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, the motivation of young Japanese to protest is now the lowest among democracies around the world. The muffled clamor of the violent clashes between students and riot police in the 1960s and 1970s is seen as radical and ineffective: barely 10% of the younger generation have a positive image of this period, she estimates.
“The feeling of being neglected”
The new generation grew up in a country in deflation following the bursting in 1991 of the ?speculative bubble?. After the consumerist frenzy of an era of all excess: from sushi with a gold glitter to nightclubs where thousands of girls look bodycon (contraction of body conscious, ultra-tight and ultrashort dress) danced entire nights with their hair unfurled, the Archipelago brutalized by globalization has never again experienced the outbreaks of elders’ protest or their extravagance. In contrast, Japan is seeing the generational gap widening. “For politicians, priority goes to the elderly”, deplores Yuma Kato, student of Taisho University, who criticizes his elders “Clinging to power”.
You have 64.82% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
Factual?The other Japan? (2/6). Among its many vulnerabilities, aging Japanese society is seeing the generational gap widening.
The heavy buildings of the Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine impose their austerity in the evening falling on the ancient Japanese capital. Opposite, behind a row of trees, wooden panels covered with calls in Japanese and Russian to demonstrate or to break one’s chains, reminiscent of the dazibaos of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, frame the entrance to the Yoshida dormitory.
Built in 1913, this dark wood building sits at the end of an overgrown alley. Inside reigns a mess of books, boxes, tired armchairs. The walls are covered with posters, some from the 1970s against the Vietnam War. Windows are broken.
The Yoshida dormitory is threatened with destruction by the prestigious university, owner of the site, which sees it only as an island of insalubrity. A trial is underway but its 150 occupants, supported by teachers and former students, are doing everything to preserve Japan’s last self-managed university dormitory, apolitical and proud of its ideal of total freedom, promoted since the 1960s.
“Here, we can say everything and write everything”, appreciates Sho Sasaki, a sociology student who, from high school, wanted to come, while others, like Ryosuke Hanzawa, an agricultural engineering student, discovered it when reading Yojohan Shinwa Taikei (The mythical Chronicles on four and a half tatami mats, Kadokawa, 2004) novel by Tomihiko Morimi adapted into an animated series. In this book, the author, formerly of the university, makes the dormitory a mythical place. ?He convinced me to move there. “
Such a movement remains rare in Japan. According to sociologist Kyoko Tominaga of Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, the motivation of young Japanese to protest is now the lowest among democracies around the world. The muffled clamor of the violent clashes between students and riot police in the 1960s and 1970s is seen as radical and ineffective: barely 10% of the younger generation have a positive image of this period, she estimates.
“The feeling of being neglected”
The new generation grew up in a country in deflation following the bursting in 1991 of the ?speculative bubble?. After the consumerist frenzy of an era of all excess: from sushi with a gold glitter to nightclubs where thousands of girls look bodycon (contraction of body conscious, ultra-tight and ultrashort dress) danced entire nights with their hair unfurled, the Archipelago brutalized by globalization has never again experienced the outbreaks of elders’ protest or their extravagance. In contrast, Japan is seeing the generational gap widening. “For politicians, priority goes to the elderly”, deplores Yuma Kato, student of Taisho University, who criticizes his elders “Clinging to power”.
You have 64.82% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.