Famous poet and politician Aimé Césaire passed away this week. It’s fair to say most French people knew who he was, mainly for his long-lasting friendship with Léopold Sédar Senghor, who was a minister under de Gaulle, the first president of Senegal, and a member of Académie Française. Césaire himself was mayor in Fort-de-France, and a Member of Parliament for 48 years, to represent Martinique, and is known in metropolitan France, mainly for his discourses on négritude (literally, niggerhood), a term by which he meant to rehabilitate blacks, not in the eyes of colonizers, but also and mostly in their own eyes, after witnessing the living conditions and low self-esteem of his fellowmen in Martinique.

In spite of being aware of these trivia facts, and having listened with keen interest to his speeches (such as the famous Dakar discourse) when they were aired, I wasn’t acquainted with his writings. Until tonight. To honor his memory, TV channel France 3 aired an excellent program, a scenario enacting and symbolizing excerpts of his first published work, Cahier d’un Retour au Pays Natal, in which he shared his impressions upon his return to Martinique after having participated in WW1. An impressionistic, gutsy, shrewd, determined and positive outlook on slavery, its effects, its madness, its transmutation. A writing that resembles that of a saga, metaphors and catachreses that tell the tale of the blood of slaves, spilled across continents. Powerful.

Links:

• Wikipedia’s page on Aimé Césaire (French / English)
• The pages on Aimé Césaire on Radio France Outre-Mer

Stunning numbers heard on Mermet’s radio show about the US-Mexican border being erected: since NAFTA came into effect, Mexico has been flooded with cheap US goods and subsidized crops, resulting in 1.7 million Mexican farmers losing their livelihood. In turn, more and more people travel across the desert to try to enter the US, still an eldorado. Naturally, the US benefits from it, on the Mexican side in Maquiladora production lines, and on the US side, mainly in farmland labor.

The fence is viewed by some as a fresh new Wall of Shame, others as a necessary protection against a “cultural invasion”. With increasing numbers of human beings on this earth, and the issue of sharing wealth that’s never truly raised or addressed, the poorer countries will always be the first to suffer, and the rich ones, the first to protect themselves.

In the same radio program, a lady named Monica was interviewed, with her husband, four days after being expelled from Arizona, where new laws have been passed to crack down on illegal immigrants. She was a factory supervisor, had been in the US for 30 years (came in when she was four…), had a house, two cars, three children. They were caught at the factory and were thrown out just as they were; they were sleeping under a bridge just across the border, and owed it to Mermet and his crew to be able to call their kids who had remained behind. Senseless situations, where people who paid taxes, contributed to the local economy and were well-integrated in society for decades, become outcasts in just a few hours. Surely immigration policies should take into account how well people are integrated in their communities.

The situation isn’t quite as brutal in France, but the policy is to expel a certain quota, and that doesn’t make for much compassion either. A few people have already died trying to avoid the police. Some communities are actively protecting immigrants, especially when kids in schools are scheduled to be expelled, which typically creates a widespread uproar (RESF). Just today, we learned that a Chechnya family that managed to make it all the way here to escape the mess that’s Grozny, was being expelled and returned. Sickening.

Pathetic show a few days ago, when the Olympic torch was passed around in the streets of Paris. Watched a little footage on the evening news on the telly, with scenes of police forces snatching away Tibetan flags from demonstrators.

Really makes one wonder how much of a symbol the torch really is, when it becomes a flagship product for propaganda. While the IOC panel has the hardest difficulties admitting they pushed the Chinese candidacy for political reasons, Chinese officials have no difficulty rebuking requests that the Olympic truce be respected…

Journalists were turned away from filming crews, in spite of having all credentials, on grounds that they filmed the Chinese who were not filming the demonstrations (which was considered “dangerous”). Three rings of bodyguards shielded the flame from a mob of demonstrators, while the French police forces came out to snatch away Tibetan flags… As though the Tibetan flag (arguably “illegal”, since Tibet isn’t recognized as a country…) were less worthy a symbol than the Olympic torch, or rather, that the symbol of Olympic goodwill, in China’s responsibility, could not suffer the competition. And by the way, it seems French products have been boycotted in China since…

Expect lots of medals this summer. And a few raised fists. And some odd live coverage interruptions. Organizers will be torn between the need to show their best face and the imperious necessity to make the world forget the Tibetan, the result should be interesting…

Five years after France’s refusal to participate in the Iraqi adventure — which I believe prevented to a great extent the full-fledged clash of civilizations neo-conservatives yearned for — it was a sad day to watch French PM Fillon endorse the return of France in NATO, and justify sending more troops in Afghanistan by using Bush’s usual tryptic: “we can’t afford to lose / our security is at stake / our freedom is at stake.” Opposing MPs were even charged with “raw anti-Americanism” for challenging the government over the decision.

More than a sharp swerve in French foreign policy (a 50-year heritage of independence), the return of France in the Northern Alliance also most likely spells the end of the (admittedly unborn) European defense project.