Analyzes

Literature, like philosophy, is a matter of words. It is better to speak of the transatlantic trade (rather than the slave trade). Proudhon said that if we wanted to end war, we would still have to understand it; so if we want to end slavery, we still have to understand it. Born in Brazzaville, Wilfried N'Sondé is the author of six novels. Winner of the Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie and the Prix Senghor de la création littéraire, he grew up in Île-de-France and lived in Berlin for twenty-five years. He now lives in Lyon. / Interview with Jean-Claude Mairal, updated on 09/30/2024

According to the observers we met, France is caught in a vice: its administrative structure, its State is increasingly rigid and obese, and therefore less efficient, while society is always asking more of it. Hence the question that hurts the most: namely that of the means. The country no longer has the means to meet its demands and live up to its proclaimed ambitions./ Richard WERLY is the correspondent for France and Europe for the Swiss magazine Blick after a long career at Le Temps. He has just published with François d'Alançon, "Le bal des illusions; ce que la France crois, ce que le monde vois"./ Interview. Lausanne / updated on September 21, 2024.

In an era of universal deception, telling the truth is a revolutionary act,” said George Orwell in 1984. Today, are the media, all media combined, telling us the truth? Are the media endangering democracy? A simple little wander through the twists and turns of the world's media, more particularly those of the great democracies of our time, leaves us thinking. Is our world bogged down in falsification, deception, lies and lies? / Habiba MEJRI CHEIKH / Tunis, Nelle publ. / on 05/07/2024.

Zachary RICHARD, who is one of the most famous Francophone activists in North America, has just published his first novel in French, deliciously laced with "Cajun" expressions. More than 130 years after the last novel published in Louisiana in the Francophone language, that of the Acadians, "Les rafales du carême" is halfway between fiction and historical fresco, with a story interweaving the history of Zachary's family with that of Louisiana, in the ruins of the Civil War. PH / Lafayette, republished on 05 Sept 2024 -

The paradox of our world is that it has never been so open to the flow of people (air transport), goods (sea transport, containers), information (internet, social networks, etc.), and that for all that there is a form of withdrawal, sometimes identity-based or otherwise, which means that we are effectively building walls where we should be building bridges. Europe is only very marginally overseas. Interview by Jean-Claude MAIRAL with Philippe FOLLIOT / Albi on October 9, 2024

Born in 1985 in Poland, Jan Nowak is a poet, translator, editor and teacher of French as a foreign language. He has notably developed a teaching method that uses contemporary French-language theatre and is at the origin of several literary projects in both French and Polish. In 2013, he founded the first theatre publishing house in Poland, Dramedition, Centre international de théâtre francophone, of which he is the director. He has translated numerous plays and regularly organises writing residencies, theatre festivals and literary events. Poznan, 24 October 2024

The citizens of the United States will soon vote in an election whose results will have global importance but which are first and foremost, obviously, crucial for Americans. The theme of health is splendidly ignored by Trump. During his term, he has never stopped unraveling "Obamacare". As for Kamela Harris, she limits herself - which is not nothing - to the right to abortion, and to controlling the price of medicines. If in 2019, like Bernie Sanders, she advocated for the creation of universal health insurance, she does not seem, to date, to have taken up this theme again. Biden had opposed it by claiming that it would increase taxes / Jean de Kervasdoué. September 10, 2024

The issue of sustainable cities always relates to geographical contexts, which makes it difficult to compare, for example, the policies implemented in cities in the north and the south. The specificity of geo-historical, ecological and cultural environments, and of stakeholder interactions, requires adaptation of policies to each context and urban singularity. The Moroccan sustainable city must take (and account for) local social and cultural specificities and not import ready-made models even if they have proven themselves elsewhere / Ahmed Chitachni is a researcher in urban anthropology. He has been scrutinizing urban developments for a long time, and in particular those of African cities, starting with his own, the almost mythical Casablanca./ July 14, 2024

The overwhelming majority of overseas residents are very attached to France. They only ask to shine in the national sky. The problem comes from the "center", from continental France which refuses to recognize itself in the mirror held up to it by its colonial children. Once again, it is a political problem. Civil society has long been ready to exchange and appreciate this cultural wealth. One only has to look at the success of rap, zouk, Reunion and West Indian cuisine, the thousands of French tourists who are happy to visit these territories where they can speak French, the French-speaking West Indian communities that populate the Alliances Françaises in New York, Miami, London.../ Interview with Jean-Claude Mairal / August 11, 2024

Born in Tehran, Maryam Madjidi left Iran with her parents in 1986 on the paths of exile to settle in France, in Paris then in Drancy. She began studying literature at the Sorbonne. She then taught literature and the French language to middle and high school students, as well as French as a foreign language (FLE) in China and Turkey before returning to live in France. Since January 2023, Maryam Madjidi has been a columnist for the weekly L'Humanité Magazine. In 2017, she published "Marx et la Poupée", an autobiographical novel published by Le Nouvel Attila, winner of the Prix Goncourt for the first novel the same year. / Interview by Jean-Claude Mairal / August 26, 2024

Thanks to the Olympic Games, France shone in the eyes of the world. Its athletes competed in almost all disciplines and won a large number of medals. Among them, athletes from overseas territories allowed France to shine in many disciplines. Without them, France would not be among the top Olympic nations. Isn't it time to recognize the contribution of the Overseas Territories to France's prestige and finally get out of a certain contempt and ignorance of France towards these territories? / Jean-Mairal is co-president of I-Dialogos / Vichy, updated on October 3, 2024

At the initiative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, the "Summit of the Future" that has just been held in New York, was to open consultations and discussions around reform proposals aimed at creating a stronger United Nations system that is less dependent on the major powers alone, an organization that can better correspond to current geopolitical realities. It is up to think tanks from all backgrounds, those more involved in international relations and geopolitics, including the most modest, to contribute to a debate that continues in Rio, within the framework of an "expanded" G20, then, next year, at COP30, two events chaired by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. / PH, updated on November 19, 2024.