Cordoba, new host city of the African Film Festival-FCAT

Cordoba, December 19th, 2011. The city of Cordoba and Al Tarab, NGO behind the African Film Festival-FCAT, announce changes in both the host city and the dates. The festival was organized since 2004 during the spring in Tarifa, Spain, and will now take place every autumn in Córdoba, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with 2,000 years of history, cradle of civilizations and cultures. The 9th FCAT Córdoba 2012 will take place 13th - 21st October.

Cordoue acceuillera le Festival de Cinéma Africain-FCAT
Cordoue, le 19 octobre 2011. La Municipalité de Cordoue et le Centre de Divulgation Culturelle du Détroit Al Tarab, association organisatrice du Festival de Cinéma Africain – FCAT, annonce qu’à partir de 2012 le festival changera de ville et de dates.Le 9º FCAT Cordoue 2012 aura lieu du 13 au 21 octobre 2012. Le nouveau siège du festival est la ville andalouse, unique, déclarée Patrimoine de l’Humanité par l’UNESCO, berceau de cultures et de civilisations, d’une histoire de plus de deux millénaires.L’engagement de Cordoue pour la culture est clair. Le FCAT Cordoue est un évènement culturel consolidé, qui, lors de ses huit ans de trajectoire, a démontré le pouvoir du cinéma pour unir les gens.
--
Filip Hruby
International Press Officer
African Film Festival FCAT Cordoba
Mobile: +420/775011550

A hundred years of bombing: what has it done to us? by Paul Gilroy | Eutopia Institute

A hundred years of bombing: what has it done to us? by Paul Gilroy | Eutopia Institute

Lezing door Abdel Bari Atwan over de Arabische Lente

El Hizjra organiseert op de avond van 16 December een lezing met het thema ‘Conflict Journalism’. De internationaal gerenommeerde journalist Abdel Bari Atwan geeft de lezing. Hij zal spreken over de ontwikkelingen in de Arabische lente.

Hij is sinds 1989 Editor-In-Chief is van de onafhankelijke pan-Arabische krant Al Quds Al-Arabi. Bovendien heeft Abdel Bari Atwan Osama Bin Laden geïnterviewd met de overtuiging dat je terrorisme alleen kunt bestrijden door degenen die het uitoefenen te begrijpen.
Zijn controversiële standpunten worden regelmatig door journalisten over de hele wereld geciteerd. Hij heeft tevens grote naamsbekendheid verworven met zijn gepassioneerde manier van debatteren.
Margot Dijkgraaf zal Abdel Bari Atwan introduceren en interviewen. Zij is sinds 1988 als literair criticus werkzaam bij het NRC Handelsblad.
Entree: 7,50 euro (5,- voor studenten)
Programma
19.15 inloop met thee en Koffie
19.30 introductie door Margot Dijkgraaf
19.45 lezing door Abdel Bari Atwan
21.00 discussie met een drankje
Locatie El Hizjra, Singel 300A
Wij stellen zeer op prijs als jullie dit bericht , inclusief flyer, doormailen naar de leden en wanneer mogelijk aankondigen op de website.

El Hizjra
Stichting voor Arabische Kunst en Cultuur

Singel 300 A
1016 AD Amsterdam
020-4200568
www.elhizjra.nl
info@elhizjra.nl
K.v.K. 41207125

Waiting for Robin Hood

At the end of a screening at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) a lady took the microphone and invited people to buy plastic bottles which were for sale right at the exit of the theatre. It was an initiative of an NGO working in the field of improving access to drinking water in Africa. The goal was to raise money to supply a village in South Sudan with clean water. I try to imagine the reaction of the audience. Some must have thought: yet another charity for our poor friends in Africa. Isn’t it enough that the government pays millions every year from our taxes helping aid to the third world countries? Others probably thought it would be a noble deed to let wealthy Europeans pay a few Euros and give hundreds of families access to the liquid of life. In the end the first ones will walk away indifferently and the second will buy some bottles. And this happens a lot at festivals. But whether it will really bring any change to the world or to what extent that change may be, nobody knows.

You could see this on the occasion of the screening of Hinterland, a documentary made by the Dutch director Albert Elings. He followed a former Sudanese child soldier, who came to the Netherlands 11 years ago as an asylum seeker, visiting his home country. Hence the full title of the film ,Hinterland-A Child Soldier’s Road back to South Sudan. The production properly began in 2002. Kon Kelei was then starring in Tussenland (Between countries) a feature film by Dutch filmmaker Eugenie Jansen who won one of the three Tiger Awards at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. At that time, documentary maker Albert Elings started to follow the expatriate. After the the country’s independence and the peace agreement between Khartoum and Juba, Kon Kelei returns home. The film follows him on this first trip to his birthplace where he has plans to open a school and insure drinking water for his community. It tells one of those stories we hear more and more in our time and which are the dream of millions of young people in the South, but at the same time they are a nightmare to the Western world.

Kon fled the Sudan more than a decade ago when he was recruited by the rebels as a child soldier. After a long journey on a containership he ended up in the harbour of Rotterdam. From that moment on his life would never be the same again. As a refugee in one of the asylum camps in the Netherlands, he could go to school and graduate in international law. Now he is back with a master in his pocket and a lot of dreams and plans to develop his new independent country South Sudan. The documentary follows the metamorphosis of the young man during almost ten years, from the moment he enters the asylum camp until he returns to his motherland. The film shows Kon Kelei in the camp, then during his graduating ceremony at the university of law in Nijmegen, and finally when he goes back to his family and his village in the deep inlands of South Sudan. It is nothing more than the story of a young refugee who grabbed the chance of success.

However, unconsciously, the film points out the gap between two worlds. Following Kon on his journey you see two ways of life; on the one hand there is the life he lived all those years in exile and on the other hand there is the life his family lives, which is, of course, the life he would have lived if he had not run away. This is when you see how absurd difference is in chance and unjustice between two worlds. This feeling is felt much deeper in the Netherlands, where the naive and optimistic message of the film is in complete contrast with the actual debate about the policy regarding underdeveloped countries. European countries are indeed facing a terrible economic crisis. In addition to budget cuts in fields such as culture and public services, they find the solution in reducing budgets for international development, which means retrenchment in the policy of sustaining the weak economies.

At the same time the recent case of the young Angolan Mauro Manuel, opened a highly animated debate about the decision to send him back to Luanda after ten years of exile, even though he has no more family in the African city. The fact is that Mauro is a very special case and far too complex for an emigration law that reduces human beings to numbers. The eighteen year old man came to the Netherlands as an eight year old boy. His mother put him on an airplane to save him from poverty, misery and civil war. In the Netherlands he was taken in by a family who tried to adopt him twice, without success. Still, the kid grew up in Dutch society quite like any other young boy: going to school, playing in the courtyards and hanging around in the parks. Now that he is and adult, this very rational society wants him to fit in somewhere. A case like this cannot be predicted by law. The boy went through the Dutch school system for ten years, he speaks the Dutch language like his mother tongue, he has Dutch friends and dreams of making a living in the only society he knows.


Whereas Mauro Manuel is still young (only eighteen), Kon Kelei is more grown up. He finished his master’s degree, and the young expert in international law has a brilliant future ahead of him. He is teaching at the newly founded university of law and will probably embrace a political career. The film shows many other south Sudanese young people like him, who are still in the process of getting their degrees. They are the incarnation of the dream of many young African men: go to the North, learn, make money and go back to serve the family, the tribe and the country. This brings us back to the sixties and seventies when African students were sent to Europe to graduate in different fields and take care of their people, once they got back home. Can we ever forget that this strategy led to all kinds of post-colonial regimes? The dictators that the people of Tunisia, Egypt and other African countries are now struggling against, are all well educated and graduated in Europe and the USA. All African ruling elite learned how to govern their people in Europe whether they physically went there or not.

From that point of view there is a very naive idea about the way the North is giving back something to Africa. One could not watch this film without thinking about the political and economic background of the refugee phenomenon. Such a film, even when it is clearly made with all good intentions, is then part of a widespread practice in the western world, which aims to ease people’s conscience: As you leave the film, you can buy a plastic bottle from a humanitarian organization which is raising money to develop drinking water in South Sudan. For a few Euros, people get the opportunity to ease their conscience and feel spiritually at peace. At the same time they let their governments send asylum seekers and immigrants back to the misery which they create with their unfair policy.

Worse still is that there is a huge dilemma in these kinds of situations. If you participate in the humanitarian effort you are an accomplice to a certain neo-capitalist system which you support indirectly. If you do nothing, you will not help the situation of millions of people improve or, at least, not worsen. That is how the neo-liberalist rulers of the world, by a perverse effect, use humanist values of solidarity and trap citizens in order to use their need for spiritual peace and mercifulness to save themselves from the obligation to fulfil their duty.

In these kinds of situations the nice mythical figure of Robin Hood comes to mind. The NGO is taking money from the rich to give to the poor. That is not a bad thing, one could say. But there are two counterarguments to this naive configuration. Firstly, NGOs are not steeling. Secondly, the people buying the plastic bottles are mostly not really the rich of the western world. Those who are steeling and the modern aristocrats profiting from the privileges of the neo-liberalism are the multinationals and the banks. At least one could see in the young former refugee an incarnation of the modern Robin Hood for whom the wealth he made thanks to his exile, could be seen, by way of a very subtle metaphor as a tax imposed on the rich, which he uses to help his poor people. The latter were robbed by the imperialist western companies and rulers.

Unfortunately this idea cannot be found in this film, nor in another, The Sacrifice (Yoole). This is a documentary by Moussa Sene Absa from Senegal, who points out the illegal migration on the coast of the Atlantic ocean. Asylum seekers or illegal migrants may be seen as the Robin Hoods of our time. Their plan is in fact to take the money from the rich and give it to the poor. But it in the legend of Robin Hood, the hero is of aristocratic blood. That is why I see more of the legend of the good thief in these European filmmakers who make a stand against the injustice of the neo-liberal machine crushing everybody and everything in its path; the poor would then be the Asian and the African peasants as well as the workers and the petit bourgeois in the wealthy European societies. But the workings of this kind of rollercoaster are more obvious on continents like Africa, where the absurd contradictions can be easily verified. That is why even if African cinema is not well represented at western festivals, African subjects are the subject ofmany documentaries made by directors in the North.

The 24th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam opened with The Ambassador, a film about the Central African Republic, made by Danish filmmaker and journalist Mads Brügger. Even before the kick-off of the festival and the screening of the film, a polemic had started between the filmmaker and one of the protagonists, the Dutch businessman Willem Tijssen, who asked the festival (through a letter) to withdraw the film. Tijssen runs a company called Diplomatic Services Africa and he helped the filmmaker acquire a Liberian passport. For that service he was paid a modicum sum of 50,000 US dollar. Three quarters of the amount was used to pay off corrupt African officers, the man admitted, while the entire payment was supposed to amount to 135,000 US dollars. It was not explicitly said whether he was contesting the way he was depicted in the film or whether he was not disgruntled because he had not been paid the rest of the money promised to him.

The journalist went to explore the world of diamond trafficking in the Central African Republic. This is one of the most secretive businesses in the world into which it would be impossible for an African filmmaker to enter. It is not enough to find the diamonds. The most difficult part is to succeed in taking them out of the country. The only safe way is to be a diplomat and therefore to be sure not to be searched by customs when you leave the country with soem diamonds in your Samsonite suitcase. As it is not possible for the journalist, a blond and tall Danish man,to become a western diplomat, he enters the central African territories as a Liberian official. After a number of adventures and dirty dealings he establishes his business. The whole process is filmed by a minuscule hidden camera. This way we enter a world of corrupt officials in the high and dark realms of Euro-African diplomacy.

There is a lot to learn from these images. We are taught for example that after the fight for control of minerals in the seventies, these days France and China are working together to spoil the African soil. We learn how French secret services were involved in the provocation of central African rebellion(s). We are told that the Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and her minister for foreign affairs were on a black list of people not allowed to hold any high official position because of their involvement in the civil war. We see how many European diplomats form a corrupt network, serving as intermediaries in the illegal trade of diamonds. They put you in touch with officials who will provide the false diplomatic passport, and with the local officials who will help you infiltrate whichever market you want. At the end of the film we come to the conclusion that the tall white people are earning hundreds of millions of dollars through the mines and the labour of the poor and small pygmies. The filmmaker doesn’t hesitate to show himself at all times standing beside his two local pygmies whom he took as assistants. In doing this he cynically visualizes the relationship of power and spoliation that weighs so heavily on Africans.

This documentary is part of a whole tradition of successful films on Africa. The same festival opened in 2008 with a film about the Congo called Enjoy Poverty by Dutch video-maker Renzo Martins, who explored the insane networks of foreign organizations working in this country. He showed how United Nations’ and Humanitarian NGO’s work in an area where the lives of the Congolese are wasted while westerners are making their fortunes by selling anything and everything: photos of corpses to newspapers and press agencies, medicines to sick malnourished children, diamonds and minerals to international traders, development plans to politicians. A couple of years earlier, Austrian filmmaker Hubert Sauper investigated the business of Nile perch fish in the Tanzanian Lake Victoria. He depicts the impact of hyper-production on the life of the locals, while the tasty fish dishes end up on the plates of European consumers. Can these filmmakers be associated with the image of Robin Hood ?

This brings me to another question, in fact: Is it an African destiny to always be spoken about, but never to speak itself? The weak, the subaltern of our time, is the one who is not able to talk, to represent himself. That is the philosophy upon which the policy of hegemony has been built for ages. Taking away the other person’s right to speak is a part of the strategy to dominate and despoil. But if the subaltern cannot represent itself, it must be represented. That is where many European filmmakers can play an interesting role: give back the rightful owner something that has been unfairly taken from him. Unfortunately in this case filmmakers can do nothing to bring back all the diamonds and minerals stolen by the westerners. What they can restore is an image of what is happening. From that point of view they operate in the field of media and representation of the other person. Hopefully the films will somehow help to denounce the inhumane practice and hence reduce the suffering of millions who cannot not do so for themselves.

To what extent can European filmmakers substitute their colleagues from the South? Not everybody can be Robin Hood, only those who have the wealth, the blood, the know-how and the education. In a word and in our modern context, one needs to be rich enough to be able to raise his/her voice. As a matter of fact, production circumstances can be so hard that Africans can be less free than European filmmakers. Hence it is not always obvious that an African filmmaker will be better suited to speak about his/her continent than a non-African. She/He would never be able to do what the Danish director did. Not only because it is a huge financial operation, but also because an African diplomat who is blond, is such an unexpected ironic situation that it is the most eloquent one to show how absurd the African context is, and how far the “White” can go in the process of dispossession of the other from its most primordial identity.

Our world is definitely a tragedy and doesn’t fit with the legend of Robin Hood which is more like a fairytale, ending happily in reestablishment of the good prince to the joy of the people. None of the 1% of human beings will dare espouse the cause of the other 99%. The latter now perhaps occupy the squares as the legendary thieves once hid in the woods. But the good prince who will lead them to fight the injustice is unfortunately from another time and will probably never come back, as long as we don’t consider that filmmakers are dreaming of changing the world by helping the poor and denouncing the real thieves as modern avatars of Don Quixote fighting windmills.

AfryKamera 2011

Call For Applications 2012

Fundacja FilmGramm would like to announce it call for applications for the 2012 African Film Festival "

". The main theme for AfryKamera in 2012 is “MADE IN AFRICA”.

If you are interested in submitting your movie to AfryKamera, please contact selection@afrykamera.pl or call +48 515 085 282 for further information.

ALL ENTRIES ARE TO BE SENT TO TOGETHER WITH THIS SHORT ENTRY FORM:
AfryKamera
FILMGRAMM FOUNDATION
ul. Swietlana 7 m. 6-7
02-427 Warsaw
Poland


INTRODUCTION
The first AfryKamera Film Festival was organized by FilmGramm Foundation in cooperation with the South African Embassy during the months of April-June 2006. It aimed to use cinematography to bring Africa to the attention of the Polish public. The 1st AfryKamera premiered in Warsaw and also ran in Krakow, Poznan, Lodz, Torun and Konin. The strong media interest and good ticket sales during the first festival in 2006 confirmed our belief that Africa is a theme of immense interest to a growing number of people. Since the very 1st edition, AfryKamera has been well covered in the Polish media, which confirms the great marketing potential of such an event for Africa in general, as well as, for sponsors and patrons.

AfryKamera intends to be a stable and important part of the festival landscape of Poland, not only in regards to cinematography, but also in other cultural areas. We intend to achieve this by:

• Creating an important Award in the region of Central-Eastern Europe for African films created in the last few years.
• Presenting the most interesting movies from the classics to modern films
• Promotion of other aspects of African culture by organizing adjacent events.

Note: All films are screened in Warsaw with select screenings made in other cities (with due consultation with the rightsholders).

1. General Film Guidelines

All feature films, short films and documentaries which satisfy the below conditions are eligible for the general programme:
• Films must satisfy at least two of the below conditions:
- the film must be set in Africa;
- the director of the film must be of African origin (this includes members of the African diaspora);
- the film must relate to issues, which directly or indirectly concern the historical or current social, economic or cultural situation in Africa or the African diaspora.
• Films must not have been screened in previous editions of AfryKamera.
• Production dates for the movie are no older than 2007.
• Films should be submitted in DVD or VHS format for preview screening. Final screening format is 35mm, HDCAM, DV, DVD, Bluray, exceptionally BETA od DigiBETA.

2. Entry to the Festival

Deadline for entry is 28th February.
All screeners (DVD/VHS) must be sent to the below address:

AfryKamera
FILMGRAMM FOUNDATION
ul. Swietlana 7 m. 6-7
02-427 Warsaw
Poland

Entering the film to the Festival does in no way hinder the producer's or distributor's right to a screening fee.

3. Film Competition

All feature films selected are eligible for the Jury Award and the Audience Award. The Awards are honorary and no prizes are foreseen.

4. Screening DVD/VHS

Preview cassette tapes/dvd's are to be sent at entrants' expense and these will not be returned unless specifically requested (at the expense of the festival organiser). VHS cassettes/dvd's retained by the festival will be used for non-circulating reference in its archive. Optionally non-downloadable online streaming version can be submitted with the appropriate internet link and (if applicable) access code.

5. Scheduling of Screenings

Scheduling the screening of films is the responsibility of the festival management. The dates, times and venues of exhibition of films shall be at the discretion of the festival. No film, once programmed, may be withdrawn from the festival.

6. Dispatch and Return of Copies

Dispatch of prints to and from the festival and related expenses are the responsibilty of organisers. However should a screening product come from another festival, the prior festival should be responsible for shipping and postal expenses.

9. Acceptance of regulations

Entry and participation of films will be taken as acceptance of the above regulations.


For all enquiries (English, French, Arabic):
selection@afrykamera.pl

De Balie, Art of the Revolution (9,10, 11december 2011)

Tunesië: democratie onder de microscoop
We zijn bijna een jaar na de eerste tekenen van de Arabische lente. Vorig jaar december, toen de jonge Mohammed Bouazizi zichzelf offerde, kon niemand geloven dat de paar woedekreten van een gemarginaliseerde gemeenschap in het binnenland van Tunesië het begin zouden zijn van vele omwentelingen. De Jasmijnrevolutie werd groter en heette opeens de Arabische lente. Landen als Egypte, Libië, Syrië en Jemen roken ook de vrijheid. Wij stellen voor terug te blikken op het afgelopen jaar. Met behulp van korte documentaires kijken we binnen bij een volk dat een veranderingsproces ondergaat.
In een jaar tijd, is er heel veel gebeurd. Op 14 januari ging Ben Ali op de vlucht, na een dictatuur van 23 jaar. Er volgde een periode van chaos die de aangekondigde verkiezingen van juli verhinderde. Ze vonden een paar maanden later plaats, op 23 oktober. Inmiddels is een grondwetgevende vergadering aan de slag gegaan om een nieuwe en democratische grondwet voor het land te schrijven. De leden moeten luisteren naar de wil van het volk.
Het afgelopen jaar zijn ook kunstenaars en filmmakers aan het werk gegaan om de dromen en toekomstverwachtingen van hun landgenoten te formuleren. Samen met De Balie willen we deze energie laten zien en ook duiden. We kijken naar beelden van de eerste dagen na de val van het regime (lente), en beelden van een paar maanden later als de rust lijkt teruggekeerd (zomer). Tenslotte zal dit filmprogramma ons helpen om een analyse te maken van de verkiezingsuitslag (herfst).
De cirkel is rond. Maar zal het allemaal levensvatbaar blijken? En wordt Tunesië een echte democratie? Of is het slechts een vicieuze cirkel? En is het land op weg naar een nieuwe dictatuur?

Aanwezig zijn :
Ridha Tlili is een belangrijke exponent van de jonge generatie Tunesische filmmakers. Al voor de revolutie nam hij met een groep collega’s deel aan het debat over de vernieuwing van de Tunesische cinema. Dat deed hij via de Vereniging Aktie voor de Cinema. Na de val van de dictatuur, richtte hij het Festival van de Revolutie op. De eerst editie vond afgelopen juli plaats. Revolution under 5’, zijn eerst lange documentaire, is momenteel op vele Europese festivals te zien.
Hassouna Mansouri is filmcriticus en onderzoeker culturele studies. Hij levert regelmatig bijdragen aan kranten en tijdschriften in het Arabisch, Frans en Engels. Hij is actief in internationale filmorganisaties, zoals de internationale organisatie FIPRESCI. Hij publiceerde eerder het essay: ‘De identiteit, of een neiging van de Afrikaanse cinema’. Zijn tweede boek is ‘Het geconfisqueerde Beeld’, en een derde is in voorbereiding: ‘Zij zullen zichzelf niet
vertegenwoordigen’. Als academicus is hij geïnteresseerd in theorieën van interpretatie en de kwestie van ‘anders-zijn’.

Erkan Yigit is werkzaam als adviseur. Hij heeft in Frankrijk sociologie afgestudeerd. In Amsterdam heeft hij verschillende projecten opgesticht (participatief theater) en advies takken gevoerd (allochtoonondernemingschap).

Africa in Motion 2011

Africa in Motion 2011: It's a (very successful) wrap!
http://www.africa-in-motion.org.uk/photo-galleries/africa-in-motion-2011/

Now that the curtains have closed on the 6th edition of the Africa in Motion Film Festival - which focussed on Children and Youth in Africa - we would like to thank our audience, partners, supporters, funders, and everyone who, one way or the other, collaborated with AiM for their participation, contribution, interaction and feedback, all of which created the wonderful environment in which we were able to implement this year's festival programme.

Throughout the 5 days of the festival, we welcomed almost one and a half thousand people to Africa in Motion, registered high attendance levels in our screenings, and had numerous sold-out events. This year, AiM received some of the best media coverage our festival has had; obtained a very positive response to the quality, diversity and contents of the films we programmed, and our film introductions and post-screening discussions were described as inspiring and poignant. In addition, guests/collaborators such as Nigerian filmmaker Obi Emelonye, French/Burkinabe journalist Claire Diao, Professor Jolyon Mitchell from the School of Divinity (Ed. Uni), or scholar Gerhard Anders from the Centre for African Studies (Ed. Uni) assured our festival continued to provide a platform for African films to not only be seen but also contextualized, questioned, discussed and reflected upon.

Amongst the outstanding highlights of this year's festival were the (now legendary) AiM launch party, our guest filmmaker Nigerian director/producer Obi Emelonye, the AiM annual short film competition, a boisterous and eventful Children's Day, numerous compelling discussions, and a glorious closing party.


We kicked off the festival with a stunning (and sold-out) screening of Tunisian film, Bab'Aziz: The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul (Nacer Khemir: 2005) and a roaring party to signal the beginning of another wonderful festival. This included a menu of tantalising Kenyan canapés, South African wine and an outstanding performance by Zimbabwean jazz singer, Cynthia Gentle and her band, The True Tones. Commenting on the opening event, dancer Jennifer Ba stated: "The AiM festival is well known in Edinburgh and the opening nights are renowned for providing excellent entertainment - it was a great experience!"


The following day, we were delighted to be joined by Nigerian filmmaker Obi Emelonye. During his time with the festival he engaged in an insightful seminar that discussed the production and distribution of Nollywood films. This was one of many opportunities to discuss the film programme with leading practitioners and academics of African cinema. Throughout the duration of the festival, post-screening discussions highlighted and explored many of the poignant issues within the programmed films. These discussions covered topics of disability and domestic abuse and children's issues.

This year we presented the 4th edition of the Africa in Motion Short Film Competition and once again, the quality of the films has raised to a truly outstanding level. On Friday evening we screened the 7 shortlisted films and later announced Umkhungo (dir. Matthew Jankes, South Africa) as the deserving winner of the competition.

Another highlight of the festival and an undoubtable success was our Children's Day Programme. The day started with a hugely successful Storytelling session led by Mara Menzies, from Toto Tales. To a cinema full of half-pint sized 2-legged animals, Mara told fantastical tales of 4-legged and winged animals, weaving the engaged audience into the stories themselves. This was followed by sold-out screening of children's films: a stellar selection of short, colourful films aimed at the youth. Demanding more energy still (as only children would be able to provide), the day ended with a fantastic set of drumming and dancing workshops where children were able to learn the basic rhythms on the Djembe drums and accompanied dance moves. A wonderfully vibrant finale to the day!

The festival was brought to a close in exquisite style with the screening of a FESPACO award winning film 'Un pas en avant, les dessous de la corruption; (One Step Forward: The Inside of Corruption) followed by a mesmerising performance by Sengalese kora player, Soriba Kanout. Soriba provided us all with a much needed sense of calm and reassurance at the end of a wonderfully exciting and relentless festival. We were cordially transported to serenity via Senegal, where we will remain until the chaos recommences next year. We would like to thank all our partners and sponsors who contributed an incredible amount to the shape and execution of the festival. We look forward to working with you again in the future, and similarly, we hope to see all of our audience members again next year!

"The sheer variety of films shown at AiM reminds us that there is no single 'African' cinema, but a whole world to explore within a continent of diverse cultures and histories... I cant wait to see what else AiM has in store in the future. I'll certainly be returning to find out"
Kieran Hanson, MA Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology, University of Manchester

Until next year!
Africa in Motion Management Team

NOTE: Photos by Michael Marten and Antonio Sanchez. To see more photos of this year's festival go to AiM 2011 Photo Gallery on our website.

Luxor African Film Festival

Call for Submissions: Luxor African Film Festival, First Edition February 2012 - Deadline: December 15, 2011

The political conditions experienced by Egypt during the four decades preceding the revolution of January 25 removed Egypt from its strategic African depth on all levels - cultural, economic and social for different reasons. After the revolution, the space was open again and each responsible individual felt they can really make a difference and turn their ideas into a reality. From here, Script writer, Sayed Fouad, thought of implementing the project that has been haunting him for years – An Annual African Film Festival in Egypt to establish the African links.

Independent Shabab Foundation (I-Shabab), an Egyptian non governmental, and non-profit organization, was selected to run the festival due to its belief in the importance of "Luxor African Film Festival" in linking up and networking with others in general and with Africa in particular.

The team thought of Luxor to encourage decentralization of cultural events to move a bit away from Cairo and Alexandria, which are piling up with different festivals, and finally, to contribute to the promotion of tourism to the city of Luxor at this critical time that Egypt’s experiencing after revolution.

The festival has given itself the mission, to support and encourage African film productions and partnerships between the countries of the continent through strengthening the humanitarian and political ties between the peoples of Africa in general and African artists in particular.

AfricAvenir International, Arterial Network, Independent Shabab Foundation, the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Luxor Governate, the Syndicate of Egyptian Filmmakers, and Nile Thematic TV Channels have been won as official partners and sponsors.

Dear African filmmakers, dear producers, dear distributors,

Please find for download:

|+| The Conditions & Criteria including the Submission Forms

If you have further questions, please dont hesitate to contact:
Azza El Hosseiny
Executive Director
Luxor African Film Festival
independentshabab(at)yahoo.com
luxoraff(at)gmail.com
Since the website is underconstruction, at a later stage also:
Azza.elhosseiny(at)luxoraff.com
33 Haroun st., Dokki,Cairo
Telefax:02-37622407
Mobile: 01003212160
www.luxorafricanfilmfestival.com

Wishing for a lot of new and brilliant films from all of Africa and the diaspora to be entered and selected,

considering azza.elhosseiny(at)luxoraff.com it will be activated after a while and i will inform you when that happens.

Yours in Film,
AfricAvenir

Africa opens prestigious documentary festival in Amsterdam

The 24th edition of the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) opened Wednesday November 16th with a film about Africa: The Ambassador by Danish filmmaker and journalist Mads Brügger. This is the most important festival dedicated to documentaries in the world.
It is disappointing to notice one more time that such festivals don’t open with films from Africa but about it. Anyway it is still somehow an African presence that otherwise would not be possible.
Already a polemic is going around the film. One of the protagonists, the Dutch businessman Willem Tijssen, asked the festival (via letter) to withdraw the film from its program. The Ambassador remains however the opening film of the festival, the press officer confirmed in a press release..
Tijssen is running a company called Diplomatic Services Africa and helped the filmmaker to get a Liberian passport and got paid for that service a modicum sum of 50.000 US dollar. 3/4th of the amount was used to corrupt African officers, admitted the man.
The journalist went to explore the milieu of diamond traffic in Central African Republic. This is one of the most mysterious businesses in the world to which it will be impossible for an African filmmaker to enter.
To do this it is not enough to find diamonds. The most difficult is to be able to take them out of the country. Or the only safe way is to be a diplomat. Then you are sure not to be searched by customers when you are leaving the territory with few diamonds in your Samsonite hand suitcase.
Because it is not possible to be a western diplomat the journalist, a blond and tall Danish man, enters the central African territories as a Liberian official. After some adventures and dealings he establishes his business.
The whole process is filmed by a minuscule hidden camera. That’s how we enter a world of corrupted officials in the high spheres of euro-African diplomacy.
We learn for example that after the fight about the control of minerals in the 70ies, France and China are nowadays working together to spoil African soil.
We learn how French secret services were involved in the provocation of central African rebellion.
We are told that Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian president and her minister of foreign affairs were in a black list of persons not allowed to hold any high official position because of their involvement in the civil war.
We are taught how European diplomats are a corrupted network serving as intermediaries in the illegal commerce of diamond. They bring you in touch with officials who will provide the false diplomatic passport, and with the local officials who will help you infiltrate the market of whatever you want.
At the end we will come to the conclusion that the big white people are earning hundreds of millions of dollars using the mines and the work of the poor and short height pygmies.
The filmmaker shows himself always standing with his two locals whom he took as assistants. Therefore he visualizes the relationship of power and spoliation that weighs too much on Africans.
This documentary is part of a whole tradition of successful films about Africa. The same festival opened in 2008 with a film about Congo called Enjoy Poverty by Dutch video-maker Renzo Martins who explored the insane networks of foreign organizations working in this country.
Couple of years earlier, Austrian filmmaker investigated the business of Nile perch fish in the Tanzanian’s Lake Victoria and the impact of hyper-production on the life of.
All these films got big success. This brings back the eternal question about what prevents African filmmakers to be on such stages.
Is it an African destiny to be always something to talk about never something that talks?
Still it is not always obvious that an African filmmaker will talk about his/her continent better than a non African. Production circumstances can be so heavy that Africans can be less free than a European filmmaker for instance.
An African filmmaker would never be able to do what the Danish did. Not only because it is a huge financial operation, but also because an African diplomat who is blond is so unexpected situation that is the most eloquent one to show how African context is absurd.
In this festival there are few African participations like Tahrir 2011 by Egyptian trio Amr Salama, Ayten Amin and Tamer Ezzat who tell the story of the Egyptian uprising.
Very acclaimed Senegalese filmmaker Moussa Sene Absa will be also presenting his new documentary Yoole, the sacrifice in the Slide Show parallel section. The filmmakers addresses the tragedy of young Senegalese migrants challenging the death in the Atlantic ocean because of their dream of a better life.

See also : http://www.africareview.com/Arts+and+Culture/A+telling+story+from+Africa+screens+at+Amsterdam+fete/-/979194/1273330/-/taw6h8z/-/index.html

African cinema under the spotlight in Abu Dhabi

In Abu Dhabi International Film Festival not only North African films are celebrated because they have an Arab cultural connection, but also South Africans do have a chance to be awarded. This is what the fifth edition held from October 13th to 22nd showed this year.
Last October 21st, two winners of this big Arab film venue were South Africans. Jayashree Basavaraj was awarded the price of the Best Actress ($20,000) for her performance in n Lucky, directed by Avie Luthra. While Skeem by Tim Greene got the Audience Choice Award, a modicum sum of ($50,000).
The first price is not surprising. It was given by a jury made of professionals. The second is really unexpected. The public of Emirates is not especially familiar with African stories. Not to mention that the audience in this festival is mainly made of festival guests and foreigners.
The most probable explanation of this price is the existence of a big Indian community in this Arab country. The South African actress, who is from Indian origins, should have had a particular attraction on the Indian public who attended the screening.
Out of this surprising success of South African films, the northern ones were not so lucky. Except Asmaa by Egyptian Amr Salama who left with a nice amount of three awards: Best Director from the Arab World, Best Actor, et Best Producer.
It was not the case of Tunisian participation. Only veteran Ridha Bahi got the price of best producer for his film, Always Brando. The Moroccan also got only one price. It was the one of the best director in the international competition.
The Moroccan participants were deeply disappointed. Not only because one single price is not enough for an emergent film industry but also for political reasons. They contested the price of best actress attributed to Memona Mohamed in Tears of Sand directed by Pedro Pérez Rosado from Spain.
The reason is that the actress is from the Western Sahara and the film is shot in the camps of Tindouf in Algeria. It tells the story of a woman who is not allowed to visit her family in the camps neither in the territory of the Sahara which is under the Moroccan control.
Couple of days earlier, the delegation threatened the organization of a collective withdrawing if the film is not put out of the festival. The Moroccan participation is most important Arab one this year. It is made of five features, few shorts and many journalists. Ismail Ferroukhi was awarded the price of the Best Director ($50,000) for his film called Free Men.
Moroccans found that the purpose of the film is against the interest of their country. Showing the bad conditions of the life in the refugee camp in the desert of Algeria and absurd statu quo situation of a whole society, the film is pamphlet against the Moroccan policy in the region. It was then unacceptable that in addition to that, the actress gets any price.
It seems that the organization of the festival had accepted the objection of the delegation, but the jury had another point of view. By sticking to its sovereignty, it expresses the wish not let politics decide for cinema.

Egyptian stories in big film festivals

The biggest film festivals in the world are programming films from Tunisia and Egypt. It is nice. Never before was it possible to have this chance. But only films about the revolution are programmed. After Cannes and Locarno, Venice and Toronto joined the club of festivals giving an honor to the so-called the Arab Spring through the cinema of the region. The two festivals selected the same film, Tahrir 2011, the good, the bad and the politician, at the same time. The documentary is made by three filmmakers: Tamer Izzat, Ayten Amine and Amr Salema. The three of them were running from a continent to another to meet the public. We called them when they were in Toronto and have the following a chat with two of them.
To the question about the reason of this sudden enthusiasm of festivals for Tunisia and Egyptian films Tamer Izzat thinks that it is more than a mood for the revolution. He admits that the fact that the film is talking about the revolution is an important argument for its selection.
“ But the reaction of the public is in general positive. (He adds) If I see the reviews and the reaction of the public in Venice and here in Toronto, the film is very positively welcomed. What is nice also is that people feel that we are not exploiting the revolution or using it as pretext but we are trying to make a real film.”
This was in Toronto. In Venice also the reaction was very positive according to Ayten who told us about a big ovation before she explains: “I think people could see how things where really going in the revolution. They can see in the film the feelings of the people and what really happened in the streets. This is logic in fact because the three of us participated to the events so we tell story from inside.”
For Ayten, the revolution gave Egyptian films a wonderful chance to be seen. “Egypt, she explains, is not very often present in big film festival. And this is nice for art house films that we are making. This is a documentary film and the producer wants to release it commercially so this is going to be a new experience in Egypt.”
Even though for her, the problem is not only to show films from Egypt and Tunisia, but to make nice films : “ It is not enough, she thinks, that the world sees us but it is also the idea that you have the possibility to make the kind of films you want to make. A lot of films are made about the revolution, but the most important thing is which films deserve to be seen.”
Films of cinema, indeed, should give an image which is closer to the reality than the one showed by media and TV’s. And Tamer Izzat experienced this in the recent years of his own life.
“Ten years ago I was in New York in 9/11 and made a film about the Arabs in USA. There is a prejudice that we see in the world media giving an image of propaganda of the Arabs showing them as violent people.”
According to him films can help looking differently to the Arabs. If films while they are going around can help change this stigmatizing idea even for a little bit, it will be enough and will be already a success.
But things are still not so easy, he likes to comment. “Festivals are special areas and they are not like media. But the revolution in Tunisia and in Egypt and the big interest that this brought to the two countries helped films to be selected and to show something different.”
In his film, Tamer Izzat deals with characters that are not presented by medias as heroes. They are kind of normal people not heroes. He focuses more on spontaneous individuals who participated to uprising.
He follows in this, the idea that the revolution is an event made by everybody. He himself was personally in the Tahrir square and saw that it was not the work of some political activists.
For him it was “the revolution of the people who suddenly felt able to make the change following what happened in Tunisia. I even, he added, chose not to give names to my characters. I wanted to show them with the same spontaneous feeling of the street at that moment. I wish I could have more time and put more characters and give the possibility to everyone to tell his/her own story from the position where s/he was standing in the square or the streets leading to the square.”
To the question about the shooting because some images seem to be taken during the event and others shot after, Tamer and Ayten were in the same situation they told us that during the revolution it was not possible for him to shoot because he was participating to the sit-in like everybody.
In fact images of the event was collected by another filmmaker called Ahmad Abdallah who created a kind of media centre in the square to collect video clips from people who spontaneously made some shooting with cameras, mobiles etc.
Tamer Izzat likes even this experience and considers it a: “very special experience because (he says) I was not in control of the shooting since the beginning. My role was to put together all these images and try to show as authentic as possible the drama that we were facing at that moment.”
The question then is how was the coordination with the two other parts of the film? This was the role of the producer Mohammed Hefdhy who came with the idea of the production already during the sit-in and suggested the concept of the three parts film following the famous western film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Ayten was asked to do the part about the police which seems to be especially interesting for her but at the same time a strange experience. “Police officers in Egypt, she explains, communicate neither in the television, nor in newspapers. This makes things worse because I think that if they could talk, even if we would not agree with them, it would be much better. We could at least have a dialogue but the fact that they are forbidden to talk is very frustrating. That’s why we don’t know anything about them. This was for me the first time I talk to police officers and therefore it was a very strange experience to enter a complete unknown world.”
Indeed the idea of her film is the security forces which are the touch stone of any dictatorial regime. But she didn’t want show them from only one side and give them a human face even though she doesn’t agree definitely with them about a lot of things.
She shows how their situation is complex during the interviews: One of the officers she reports, told me at a certain moment that he also was dreaming of the fall of the regime.”
Then she explained how these people are educated in a way to make them not equilibrated psychologically. They are also frustrated because they are used all the time by others. During the interviews she noticed that sometimes they look very nervous.
She concluded that “They where only educated to look at people who are demonstrating in the street as a danger and a source of trouble in terms of security and they have to do whatever to disperse them even with violence. That’s what they learned at school. So when you are in front of hundreds of thousands of people, you see and know that they are demonstrating peacefully and you have orders to disperse them or even to shoot them, I think that this is a very difficult situation that nobody can judge easily.”
The revolution gave a lot of filmmaker the opportunity to make films and to be selected in big festivals. The question stays if this will be more than a mood or a way to look for sensational images profiting from the actuality.
These filmmakers worked in a very independent way. Will they end up by entering the main stream and commercial cinema? Nothing is sure according to the two filmmakers.
“Commercial cinema in Egypt has a strange construction, says Ayten who prefers to be optimist. I think we are a bit out of it. And still we don’t know how it is going to be in the future. Let’s hope that the revolution will bring a nice change and give more opportunity to everybody.”
Is this going to happen? Nobody really knows.

Director's Bio
Tamer Ezzat studied at the American University in Cairo. He directed the documentaries MakanEsmo el Watan (06), The Place ICall Home (08) and the feature The Ring Road (10). Tahrir 2011 (segment, 11) is his latest film.
Ayten Amin was a second assistant director on the films Zay el naharda (08) and Basra (08). She directed the short film Spring 89 (09). Tahrir 2011 (segment, 11) is her latest film.
Amr Salama was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He is a writer, director, editor and actor. He directed the films Zay El Naharda (08) and Tahrir 2011 (segment, 11).

Turkey ogles at Africa

That African cinema is going around the world is not surprising, but when it comes to a participation in Turkish festivals and moreover to a national events, it becomes intriguing.
The Adana Golden Boll Film Festival was organised from the 17th to the 25th of September in the rich capital of the Turkish south west. This 18th edition tells a bit about the orientation of the Turkish policy towards Africa. In addition to traditional participation of north African films, some black African ones were shown to a curious local public.
That North African films are programmed in such festival, that goes without saying. Looking at the evolution of the situation of these countries, all festivals of the world are celebrating the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and the other still grumbling societies. Quite all festivals are having a section dedicated to the so-called “Arab Spring”.
The participation of some films from the Mediterranean sea was actually a tradition in this festival taking place in a region which is very closed to the Arab world and which has a historical connection with the northern part of Africa. It was a part of the ottoman (Turkish) empire for around five century until the establishment of the European colonization in the 19th century.
What is new this year is the participation of black African films. A Screaming man by Chadian filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun and Soul boy by young Kenyan filmmaker Hawa Essuman took part in the section dedicated to a panorama of international cinema.
Both of them where indeed big success since two years ago. The first was in competition in Cannes film festival and won the jury price; the second discovered in Rotterdam Film Festival doesn’t stop running from a festival to another showing a small Kenyan story.
It is not a lot, one could say. But still for a Turkish film festival, which is moreover a national one, it is quite surprising. The two films do really have an international success, but their presence at that moment precisely, shows a special will to let Turkish audience see African images and to show Africans, that they could be interesting to Turkish people and policy.
The growing economy of turkey needs new areas, and new markets. Just like for china and the western world, Africa is an economical challenge, and culture can always help to make things easier. Yet it is always frustrating to see that culture is only used for other purposes.
Indeed our continent is an object of competition between world’s big powers. After the colonial times and the neo-colonial control of African economies came the times of the way to deal with the concurrence of the Chinese invasion of African soil and markets. The new deal is to face the new Turkish ambition.
With its growing economy, and the strategic role it is willing to play in the renewal of the north African societies, Turkey is a serious concurrent to the traditional hegemonies in Africa. For many reason, it has even a chance to play a leading role.
In the north of the continent it is already quite done. The historical presence and the identity of religion (Islam) in addition to the geographic proximity, help a lot to invade a very liberated markets and temporarily open to all kinds of infiltrations.
For example, the Islamic political parties in both Tunisia and Egypt consider the AKP (party of the actual Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan) as an example of political Islam. In both countries Muslim brotherhood is a serious candidate to get the power and at least to play a key role in the future political system in the two countries.
Already before the revolution, Turkish investments in the region were growing in a notable manner. A Turkish company could win, years ago already, the contract to build the biggest airport in Africa in Tunisia. The new policy in the region is going to strength this orientation and Turkey is going to be the leading country in the process of reconstructing Libya.
This is going to be only the beginning. Once this is insured, the hegemony will be willing to extend its presence in the black continent. We would see in the near future Turkish Prime Minster going around in sub-Saharan countries with hundreds of Turkish businessmen and investors. There is no hope to see in the delegation one single filmmaker or producer, this is for sure.
Films are only nice to show in temporary events as entertainment. When it comes to serious things like investing, buying and selling, these people are useless. Will filmmaking or distributing ever be of some kind of interest for politics, this is not going to be tomorrow.
However a film festival can very often reveal the strategic, political and economic orientations of a country.
Read Also http://www.africareview.com/Arts+and+Culture/Turkey+takes+African+cinema+out+on+a+movie+date+/-/979194/1244276/-/13t8qp0/-/index.html

Maghrebian cinema gets its own festival

From the 7th to the 11th September the first edition of the newly established Festival of Maghrebian Cinema will take place in the city of Nabeul (North East of Tunisia). Professionals from the North African countries (but Egypt) are gathering in the very special after-revolution context.
The establishment of new cultural traditions is one of the signs of the changes following the uprisings in the region. Administration has to be flexible and let initiators do. It is no more time for political and bureacratic rigidity.
This is the case in the media for example. But it is also relevant for cultural events like film festivals which existence depended for a long time from the will of the prince and from the political vision of the former regime.
In this context, one could consider the birth of a festival dedicated to the cinema of the Maghreb in Tunisia. In fact it is a re-birth. The festival changed only its focus. It was called the Nabeul Film Nights; it is now re-baptized Maghrebian Film Festival of Nabeul.
Politics and culture
This shift is connected to the will to have a special vision. The festival was a kind of opportunity to create some animation in the touristic city on the northeastern coast of Tunisia. Cultural activities were not supposed to be connected to any political issue unless as a celebration.
The idea of a maghrebian cinema is naturally connected to the project of a geo-political regional union between five countries: Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania.
This was the mood in the 90’s. Many institutions were created, but because of tensions between some leaders, it never went enough further.
At that time a festival of maghrebian cinema was created but it was only one edition and it was never possible to make it again, probably because it reminds people of the fail of the project. And this is a criticism that the regime did never allow: only positive things should be stressed, negative ones had to be hidden.
It is no more critical to talk about the maghrebian dimension for two reason at least: on the one hand, those who used to block are never more in power, and on the other hand, the actual regime in Tunisia needs to show the margin of liberty it gives to civil society.
As far as it works
In this context we witness the re-birth of a maghrebian film festival in Tunisia thanks to the energy of a young group surrounding a young filmmaker, Anis Lassoued.
Profiting from the general atmosphere of freedom, the organizers seem to move up a gear by anticipating a come back to the initial regional plan of united Maghreb. From that point of view they stick to a deep feeling of the maghrebian populations.
As for the program it is made of three important sections. One is the official competition for short and feature maghrebian films. The other two non-competitive sections give an idea about the challenge of the festival.
A section is dedicated to the connection between Europe and the Maghreb. It focuses on films made in the frame of the immigration, which plays a big controversial role in the identity of these populations.
The third section is not less controversial. It is dedicated to the amazigh cinema: Amazigh is the name of the original identity of the people in the Maghreb, called also Berbers.
Generally these two aspects are subject of very vehement debates in Tunisia because they oppose the arab dominating identity. Tunisia stands right in between the two geographic and cultural poles: Maghreb (West) and Mashrek (East).
All about bounderies
The more you go to the west the more the Berber culture and language are stronger. In Morocco, around 80% of the population speaks amazigh, mostly in the region of the Rif (Atlas mountain). In Algeria, a big population in the region of the Kabylie and in the desert speaks Berber. In Tunisia only few isolated villages speak the old language.
Arab nationalists accuse those who point at this aspect of being brain washed by the western colonizer whose “complot” is to divide the Arab World. For a long time it was not easy to evocate this subjects on the name of the national unity.
When recently an association was created to rehabilitate the Berber language and the cultural heritage of Berbers in Tunisia, there was a big controversy on social media.
The Berber identity was always occulted and a lot of them feel frustrated. Some people would be even more radical and call for a cultural genocide because of the disappearance of the language.
This is perhaps the key-role of any revolution: to call for a reset of all clocks. And the cinema is again one of the main actors this cultural reset.
Wether it is worth it or not, this is a different ball game
See also : http://www.africareview.com/Arts+and+Culture/-/979194/1233018/-/c82155z/-/index.html

Libya: the end of the end

Unbelievable but true, Gaddafi felt.
With the international direct involvement we knew that it will come but there was still some scepticism. Now it is done.
Never two without three: It was quite quick the change in Tunisia and then in Egypt. Libya took a bit more time but it had to stand in the line.
Since months ago began the end of Gaddafi regime in Libya. The last hours the forty years in power, colonel Gaddafi, reached the bottom of his fall.
For a lot of people this is was unimaginable few months ago. But the facts are there.
Tripoli is surrounded and the zone under the control of the regimes force is becoming more and more narrow.
More painful, is the arrest of the sons. Three of them are already in the hands of the rebels. They are the first circle of personal protection of Gaddafi.
The former leader who was received by the world leaders like Tony Bler, Nicolas Sarkozy and Barak Obama, is now called the haunted “ dog of the middleeast”.
What then ?
The big question started to be asked with a serious insistence: how will it be after the end of the rebellion?
For sure there will be a transitional process, and like in all conflicts, there will be a huge plan to rebuilt the country.
The process started already in the two neighbours Tunisia and Egypt. It was not possible for Libya to stand there as an old regime between two new ones.
The photo would not be homogenous.
We knew that there will be a domino effect, now we witness it concretely.
Three of the five countries of the North of Africa are living a historical change.
The world will never be the same after that. It is not only a problem of a one country, one region, and one continent. It is the affaire of the whole world.
But Libya is a special case
Of course the whole world is concerned, but Libya is espeically interestes less on terms of democracy or human rights, but for economy.
This country is one of the biggest countries in Africa on terms of size (two million square kilometers, while tunisia, as a matter of fact is only 165000 S. klm)
It is a huge and a very rich country for a population of only 6 millions. The problem until now is that the welth was profiting only to the family of the leader Gaddafi.
Libya is one of the biggest producers of oil. It owns 3% of the global reserve and produces one million barils per day from a very good quality.
With all these caracteristics, the country could be like one of the richest Golf Emirates.
Once free from the dictatorship, and the welth democratically and equitably administrated, not only the country will emerge from fourty years of darkness, but the whole region will propser.
There however obstacles
In ashort a period the world is witnessing a the quickest changes in human history. And there is a kind of model of transition’ s proces.
After the fall of a regime, a country needs a ptransitional periode: it will be run by a group of interim governement of technocrates.
This is necessary to prepare a new constitution that is going to supply the green book of Gaddafi and establish the new political framework of the country.
This schema looks handy out of the reality. For many reasons, it is not as obvious as it looks.
The regime of Gaddafi didn’ t built any institution that could hold the construction of a united nation nor a society.
Out of the rouling family, the rest of the population is divided in around eighty tribes.
These are not going to gather for a long time. They look united right now around one idea: let’s get rid of the dictator and after that we will see.
New political paysage
One should not forget that the rebels are not obviously united. They are armed but they don’ t have have one real comandement.
Symbolically, they are represented by a kind of“council” but on the field they are groups of armed fighter pushed by only one desire: force Gaddafi to surrender or to flee.
Once this is done, it will be really complexe to birng a new order.
In addition to the ethnic confusion, the country is distorced by two big political tendencies.
The libyan nationalisme is going to emerge as a reaction to decennias frustration because of the arab nationalisme somehow developped by Gaddafi.
The islamisme is having a huge influence on a society where education was never considered as a priority by the former regime.
Like in Tunisia and egypte, and perhaps more, the religious feeling in the libyan society is very strong and could be fertile ground to grow an explicite islamic regime like in Iran or like the regimes in the arabic Golf.
Libya in the region’s
Because of the former dicatorship, Libya was allways isolated as a society. It never succeeded to connect to any regional configuration.
The first tendency was the arab nationalism. Gaddafi’s first idol was Naceur, the Egyptian leader with whom he tried to work out a kind of union or coalition.
Once this latter disappeared, he turned to toher side and tired to build a union with Tunisian leader Bourguiba in the 70’s.
None of these plans could lead to any construction first of all because of the lunatic character of the person.
Even the Maghreb Union between the five countries of North Africa (except Egypt) could never be effective because of the lake of empathy between the leaders.
His last plan was the Union of African Nations. It led also nowhere because it never had a real fundement but was based on capricious megalomaniac and pathetic search of leadership.
New dreams
A new Libya with a new political framework could lead to new real regional plans that could profit to the all populations.
The Maghreb union could be relouched with new perspectives. Three on the five members would achieve their democratic process. After Mauritania, few years ago, it is now time for Tunisia and lately Libya.
A new democrtic Libya could have a leading economic role for the region.
It was already a workers host country. A lot of Egyptians, Tunisians, Somalian, Chadian… used to make their living by working in Libya.
One could easily imagine that a free rich country will offer a lot of opportunities to investors and workers of the region.
Will Libya be for the north of Africa like South Africa for its South? Nothing is less obvious regarding many parameters.
The most important of them is the political islamism that everybody fears.
Until now in Tunisia and Egypt, there is a kind of fight between Islamism and secularisme.
The two countries have a strong progressist elite which is able to resist to the strong religious feelings and foreign influence
It is not sure that the same balance is possible in Libya.
The big challenge
The dream of democracy and prosperity has a big handicap: the islamist influence coming from the east and precisely from the wahhabite version led by Saoudia Arabia.
Historically there was always a will not to let the Maghreb countries progress out of the saudian influence as a centre of Sunnite version of political Islam.
The wahhabism stands behind the emergence of the islmaic political movements called: “Muslim Brotherhood” and fights against the Shiite growth.
The first is led by Saudia Arabia and the rich countries surrounding it; the latter by Iran and now by the new Iraqi Shiism.
In North Africa the wahhabism has always a huge influence through different programs of help and investment in the region.
The uprising is a danger if it leads to real democratic regimes. But at the same time it is an opportunity to control it completely by boosting islamist partys to power.
This can be already obviously witnessed in Tunisia where the muslim brotherhoods movement, Annahdha is showing a big financial strength and quite invading the country.
Rumours say that the party is financed by the Quatari and Saudian govenements in order to take the power in the country.
The same Qatar is directly participating to the international military operations against Gaddafi.
There is a big paradox in this revolution. The uprising is tending to two opposite directions.
On the one hand, it is winking to the modern democratic western ideas by association to the western big democracies.
On the other hand, it can’t get rid of the reactionaries ambitions of the religious influence.
Two scenarios are possible: a bizarre synthesises of the two like it is in the Golf countries or a continuous unrest not to say a civil war.
What is sure is that we are going to wait for a while until we see something really coming out of this mess.

African Scarface in Amsterdam

After Berlin last February, and Los Angeles, San Francesco and NYC last May, Viva Riva by outsider producer and director Djo Tunda Wa Munga is following its European cruise. From 10 August to 21 August, it is the only African film competing for the two prizes of the World cinema Amsterdam,Netherlands.
Congolese filmmaker Jo Munga is one of those filmmakers who can still show some African colours on world screening. He is well known as a documentary producer and did well in particular with Congo four acts, the collective film directed by Dieudo Hamadi, Kiripi Katembo Siku et Divita Wa Lusala and also with State of mind by Munga Tunda Djo
It is all about Congolese stories like Viva Riva the new film, which is a feature film inspired by the underground life of Kinshasa. After helping other directors to tell their stories it seems that Jo Munga wanted to tell his own.
The film seems to be intended to be more entertaining for the audience. The filmmaker put all ingredients together; fight between gangsters, a lot of action and shooting, music and dancing scenes in Kinshasa’s night clubs and slums, quite hard erotic scenes. All the action is compiled according to a romantic love story and melodrama involving two main characters Riva (Patsha Bay) the good burglar and Nora (Manie Malone) the fatal beauty of the city. It’s all about love, money and criminality.
If the film is made of a very stereotyped crime thriller story, yet it is also deeply inspired by the real life in Kinshasa. The actors, coached by French actress Sandrine Bonnaire look sincere and authentic.
A lot of scenes are shot in real locations and with real people and give the film a documentary dimension: scenes of the city, gas stations, and bus stations for instance create the atmosphere of the film. All these are real images contrasting with the violent and erotic scenes which are more like a fantasia.
The film is typical Nollywood product: a mixture of the African reality on the one hand, and the cliché scenes from Hollywood gangster films like Scarface by Hawks, Reservoir dogs and Pulp Fiction by Tarantino.
Yet all of this gives an idea about the life and the dreams of young Congolese and Africans of these days. The film got six trophies at the 7th African Academy Film Award 2010.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/LifeStyle/Theatre+++Cinema/-/691234/1221754/-/6kb1sa/-/index.html

Special Ramadan in North Africa

Since January this year, and the eruption of North African societies, everybody knows that nothing is going to be like before.
Since Monday the first Ramadan after the revolution began in the cacophony of the political debates and the rise of the foodstuffs prices. Freedom has indeed another taste, isn’t it?
Ramadan is the holy month for Muslim societies. It is supposed to be very peaceful time for pray and human solidarity. It seems that the spiritual mood is going to be mixed with the will of changes.
Ironically what the people see right now as the most concrete change is how prices of food are absurdly and extremely high. The basic element is quite unaffordable for the ordinary Tunisian or Egyptian.
One cannot think of it without considering the objective situation in which millions of people are like trapped by conflicts and live in a kind of an open air prison.
Algerians are under the pressure of a political regime which is not ready to concede any margin of change unless it comes from it. The opposition would have tried to make the population move but had no success.
In morocco, Mohamed VI, made a big effort by announcing a big political reform daring even to give the executive power a bigger margin.
Still a big part of the opposition considers it not enough. Some radicals are even calling for a continuous uprising. The country is divided but the majority stands after the beloved king.
In Libya , where the revolution is still going on with the very problematic help of the NATO, the holy month will be a month of fight and war. Gaddafi and his clan are more and more weak.
The end of the Libyan leader is probably coming within the end of the holy month. Insurgent are already dreaming of a double celebration: the religious fete and the fall of the dictator.
Countries like Tunisia and Egypt, where dictators belong already to a bygone era, are not necessarily privileged. It seems that the mechanics of change are facing some dysfunction.
After Mubarak en Ben Ali left the power, interim government were established in both of the two countries. Their mission is to watch after the democratic transition.
It doesn’t simply work. People are back to the streets. They call for the justice and for the change which they are not seeing any concrete sings.
There are elections planned is September for the one country and in October for the other. A process is going on with the international dubious financial sustain despite demonstrations, despite screams from here and there.
There will be elections, but only a small part of the population believes in it.
Less than two million Tunisians are officially registered in the elective lists until now. The deadline of inscription was postponed in order to get more people in.
In Egypt , people are back to the streets to force the highest military institution in charge of the country to act according to the promises made right after Mubarak stepped out.
There is one common point to all these situations: the politics are doing without that the people gets really involved in the process.
Politic doesn’t really have a direct connection with the real and daily life of the people. This latter is aware of it.
Politicians are debating and going on with a process despite the suffer of the poor, the despair of the youth, the anger of the intellectuals and the frustrations of those who naively believed in a possible and fair change.
If change there will be, it will never be the one of politicians. The main important thing remains the change of the way people from now on are going to think.
Until this is going to have any influence on the politic, these societies are going to waste one or two generations .... at least.

COMMUNIQUÉ DE THALA DE SOUTIEN AU PROJET DE FONDS PANAFRICAIN DU CINEMA

Les organisations cinématographiques et culturelles tunisiennes soussignées présentes aux 7eme rencontres cinématographiques de Hergla, invitées de Thala en Tunisie (27-31 juillet 2011) et la direction des rencontres ont décidé, à partir de cette ville phare de la révolution tunisienne, de saisir cette occasion pour réaffirmer leur soutien au Projet de « Fonds Panafricain du Cinéma » .
Ce fonds dont l’initiative a été lancée conjointement par l’OIF, la FEPACI et le syndicat des producteurs de films tunisiens à l’occasion du Festival de Cannes 2010, répond à une demande de longue date de la Fédération Panafricaine des Cinéastes (FEPACI) née sur le sol tunisien en 1970 à l’occasion de la 3ème session des « Journées cinématographiques de Carthage ». Ce projet vient couronner les efforts et la vision de Tahar CHERIAA élu cette année là Président d’Honneur de la FEPACI en tant qu’ inlassable militant tunisien qui a voué sa vie à la promotion du cinéma panafricain.
Ce projet a pu commencer à prendre corps grâce au soutien de son excellence Monsieur le Président Abdou Diouf, secrétaire Général de l’Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) qui, répondant à une demande de la FEPACI a accepté, bien que le champs prévu pour ce Fonds soit plus large que celui de ses états membres, que l’OIF , forte de son expérience dans le soutien aux cinémas africains, apporte son appui logistique à la mise en place de ce « Fonds Panafricain ».
C’est ainsi que l’OIF a pris en charge entre autres les frais d’une « étude de faisabilité » qui a été présentée conjointement par la FEPACI et par l’OIF aux dernières « Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage » en octobre 2010.
C’est ainsi que lors des JCC 2010 a eu lieu une première assemblée avec les cinéastes africains et de futurs sponsors et possibles partenaires du Fonds, organisée par L’OIF et La chambre syndicale nationale des producteurs de films, où une première étude du Fonds a été présentée aux intéressés.
A l’étape suivante, en mars 2011, à l’occasion du Festival Panafricain du Cinéma et de la Télévision (FESPACO) de Ouagadougou, les représentants de la FEPACI ont alors lancé un appel à l’implication directe du Président Abdou Diouf, pour qu’il veuille bien accepter d’être leur ambassadeur auprès de plusieurs chefs d’Etat africains, pour proposer que leurs pays soient parmi les premiers donateurs de ce Fonds.
Pour concrétiser cet appel le Président de la FEPACI, feu Charles Mensah, accompagné de Monsieur Ferid Boughedir, historien du cinéma africain, membre fondateur de l’Association des Cinéastes Tunisiens, (elle même fondatrice de la FEPACI) ont été alors reçus le 26 mai 2011 par le président Abdou Diouf au siège de l’OIF pour lui remettre une requête écrite en ce sens. le Président Abdou Diouf l’avait acceptée avec une généreuse motivation en tant que Promoteur de toujours de la culture et de la création artistique en Afrique.
Pour toutes les raisons citées plus haut, nous basant sur le fait que la Tunisie est historiquement à la fois membre fondateur de la FEPACI et membre fondateur de l’OIF , les organisations cinématographiques et culturelles tunisiennes soussignées, souhaitent présenter leurs plus vifs remerciements au Président Abdou Diouf pour son appui à ce projet, qui représente une extension Panafricaine à l’actuel effort que fait la Tunisie au lendemain de sa révolution, pour organiser le soutien à son cinéma et son audiovisuel sur des bases industrielles protégées et viables, en développant l’auto –suffisance financière et la nécessaire coopération Sud-Sud.
A cette occasion, les organisations cinématographiques et culturelles tunisiennes présentes à Thala en ce mois de juillet 2011, proposent que, pour les multiples motivations évoquées précédemment, et conformément aux recommandations de l’étude de faisabilité, la Tunisie puisse accueillir le siège officiel du Fonds en terre africaine, sachant que l’unité autonome de gestion du fonds sera basée à Paris, à proximité de l’OIF qui en assurera le contrôle financier. Aussi, les organisations cinématographiques et culturelles tunisiennes soussignées s’engagent à mettre tous leurs efforts en commun pour l’organisation et la mise sur pieds de cette future représentation officielle qui ne peut qu’être utile aux cinémas de notre continent.

Vive le projet de Fonds Panafricain du cinéma,
Vive le Cinéma tunisien,
Vive la Fédération Panafricaine des cinéastes
Signé :
Pour le Syndicat National des Producteurs de films, Lotfi Layouni
Pour l’Association des réalisateurs de films (ARF), Khaled Barsaoui
Pour l’Association des cinéastes tunisiens (ACT 2011), Amine Chiboube
Pour le Syndicat des Techniciens Intermittents de l’Audiovisuel, Habib Mestiri
Pour l’Association tunisienne des jeunes de l’audiovisuel, Manel Balti
Pour l’Assocition tunisienne des techniciens intermittents du cinéma et de l’audiovisuel, Khaled Ben Aziza
Pour la Fédération tunisienne des cinéastes amateurs, Adel Abid
Pour l’Association tunisienne pour la promotion de la critique cinématographique, Soundess Zarrouk
Pour L’Association culturelle Afrique -Méditerranée, Mohamed Challouf
Pour l’Association Thala Solidarité, Noureddine Bourogaa

Hergla à Thala

Rencontres Cinématographiques de Hergla
7° Session à Thala du 27 - 31 Juillet 2011
Programme
Mercredi 27 juillet 21.30
Soirée d’Ouverture
Projection des films :
VERS LE NORD court métrage fiction de Youssef Chebbi (Tunisie-France 2010, 16 min)
ISTANBUL court métrage animation d’ Idil Ar (Turquie 2010, 3 min 15’’)
LEZARE court métrage fiction de Zelalem Woldemariem (Ethiopie 2010, 14 min)
Concert du groupe de DIDIER AWADI (Sénégal, Congo, Cameroun, Gabon)
Jeudi 28 Juillet 21.30
- Performance Musicale de Thala
-Sélection 2011 de courts métrages africains et méditerranéens de Tunisie, Turquie, Italie, France, Albanie, Liban, Espagne, Algérie.
Vendredi 29 Juillet 21.30
Soirée documentaires
1- Projection du film INDOCINE, SUR LES TRACES D’UNE MERE (Benin, France, 2010, 71 min) d’Idrissou Mora Kpai en présence du réalisateur invité spécial des Rencontres et responsable de l'atelier de formation documentaire.
2- Hommage à OMAR AMIRALAY, documentariste syrien, disparue en janvier 2011.
Projection de VIE QUOTIDIENNE D’UN VILLAGE SYRIEN (1974, 85 min) de Omar Amiralay, et Saadallah Wannouss film censuré pour plus de 30 ans.
Samedi 30 Juillet
Soirée spéciale FEDERATION TUNISIENNE DES CINEASTES AMATEURS
1- Projection de films courts métrages produit par la F.T.C.A.
- LE TUNNEL de Ridha ben Hlima
- SANS PLOMB de Samy Tlili
- Le MUR de Fathi Ben Slama
- LA GAMELLE de Maher ben Khlifa
- La CARAPASSE de Sabrine Hrira
- Grain de Lait Grain de Vie d’Imen Nafti
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2- Projection en présence de l’auteur du film IMAGES SACCADEES (Tunisie, 2011, 87 min) de Habib Mestiri produit Par Multimédia 2000
Dimanche 31 juillet
Soirée hommage à la Palestine
En la mémoire du pacifiste italien VITTORIO ARRIGONI assassiné a Gaza par des extrémistes.
1- Projection du documentaire RESTONS HUMAINS (Palestine, Qatar, 2011, 55 min) Al Jazeera Documentary.
2- Projection du film AISHEEN (Suisse, Qatar, 2010, 85 min) de Nicolas Wadimoff sélection officielle au Festival de Berlin 2010, Prix du jury œcuménique.
3- Lancement de 50 montgolfières lumineuses en hommage aux martyres des révolutions arabes.
La manifestation prévoit aussi des ateliers de formation pour enfants et pour jeunes dans le domaine de l’image, elle propose des rencontres et discutions autour du petit déjeuner entre les participants au festival et les invités de la manifestation : Dominique Wallon ancien directeur du CNC, Didier Awadi musicien et cinéaste, Idrissou Mora Kpai cinéaste, Olivier Barlet critique de cinéma, Kamel Regaya documentariste, Habib Mestiri cinéaste et producteur.

Saint-Petersburg Best of the best

ST. PETERSBURG INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL “KINOFORUM”

JULY 10-15, 2011

During the magnificent period of white nights from July 10 till July 15 St. Petersburg will host the St. Petersburg International Film Festival “KINOFORUM” with the support of the government of St. Petersburg. It will be a world-scale film festival. The president of the Film Festival is the People’s Artist of Russia, film director and script-writer Alexey German. He is the author of the world-renown, absolutely brilliant films.

114 films from 27 countries were included in the Kinoforum program. 57 films at the Kinoforum were represented by their directors and film crews.

About 40 000 people came to the cinemas and halls where the Kinoforum films were screened. The screenings took place in 6 cinemas, Mikhailovskiy theater and special venues, including an open theater at Arts Square.
Kinoforum was covered by 750 journalists from all over the world.

More than 700 guests attended the Kinoforum: directors, producers and actors from more than 50 countries.



Saint Petersburg prize for the contribution to the cinematography was awarded to classic of the Soviet and Russian cinema, director Marlen Khutsiev.

The prize was given by chairwoman of the Kinoforum organizing Committee Alla Manilova.


FIPRESSI (International Federation of Film Critics) prize for outstanding contribution to the world’s cinematography at the 2nd Saint Petersburg International Kinoforum was awarded to Marlen Khutsiev
The prize was given by program director Andrey Plakhov.


Members of the competition Best of the Best jury distinguished film “Le Havre” of director Aki Kaurismiaki for the humanism of director’s intentions and high-level artistic performance.

Grand Prix of the 2nd Saint Petersburg International Kinoforum was awarded to Irani director Asgar Farkhadi for film “Nader and Simin, a Separation” .

The prize was given by the chairman of the competition jury, writer and scriptwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov.

In 2011 this film was awarded Golden Bear and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at Berlin International Film Festival.

According to the results of audience voting films of the competition program Best of the Best Audience Choice Awards were given:

The third award was given to film “The Hunter” of director Bakur Bakuradze.

The award was given by member of the jury, president of non-commercial company Toronto Russian Film Festival Valeriy Kogan.

The second award was given to film “Por el Camino/Beyond the Road” of director Charlie Braun.

The award was given by member of the jury, director of Russian department of The Walt Disney Company Maria Zhigalova-Ozkan.

The first and main Audience Choice Award was given to Aki Kaurismiaki for film “Le Havre”.

The award was given by member of the jury and journalist Svetlana Sorokina and artist Vadim Zakharov
In the competition program «New Territories» Best Film Award was given to film «Black Blood» of Chinese director Miaoyan Zhang.



The award was given by members of the jury: founder of Berlin International Film Festival Ulrich Gregor and actress Dinara Drukarova.

Best Director Award in the competition program «New Territories» was given to director from Sri Lanka Sanjeewa Pushpakumara for his film «Flying Fish».


The prize was given by member of the jury: director Ios Stelling and producer Natalia Mokritskaya.
Special Award: Choice of the Jury in the competition program «New Territories» was given to film «Gesher» from Iran, director Vakhid Vakilifar.


The prize was given by members of the jury: artist-decorator, Oscar winner Rodger Kristian and actress Ornella Muti.


The organizing committee of the 2nd Saint Petersburg International Kinoforum awarded a special prize to film from non-competition program «Devil’s Double» of director Lee Tamahori.

Fairouz - HOLLANDFESTIVAL

Fairouz - HOLLANDFESTIVAL

Fairouz in the Koninklijk Theater Carré Amsterdam

The Holland Festival 2011 gives honor to whom honor is due, after the legend Fela Kuti, the libanese Angel, Fairouz.
In March the 2nd, in one single hour, the concert was sold out. In the black market, prices reached 300 euros.
The Libanese Diva "... is widely known as the Angel of Lebanon. Legendary singer Fairouz is revered throughout the Middle-East and beyond. She performed in all the major cities of the Arabic world, in world cities such as London, New York and Paris, but never before in Amsterdam. Fairouz is unique in weaving together the diverse traditions of the Arab world with her passionate songs of love, loneliness and longing. She is heard in the shops, taxis and tea houses from Bagdad to Casablanca, from Rabat to Rotterdam and from Jerusalem to Paris. Fairouz is with¬out a doubt the most famous and popular singer in the Arab world. A classic concert in the making." dixit Carré

http://www.hollandfestival.nl/page.ocl?pageid=43&show=4456

Odious aid to Tunisia and Egypt!

It is certainly not a pure coincidence that the Tunisian Prime Minister went to France and met President Nicolas Sarkozy few days only before the G8 in Deauville. This was part of the preparations for the summit that decided to grant 14 billion to Tunisia and Egypt as a financial aid to the transition process in which both countries are engaged. However, this aid is part of an international policy based on the mechanism of the so-called "odious debt" and has always been an instrument of support to the former regimes. I am against this aid to Tunisia ... Why?

- Because I think that this is an intolerable contradiction: the G8 does not intend to change its policy toward these two countries and review the logic of the international debt, it accordingly cannot be consistent with itself and support any change as their populations are claiming? The G8 has in fact never listened to the people, it always lent ear only to corrupted regimes as far as they serve its interest.
- Because all economists around the world say it: international debt is odious in the sense that it is an instrument against the development of those countries that perceive it, whereas it is supposed to help them emerge and prosper. It is rather a non-equitable investment under the laughable label of development assistance; International community takes with one hand much more than what it gives with the other.
- Because it is so absurd to appear as a benefactor when one asks Tunisia to pay installments according to an agreement contracted with the former regime from which the West, now, dissociates itself and behaves as if it has never been its accomplice neither had it supported while being perfectly on the lookout of its corruption. According to what kind of common sense can a country, which economy is almost on its knees, be asked to pay 411 million US dollar? It is even more absurd when everybody admits at the same time that it needs much more consistent financial assistance to go over the transition period that will lead to a new era of democracy and economic recovery.
- Because the one who negotiate this "aid", in this case the Tunisian prime minister whose nomination is not the result of democratic elections. It is a remnant of the old regime with which the "democratic forces" the world's most powerful and richest countries of the West had made a deal in order to plunder the riches of the Tunisian people.
- Because it is an absurd contradiction to go on negotiating with a government that still practices the censorship of the press, arrests protesters, refuses still to handle cases of corruption involving officials of the former regime and continues to repress peaceful demonstrations with violence using batons and teargas,...
- Because the West still chooses the policy of the ostrich and prefers to be deaf and blind. It still refuses to listen to the voice of the Tunisian people, not even being fairly consistent with the reports of its own secret services on the actual situation of this people and still prefers to deal with political elite just for that it provides an order in favor of its own benefit. No matter the Youth and its aspirations, neither the real and true development. Whatever the reason for which young people died, it doesn’t really matter. No matter what the streets of Tunisia says about the transitory government accusing it of betraying its revolutionary aspirations and its trust.
- Because what matters first and foremost is to stop the flow of emigration and illegal immigration. What matters also is the voracity of multinational corporations continuing pump with impunity, like blood-leeches, the money of poor people.
- Because the world politics has its hands tied by corporate power and lobbies. Western governments have elections and must above all be thinking about financing their companions. Because after all, each is firstly interested in cleaning its own porch and what utterly counts for everyone is the next election.
- Because what counts is a arrangement between an international policy committed to serve multinationals of the most powerful and richest countries and the political elite of the “poor” ones who, either voluntarily, corruptly or even by necessity, is forced to play a role in the farce of post colonialism and serve as a simple instrument to an international order necessarily crappy and unfair.
- Because it is unfair that the French government, which hosts the G8, wants to still play the role of protector of the Tunisian people. The same government was surprised not long ago in the act of giving yet another stab in the back of Tunisians supporting logistically Tunisian police to quell the protesters, many of which were dying in the streets of Tunisia. And is thought right that wrong by appearing in the role of one who stands up for those with Tunisian creditor who seek to actually push this country further in debt he could never fulfill.
- Because guardianship, we know from the Protectorate of 1881 [1] which legalized the settlement, has never served if the guardian himself. Even with the old regime, support was falsely hypocrite because he has never relied on aid real desires but on common interests of small and even small stones too Catholic: Southern elites s enrichment at the expense of their populations, the North on the back of everybody. The former are eventually reduced ultimately to the status of small bundles villains thieves hiding in the secret drawer of the libraries they probably do not read books, others are misrepresenting as benefactors of the disadvantaged people and support them in their uprising .
But I'm mostly against this international assistance to Tunisia because he does not seem to me equally clear that Tunisia needs, the least we can say that more aid is malicious if:
- Because a simple arithmetic operation has shown how it is despicable. The G8, "no matter how generously say" decides to unlock $ 14 billion for Tunisia and Egypt. However, the property of the two fallen dictators, Ben Ali and Mubarak and their families, located mainly in Europe, would amount to 50 billion for the first and 70 for the second. A student's base school will not have to think twice to say without hesitation and that the account is not there.
- Because of the $ 411 million that Tunisia is required to pay (half of each please) to these creditors, mainly the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the European Bank, the Tunisian people can easily recover its economy after two or three years no more.
- Because in spite of this unjust debt and despite the economic and financial hemorrhage which was due to the corruption of its political elite, Tunisia succeeded in developing a rate of around 6% per year [2]. Imagine a time after the revolution, these two burdens are gone. This rate is just going to triple. I am certainly not an economist but the computing operation is again a blindingly obvious.



[1] Date of commencement of the French protectorate in Tunisia.
[2] Almost the same rate as the Brazils or India.