Foreign Films

The Academy Awards are tonight, and there are 2 foreign films nominated that are both fantastic. "Indigènes"--translated as "Days of Glory" is an Algerian-French film about how France recruited soldiers from its colonies to fight on her behalf during WWII. About 3/4 the soldiers came from Algeria, and not only were they on the front lines, but they weren't treated the same, and even afterwards (though this part is not in the film) they were given 1/3 the pension of the French-born soldiers. That law didn't change until Oct. of 2006, after the release of this movie, when Chirac decided that these soldiers who were still living would receive the same compensation.
Another film definitely worth seeing is "The Lives of Others." This is a German film about the Stasi in East Berlin during the 1980s before the fall of the wall. It follows how one couple--a writer and an actress--are suspected of going against the communist government. You learn about the web of under-cover Stasi spys but also the life and conditions under this repressive regime. And I can't say anything else without giving away key aspects of the movie!
Last year's foreign film winner is also exceptional. "Tsotsi" takes place in Soweto, one of the largest black townships during apartheid in South Africa. It is still the only movie after which I watched every single extra feature on the DVD.

Some Paris updates

Okay, to lighten things up...Paris has a small army of green street-cleaning trucks. They are working around the clock, their high-pressure hoses blasting trash, cigarette butts and, of course, dog poop into the gutters. The men running these machines dress in all green and use their green plastic-bristled brooms to sweep everything into the gutters. You'll find old rolls of carpet in the gutters, as they use these to strategically direct the trash-filled water away from one drain and into another. They don't bother picking them up since the very next day or so, they're at it again.

Also, yes it's true that Paris is joining so many other major cities around the world with smoking bans. I really never thought it would happen here. Sipping tiny cups of espresso while diving into philosophical conversation with a cigarette in hand is just so French! But almost a month ago now, Paris has banned all smoking in public buildings and spaces. I'm not sure how it's going, but the even bigger test will hit Parisians on Jan. 1st 2008 when all bars, cafés, restaurants and clubs will be smoke-free.

And just as a side note, I read a movie review yesterday on a film coming out called "Avenue Montaigne." I actually don't know if it's a French or American film, as it's in French with subtitles, with French actors and actresses, but it hasn't released here yet. That makes me think it's American. But what really makes me think it's American was the disclaimer at the end of the movie review: “Avenue Montaigne” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). The film features some characteristically French and French film behavior, including drinking, smoking and trysting. Only until Jan. 1st 2008!

Beyond CP-Time

"...The European and the African have a different conception of time.
"For the Europeans, time lives outside of man, existing objectively. According to Newton, time is absolute. The European depends on time, is a subject of it. To exist and function, he must observe time's immobile and unalterable laws. He must respect delays, dates, days, and hours. He places himself inside the laws of time, imposing on him its rigors, demands, and norms. Between man and time exist an irresolute conflict that always ends in the defeat of man; time destroys man.
"Africans perceive time differently. For them, time is a much more open, elastic, subjective category. Man influences the formation of time, on his course and in his rhythm (it's really about man listening and reacting in consent with the ancestors and god). Time is even a thing that man is able to create, because the existence of time is expressed between those who cross each other in a particular event. It's man who decides if that event will occur or not...Time is a result of our action...it is a passive being, always dependent on man..."

(Translated from the book pictured above)

The strictly-observant perspective, written in the 60s, sheds interesting light on some of the present-day dilemas in Africa today. I'm thinking of medical treatments, notably the administration of AIDS-related medications which require a rigid schedule of doses and time-lapses between pills. One of the battles is that Africans (and i make a huge generality...but anyone who has been there certainly knows this generalization to be a relatively legit one!) do not wear watches, nor to do they obey the "laws" of time.
There's no way to wrap up this particular entry...as I just find myself caught in the battle of what should be altered and what should be preserved.

When a Rose Blooms in a Concrete Jungle

I have known Obadyah for 8 years now...and insomuch as I've grown since 1999, it never ceases to amaze me how far he too has come in just those 8 years. Make no mistake, the man is still militant to the core, but I feel blessed to have experienced the other dimensions of him. When I saw him in January, he told me about how he was invited to give a speech to his fellow inmates at the Kwanza celebration in December. He's already received letters and requests for advice and guidance from several prisoners...and as much as he served as a mentor to me, I know those who reach out to him are in good hands. So I want to share this one dimension of Obadyah with anybody who wants to read the following parts of his speech.

"...Kwanzaa isn't just a time of year whereby we come together to validate our culture, reinforce each other az belonging to an extended storied people and legacy...It's also, and most importantly, a time or reweighing and remeasuring self. A time to assess Our progress.
"The foundation of Gwanza is the Nguzo Saba, the seven principles of Blackness. The operature word is principle, which means a rule or a code of conduct. Our principles are determined by Our state of mind. So it's safe to say that if we are living unhealthy lifestyles it is because we are being guided by unhealthy states of mind.
"...I've been here long enough to remember a time when consciousness, self respect, and a genuine unity was more the rule than the exception. A time when no matter the religious or social affiliation We worked collectively to see to it that Our conduct did not negatively impact an environment meanto to exacerbate negativity. In spite of being in prison We cultivated character and principle because our state of mind was that 'where we were' does not determine 'who we are'!
"Today, things are 180 degrees opposite. Respect has waned, and the social influences that were at one time the myth of early nineties rap videos are now a thing of reality manifest in this general prison population...
"Suffice it to say, this ain't no rap video; this ain't the hood; the death sentence that i had, and those i've seen carried out are real! That life sentence, those hundred years, and those multiple decades the kourt handed down to my brothaz here are real! And to accept this is to accept a condition of slavery! Not a slave because someone else says so but because Our state of being reflects it. And that signifies that Our minds have accepted it!
"When properly applied, the Nguzo Saba are the seeds which we cultivate and nurture mentally so that Our actions are the fruits thereof. And when individuals come together to celebrate the principles of Kwanzaa, having applied them, then the colective is exponentially stronger.
"The scroll intimates that 'the truth will set us free.' It is the genesis of healing and growth. It will aid us in the governance of self and enable us to unify, be self-determined, work collectively and assume responsibility, pool our resources to accomplish a purpose, use our creativity to create and not destroy, and to call upon Our faith to assure our paths are correct.
"It is time for us to grow up Brothaz. Time for us to abandon the leisure life of the Black Boy and begin building our foundations az Black Men. Time to start being respect instead of, ostensibly, seeking it from without...We need to strive to be better individuals yearly. Each Kwanzaa celebration should be transcendental in that We continue to grow, thus growing the collective. Many of us have children and if we don't grow up...they will inherit that legacy from us...Somebody must break the cycle. Why not us?
"We exemplify greatness in abundance at times without effort. Imagine what a sustained effort will bring about. I pray these words will sit upon the spirits intended. Our resurrection is possible! Make this Kwanzaa the last Kwanzaa we are less than what we should be, doing less than we could be. With much love, i depart in peace."

Immigration thoughts...

It's no secret--internationally or within these borders--that France has a lot of problems with its immigrant population. During the 1900s, the first large wave of immigrants came in the 50s during the post-war boom. These immigrants were Europeans coming primarily from Italy, followed by those from Spain, Poland, and Russia. They worked in factories and were the target of discrimination at that time. During this time the French government built the first of their "HLM" (habitation de loyer modérée=low-rent housing) for this population. But the 60's saw the French loss of their north-African colonies--Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia--and many French who had been living in these colonies returned to France. While Morocco and Tunisia won their independence without a war, Algeria was a under the French strangle-hold of a colonial system that France was intent on keeping (not surprisingly, also among the world's top five oil and natural gas producing countries). Algeria was designed to be a "little France" across the Mediterranean; the government was run by all French officials, and France's colonization approach of "intregrationism" meant that the language, education, arts, government, and even architecture were all "French" in nature. Yet while the Algerians were to be "incorporated" into the French empire, a huge divide existed between the French in Algeria and the "indigènes"--natives, literally, who were not citizens but "subjects," thereby not entitled to the same rights or civil liberties. Additionally, the cultures just didn't mix. On one hand you had the French intellectuals in their grand houses with large vineyards, demanding secularism and espousing "liberté, égalité, et fraternité"; on the other hand, the Algerians were of a nomadic, Muslim, traditional culture of farmers and herders. The cultures were completely different, and there was a definite choc des civilisations. The entire history of France in Algeria (1830-1962) is particularly bloody, and the independence war was no different, and when the Algerians finally won, the French were forced out of the country by the new government.

The French government intervened enormously to aid their returned countrymen: helped them find work, apartments, education for their children, etc. This was not the case for the second large wave of immigrant factory workers: those from North Africa (primarily Algeria). From the late 50's to '74, France experienced a large economic boom, requiring another huge importation of workers in the 60's and 70's, and the Algerian men arrived to fill those positions. Since they came without their families, in 1974 France passed a law, Regroupement Familial, which authorized the arrival of the worker's wives and children. But the government did little to prepare for this opening of their borders. (Just to clarify, when these immigrants arrived, their visas and identity cards were all stamped with the word "indigène"--a system that carried over from the colony and continued to deny these immigrants citizenship and all that came with it.) Because there was insufficient housing for all these immigrants, shanty-towns sprung up all around the outskirts of the cities where the workers were employed. The government then very quickly put up more HLMs where the immigrant families were moved to when the shanty-towns were razed.

Just taking Paris as one example, the "civil unrest" that occurred a year ago took place in the banlieu, suburbs where the HLMs exist. The population living in the HLMs is still primarily from the former colonies. Kids born in France are French, but their parents are from the "indigène" system. And in France there are so many ways in which this great divide is still evident. These kids grow up speaking Arabic at home and French in school; they aren't Algerian or Moroccan or Sénégalese, but they aren't accepted as truly French either; they still take trips back to Africa to visit their grandparents; their mothers make couscous and cover their heads; they are seeking acceptance to a system that fought so hard to keep them under the French "pied-noir" (black boot...a term referring to the colonists who lived in Algeria); it's no wonder all the French rap comes from the banlieus; they are Muslim and do "sawm"--Ramadan--but rarely go to the mosqué; they smoke and drink when with their French friends, but would never let their parents know they break such rules; their names always give them away.

From North Africa and the Middle East, a Jew, Christian, and Muslim could all have the same name--Mustapha al-Mamoun--but only Muslims refuse to change their names to fit a different culture. This is obvious just looking at the writers' names from these countries: Ismael Ait-Djefar, Kateb Yacine, Assia Djebar, Tahar Ben Jelloun...and then Albert Memmi. Albert is a French name. And he's a Jew from Tunisia. Yeap, he speaks Arabic, yeap his family has lived alongside the Muslims and Christians and Coptes...but his family gave him a French name. Without fail, there is always a way to tell. And that has made discrimination very easy...and very obvious.

Some perspectives want to target Islam as the biggest reason that France's immigrants don't integrate as well as, for example, the Mexicans in America who are primarily Catholic. One organization, "The Middle East Forum: Promoting American Interests" even voices an opinion that, unfortunately, many wouldn't even see as radical: "American minority groups share many basic values with the rest of the country; in contrast, French minority groups tend to have alien values, to think of themselves as a new nation, and even to have hopes of superseding the present Judeo-Christian nation of France." But this morning at the news kiosk, I bought one of France's Le Monde newspaper's publications: Le Monde des Religions. It's a publications series they are doing on 20 keys to understanding the world's main religions. They've already done Christianity, Judaism, and the religions of Ancient Egypt. This month it's Islam. On French radio, you can find 2 Arabe music stations, 1 West-African station, and 2 Caribbean stations. The French "diaspora" is large...and diverse...and I've not even mentioned the French presence in Asia, North, or South America. And for such a little country, it's no surprise that they're struggling in their post-colonial position of now being the hub of immigration for those leaving France's former colonies. Islam is not the problem. A country can't invade another country and expect not to have lasting effects that, eventually, will manifest on their own soil. Interestingly and thankfully, there is an effort here that involves a solid base of teaching, learning, AND preservation.