France
Vive la Republique! (Caveats Apply)
Netflix's "Represent" tells the story of Stéphane Blé, an affable Black 30-something youth worker in the notorious banlieues of Paris who, thanks to a social media fluke, unexpectedly finds himself running for president. A furious battle for what kind of France is possible ensues.
Old White Frenchmen and Me
In my role as a doctoral scholar at MIT, a journey to the government archives in the French city of Nantes felt like a chance to discover the hidden history of the conquest of Morocco. But I found my own identity followed me everywhere.
A Malian Writer Finds a Postmortem Revival
Most academics agree that the plagiarism charges against Yambo Ouologuem fall into a “gray area” as plenty of writers, including T.S. Eliot, have used the same method of intertextuality. But the damage to a brilliant young writer was done — until a French literary event in 2021 set the record straight.
A New French Film Hints at Unity
The left and right have all but disintegrated in France, and most topics have been pushed aside since the war in Ukraine. It is against this backdrop that Alice Diop’s beautiful and profoundly sociopolitical documentary, “Nous” (We), portrays France with clarity and even-handedness.
Kamel Daoud’s Latest Novel Shows the Power of True Art Over Warmed-Over Cultural Debate
The fact that it was the condemnation of Western intellectuals that silenced Daoud and not the Fatwa issued against him by an Islamist cleric in 2015 should give those intellectuals pause.
New Evidence Links a Far-Right French NGO to War Crimes in Syria
A French registered NGO with ties to France’s military and the political far right appears to have funneled money directly to a pro-Assad Syrian militia accused of committing war crimes, Newlines has learned in an 18-month, multicountry investigation that meets the legal threshold for initiating a legal complaint in France.
Where Laïcité Collides with Islam
Behind the French legal code separating state and religion, and why Emmanuel Macron's attempt to incorporate Islam into it is provoking anger among Muslims.