Latest news with #French-Malian
LeMonde
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- LeMonde
At trial over banner targeting Aya Nakamura, far-right activists stand by their actions
On March 8, 2024, as rumors swirled that Aya Nakamura would headline the Olympic Games opening ceremony, around 15 young far-right activists, members of the group Les Natifs, gathered on Île Saint-Louis in the center of Paris to unfurl a banner hostile to the French-Malian singer: "No way, Aya, this is Paris, not the Bamako market!" The slogan referenced lyrics from one of Nakamura's hits ("Djadja") and her birthplace, the Malian capital. Heirs to the far-right group Génération Identitaire, which was dissolved in 2021, Les Natifs – who have 10,000 followers on Instagram and 19,000 on X – specialize in actions involving hostile posters and banners, often targeting immigration or promoting the defense of "European civilization." Recently, activists plastered portraits of Joan of Arc and Sainte Geneviève over images of veiled women displayed at the Basilica of Saint-Denis, in the northern Paris suburb. Posted on their X account and viewed nearly 4.5 million times, the photo of the anti-Nakamura banner was accompanied by a short text lamenting President Emmanuel Macron's supposed plan: "To replace French elegance with vulgarity, to Africanize our popular songs, and to sideline the native population in favor of extra-European immigration." The message demanded that "France be represented by an artist embodying our heritage, our values and our identity!"
LeMonde
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- LeMonde
Thirteen go on trial in France over 'racist' insult targeting singer Aya Nakamura
Thirteen people will appear in a Paris court on Wednesday, June 4, over a "racist" insult targeting French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura, who faced criticism from the far right and harassment over her performance at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. The defendants, linked to extreme-right group Les Natifs (the Natives), are on trial for unveiling a banner in March 2024 that read: "No way, Aya, this is Paris, not the Bamako market" – a reference to Mali's capital, where the singer was born. Nakamura's performance sparked a political firestorm among far-right politicians and conservatives in a reaction French President Emmanuel Macron at the time described as "racist" and "shocking." The 13 defendants, between 20 and 31-years-old, now face charges of publicly inciting hatred or violence – or complicity in such incitement – on the grounds of ethnicity, nationality, race, or religion. Les Natifs espouses the far-right, white nationalist so-called "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory, according to which white Europeans are being deliberately supplanted by non-white immigrants. Nakamura responded to the group's stunt on social media, writing: "You can be racist, but you're not deaf... and that's what really bothers you! I'm suddenly the number one topic of debate – but what do I really owe you? Nothing." The singer and anti-discrimination NGOs filed complaints with the Paris prosecutor's office over the incident, which was investigated by France's anti-hate crimes organization, OCLCH. 'Shock public opinion' The 30-year-old is the world's most listened to Francophone singer, and her July 2024 performance on one of Paris's fabled bridges, the Pont des Arts, was among the most-watched moments of the opening ceremony. But when rumors began circulating in March that the Mali-born and Paris-raised superstar was going to perform, far-right politicians and groups vehemently criticized the decision. An appearance by Nakamura, who mixes French with Arabic and Malian slang, would "humiliate" the country, far-right leader Marine Le Pen suggested, taking aim at her supposed "vulgarity" and "the fact that she doesn't sing in French." Far-right media amplified Les Natifs' banner which they unfurled along the capital's Seine River, another in a series of provocative stunts by the group which it shares with thousands of followers on social media. In March, the group covered portraits of veiled women on display in a church in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis with black sheets. One of the 13 defendants set to stand trial on Wednesday, Stanislas T., 24, will also face charges in that case on Thursday. And in February, they plastered an Air Algeria office in Paris with posters reading "Re-migrate 'light' from France to Algeria, for a one-way ticket with no return" written over a single suitcase. Nakamura's complaint is not the only one stemming from last summer's opening ceremony to head to trial. A French court in May found seven people guilty of bullying Thomas Jolly, the artistic director for the opening ceremony who is openly gay. And five people are to stand trial in September over similar complaints from Barbara Butch, a French DJ and lesbian activist who starred in a controversial scene during the event.
