Journalist at RFI (ex-DW, BBC...), writer, (first book on Bristol's music/art; e-book on African art), I also work on films, as a journalism lecturer, and a contributor to the New Arab, Art UK, etc.
Born in Paris, I was based in Prague, Miami, London, Nairobi (covering East Africa), Bangui, and Bristol, UK. I also travelled to Italy, Haiti, Tunisia, Liberia, Senegal, India, Mexico, Iraq... My passions: Africa, music, arts...
This blog is to share my work and cultural discoveries.
We live at once in a time of great abundance and yet greater scarcity, with the war in Ukraine, for instance, holding up grain shipments to the Middle East and Asia. While millions are on the verge of starvation in Yemen and Afghanistan, people in the west continue to enjoy a world of plenty.
Recognizing that we are living in challenging times, TMR seeks queries/submissions on cuisine/recipes but more than that, stories about family gatherings, immigration, smuggling food, food scarcity, farming, discussion of “controversial cuisines” such as original Palestinian or Lebanese originals vs. Israeli knock-offs. Fusion dishes, regional Persian, Afghan, Kurdish, Jewish cuisines, or borders and food, food in literature are also welcome subjects.
Please submit your query by the 30th of March, or your essay, story, poetry, music, film, art or other creative work no later than the 10th of April, for publication on 04/15/22.
Dears friends, readers, art lovers and fellow writers,
I hope this message finds you all well, despite the terrible world events. Every morning (and many times over night), I wake up struggling to believe that this war continues...
The very little I could do was to write about it and the state of journalism:
A few words on media bias in the coverage of world affairs:
Before this horrible war exploded, my goal for 2022 was to finally travel again, to see the world again, and reconnect. Whether by train, by bus, or even walking, as usual. How sad it is for me to finally get on roads again, after the long imprisonment caused by Covid & Brexit, just when so many others are on the road for all the wrong reasons.
Nevertheless, in January, I went back to Paris and to Marseille, after years without being able to.
Marseille: A city dear to my heart, so much that I decided to be back there as soon as possible!
In March, I also spent a couple of days in London.
I really long for further travels too... In Italy, West Africa, the Caribbean and in Lebanon especially.
For now, this spring, I'll only be able to travel again to France. At the beginning of the summer, I'll finally see Liverpool. If I'm lucky, I’ll then go to Berlin for the Art Biennial, and Italy later on...
In the meantime, I have been travelling by proxy, writing about artists from further away in the world, especially artists interested in activism.
Invited as a guest on an American podcast series about similar issues, centred on fighting racism and neocolonial bias... we discussed issues around Algeria's struggle for equality and France's history of colonialism. Here are the two coming episodes of their new season:
And I was really happy to read that some people somewhere found me inspiring enough to recommend my name for this list, despite the grim international climate that is still affecting me very much...
Hopefully, I’ll have time to write much more soon.
This year has been very labour intensive, especially with teaching 5 modules in journalism and creative media production.
I also hope to produce a few more podcasts…
For now: Thanks for your attention as usual!
If you're in London, Paris, Marseille, Liverpool, Berlin, Venice, around the summer, let's meet up on the road, discuss culture, arts, resistance, change and peace-building!
In France, 60 years ago, the government finally accepted to end the war on Algerians.
Until March 1962, France had lost most of its colonies in Asia and Africa, but still considered Algeria as its due property, despite its local population of 11,5 million indigenous people.
To this day, the largest narrative is that the war wasn’t justified, that Algerians were cruel to the French and took a land that belonged to the settlers. But these settlers had taken this land against people’s will, from 1830, in one of the most violent and longest conquest.
It’s a unique case of apology of colonialism.
I can’t imagine Britain today, crying in public over the loss of Ghana or Nigeria as a legitimate possessions. This idea that French Algeria was a tolerable political possibility is madness.
And it continues to foster neocolonialism.
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It's hard for me to write about this, as my entire family was colonised, reduced to poverty, suffered immensely from violence before, during and after the war, but I was the first child to be born in France.
I did write this piece recently though, - for Al Jazeera English last October:
"Several decades later, Algerians living in France – both bi-nationals and second-generation immigrants – feel that we do not exist in this country where right-wing rhetoric and Islamophobia are dominant and those with multiple heritage are required to renounce their other culture in order to be considered French."
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I’ve also discussed this with the American radio NPR:
I'd like to write more... But it's not easy. And few newspapers / websites / media are covering the subject outside of France, where the narrative is still to not recognise the horror of colonialism but to try to understand "all sides".
As I wrote in October, "at this stage, what I wish for is not ceremonies or even a plan for reparations. The ongoing discrimination and racism against North Africans, the recent decision to reduce the number of visas for people coming from the former colonies, the cases of police brutality resulting in the deaths of people of colour, and the constant discourse feeding Islamophobia show that what we need is a major anti-fascist movement. A few voices have emerged to denounce these developments; they must be amplified not silenced."
So when I thought about writing this column, originally planned to be dedicated to Beirut, I suddenly wanted to bring music from Odesa… Which is part of the Great Middle East, and one of its interesting liminal points, due to its complex past, its Greek roots, long Ottoman and Russian history.
Odesa is today one of the largest cities in Ukraine and also a key part of the resistance against Putin’s troops.
I’ve long been a big fan of Klezmer music, and this city in southern Ukraine played a large role in its development.
‘Goodbye Odessa’ - Yiddish Song
One of my favorite graphic novels retells this history, Klezmer, by the multi-talented Joann Sfar. I’ve read it again and again, and listened to hours of music from Odesa all along…
Klezmer - Joann Sfar
And Sfar has since February 24 been posting illuminating drawing on the situation in Odesa and Ukraine in general, notably on Instagram.
Yet, as the war continues, the military crisis has induced a refugee crisis, and more than a million Ukrainians have since been on the run.
Having worked for years on other refugee crises, I was in shock. However, I couldn’t help but thinking about all the refugees I interviewed in my life, from Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan, Eritrea, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Turkey and West Africa.
Unlike our European neighbours, they weren’t welcome with open arms, unfortunately… My heart goes out to them even more, while some African students have also been stranded in Kyiv and Lviv and refused entry at many borders, rendering them to stay at risk in a war ravaging a country that is not even their home. Among them, many Algerians, and friends of people I know in my mother’s country.
Thus, Beirut seemed relevant again, a city that has recently been through so much horror and still hosts millions of refugees from its neighbouring countries. No crisis should prevail on the others, even though western media constantly cherry-pick what they choose to be headlining.
Sama’ Abdulhadi has been raising money for Lebanon for months now. This series of events will then travel to Berlin and further, if the pandemic still allows. The money will go to Nusaned, a humanitarian, community-based volunteer organisation based in the Lebanese capital, donating 100 percent of the booking fee.
The series is scheduled to culminate in a free, large-scale event in Beirut itself in late 2022.
No need to stress how much music has been important for people in need throughout these past couple of decades of horrible humanitarian crises. Musicians have often been the first to start fundraising, though some of the first to be stricken by the pandemic as well. Sama’ is no exception to this fabulous rule.
“Lebanon is currently in the grip of one of the worst economic crises in the world,” she wrote in her presentation of the events. “Electricity, water, food and medicine are scarce; there has also been a monetary crisis aggravated by hyperinflation for commodities. Beirut is widely regarded as the most important club scene in the MENA region, and despite the crisis caused by the 2020 port explosion, arts and culture are alive and fighting.”
Fighting is the key word here. Fighting back, resisting and taking action, instead of feeling desperate. In the words of the Russian punk singer, Pussy Riots leader and anti-Putin activist Nadya Tolokonnikova “at a time like this, only activism will keep you sane.” (Guardian, March 8, 2022)
In the same way, one of Ukraine’s most famous musicians, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, leader of the Ukrainian group Okean Elzy, also a former politician and now an activist against the war, has been visiting the frontlines to see troops and hospitals, and very active on social media to bring aid to his people.
SOS Ukraine: Svyatoslav Vakarchuk
Sama’ Abdulhadi, whose career exploded via a Boiler Room live broadcast on the streets of Ramallah in 2018, “chose the charity Nusaned to be the recipient of the funds because it is a community-based, humanitarian, voluntary organization, and is not aligned with political factions or religions. It is based in Beirut and close to its people.
“I am launching the ‘Bring Back Beirut’ initiative to help Lebanon get back on its feet,” Sama’ wrote. “Beirut needs us! The region is still destroyed in the aftermath of the 2020 explosion. Beirut is my second home; it’s the place where I found myself in music and where I found my freedom. It’s the least I can do to help bring the situation to light.”
Sama' Abdulhadi: The Palestinian techno queen blasting around the globe
(4:3 by Boiler Room)
Like Sama’, millions of Palestinians and other refugees have called Beirut a second home, and it’s currently left behind. It’s not in the headlines anymore, let alone on constant rotation on mainstream television channels.
As I worked on so many post-conflict situations – in Kenya, in Liberia, in Iraqi Kurdistan, in Central African Republic… I spent almost two decades of my journalism carrier worrying about war that most had already forgotten. I’m tremendously relieved that these musicians haven’t forgotten them either.
In the same way, we won’t forget Svyatoslav Vakarchuk and the Ukrainian refugees.
IWD has always felt important to me, from the day I wrote a dissertation on women's rights since 1945 for university to the many reports I produced as a journalist. It's a day for the advancement of women's rights and for equality. And 2022 feels like an urgent time to work more on these issues, as violence against women keep increasing worldwide and some rights are getting wiped out even in countries near us.
International Women's Day: the 137 most influential women in Bristol right now
We are celebrating International Women's Day
- Bristol Live,
By Estel Farell Roig, Agenda Editor
00:01, 8 MAR 2022 - UPDATED 11:38, 8 MAR 2022
Bristol is home to many influential and powerful women. That is why here, at BristolLive, we wanted to celebrate International Women's Day by recognising some of the women who have contributed to life in the city in the past 12 months.
The list was mainly put together thanks to nominations made online, as well as suggestions from the women featured. We also approached key organisations in the city such as the council, the universities or the health boards.
Our aim has been to celebrate a wide range of women involved in a variety of sectors, showcasing the city's diversity. Listed in no particular order, here are some of the city's most influential women right now:
Melissa is a freelance journalist, audio producer, art/music writer, researcher and lecturer at UWE in Media & Journalism. For years, the 42-year-old worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC World Service and other broadcasters including Al Jazeera.
She came to Bristol to write about the story of its music scene and its link with activism. Since then, she has been invited to teach journalism in Bristol at BIMM, to be the writer in residence at Arnolfini and joined UWE. Melissa also works on podcast and documentary projects.
Melissa now mostly works on multiculturalism, migration and refugee issues, postcoloniality, and North / South relations.
