Journalist at RFI (ex-DW, BBC, CBC, F24...), writer (on art, music, culture...), I work in radio, podcasting, online, on films.
As a writer, I also contributed to the New Arab, Art UK, Byline Times, the i Paper...
Born in Paris, I was based in Prague, Miami, London, Nairobi (covering East Africa), Bangui, and in Bristol, UK. I also reported from Italy, Germany, Haiti, Tunisia, Liberia, Senegal, India, Mexico, Iraq, South Africa...
This blog is to share my work, news and cultural discoveries.
Overcome by the staggering violence of the explosion that ravaged Beirut in August, Paris-based playwright and director Wajdi Mouawad suggests that a world public forum must condemn Lebanon’s ruling class.
Wajdi Mouawad has shaken Western theatre out of its rigid rules, bringing a dream-infused approach, odes to childhood’s energy and a sense of adventure, rooted in his Lebanese culture and fascination for great Greek tragedies.
In this wide-ranging essay, the writer revisits life before and after the civil war, participates in Lebanon’s revolution, imagines the country’s monetary implosion, and contemplates the Port of Beirut explosion—all while weighing the social terms of Lebanon's political renewal.
As the Covid-19 crisis is moving toward a second wave, forcing cities and some countries into more quarantines and further lockdown, without music, cinema, literature and artistic events, can we hold on much longer?
From Lockdown to 4 Indies in a Week — Why Cinema Matters
Grèves et manifestations des salariés de la santé en Allemagne et au Royaume-Uni
Plus de deux millions de salariés du secteur public sont appelés à se mettre en grève en Allemagne cette semaine. Les syndicats exigents des augmentations de salaire. Les salariés des services de soins et d'aide à la personne sont particulièrement remontés. Des grèves qui font écho à l'actualité au Royaume-Uni où les manifestations des salariés des hôpitaux se multiplient.
Manifestations et menaces de grève depuis plusieurs semaines dans le secteur de la santé au Royaume-Uni. Les 1 million et demi de salariés britanniques de la santé publique n’en peuvent plus, eux non plus. Manques de moyens, postes précaires et sous-payés, les soignants n’ont eu droit pour tout remerciement du gouvernement que des appels à les applaudir chaque jeudi soir…
Le gouvernement britannique a accordé une augmentation à 900 000 salariés de différents secteurs publics en juillet, dont les médecins les plus qualifiés. Mais il a exclu la plupart des travailleurs hospitaliers, renvoyant à des négociations dans un an. Alors les salariés du secteur de la santé réclament désormais 15% d’augmentation de salaire. Reportage auprès d’eux de Mélissa Chemam.
‘The Path’ by artist Hassan Hajjaj opened at the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol on 30 July 2020. As writer in residence at the Arnolfini, Melissa Chemam was invited to organise a Zoom conversation with Hajjaj, and had the pleasure to meet him soon after in the gallery during the installation.
Born in Morocco, raised in London, Hassan Hajjaj is no stranger to Bristol. In the 1980s he was heavily involved in sound system clashes with DJs from Bristol, like the Wild Bunch. He befriended some of their members: Nellee Hooper (who a few years later joined Jazzie B and the band Soul II Soul), and Daddy G (who soon participated in founding the unconventional music collective Massive Attack). Hajjaj has long been a fan of Roni Size’s drum’n’bass sound, which emerged in Bristol and London in the mid-1990s.
Music – and in particular that type of underground, DIY electronic music – has always been part of Hajjaj’s world and work.
“Our immigrant neighbourhood as kids, in East London, became my melting pot,” Hajjaj told me. “My training happened in the streets more than anywhere else, among friends. We didn’t have much places to hang out, so we just met in the corner of our parents’ place! But we were all driven by our desire to be a part of this London scene. We wouldn’t go to university. Later, one became a cook, another friend a video maker, another a fashion designer, many others worked in music.” And Hassan was always contributing.
Since the late 1990s, his film and photography work has been inspired by London’s immigrant cultures. It has now toured the world, graced the covers of the likes of Vogue, and Hajjaj has worked with Billie Eilish and fellow Moroccan singer Hindi Zahra.
As a result, Hajjaj’s work is an invitation to a clashing voyage, full of unexpected encounters, vibrant colours and patterns.
Hassan Hajjaj, Kesh Angels
‘The Path’ is a timely exploration of global culture across continents through the unique lens of the acclaimed photographer, confronting his dual-identity. It references his personal journey from his birthplace in Larache, Morocco, to London, and now beyond, through his experience working around the world.
“I first grew up in Morocco, a world in technicolour compared to England,” Hajjaj added, “and when I arrived in London at the age of 13 I felt like I had landed in a film noir.”
In East London, Hajjaj’s crowd was full of Jamaican, Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi, African young people, though he was the only Moroccan. Their arts didn’t come from galleries but from radio and television, infused with a love of reggae and hip-hop.
“I was documenting our otherness, I think,” Hajjaj said. “That’s why there is colour in my work, addressing religion a bit, and a touch of politics. You know, I left school at 15, with no qualifications. My friends and I were too uncomfortable to go to a museum or a gallery, a world far away from us. So as a group of creative people we just nourished each other. I used to programme the parties, I would find the DJs, etc. And had a small boutique for street wear called RAP that became a meeting point for us, and for other untrained artists.”
There is something in Hajjaj’s work that permanently defies the rules of academic art, constantly redefines what beauty is and how humour can meet glamour. His photographs, in a museum, feel like bold statements. They were however exhibited in the prestigious Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris in 2019.
Unlike most Morrocan immigrés, Hajjaj’s parents didn’t move to France, Morocco’s former coloniser. What made him truly confident in his original gaze was the melting pot of Shoreditch and later on Camden.
Hassan Hajjaj, Dotted Peace
‘The Path’ represents the two parts of Hajjaj’s journey, in Morocco then London. It includes a collection of portraits and scenes representing women in Muslim dresses, their faces covered by bright and playful veils or hijabs, plus portraits of African artists. These images stand out in our weird year 2020, its abnormality, showing how masks and social distance could actually be, in another culture, the norm, and how black artists could take centre stage.
The exhibition aims to celebrate Black culture. In the second part of the show, we see portraits of African musicians wearing clothes designed by Hajjaj that reference modern African patterns and habits, in bright yellow, purple and green. Among them are Boubacar Kafando, Mandisa Dumezweni, Luzmira Zerpa. Titled ‘My Rock Stars’, the portraits shine with energy and joy. In the last room, the visuals suddenly animate when the photos become short films, in which each of the photographed artists interpret a song a cappella or with their own African instrument .
“The title comes from the name of one of my favourite albums, The Path by Ralph MacDonald, which recreated the history of African music up to jazz,” Hajjaj explained. “It’s both the story of my journey from North Africa, and the journey of all the newcomers I grew up with.”
While Bristol is still in the midst of boiling debate after the removal of Edward Colston’s statue, a slave trader from the 17th century long celebrated as the main local benefactor of the city, Hajjaj’s set of daring images stuns in response to the narrow-mindedness that led to Colston’s white-washed ‘benevolent philanthropist’ status in the first place. That same white-supremacist attitude also recently led small groups to organise protests asking for the statue to be brought back to its plinth.
Bristol people, curators, writers and artists, are indeed still debating weekly the urgent need to decolonise museums and art galleries, to truly confront colonial history and to give more space to immigrant artists and creatives representing other cultures. But many others are more concerned by the growing number of foreigners, or simply outsiders, overshadowing the rights of the “native Bristolians”.
Yet ‘The Path’, with its explosion of colours and liveliness, is a welcome celebration of joy, DIY ethos, optimism and togetherness, in times of crisis and distancing – just like Bristol’s groundbreaking culture was in the 1980s, with the emergence of a bursting graffiti scene, vibrant reggae-infused sound systems and a new sound that was later embodied in Massive Attack’s first album Blue Lines in 1991. Fittingly, these young artists were exhibited for the first time at the Arnolfini in 1985, in the exhibition Graffiti Art, where the likes of Goldie and New York graffiti artists Brim and Bio joined the party led by the Wild Bunch. ‘The Path’ is part of a multicultural journey that is still ongoing.
Hassan Hajjaj, Beirut Windows
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‘The Path’ by artist Hassan Hajjaj opened at the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol on 30 July 2020, after a first iteration at New Art Exchange, Nottingham, as a touring exhibition curated by Ekow Eshun. The artist also has a show in South Korea, ‘A Taste of Things to Come’, which opened on 5 August at the Barakat Contemporary Gallery in Seoul.
In addition to the disorderly handling of Covid-19, the worst economic crisis since the 1970s has begun in the UK. The inhabitants have few resources and more and more graduates and skilled workers told me they were considering expatriation.
The phenomenon is worsened by the consequences of Brexit. This prompted tens of thousands of Britons to apply for another nationality, most often Irish as, if one of your grandparent is from the island you can be eligible for a passport. Some are also after French, German, Romanian and even Cypriot nationality, through marriage, ancestry or acquisition of property. European citizens are also seeking British citizenship to ensure they can continue to live normal lives in Britain, criticising a deeply flawed ‘settled status’ system that is butchering their civic rights. This situation also led to new migration movements.
Bristol has the reputation of being one of the most Euro-friendly cities in England. In 2015 it was the EU Green Capital, and just before the Brexit referendum it applied to be one of the EU’s cultural capitals. Since I came here in 2015, I’ve made as many European friends as British friends for sure – people from France, Spain, Germany, Greece, Romania, etc. And some have been living here for more than 20 years, without any paperwork requirements.
Many of my British friends and many of the people I interviewed have also lived in Europe for a while, or have strong ties with EU member states, such as family living there. So the past few years have induced major turmoil for most of them. The situation is the same for many in London, Brighton or Liverpool. And I don’t even mention Scotland, or the unsolvable question of the future of Northern Ireland…
British, Yes, but European first
Let’s consider a few of these citizens. Damien, for instance, he is a librarian, is from Birmingham, lives in Bristol, used to live in France, his sister lives in Germany and their parents are Irish. So he has always felt European. We met in the very Europhile café at the Arnolfini art gallery. According to him, Brexit is a punishment that the British have inflicted on themselves … And it was important to him to maintain a link with the EU. His first reaction after the referendum was therefore to go for dual nationality. He told me:
“I immediately contacted the Irish Embassy, yes. And asked for a form to have an Irish passport. Both my parents are Irish, my father died so I had to bring my mother’s documents: birth certificate, marriage certificate, as well as my birth certificate, bank statement, proof of address, 80 euros, and I sent this file by post. Two days before the UK left the EU, I received my passport by mail. It was reassuring to know that I had a nationality that allows me to be part of the European Union. And I did that to pass this Irish nationality on to my children as well. This requires that I get them a passport before they have children of their own. But it’s also a matter of solidarity, to feel we belong in Europe, to me it was the obvious this to do…”
So many people have asked for Irish citizenship, which seems like a weird twist in history. More than 94,000 applications came from Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales in 2019 alone, according to the Irish Times. Some 65,136 passports were sought in 2016 from citizens in Northern Ireland and another 59,377 from people in Britain with Irish roots.
One of my best friends asked her mother to become Irish as well, as all their family in Liverpool stem from the island originally. She had lived in Spain, France and Italy for years, and couldn’t imagine not being able to stay and work again in these three countries that feel so much like home. Most Britons I know who are married to a French or Italian person also tried to get citizenships in these countries through their spouse.
Other Britons are especially worried about the economic crisis inflicted by Brexit and aggravated by the current pandemic. They are considering moving to a European country despite Brexit, to ensure a better professional future for themselves. The procedures on the EU side are indeed more welcoming than our settled status process. If you work in France for instance, you can ask for residency, though that would never give you the same rights that the EU membership used to give. If you work part time, have you own business, or work in the arts intermittently, then the situation is very complicated.
Yet departures of Britons to the EU have already increased by 30% since 2016, going from 56,000 per year to 74,000. Some experts already worry about a “brain drain” in the making. For artists travelling often to Europe, like touring musicians and guest visual artists, it is also a critical issue, which isn’t even beginning to get solved.
Migration estimates, year ending March 2020 (Migration Watch UK)
All Citizenships
British
Non-British
EU
Non-EU
Immigration
715,000
83,000
633,000
195,000
437,000
Emigration
403,000
144,000
259,000
137,000
121,000
Net Migration
313,000
-61,000
374,000
58,000
316,000
From Welcome and Equal, To an Administrative Hell
For the Europeans citizens wishing to stay in the UK, the situation can be even worse. If they have lived in the country for more than five years continuously, they can apply for settled status to have the right to stay, but the conditions are precarious. If they have travelled too much, and paid their taxes in their home country, lived in between two countries, or if they came more than five years ago but were sent abroad for work for a while (in the EU or further out), they might be refused. If they have been here for fewer then five years they’ll be granted a pre-settled status and will be checked again in another five years…
I spoke about these issues with Joanna. She is Greek and Australian, has lived in England for 24 years; her husband and children are British but she does not intend to take up a third nationality, especially because the cost is very high: at least £2,000, more if legal fees are needed. However, she thinks that the post-Brexit status for Europeans does not offer any stability.
“I have no reason to become British. But I had to apply for settled status and had to send in my ID card, tax information, etc. I finally got it after two months. But I don’t think we really know what all the consequences of Brexit are going to be. Brexit really stressed me out a lot and I was ready to leave the UK if I didn’t get the status.
“However, I met a lot of Europeans (Lithuanians, French people, etc), who did not see the danger. I met an Italian who had lived here for less than 5 years and who didn’t care. They didn’t want to believe that they would be asked to leave… But I prepared for it because even with this status no one has any security about a future here.
“Many of the Europeans who live here are a new generation of immigrants, not farm workers like my parents, or sweepers like my grandfather, or factory workers; they have degrees, sometimes teach at university. They think they have stability and security in this country. But with Brexit there is no more stability. These workers could be excluded at any time by any change in the government’s policy.”
The most annoying thing for her is the attitude of people, which has changed, she says, from the day after Brexit. “For example, people look askance at me when I speak Greek to my children in public now. So I stopped doing it for a while but when I look over people kept asking me ‘where are you from?’ Or ‘where does this language come from?’ And it really is bothering.”
One of the disadvantages of settled status is that it no longer allows Europeans to spend time in Europe and then to return to the UK. For Christophe, a German translator and lecturer working between several countries, it was therefore urgent to become British. He told me:
“My decision was brought about by Brexit, yes absolutely. Before I didn’t even think about it because as European citizens we had all the necessary rights. We didn’t need to spend these huge sums to get another nationality. But the settled status is a new category of immigration introduced for no real reason and it is an administrative ghetto that locks up three million Europeans living here! They will then be at the mercy of subsequent governments for their future rights. I didn’t want to be stuck like this and I don’t like the way this status was thought.”
Thousands of “key workers” (post-Covid-19 denomination) are also EU citizens – such as nurses and teachers. Many of them, I know, haven’t asked for the status, due to lack of time, or worry about the outcome. For them, becoming British is extremely expensive. And some countries don’t allow dual citizenships.
More than 3 million Europeans have already applied for this status but hundreds of thousands of others have left the UK. A shortage of staff at the NHS could be one of the consequences. The future being more uncertain every month, hundreds of thousands more could find themselves forced to leave the country, if they are not eligible for the precious dual citizenship. And newcomers would only struggle with a loophole in their future administrative status.
One of the ironic consequences of Brexit will thus be that more and more foreigners will have to become British to keep what used to be automatic rights as welcome EU citizens. And I’m not sure that it was what Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings, Nigel Farage and Priti Patel had in mind.
For almost 20 years the Markaz was the cultural center in Los Angeles where people went to unpack the Middle East and North Africa, through public programs that brought a cultural lens to politics and current affairs.
Due in part to the pandemic they finally shut their doors, but are thrilled to announce the launch on September 16th as The Markaz Review, or TMR, as an online publication and virtual center, more global than local.
Our first TMR issue is devoted to Beirut, the city, its people and its artists, with articles, art and more from Jenine Abboushi, Wajdi Mouawad, Melissa Chemam, Sarah Mills, Michel Tabet, Gaja Pellegrini-Bettoli & others.
While our primary language is English, we are publishing everything simultaneously in French, Arabic and Spanish.
And although our themed magazine themes are starting out as monthly issues, we're also publishing daily or near-daily content in TMR Daily, with such regular columns as WORLD PICKS (best of), MY FAVORITE THINGS (a lifestyle column) and WHAT WE'RE INTO (what our editors are reading, watching, listening to or doing)...
In future issues of TMR we'll cover the arts, cultures and current affairs in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Yemen and in various locations throughout the world, including Europe and the USA.
The team is also seeking to establish vital partnerships with institutions in Europe and beyond—certainly we look forward to partnerships with such organizations as Afikra in Beirut, the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris and the Festival Arabesques in Montpellier, as well as with publications and institutions throughout North Africa and the Mashriq.
Please get in touch, write us as editor@themarkaz.org for details.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
TMR 2 : AMERICA AND THE NOV. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, QUERIES WANTED
The second themed issue of The Markaz Review is devoted to:
—how Arab Americans and other Middle Eastern Americans are voting;
—life under the Muslim ban;
—immigrant stories;
—how the Trump presidency has effected people in the Middle East and North Africa
—book reviews
—Iranian American perspectives;
—we seek a range of articles and op-eds that provide diverse voices on the Trump era, racism under Trump,etc.
—interviews with major artists/writers/filmmakers whose recent work comments on the USA today
—for our featured art, we seek art and texts on artists & their creative output, whether cartoons or paintings or whatever media, under Trump—how has this aberration of an era informed artists—both those of Arab/Iranian/Middle Eastern origin and others, Black, Latinx, Asian etc?
Thank you to the Watershed cinema here in Bristol for sharing 'Real', British actor turned writer/director Aki Omoshaybi’s touching debut feature, starring Pippa Bennett-Warner.
I totally loved it and it will stay with me for very long.
It's a beautiful story of resilience, true friendship & second chances; rarely seen roles of real humble people. So touching.
Out in the whole of the UK on 11 September 2020.
Here is the trailer:
REAL is in UK Cinemas courtesy of Vere Pictures 11th September 2020. REAL stars Pippa Bennett-Warner and Aki Omoshaybi. https://vivaverve.com/film/real/ Synopsis: In inner city Portsmouth, an unremarkable newsagent’s sits between a courthouse and a business centre. It’s here that sparks fly between well-dressed Kyle (Aki Omoshaybi) and equally poised Jamie (Pippa Bennett-Warner). Yet despite their outward appearances, both are struggling to move on from hardship they’d rather keep hidden. As their feelings for one another blossom, their pasts resurface, threatening to break them apart before their relationship has even begun.
An authentic and touching love story from a place where second chances are hard to come by, this impressive debut feature marks actor turned writer-director Aki Omoshaybi as a talent to watch.
I met with two NHS workers yesterday, getting ready to protest this weekend and handing out flyers to call for support.
More on this soon.
NHS Workers Say No
Multiple events are scheduled for 12 September 2020 in solidarity with the NHS health and social care workers around the UK, to demand fair recognition of everyone in the NHS family and their tireless work throughout the pandemic.
If you clapped for them, please come and stand with them.
Many of us believe it is a disgrace that so many people who worked so hard and risked their lives have been overlooked in the public sector pay rise.
Without nurses, health care assistants, porters, cleaners and the whole NHS family we could not have made it through.
For too long this work has been underpaid and undervalued and now NHS Workers say NO!
The government is squeezing our amazing National Health Service from all sides, and frankly, none of us can take anymore more.
The NHS employees want to say NO to privatisation, deliberate underfunding, low wages and poor conditions.
We should support them.
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On 8 August already, NHS workers protested in over 40 cities across the UK for a 15% pay rise.
Now NHS Workers across the UK continue to mobilise colleagues, organise and lobby our trade unions.
Here is a short film about why they protested in London:
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NB.
These will be peaceful protests, no violence or intimidation will be tolerated.
The NHS protesters ask that all attendees respect social distancing as much as possible and we have planned a route that gives us a much space as possible.
Mask wearing will be mandatory, and masks will be available on the day for those that don't have them. We ask that attendees wear blue, or a blue ribbon in solidarity.
