Outside a French mosque: calls for the murder of Muslims

 

In France: A mosque in Lodève, in the Hérault department, west of Montpellier, has been targeted by Islamophobic hatred. A dead bird was also found in front of the place of worship.

The messages were written in red and include phrases such as "the suitcase or the coffin" and "Islam out" (which was used during the Algerian war...).

The incident comes a few days after the racist and Islamophobic attack in Trappes, which left one person dead from gunshot wounds.

"Unfortunately, Lodève has not been spared from hatred," wrote Sébastien Rome—a former LFI (La France Insoumise) deputy for the Lodève constituency in the Hérault department—earlier today.

"Following the attacks in Trappes, fascism continues to pursue its goals of terror everywhere," he added.

The discovery has caused shock, local press reported.

A gathering took place this Wednesday, 28 October, at 5pm in front of the mosque on Quai de la Mégisserie to support the community, denouncing "deeply shocking acts and messages" that target "residents, families, and children—people who live here and should be able to practice their religion in peace, free from fear or threats."

"Our first response must be one of fraternal solidarity—against this racist act, of course—but also, and primarily, a defense of freedom," Rome also said. 

"In France, everyone has the right to believe freely, without being harassed. This is the foundational principle of the law on secularism, which enshrines freedom of conscience."

Rhany Slimane, an opposition councilor for LFI (La France Insoumise) in the city of Montpellier stated: "These words are not mere graffiti. They are calls for the murder and deportation of our Muslim fellow citizens; they are death threats. They are sickening. In the face of this escalation, the responsibility is collective—but, first and foremost, it is political. Yes, the far right is responsible." 

He added that "the far right does not stand alone", however. "It is fueled, legitimised, and normalised by those within the political establishment who refuse to condemn Islamophobia, from the Les Républicains party to the Socialist Party, how many have chosen to remain silent? How many have twisted the concept of *laïcité* [secularism] to target Muslims?"

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More soon

'Life Support' documentary

 

IN CINEMAS SINCE 10 JULY Since October 2023, Gaza has been sealed from the world-except for one group, international doctors. While global media are barred from reporting and governments look away, doctors breach the blockade and what they find is not just a humanitarian crisis, but a calculated dismantling of life itself. Covering the entire two years of the genocide, their firsthand accounts and visceral footage offer a rare and vital chronicle of the daily struggles of healthcare workers as they navigate bombed-out hospitals, dwindling supplies, starvation and the overwhelming influx of casualties— predominantly women and children. Directed by DANIELE RUGO Produced by WILLIAM PARRY

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'Thirteen Kilometres' · Yasmine Hamdan Life Support ℗ Battle Box Released on: 2026-10-28

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Palestine (3D Remix)

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'Perfect Victims'

· 'Life Support' album ℗ Battle Box Released on: 2026-10-28

More to mourn: Racist attack in France kills Pengo Wangi

 

France - The victim of Friday's terrorist attack in the Yvelines, near Trappes, south west of Paris, was the MMA fighter:

PENGO BOSSIO WANGI

He was 26, was shot and killed.

He ws amateur MMA fighter, and trained in Aubervilliers, north of Paris, where he was loved and respected.

A 12-year-old girl was also struck by eight bullets and has been hospitalised.

The deails, according to Agence France Presse: On Friday morning, a man opened fire in the street, killing one person and wounding at least four others, including a 12-year-old child. 

The attack also left five people injured.

The suspect is a man believed to have targeted individuals with an immigrant background. According to the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT)—which took charge of the case—he had also rigged his apartment in Plaisir (located a few kilometers from the towns of Trappes and La Verrière, where the attack took place) with three gas canisters and electrical wires connected to a timer.

The mayor of the city of Trappes, Ali Rabeh, denounced a “racist terrorist attack”: it was "objectively an attack, with racist overtones, probably Islamophobic," he said. 

“This is likely one of the first—an initial attempt at a mass crime with Islamophobic and racist overtones,” the official added.

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Emmanuel Macron visited the scene that evening. He also recognised it was a “racist terrorist attack.”

The man has been arrested and taken into police custody, as has a member of his immediate family, the PNAT announced.

The PNAT has announced the opening of an investigation into "murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise, with the aggravating circumstance that the acts were committed on the basis of actual or perceived membership in a specific race, ethnicity, nation, or religion."

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Sunday update:

A shooter suspected of the killing Wangi and wounding these five others on Friday near Trappes, has been put in custudy then had his police custody suspended for a 48-hour psychiatric observation, anti-terror prosecutors said Sunday. 

The 39-year-old man is believed to have had racist motivations behind the gun attack as most of the victims had foreign origins.

Partly identified as Kevin T., he was arrested Friday in possession of a submachine gun and tear-gas grenades in his car, shortly after the victims were shot as a vehicle drove through the working-class town of Trappes and neighbouring La Verrière.

Insight into AKAA Paris 2026

 

I love this art fair... 

A wonderful series led by Dagmar Van Weeghel with other African artists.

More on it soon

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Nu Barreto

 I previously wrote about Nu's work, notably here: 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20221012-the-slave-ship-in-a-london-courtyard

And posted previous artworks notablly here:

https://melissa-on-the-road.blogspot.com/2023/12/nu-barreto-new-exhibition.html

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Work from South African artist Zanele Muholi 

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And extra snapshots...

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More soon.

"We'll Be Marching On"

 

Irma - Black Sun (Acoustic - Official Video)

NAZA

 

I saw NAZA tonight with my Lebanese friend of 30 years and his new Cambodian friend...

It was a shock to the system, despite all we already know about this entreprise of massacres.

Here is the official trailer for the award-winning documentary produced by the Guardian that details the systems behind Israel’s mass killings in Gaza:

This critically acclaimed film was produced with the team behind the 'Zone of Interest' by Jonathan Glazer.

It is directed by Oscar-winning film-makers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, two Israeli directors of the four behind 'No Other Land', which won the Oscar for best documentary in 2025.

It includes testimony from 24 Israeli military insiders, shot at night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv. 

It is being released in cinemas in more than 50 countries from the week, and then will stream on the Guardian’s website for free from late November.

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Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor with Aditya Chakrabortty

 

Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor’s new book, End Times Fascism, came out recently. The idea came after a special essay written by both of them in The Guardian in April 2025.

I recommend this conversation:

"Gaza is a moral tear in the universe" Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor  

 - Radical Thinking

'Radical Thinking' with Aditya Chakrabortty: In this new series from The Guardian, Klein and Taylor speak in an extended interview about Trump 2.0, the rise of the tech billionaire to Gaza and the ongoing climate emergency.

They both argue that we are not just lurching from crisis to crisis but in a new and dangerous moment in history. Yet, they haven’t given up hope of a fightback.

On trauma and identity

 

An interesting point of view... 

Being 'Traumatised' Isn't An Identity 

 - Catherine Liu

Lived Experience’ has become a byword for standpoint authority and progressive politics. It has allowed people from marginalised groups to speak and be heard, and forced us to confront how power plays out in interpersonal dynamics. 

But it has also become a way for people to brand themselves online, and excuse antisocial or even downright nasty behaviours. Has ‘lived experience’ helped the left, or turned us into self-obsessed therapy-speakers, incapable of communicating with the majority of people? 

At the latest Downstream IRL, Ash Sarkar from Novara Media sat down with Catherine Liu – cultural theorist, professor and author of Virtue Hoarders – to discuss her new book, Traumatized: The New Politics of Public Suffering. 

Liu argues that as class politics has declined, the language of psychology has stepped in to explain problems rooted in capitalism. But what happens when trauma becomes content and politics gives way to what Liu calls the ‘gentrification of pain’? 

Is ‘lived experience’ a prerequisite for legitimate political analysis? Why do movements so often end up policing each other rather than confronting power? And if politics becomes about who’s hurting most, who benefits?

'Anywhere on This Road'

Mood tonight

'Anywhere on This Road' · Lhasa De Sela 

(The Living Road)

 

Soutien aux lycéens de ce monde en perdition...

Paris, 6 octobre 2026

Plusieurs centaines de milliers de personnes - lycéens mais aussi parents, professeurs et syndicalistes - ont manifesté ce mardi (6 octobre 2026) dans plusieurs villes de France. Au moins 450 000 selon les organisateurs.rices.

Partie d’Île-de-France le 28 septembre, la mobilisation gagne toute la France. Environ un quart des lycées du pays étaient bloqués ce mardi.

Les lycéens ont l'intention de manifester de nouveau ce jeudi. 

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Several hundred thousand people—including high school students, as well as parents, teachers, and union members—demonstrated this Tuesday in various cities across France. Organisers put the figure at at least 450,000.

Having started in the Île-de-France region on September 28, the protest movement is spreading across the entire country. Around a quarter of the nation's high schools were blockaded this Tuesday.

Pupils and students intend to march again on Thursday.

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More words to come