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.
Thought this was an excellent read. It is well researched, knew many of the names and locations from my own youth (largely spent at the Dugout) and the descriptions were accurate and authentic. It was interesting to read how the band developed, especially around the art, politics and meaning of the lyrics. I wouldn’t worry about the translation, yes the odd word is wrong or missing but it does not detract from overall story.
This is essential and great in many levels. It’s a must for the Massive Attack fan base. For budding and forged artists it will provide an insight in the inner workings of the multi dimensional collective of artists that make up the ever involving project that is Massive Attack. From a socio-political and culture point is provides turths and insights into how the contribution of the sons immigrants played a significant part in changing and shaping UK culture, and still continue to be ahead of the creative and cultural curve.A must read.
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Argya L.
5 out of 5 stars
And then came the Massive, out of the comfort zone.
2018 (and 2019, thanks to their belated tour, in perfect "lazy Bristol bastards' style") has been the year of Massive Attack's Mezzanine's twentieth anniversary. The publication of the English version of this book by journalist Melissa Chemam couldn't come in a better time. At last, I got it and came to read it. The story of this mixed-ethnicity group of youngsters, passionate about music, vinyls, crate-digging, street art is rightly set in the social, political, even musical background of the time, both in Bristol and in the UK, and this is something valuable, which never fails to be taken into the appropriate consideration. While focusing mainly on Massive, all the bands that formed in the Eighties and Nineties are given their space, included those, especially in the punk movement, that hugely came to influence MA music tastes.
The beginnings and subsequent rise of the guys, first as The Wild Bunch and then as Massive Attack, with their unique music style, are narrated fluidly and with great accuracy. Beware, this is not a peeping-Tom, gossipy book, so if you are looking for scandals or members' love affairs, this is not the book for you!
Melissa put a great effort in reading and collecting the great amount of interviews given by Grant Marshall and especially Robert Del Naja - the spiky-haired mastermind and dynamo of the band, the pioneer of graffiti art in Bristol, whose stubborn, fascinating and willing personality emerged throughout the years, often colliding with that of the other band members, leading them to leave the group - and had the chance to interview them personally. Song lyrics are also analyzed, thus throwing an interpretative light (one of the many that can be thrown) on their often enigmatic, cryptic meaning.
Not to be forgotten is the fact that the author translated herself the book from French, her mother-language, into a very flowing, good-to-read English. Is this a book for fans? Well, yes and no. If you're a fan of the Bristol sound forged by MA and fellow groups in the Nineties, this is a must-read to get the full overview on the matter. If you're not, it surely adds to your music culture and is likely you'll feel like listening to some of those revolutionary artists' music after -or better, while-reading it. And get a little bit out of your comfort zone, as the Massive did and still do. Big ups!
Lyrics / Voice by Saul Williams
Music by Saul Williams - Beats, Drum Programming, Keyboards, Production
Produced by Carlos Niño
Recorded and Initial Mixing by Saul Williams and Ken Barrientos
Mixed by Zeroh
Final audio treatment by Matthewdavid “MD” McQueen.
I really loved this film: it is very emotional and inspirational, without ignoring the hardship and the final nail in the coffin from the city council. Interesting talk afterwards, a lot more to be said.
The documentary film 'The Republic' retraces some of the conflict between developers and communities in Stokes Croft and St Paul's, in Bristol, UK, over the past 40 years.
It was being shown at The Watershed yesterday, on 18th August, followed by an interesting Q&A with local actors on this scene including Chris Chalkley, founder of the People's Republic of Stokes Croft (known here as the PRSC), about the shaping of cities.
Directed by Quincy Andrews, with cinematography by Leo Plunkett, the film is about gentrification and the ongoing struggle against it, about developers and about weak politicians, but it is mostly about community and just protests.
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This part of Bristol means a lot to me too. I arrived in town by the Bear Pit myself in the dark in February 2015 to write about the city's graffiti and music scene, looking for my room in Stokes Croft for the first week... And I was immediately hooked. The Ursa Bear, the raw energy of the place and the multilayered history of the neighbourhood St Paul's was what I didn't know I needed all these years...
Stokes Croft is actually firstly a street, part of St Paul's, starting above the Beat Pit (real name: St James Barton roundabout), crossing Jamaica Street, City Road, Hepburn Road, and up to Ashley Road and Cheltenham Road.
From the 1950's, St Paul's became the home of a growing number of immigrant workers, with a strong Jamaican community. They helped in reconstruction after WWII, they joined the hospitality and hospital jobs, they worked as drivers, factory workers, builders... They were part of what is nationally known as the Windrush generation.
In Bristol, the community grew and stayed close in the 1960s and 1970s, and the area also became known for its blues parties, where music lovers would put on reggae, lovers' rock and soul music. Out of that trend were born amazing night and music clubs, then St Paul's Carnival from 1968, and later on some proto-hip hop producers, then one of the most known collective today, The Wild Bunch.
A cultural explosion then occurred, giving us what is sometimes called The Bristol Sound, a strong graffiti scene and later in the 1990s, Banksy.
Banksy left Bristol for London in 1999 and left a mural on the wall of Hamilton House, The Mild Mild West, which is still iconic and has generated deep conversations among artists, locals and art lovers...
But the film mostly followed what happened 10 years later, from 2007/8 and especially in 2011: the infamous 'Tesco Riots'. And it shows how this independently minded multicultural neighbourhood faced a push from big corporate companies and a wave of gentrification.
Producers wrote: "The Republic" documents the story of Stokes Croft, portraying a diverse community that dares to defy the cold winds of corporate power and globalisation. But their greatest challenge looms as developers target this quarter and ready their wrecking balls.
Filmed over six years, with access to twenty years of personal archives, this compelling story of our times recounts the fight by locals to retain some control over their destiny in an increasingly monocultural world.
Chris Chalkley founded the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft as an arts-based initiative looking to stake a claim to takeover the main street and fill it with street art., but things didn't really go as planned...
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When I came to Bristol, the PRSC and the Bear Pit as imagined by Chalkley were still operating in full mode. Now, they are not.
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I'm so happy I bought the ticket early for this screening, as it was fully booked soon after and a packed event.
I think this film shows that part of Bristol's history as a very relatable case study for the whole of Europe. It should be seen widely.
It will be screened again in Bristol, notably at the PRSC.
Macky Sall's chances for the UN secretary-general role weaken after first vote
The race at the UN is still ongoing to pick António Guterres’s successor as Secretary-General, who will be named in October. So far, two candidates from the African continent, Senegal’s Macky Sall and Uganda’s Olara Otunnu, have failed to win sufficient support.
The United Nations is entering the final stages of choosing a successor to António Guterres, whose second five-year term as Secretary-General ends on 31 December 2026.
Under the UN Charter, the selection is led by the 15-member Security Council, which holds a series of confidential, non-binding 'straw polls' to test support for candidates. In these ballots, members vote to 'encourage', 'discourage' or express 'no opinion' on each contender.
Later rounds use colour-coded ballots to reveal whether any of the five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) intend to exercise their veto.
The first straw poll took place on 30 July, and the further rounds are expected throughout August and potentially into September or October, until a single candidate secures broad support without a permanent-member veto.
The Security Council will then formally recommend one candidate to the 193-member General Assembly, which is expected to confirm the appointment before the end of the year, ahead of the new Secretary-General taking office on 1 January 2027.
Two African candidates
Two African leaders are running this year, Macky Sall, the former president of Senegal, and Ugandan diplomat Olara Otunnu.
But Carlos Lopes, a law professor in South Africa and former Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, thinks the continent’s chances of securing this prestigious post this year are pretty low.
With the first, indicative vote from late July, in Lopes' view, the candidacy of Sall was only confirmed as weak.
"The official backing provided by President Bassirou Faye came late and failed to restore institutional coherence—if I may put it that way—because Senegal remains deeply divided over his legacy and his candidacy"; Lopes told RFI this week.
The situation is different for the candidate from Uganda, who is a respected figure in UN history: as Uganda’s Permanent Representative, he was a key architect of the introduction of what is now known as the "straw poll" (the indicative vote).
"This historic contribution is not enough however to offset his late entry into the race," Lopes stated. "His political track record is rather difficult to decipher, marked by zigzags and a strained relationship with the current president. Consequently, his diplomatic prestige belongs more to history than to his current political reality."
None of them did get the support of the African Union either.
And Sall's candidacy was poorly received by Senegalese citizens since his government and himself were charged with corruption and embezzlement related to the management of Covid-19 funds and are accused of inciting electoral violence during the 2024 polls.
Africa versus Latin America
What weakens any African bid is the principle of regional rotation, according to Lopes, which clearly favors Latin America and the Caribbean this year.
This year, it is informally said that it is Latin America's turn.
"I believe Africa risks appearing to challenge a principle from which it has itself greatly benefited in the past," Lopes added. "The two African Secretaries-General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annann were able to count on broad support from other regions of the Global South precisely because they respected this rotation logic."
Undermining this principle today could set a precedent that might ultimately work to Africa's own disadvantage, the expert continued.
"And I think that is precisely what is already undermining both candidacies from the outset."
Towards a first woman secretary-general
Many experts also hope to see a woman secure the post of Secretary-General for the first time. And three women candidates are in the race:
Rebeca Grynspan, who is the current head of UNCTAD and former vice-president of Costa Rica. She came first in the initial straw poll with 10 'encourage' votes and is widely seen as the frontrunner.
Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Guyana's UN ambassador and former foreign minister. She finished second in the first poll with nine 'encourage' votes.
And Michelle Bachelet, the former Chilean president and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
"The two best-placed candidates following this first vote are Rebecca Grynspan and Rodrigues-Birkett," according to Lopes.
"I believe both have had truly remarkable campaigns. So, I think there is a real chance that one of them could ultimately secure the position."
After nearly 80 years of the United Nations' existence without a woman serving as Secretary-General, many states believe the time has come to rectify this historical anomaly, he concluded.
Moroccan Dutch Professor on Migrants from Morocco crossing into Ceuta
Moroccan Dutch anthropologist Miriyam Aouragh working at Oxford and Westminister universities says the driving factors for the mass movement are a combination of shifting entry policies to Spain and increasing economic inequality in Morocco that "has given a sort of empowering incentive to people to try to go to Spain" via Ceuta, on Democracy Now:
Miriyam Aouragh is the daughter of Moroccan immigrants to Europe,
She says the driving factors for the mass movement are a combination of shifting entry policies to Spain and increasing economic inequality in Morocco that "has given a sort of empowering incentive to people to try to go to Spain" via Ceuta.
Morocco's repression on youth and political voices are deeper reasons that rumours or accusations against US' President Trump and Israel...
Morocco still holds two colonial enclaves belonging to Spain, and has never severed all colonial ties, with France notably. But also the monarchy doesn't allow much freedom or civic space... add to that the deep poverty of the vsat majority versus the luxury of a small elite close to the king...
The city of Ceuta is indeed surrounded by the rest of Morocco along a five-mile-long border. It dates back to the Phoenician era and has been under Portuguese or Spanish control since 1415.
The Moroccan government claims that Ceuta is occupied and colonised territory, while Spain considers it an integral part of the Spanish state.
