Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Nabila Ramdani
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Fighting the Pope on his apostolic journey to Algeria further exposed Donald Trump as a warmongering fool
Open conflict with the President of the United States was not something Pope Leo XIV expected when his Apostolic Journey took him to the largest country in Africa. The leader of some 1.4 billion Roman Catholics was in Algeria last week, following in the footsteps of Saint Augustine, his spiritual mentor, who was born there in…
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The attacks on Iran are by no means a victory “for civilisation”.
The Iranian dictator is dead, his repressive regime is being bombed into submission, and now the world can look forward to peace and stability. It all sounds so simple when scripted in the manner of a Netflix action drama and – as multiple armchair foreign policy hawks are now insisting – the…
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The imprisonment of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is a sobering lesson for those who discriminate against ethnic minorities
Watching Nicolas Sarkozy out on the streets of riot-hit French housing estates was always a troubling experience, particularly for those of us who grew up on one. In his heyday as Interior Minister, in the autumn of 2005, there was a period of intensive disturbances, and the diminutive conservative who…
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Emmanuel Macron’s support for Palestine is finally earning him some popularity at home – for all the right reasons.
The streets of France have been full of demonstrators expressing their visceral opposition to President Emmanuel Macron in recent weeks. His current government is an outgoing one following the loss of a sixth prime minister in just eight years, he does not control the Paris parliament, and Macron’s austerity budget…
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America’s new ambassador to France personifies the corruption of western diplomacy as it authorises the genocide of Palestinians
If you were to caricature the most outlandish Donald Trump-nominated Ambassador to France possible, it is certain that he could not speak a word of French. More than that, he would have no record for diplomacy whatsoever, have spent time in prison for very serious offences, and have been involved in…
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Why VE-Day in Algeria commemorates the Gaza-style massacre of Arab Muslim civilians
Eighty years since the end of the Second World War in Europe will be commemorated all over the world on May 8th. Numerous nations will remember the most cataclysmic conflict in human history, and the multiple horrors that led up to the defeat of the Nazis. In Algeria, the focus…
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Israel should note what happened to France when it tried to subjugate Algeria by massacring its indigenous population
Childish drawings were used to “explain” the need for indigenous Arab and Berber Muslims to bow down or die during the French occupation of Algeria. Villages facing destruction were plastered with posters containing scribbled images of a school and a Tricolour flag, juxtaposed with a widowed mother-and-child, a bloody corpse…
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Violent crime is out of control in France, but it has nothing to do with Muslim headscarves
A new year is always a time of reflection, and France’s interior minister certainly has a lot to think about. Bruno Retailleau is responsible for law and order in a country where crime rates are spiralling. Offences including murder and robbery dominate the news, but there are also episodes which…
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The massacre of Algerians in Paris on 17 October 1961 diminishes France’s reputation as a civilised nation.
The most murderous episode in the postwar history of Paris came in October 1961, when up to three hundred peaceful French- Algerian protesters were slaughtered in cold blood around iconic national monuments, including the Eiffel Tower and Notre- Dame Cathedral. The police responsible cracked down on a demonstration by thirty…
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Israel mass killing by no means guarantees victory in the Middle Eastern cauldron
If victory was simply handed to the side responsible for the highest death toll, then Israel’s terrifying ability to kill and maim would see it declared winner in all of its endless battles. As we have seen, day after day, in recent months, they use their multi-billion dollar arsenal of mainly American-supplied weapons to…
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Why Team Israel should have no place at the Paris Olympics
Images of dead and mutilated Palestinian children continued to dominate the news as Isaac Herzog arrived in Paris to attend the Olympics. The notoriously belligerent president of Israel – someone who has been pictured signing bombs destined to fall on Gaza – displayed characteristic cynicism after touching down at Charles…
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Student sit-ins for Palestine are not naive American imports – they are part of a radical European tradition that achieves results
Apologists for the Israeli military use numerous methods to demonise those opposed to its ongoing mass slaughter of the Palestinian people. They try to make out that those who accuse a force largely funded by the West of carrying out genocide are somehow stupid, dishonest and even pro-terrorist. Many of…
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David Cameron had a chance to redeem his foreign policy career, but Gaza once again exposes his hypocritical incompetence
There were all kinds of reasons for expressing extreme surprise at the appointment of David Cameron as Britain’s current foreign secretary. In the sweep of the country’s rich history, he will be remembered as the prime minister who resigned after calling the referendum that led to the UK leaving the European…
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A Martin Luther King tribute video containing white faces only shows how equality remains a dream for ethnic minorities in France.
Even in an age when efforts towards inclusivity are sometimes overdone, the way France released a video commemorating Martin Luther King containing white faces only was truly jaw-dropping. It is almost beyond comprehension that a country that regularly describes itself as the home of human rights, and high ideals including…
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Prince Harry’s 25 kills say everything about the West’s airborne assaults on Muslim majority countries
Sending Harry, a Prince of the Realm, to help bring democracy to Afghanistan was always a crass idea. The UK King’s son owes everything in his life to hereditary privilege and not merit, let alone equality or justice. It is evident in his ghost-written memoir Spare – one that is littered with factual inaccuracies and unproven allegations – that…
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Roman Catholic Church abuse in France
Comparing grotesque crimes against humanity, while trying to work out which are the worst, is a wretched task. Acts of profound evil have implications well beyond their direct victims, so judging their long-term consequences is extremely difficult. What is certain to many in France right now, however, is that efforts…
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France’s Coronavirus lockdown exposes a two-tier system of policing in which violence against ethnic minorities is widespread
Ask anyone in France from an ethnic minority background when they first experienced a robust police document check and they will not say during the current coronavirus lockdown. Most are brought up in the banlieues, on the fringes of major cities, on decrepit council estates where sinister state interference in…
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The growing scandal of Muslim concentration camps
Internment is a well-tried and deeply mistrusted tool of reactionary governments. It involves large groups of people – often entire communities including women and children – being locked up without trial. Historically, the practice has given rise to its own sinister vocabulary, notably such terms as “concentration camps”. They are firmly associated with…