[Nettime-bold] June 2001

[Le Monde diplomatique <english@monde-diplomatique.fr>]

   Le Monde diplomatique 
   
                         -----------------------------------------------------
   
   
                                 June 2001
                                      
                               In this issue:
   ... read Ignacio Ramonet and Marc Augé on reality television; reports
     from Iran, Afghanistan and Morocco; how the US supports religious
    cults; France inspects its colonial record in Algeria... and more...
                                      
                                      
   
REALITY TELEVISION: BIG BROTHER WATCH

High surveillance *

by IGNACIO RAMONET

     Loft Story, shown on France's M6 channel since 26 April, is drawing
     audiences of upwards of 10m. A TV programme has never before
     attracted this kind of response in France, or fascinated, worried
     or irritated so many people. Although we know that images tell us
     more about the society watching them than about the images
     themselves, their meaning here is far from clear.
     
                                                  Translated by Ed Emery
     
   
   
Really real but only onscreen *

by MARC AUGÉ

                                              Translated by Julie Stoker
     
   
   
MOBILE KING AND STATIC SOCIETY

Morocco: waiting for serious change *

by IGNACE DALLE

     Next month Morocco marks the second anniversary of the death of
     King Hassan II and Muhammad VIs accession to the Alawite throne. At
     first the young king impressed public opinion by the speed with
     which he took measures in regard to greater freedoms, political
     exiles and victims of repression; and his skill in handling
     Islamist groups and the sacking of the former interior minister
     were welcomed as evidence of his desire for progress. But recently
     this progress has come to a halt, leaving society impatient for the
     real change it expects.
     
                                         Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
     
   
   
THE WORLD ISOLATES THE TALIBAN

Afghanistan all alone

by GILLES DORRONSORO

     Adding to their unpopularity, the Taliban decided in May to force
     Hindus living in Afghanistan to wear a distinctive sign on their
     clothing. The recent UN Security Council embargo has increased the
     regimes isolation, but its full force is being felt by the Afghan
     people who are also suffering from an unprecedented drought. To
     make matters worse, the Taliban have responded to the sanctions by
     suspending talks with the opposition. Ahmad Shah Massoud, one of
     its most prominent leaders, received expressions of support in
     Europe in April. Yet western policy towards Afghanistan remains
     deeply ambiguous.
     
                                         Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
     
       <http://www.en.monde-diplomatique.fr/2001/06/04taliban>
   
   
FEARLESS AND DYNAMIC YOUNG DEMAND CHANGE

Irans referendum for democracy *

by our special correspondent ÉRIC ROULEAU

     On 8 June President Mohammad Khatami won a sweeping victory in
     Irans presidential elections. But despite his clear mandate for
     political reform, he is still up against strong opposition. The
     conservative clergy holds key positions in the power structure and,
     during his previous term of office, stepped up its repression,
     closing newspapers, detaining and arresting intellectuals and
     members of the progressive and liberal opposition. Nonetheless,
     Khatami has a powerful ally: the dynamism of Iranian society.
     
                                              Translated by Linda Butler
     
   
   
NO TOURISTS, NO AID, NO GOVERNMENT

Haitis business is drugs *

by our special correspondent CHRISTOPHE WARGNY

     The international community froze all loans to Haiti in 1997
     because of the countrys political turmoil. This May President Mejía
     of the neighbouring Dominican Republic appealed for aid to be
     resumed since its discontinuation is affecting not only Haiti but
     the whole region. As the political vacuum grows, the mafia is
     expanding to fill it: the traffic in drugs has increased more than
     threefold in the space of four years, adding to Haitis already
     disastrous image.
     
                                            Translated by Barbara Wilson
     
   
   
FEARLESS AND DYNAMIC YOUNG DEMAND CHANGE

A mixed record

E.R.

                                              Translated by Linda Butler
     
       <http://www.en.monde-diplomatique.fr/2001/06/06iran-box>
   
   
BLACK WORLD OF AMERICAN BOXING

The fight game: or the whore, the slave and the stallion *

by LOÏC WACQUANT

     African-American boxers are well aware that they are exploited and
     they use the language of prostitution and slavery to express their
     awareness. But although they lead a tough, ascetic life, they
     rarely protest at the poor rewards and resign themselves to being
     bodily merchandise. Loïc Wacquant spent three years living and
     training with them in Chicagos South Side black ghetto.
     
                                             Original article in English
     
   
   
EUROPE RESISTS AMERICAN RELIGIOUS CULTS

Secular society at stake

by BRUNO FOUCHEREAU

     The Swiss conductor Michel Tabachnik was charged with criminal
     conspiracy in connection with the Order of the Solar Temple this
     April in France: 71 of its members had died in four so-called
     collective suicides from 1994 to 1997. The case focused attention
     on groups which claim to be religious sects, but are instead
     engaged in money-making activities. France is now ushering in
     legislation that will allow the courts to dissolve such movements.
     The US administration is, however, trying to ensure their impunity
     on grounds of religious freedom and supports various cults which
     peddle forms of new-right and neo-conservative ideology in the name
     of anti-communism.
     
                                              Translated by Barry Smerin
     
       <http://www.en.monde-diplomatique.fr/2001/06/09sects>
   
   
TORTURE IN ALGERIA: PAST ACTS THAT HAUNT FRANCE

False memory *

by PASCAL BLANCHARD, SANDRINE LEMAIRE and NICOLAS BANCEL

     The Vichy regime prompted investigation and debate leading to a new
     understanding of that period. Yet France's colonial past remains
     unmentionable. De Tocqueville, author of Democracy in America and
     one of the principal advocates of liberal politics, remains highly
     respected despite his support for violence in the conquest of
     Algeria. This gives some idea of the pitfalls surrounding the
     current French debate on torture during the war in Algeria. Torture
     was not just the result of conflict: it was part and parcel of
     colonisation. And it revealed the contradictions of republican
     France, proclaiming universal emancipation but practising
     discrimination.
     
                                             Translated by Harry Forster
     
   
   
Liberty, equality and colony

by OLIVIER LE COUR GRANDMAISON

                                             Translated by Harry Forster
     
       <http://www.en.monde-diplomatique.fr/2001/06/11torture2>
   
   
THE SOUTH HELPS THE SOUTH

Redevelopment in Senegal *

by our special correspondent ROLAND-PIERRE PARINGAUX

     Cuts in development aid from governments in the last two years have
     not as yet been offset by private sector investments. The EU has
     abandoned voluntarism by ending the system created as part of the
     Lomé convention, and is now focusing exclusively on opening up new
     markets. As a result, countries in the South are now embracing
     various bilateral ventures, sometimes with surprising results.
     
                                             Translated by Luke Sandford
     
   
   
TELLING IT HOW IT IS IN THE TOWNSHIPS

South Africa's cleansing soap *

by our special correspondent JEAN-CHRISTOPHE SERVANT

     South Africa is still deep in crisis: unemployment, drugs, sexual
     violence, homophobia, blatant inequality in schools, vigilantes.
     Yizo Yizo, a TV soap with a huge audience, devised in conjunction
     with the ministry of education, tackles all these issues,
     reflecting the lives of the young in the ghettos. Each episode
     provokes heated protest from the new black elite: in today's South
     Africa the polemic is no longer racial but social.
     
                                              Translated by Julie Stoker
     
   
   
ISRAELS LUCRATIVE OSLO YEARS

The market price of peace *

by MARWAN BISHARA

     One of the contradictions that Ariel Sharons government faces is
     the economic repercussion of the Palestinian intifada, particularly
     in view of how, during the 1990s, Israel profited from the Oslo
     accords.
     
                                                Original text in English
     
   


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