Dillard University

My friend Jessica B. Harris, a scholar of culinary cultures, sent me an English translation of Guy Numa's article "Where is the French Obama?"  I welcome this new ingredient for the benign genocide soup I am cooking.
 
Numa's opening sentences signify powerfully on the deceptiveness of French thought:
 
There is something hypocritical in the "Obamania" that is sweeping France: Obama, Black, young and un-cunning, is the archetype of the kind of person that the French political class invariably fails to produce. This is typical in France, where one likes to extol the merits of recipes from abroad without doing anything to concoct them "at home."
 
Only those who live in France and its overseas departments can provide a fair response to Numa's implicit questions. But I, an outsider, an etranger, will hazard an unfair one.
 
As an American, I believe there is not now, nor will there ever be, a "French Obama."  Barack Obama is, if we recall words from William Carlos Williams, a pure product of America, a Harvard-polished product.  One does not concoct an Obama.  One grows him.  And despite the success Richard Wright had in growing American vegetables in French soil, French dirt is not manured for nurturing what the American post-colonial plantation can in abundance.
 
Like the United States, France has a long history of speaking with the forked tongue of 666.  Both nations are racist.  Both dress ideas about democracy in fine political costumes, the French ones being more expertly tailored than the American.  Do not inspect too closely the underwear that the costumes mask. The merde, the ca ca will shock you.
 
Hypocrisy is fundamentally different in France and in the United States. It is not easy to decide which is more vicious, especially as the American brand has Eurocentric features.  Non-Americans embrace Obama in just the fashion the British and the French embraced the tragic Sara Baartman, the so-called "Hottentot Venus."  Many American gliberals have conceptualized Obama as the great white hope who will sanction the erasure of history and give credibility to the post-post-modernity of post-race.  But even those enthralled by myth and fairytale would do will to be more critical of Obama's foggy success and of McCain's threatening presence.  Consider that nothing is essentially serious in contemporary politics except the rising cost of living.  It is all obscene carnival, a forecast of the damnation of the earth.
 
No doubt 2008 is a miracle year in the history of the United States, a death-bound year. The miracle is oddly negative. Beware as bad faith ascends.  I would say to Professor Numa that it is not surprising that a "phenomenon" like Obama has not occurred in France.  In the swamps of racism and sexism and classism, it is well known that no French woman who has mated with an African has given birth to an Obama.  Why would she want to do so?

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Where is the French Obama?—The practice of conferring ministerial posts on Blacks (Caribbean or Africans) or to people of North African origin is nothing new: others who come to mind are Léon Bertrand [former tourism minister who is French Guyanese], Roger Bambuck [former minister of youths and sports], and former secretary of state for integration Kofi Yamgnane [French Togolese … ]

During the waning years of the colonial era, personalities like [the first president of Senegal] Léopold Sédar Senghor in 1955-56, [former assistant secretary of state] Hammadoun Dicko in 1957, Modibo Keita in 1956-57 were also named ministers. Keita even became Vice President of the National Assembly. One can also include, among others, Gabriel Lisette, councilor-minister to between 1959 and 1961—or a woman, Nafissa Cid Sara—between 1957 and 1962.

It's therefore urgent and necessary to redouble the discussion about the scope of Obama’s candidacy. In this connection, I must concede my surprise at the relative silence of the Representative Council of Black Associations. I would have liked to hear the organization explain the meaning of Obama’s candidacy for Blacks in France. In any case, I expected more than a press release. WorldMeets

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Black Skins, French Voices: Caribbean Ethnicity And Activism (David Beriss)—In Urban France About 337,000 people of French Antillean Origin live in metropolitan France today. Unlike immigrants from North Africa, Turkey or sub-Saharan Africa, Antilleans are French citizens with deep roots in French history. Indeed, the Caribbean Islands they come from have been a part of France for over three centuries. Antilleans were for many years an invisible population, dispersed throughout the Paris region, with few community organizations and little political activism. Beginning in the early 1980s, however, activists in the Antillean community began to recognize that their status as citizens would not protect them from the growth of racism in France. From neighborhood groups interested in promoting traditional Martinican and Guadeloupan dance and music to politically charged associations, these new cultural militants denounced French colonialism, challenged racism, and demanded political representation. Black Skins, French Voices is situated at the intersection of changing French ideas and policies regarding ethnic diversity and Antillean demands for recognition. It shows the creative and exciting struggles of Antilleans to remake French culture on their own terms.

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Where is the Israeli Obama?—We can respond to that only with embarrassed silence. We cannot point to anyone in the Israeli political arena who is ready to take on this task.

But an optimist will give another answer: only yesterday you did not have an Obama either. He appeared, because something happened deep down in the "national psyche" of the United States. There was an expectation and there was a longing for a person who would speak the language of hope, audacity, change. And when he appeared, the indifferent public rose and followed him enthusiastically. All the more so because the situation was bad and it was clear that the old road just leads to worse.

That can happen here, too. Our Obama can appear suddenly when there is a demand for him. When people get finally fed up with all those politicians, devoid of vision and courage, who pack our stage today. When the demand for change is so strong that it passes from the phase of griping at Sabbath-eve parties to the phase of mobilization and deeds. Then it will become clear that we, too, have a young generation and that our indifferent public can change radically.

The victory of the American Obama may well give a big push to the emergence of an Israeli Obama, hopefully as charming as the original. The victory in America should mean for us, paraphrasing a Hebrew poet: If there is an Israeli Obama, let him appear at once!

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posted 16 August 2008