I feel like a kid in a sweet shop.
Every day in the news there is an Arab, a black, an immigrant, an illegal
immigrant, a poor soul … as far back as I can remember. I've never been short of
material! And now, we're being forced to listen to a debate about national
identity. I could write buckets of songs about it. But I'm
ashamed!..
They are
installing a white race, creating an anonymous white identity – and it's
working. And people say "yes, it's an interesting debate." I can't deny what I
feel inside: my disgust with this white race they are suggesting. It's when you
hear people like the interior minister Brice Hortefeux talk about Arabs and say
"When there's one, that's ok – it's when there are several that it becomes
problematic." ----- Magyd
Cherfi
An interview with singer Magyd
Cherfi
At the age of 47, Magyd Cherfi
has learned to manage his anger. But that doesn't mean he isn't political and
hasn't got strong opinions about a number of issues relating to integration and
national identity in France. Céline Lemaire and Gabriel Zemron spoke to the
former singer with the popular band Zebda.
Every day brings its dose of
rebellion: Magyd Cherfi has very definite opinions about headscarves,
integration and national identity in France – all of which have been the subject
of much political debate and media attention in recent years
Your
texts are always very political. How do you feel about issues that have recently
received a lot of media attention such as integration, the suburbs,
immigration…?
Magyd Cherfi: I feel like a kid
in a sweet shop. Every day in the news there is an Arab, a black, an immigrant,
an illegal immigrant, a poor soul … as far back as I can remember. I've never
been short of material! And now, we're being forced to listen to a debate about
national identity. I could write buckets of songs about it. But I'm
ashamed!
Do you
refuse to talk about the debate on national
identity?
Magyd Cherfi: I would prefer not
to take part; in any case, not in the debate launched by Eric Besson. "Identity"
and "national" is a collusion that I don't get. When I see people trying to
answer this question – particularly people like Fadela Amara, Rachida Dati, or
Rama Yade, who support the debate – all hope for fraternity is lost in my
opinion.
They are installing a white
race, creating an anonymous white identity – and it's working. And people say
"yes, it's an interesting debate." I can't deny what I feel inside: my disgust
with this white race they are suggesting. It's when you hear people like the
interior minister Brice Hortefeux talk about Arabs and say "When there's one,
that's ok – it's when there are several that it becomes
problematic."
I'm a lot less angry now; I am
47. Before, I wanted to pick up a gun, a stone, a catapult and say "ok, I'm
going to shoot". I've had enough. Because there has always been a minister or a
president who said "There are too many", "There are too many of you", "You must
integrate".
But I'm not angry any more. I
say to myself that it's not the immigrants that have a problem, but the white
French who are frightened of Arabs, blacks and of Islam. We are French – full
stop! Everyone is French.
They are different because in
them, there's a chunk of culture that comes from somewhere else. In the United
States, a black, no matter what his origins, is above all an American. In
France, a black is an immigrant, a son of a second, third generation immigrant,
an illegal immigrant and then he's French.
In your
opinion, is the liberation of women or French people's issues with Islam the
reason for the burqa debate?
Magyd Cherfi rose to fame as the
singer of the socially critical band Zebda from Toulouse; he recently decided to
start a solo career
Magyd Cherfi: Both.
Intellectually, I am against this debate, but I feel that if girls wear it, it's
because we (the state) have let them down. Having seen cousins in France or back
home wearing it, I understand a bit better why.
There is this thing called the
"Republic" or the "state of law" that does not protect them. They are
frightened, in their families, in their neighbourhoods. They are looking for
weapons that are not supplied to them by this pseudo Republic and its rights and
duties. It's a bit like the snake that bites its own tail.
So what
can they do?
Magyd Cherfi: Nothing. What can
they do? Leave? And go where? And who will protect them? And then there is the
emotional dependence on your own mother. How to find the strength to abandon
your mother, your family, your tribe, your clan, your blood lines? There are
always a few exceptional girls who find the strength to cut free from everything
and live freely. Only a very few. There is no way out in my mind. It's hard
enough for boys. This is why the multicultural "black, white, Arab" fraternity
doesn't work.
Does this
mean you are eternally pessimistic about this
issue?
Magyd Cherfi: In the short term,
yes; but not necessarily in the long term, because one day we will have to get
on. Arab and black people need fair laws. Because otherwise in fifty years,
there will be nothing but a smattering of blacks in the French national
assembly. And there is the risk that someone will say to us: "Yes, but there’s
no equality".
But sod them! There is already
no equality because we are underprivileged: but, with a little "underprivileged"
and a little "privileged" the end result will turn out equal.
Creative and provocative: the
band Zebda, whose music blends elements of hip-hop, rock, Algerian and Kabyle
sounds, considers itself to be the mouthpiece of young, marginalised migrants of
Maghreb origin living on the edge of French society
So, do
you believe positive discrimination like in the United States is the
solution?
Magyd Cherfi: In spite of
myself, yes, I think so. I don't think it's a good thing, but I think it's all
we've got left. We've talked forever about integration, equality, unity and
fraternity but that doesn't work. "If you're black, you're not
employed."
9
November was the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. Do you have a
specific memory of that day?
Magyd Cherfi: I'm not very
European in my head because I feel like we don't exist in one country already. I
think I was on tour at the time. I felt happiness, like a barrier was being
broken down, like a family that was being reunited but I didn't get the
political dimension of the event. I didn't realise what it meant as it was
happening. I didn't know that it was the end of communism, of the soviet
bloc.
This
anniversary also marks the beginning of a new era for Europe. What is your
vision of Europe?
Magyd Cherfi: I find it
difficult to project myself into a European dimension when I feel like we're not
treated like French people in our own country. How to think European when
fraternity doesn't even work?
What do
you say to your children?
Magyd Cherfi: Sometimes my
children ask if they are French. My son was called a "dirty Arab". He burst into
tears at school. So, if he asks me if he's French, the answer I give him is "you
are French, but…" When you are black in France, you're not
white!
You have
distanced yourself from the left-wing Motivé-e-s political movement. Where are
you now in your journey as an activist?
Magyd Cherfi: I'm not a
political activist. I never was. I supported people that I liked that were on
the political left, and extreme left. I do "emotional activism" in my
songs.
Interview: Céline
Lemaire/Gabriel Zemron
Source:
Qantara
3:05 AM
Sultan Shahin
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