One of the key issues arising from the Paris terror attacks on Friday November 13th is the apparent ease with which the perpetrators and other terrorists got their hands on significant numbers of “decommissioned” military assault weapons. Belgium, where some of those who carried out the Paris attacks lived, is said by many to be the hub of the flourishing illegal firearms trade in Europe. Mediapart's Brussels correspondent Ludovic Lamant interviewed Belgian expert Cédric Poitevin on the issue.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Paris terror attacks on Friday, November 13th. But why has the terror group made France its “principal target”, ahead of other states involved in the anti-IS coalition in Iraq and Syria? French journalist and author David Thomson, an expert on French jihadists, explains the background to Mediapart's Joseph Confavreux.
The Slovak government is officially opposed to the imposition of migrant quotas on European countries. However, in an interview with Mediapart the president of Slovakia, Andrej Kiska, insists that his country must “abandon” its current stance. “We are capable of doing more for refugees,” he declared, ahead of a meeting of EU interior ministers on Tuesday to discuss how migrants are to be shared between members states. Mathieu Magnaudeix reports.
Amid the tumult of the so-called Arab Spring movements in 2011 which swept from Tunisia to Libya, Egypt and Syria, the pro-democracy ‘February 20th movement’ in Morocco, ruled by an authoritarian monarchy, mobilised hundreds of thousands around the country. After the protests forced King Mohammed VI to agree a number of constitutional reforms that included free elections, the movement soon petered out, and rights groups have denounced the return of a clampdown by the authorities against opposition militants. In this interview with Ilhem Rachidi for Mediapart, Abdellah Lefnatsa, responsible for economic and social rights with the Moroccan Association of Human Rights, details what he calls the “revenge” of the regime with the harassment and jailing of pro-democracy militants, and analyses the failure of the 2011 popular uprising to obtain truly democratic change.
Four terror attacks on Friday that left scores dead across four countries on three different continents raised speculation that Islamic State had launched a concerted offensive from its Syrian and Iraqi stronghold to mark the first anniversary of its Caliphate. However, an expert on jihadist movements, Wassim Nasr, dismisses the idea that the outrages in France, Tunisia, Kuwait and Somalia were part of a coordinated campaign, and says the West still does not understand Islamic State's real strategy. In a wide-ranging interview with Mediapart, the specialist contends that Western states, including France, have themselves created the breeding ground for jihadist groups by backing dictatorships over democratically-elected popular movements. Pierre Puchot reports.
A recently-published study of health risks at the workplace in France demonstrates the grave dangers millions of employees are exposed to and the immense difficulties in attaining official recognition of these and the illnesses that they create. The study is presented in a book entitled Les Risques du travail, co-authored by experts on occupational health and safety, and which is an updated version of a similar study published under the same title in 1985. In this interview with Mathilde Goanec and Rachida El Azzouzi, two of the new book’s co-author’s, Annie Thébaud-Mony and Laurent Vogel, detail their findings and explain why the evolution of the economy and industry over the past 30 years have made occupational risks more diversified and the health consequences harder to legally prove.
One of the victims of the kosher supermarket shootings during the Paris attacks in January was Yoav Hattab, a 21-year-old Jew from Tunisia. His family are part of a Jewish community whose roots in the North African country go back many centuries but which has seen its numbers fall dramatically over the last 50 years. The dead man's elder brother, Avishay Hattab, has spoken at length to Mediapart's Pierre Puchot about how the family learnt of Yoav's death, at their dismay at the lack of official Tunisian government recognition of his murder, and of the difficulties in belonging to one of the last Jewish communities in the Arab world. Meanwhile an association that supports local minorities talks about the need to combat the “hatred” aimed at Jews in Tunisia. But Avishay Hattab says he is “proud” of being Tunisian and insists he has no intention of leaving a country his family has lived in for countless generations.
On Tuesday February 24th the French president François Hollande and Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi met in Paris to give their full backing to the highly-controversial high-speed rail link between Lyon and Turin. Much of the bitter opposition to the railway focuses on the planned 57km tunnel through the Alps between the Susa valley in Italy and the Maurienne valley in France. One of the most vehement opponents of the scheme is acclaimed Italian novelist and translator Erri de Luca. His comment that the railway project should be “sabotaged” has now landed him in court for the alleged incitement of a crime, over which he faces a five-year jail term if found guilty. Here the Italian author talks to Mathilde Auvillain about his determination to defend his right to freedom of expression.
In the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks earlier this month, perpetrated in the name of Islam by three gunmen born and raised in France, there has been wide discussion in France about how hard-line Islamists succeed in enrolling a section of the country’s disenfranchised youths into their midst. Beyond the influence of extremist networks that operate in public places, notably a number of mosques, the role that prison plays in the recruitment of potential jihadists has been highlighted, notably by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls. Shortly after the attacks, he suggested that jailed radical Islamists may be grouped together in special quarters in prisons to limit their current opportunities of converting fellow prisoners to their cause. Mediapart’s Joseph Confavreux and Carine Fouteau sought out the opinion of Jean-Marie Delarue, who until July 2014 served for six years as France’s general inspector of prisons. In this interview he argues why he believes the proposition is misguided and potentially dangerous.
The shooting attacks in Paris last week claimed the lives of a total of 17 victims and ended with the deaths of the three gunmen. The outrages, perpetrated by Islamic extremists and which began with the massacre at the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine before the separate murders of two police officers and the executions of four hostages in a Jewish supermarket, have opened a vast societal debate in France. There have been comparisons made with the 9/11 attacks in the United States, questions raised about the true significance of the national unity displayed during last Sunday’s huge marches in defiance of terrorism, about the real extent of integration, and stigmatization, of the French Muslim population, and why the jihad increasingly lures some young French citizens. In this interview with Joseph Confavreux, Olivier Roy, a recognised expert in France and abroad on questions of Islam and religious fundamentalism, discusses these and related issues, and highlights the taboos that cloud an effective analysis of the events.
