• chevron_right

      ‘We are finally free’: Senegal hails new anti-establishment president

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Yesterday - 14:25


    Bassirou Diomaye Faye promises to overhaul democracy in west African country blighted by corruption

    Just 10 days before being elected president of Senegal, Bassirou Diomaye Faye was in prison.

    Years of political turmoil have left the west African state’s democracy teetering on the brink of collapse, with deadly uprisings and the jailing of opposition figurescommonplace.

    Continue reading...
    • chevron_right

      Early results have radical change candidate ahead in Senegal election

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 3 days ago - 11:41


    Bassirou Diomaye Faye leads Amadou Ba, the candidate for the ruling party who has refused to concede, in the presidential vote

    Senegal’s anti-establishment candidate appears to be closing in on victory in the country’s presidential election, an outcome that could steer the west African state in a radical new direction.

    Early results show opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye ahead, prompting several rivals to publicly concede defeat.

    Continue reading...
    • chevron_right

      Banel & Adama review – powerfully subversive Senegalese love story

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Saturday, 16 March - 15:00

    Khady Mane dazzles as a young wife with a mind of her own in Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s poetic Palme d’Or-nominated debut feature

    There are few characters more unsettling in cinema – or theatre, or literature for that matter – than a single-minded woman determined to shape her own destiny at any cost. It shouldn’t be so, obviously. Why can’t a woman exhibit the same drive and ruthlessness as her male counterparts? But as Anatomy of a Fall demonstrated, a strong, self-interested female character tends to be viewed by society (and by extension, the audience) as inherently suspect. In the case of Banel (a knockout performance from the mesmerising Khady Mane), the besotted wife of Adama (Mamadou Diallo), that suspicion is justified.

    The Pulaar-language feature debut from French-Senegalese film-maker Ramata-Toulaye Sy, Banel & Adama has a sparse, fable-like quality and poisonous, creeping momentum. Dealing with a passionate love that tips into something darker, the story unfolds in a Senegalese rural community in which gender roles are firmly inscribed and tradition is a guiding force in the lives of the villagers.

    Continue reading...
    • chevron_right

      No electricity, first-time actors and 50C heat: how Ramata-Toulaye Sy shot her debut in Senegal – and premiered it at Cannes

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Thursday, 7 March - 15:00

    The Senegalese director’s debut movie, Banel and Adama, propelled her to the red carpet. She explains why she wanted to show the world its flawed lead character

    Nearly a decade ago, when Ramata-Toulaye Sy sat down to write her graduation script at the end of a screenwriting degree, her goal was simple. “I wanted to tell the most beautiful and greatest African love story,” says the 37-year-old French Senegalese film-maker with a smile. “When I was growing up a lot of African stories were about misery, poverty, war. I wanted to say: we can have African stories about people falling in love.”

    She pauses, her grin widening. “Most importantly, I wanted to write the story of how Juliet became Lady Macbeth.” It’s a description that nails the film she’s now directed, based on that script, Banel and Adama. A subversive feminist romance set in Senegal, it was the only film by a first-time director in the main competition at Cannes last year (pitting her against veterans Wes Anderson, Todd Haynes and Ken Loach in the running for the festival’s top prize).

    Continue reading...
    • chevron_right

      African leaders call for equity over minerals used for clean energy

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Wednesday, 28 February - 18:09

    ‘Crucial’ UN resolution attempts to avoid repeat of injustices produced by Africa’s fossil fuel sector

    In an attempt to avoid the “injustices and extractivism” of fossil fuel operations, African leaders are calling for better controls on the dash for the minerals and metals needed for a clean energy transition.

    A resolution for structural change that will prioritise equitable benefit-sharing from extraction, supported by a group of mainly African countries including Senegal, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Chad, was presented at the United Nations environmental assembly in Nairobi on Wednesday and called for the sustainable use of transitional minerals.

    Continue reading...
    • chevron_right

      Is democracy dying in Africa? Senegal’s slide into chaos bodes ill in a year of key elections

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Sunday, 25 February - 14:00

    With millions set to vote in 2024, the continent’s future is in the hands of a younger generation disillusioned by the apparent failure of their elected leaders and stagnant economies

    Djbril Camara remembers thinking it was the wildest demonstration yet, the thunderclap of teargas almost constant. Then a shocking new sound: the crack of a live bullet. Djbril scrambled to the roof of his apartment block.

    Below, the protest had descended into pandemonium. People shrieking as they ran. Plumes of teargas billowed across the Niary Tally district of Dakar, Senegal’s capital.

    Continue reading...
    • chevron_right

      France should return much more looted African art, film-maker says

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Sunday, 18 February - 13:52

    Mati Diop, the director of Dahomey, which charts the restitution of 26 objects to Benin, says the tiny number involved is ‘humiliating’

    The first major return of looted treasures from Europe to Africa in the 21st century has left a lingering feeling of humiliation because of the lack of follow-up action, a French-Senegalese filmmaker who accompanied a hoard of artefacts on their journey from Paris to their country of origin has said.

    In her film Dahomey, which premiered at the Berlin film festival on Sunday, the director, Mati Diop, documents the 2021 journey of 26 treasures that the commander of French forces in Senegal looted from the royal palace of the kingdom of Dahomey, part of modern-day Benin, in 1890.

    Continue reading...
    • chevron_right

      Despite Republican rumours, Michelle Obama probably won’t be the next president | Arwa Mahdawi

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Saturday, 17 February - 14:00


    The murky depths of the rightwing mind have turned up conspiracies lately on Taylor Swift and the former first lady

    I hope you’re not squeamish, because we are about to journey into the murky depths of the rightwing mind where brain worms abound.

    Continue reading...
    • chevron_right

      ‘She’s the mother of African dance’: the Senegal sensation who shook the world

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Wednesday, 14 February - 15:11

    She was the only black student in her Paris school, constantly criticised for her ‘big butt and flat feet’. But she went on to win awards worldwide, including the Venice Golden Lion. As Germaine Acogny finally hits Britain, the dancer relives her path to the top

    ‘When I was born,” says Germaine Acogny, speaking from her home in Toubab Dialaw, Senegal, “people said I was the reincarnation of my grandmother.” A Yoruba priestess, her grandmother Aloopho was said to possess powers that would be passed down the matrilineal line. But she only had one child – Acogny’s father, Togoun – so Aloopho made an exception. “She told my dad, ‘I’ll transmit my powers to you, but you must transmit them to your oldest daughter in turn.’”

    Acogny gives a megawatt smile and begins to chuckle heartily. “I don’t necessarily feel that my father passed on all the power he could have done,” she says, eyes glinting. Nonetheless, the 79-year-old firmly believes that “the dead are not dead”, and thanks her grandmother for bestowing upon her an ease of movement and reverence for the natural world.

    Continue reading...