The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked to no longer program artists from three countries: Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.
When geopolitics enters the realm of Culture. According to information from several media outlets, including France Inter, revealed this Thursday early in the afternoon, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs is imposing a ban on programming artists from three African countries, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, in a tense geopolitical context. And this, by suspending until further notice all cooperation projects with these three countries. Also, the Quai d’Orsay would also have prohibited any financial aid to Malian, Nigerien or Burkinabé associations, troupes and artists.
“Consequently, all cooperation projects which are carried out by your establishments or your services with institutions or nationals of these three countries must be suspended, without delay, and without any exception (…) In the same way, no invitation from any national of these countries must not be launched”, we can read in the email sent to the cultural structures concerned, reports France Inter.
Such a decision questions: why would artists from these countries pay the consequences of the tense geopolitical context with France? “We are all hostage to political decisions. These are decisions that are beyond our control, but I endure them as an organizer and as an artist. It’s all the more difficult as we have been on certain projects for three years. We have a decision which tells us that these artists can no longer work here, and it is very, very serious,” Burkinabe director Hassane Kassi Kouyaté reacted to France Inter.
For the moment, it is difficult to know whether the already scheduled concerts of artists from these three countries will be canceled. On the other hand, are concerned, for example, the Malian couple Amadou and Mariam, in concert in Marseille on September 15 or in Oignies in Pas-de-Calais on November 10, or the Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara, expected at the Olympia on May 22 next. As France Inter points out, also by way of example, the Francophonies festival in Limoges is also widely affected. “A concrete case: Hassane Kassi Kouyaté is a binational Burkinabé artist. He is at the head of the renowned Festival des francophonies de Limoges. What do the censors say? Will he be dismissed from his position?” meaning on Twitter Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
