Paris (AFP)
Author of the documentary "I am not your negro" where he denounced the denial of white America in the face of racism, the Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck denounces today the denial of France in the face of this same poison.
"France is in denial and her children no longer have time. Her children + adulterers + do not want to wait any longer. Her black, white, yellow, rainbow children are restless", says the filmmaker in a text entitled "J'étouffe" to be published Wednesday in the weekly Le 1.
"The concentration of anger accumulated every day in the hearts of those who + do not look like you, + of those who look at you from outside through the misty glass, is immeasurable," he writes.
With contained anger, the filmmaker whose film had been selected for the Oscars and who was awarded the César for best documentary in 2018, explains that the "brutal, ugly, malicious" racism he finds in France is the fruit of a long history linked to the rise of capitalism and social inequality.
"We have simply come to the end of a far too heavy legacy of injustice, denial and profits, built on the misery of others. France is in denial, because it refuses to accept having lost its predominant place and its empire, "says the director.
Former Minister of Culture of Haiti, living essentially in France for more than fifty years, the filmmaker admits to being "a black man privileged in every way" but, observes with dismay "the outrages, the racist words , racist gestures, racist decisions, racist laws "which are becoming commonplace.
"They are right to stand up, these young people. They are right to demonstrate, they could even be right to break everything", continues the director who would like "each citizen to take his share of the burden and stop observing from a distance".
"We have to start all over again. Put everything on the table, to rebuild everything. No institution can escape it. This is the problem of each citizen, each institution, including the press, each board of directors, of each trade union, of each political organization, everywhere it is necessary to open this site because it is up to you to solve this problem, not to blacks, nor to Arabs, nor to women, neither to homosexuals, neither to handicapped, nor to unemployed " , insists Raoul Peck before adding: "We will be able to reach you in due time".
"I thought that another world was possible, without having to set fire to everything. Now, I'm not sure at all", concludes, pessimistic, the director.
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