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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

France probes racist backlash against pop star Nakamura over Olympics

French investigators have opened an inquiry over alleged racism against French-Malian pop superstar Aya Nakamura following reports she might perform at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

France probes racist backlash against pop star Nakamura over Olympics
French singer Aya Nakamura. (Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP)

The probe follows the filing of a complaint by the France-based International League against Racism and Antisemitism (LICRA) on Wednesday, prosecutors said.

The 28-year-old superstar is known worldwide for hits like Djadja, which has close to a billion streams on YouTube alone.

The abuse began after media reports said the singer had discussed the possibility of performing a song by 20th-century icon Edith Piaf at a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron last month, though neither party has confirmed the topic was discussed.

At a campaign rally on Sunday for the Reconquest party, led by far-right former presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, Nakamura’s name drew boos from the crowd.

A small extremist group, the Natives, hung a banner by the River Seine that read: “There’s no way Aya. This is Paris, not the Bamako market.”

SOS Racism, another group battling discrimination, said on X that it had also filed an official complaint over “acts of incitement to discrimination and racist cyberbullying” against the artist.

It said she had been, “the victim of waves of racist hate driven by the far right”.

The Olympics organising committee told AFP on Monday that it had been “very shocked” by the backlash against the singer, and Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera also expressed her support on X.

Nakamura said Tuesday that said she was grateful. “Thanks for the support, especially to my community,” she posted on X. “I feel like I made you discover Edith Piaf and she has been reincarnated in me.”

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POLITICS

Macron ready to ‘open debate’ on nuclear European defence

French President Emmanuel Macron is ready to "open the debate" about the role of nuclear weapons in a common European defence, he said in an interview published Saturday.

Macron ready to 'open debate' on nuclear European defence

It was just the latest in a series of speeches in recent months in which he has stressed the need for a European-led defence strategy.

“I am ready to open this debate which must include anti-missile defence, long-range capabilities, and nuclear weapons for those who have them or who host American nuclear armaments,” the French president said in an interview with regional press group EBRA.

“Let us put it all on the table and see what really protects us in a credible manner,” he added.

France will “maintain its specificity but is ready to contribute more to the defence of Europe”.

The interview was carried out Friday during a visit to Strasbourg.

Following Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, France is the only member of the bloc to possess its own nuclear weapons.

In a speech Thursday to students at Paris’ Sorbonne University, Macron warned that Europe faced an existential threat from Russian aggression.

He called on the continent to adopt a “credible” defence strategy less dependent on the United States.

“Being credible is also having long-range missiles to dissuade the Russians.

“And then there are nuclear weapons: France’s doctrine is that we can use them when our vital interests are threatened,” he added.

“I have already said there is a European dimension to these vital interests.”

Constructing a common European defence policy has long been a French objective, but it has faced opposition from other EU countries who consider NATO’s protection to be more reliable.

However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the possible return of the isolationist Donald Trump as US president has given new life to calls for greater European defence autonomy.

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