Retrospective

Yasmina Khadra presented his newest book during a conference at the Alliance Française of Chicago on May 14, 2007. Journalism student Charlotte Riesi recounts the event.

“France and the United States: Perspectives on the Past and Prospects for the Future”
Chicago, May 4, 2007

I’m truly delighted to be back in Chicago, back with the Chicago Council on World Affairs. Marshall Bouton asked me, is it your twelfth visit? I don’t count anymore. It is the twelfth, the thirteenth, the fourteenth, I don’t remember exactly, but I’m always delighted to be back in Chicago. I do consider that it is by far the most elegant, beautiful city in the United States. And I consider we don’t do enough business with the Midwest, with Chicago, and that’s why we have now a great Consul General, Jean-Baptiste Main de Boissière, who is certainly in the diplomatic service in France the most business oriented of all our diplomats. So believe me, we will work hard together to make sure that more and more French investments will come to Chicago.

Now, we have elections in France, the 2nd round, on Sunday. So I was asked not to say a word about it. Well, of course, I will say a word about it, and let me comment not on the results of Sunday’s election but about the lessons of the first round.

The first one is that 85% of the French voters did vote. And it says volumes about the so-called gloomy mood of the French people. They showed enthusiasm and determination to build their future and to take their future in their hands, and that’s good news.

The second lesson is that the extreme left and the extreme right lost a lot of votes. The extreme right 5 years ago was around 19% of the votes. Two weeks ago, they got only around 10 % of the votes. They lost nearly half of their voters. That’s also good news, it shows that the voters wanted to support the mainstream political parties, not the parties which refuse, but the parties which want to build, either on the center right or on the center left.

The 3rd lesson is that our president, the next president he or she, will be in his or her fifties. Today, Jacques Chirac is 74 years old, I was proud to be his diplomatic adviser for 5 years, he is the last French president who was part of the Second World War. We had General de Gaulle, Pompidou, Giscard d’Estaing, Mitterrand, Chirac, and that’s it. Now it’s one generation younger. If it is Sarkozy, 52 years old, if it is Ségolène Royal, 53 years old. And that’s very important in terms of vision, about France, the role of France in Europe and in the world. Our next president has no knowledge about what was the Second World War. He was or she was a kid during the Algerian war where Jacques Chirac served for 3 years. And he was born with the European Union and I’ll say a few words about the European Union because I think that for our next president it is the 1st horizon.

The European Union was born thanks to the US. We will commemorate in exactly one month already this 60th anniversary of the famous speech of General Marshall which led to the Marshall plan. And in March, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the treaty of Rome which founded the European Union. And for me the European Union is the place of 3 miracles.

The first one is the reconciliation between the Germans and the French. It is a real miracle because we were the harsh enemies. In my young days the Germans were les bosch, the harsh enemies of the French forever. And we were invaded 3 times by the Germans, we invaded time and again Germany. Now if you ask the French who are your best friends, 80% will say the Germans, and if you ask the Germans who are your best friends 80 % will says the French. It did not happen like that, it was the vision and the will of General de Gaulle and Chancellor Adenauer. But it succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. And I say that in front of Ambassador Bindenagel my friend.

The second miracle is the Euro. It was not obvious for the French proud to have for 800 years in their pockets le franc. Or even more for the Germans so proud of their strong deutschmark to say well lets abandon our currencies and let’s adopt a common currency. It was like jumping above a cliff and you don’t what’s on the other side or below. And I do remember, I was at the Elysée Palace at the time, the anxiety which existed the moment we jumped, because we knew what we were leaving behind, we did not know if it would work. It is a miracle because we have to organize the conversions of our economies, you have the same level of inflation, debt, budget deficit, we made it. And now, 300 million Europeans have in their pocket the Euro. It is a miracle, the only problem it is that maybe the Euro is a bit too strong. Please, do what you have to do to have the dollar a bit stronger.

The 3rd miracle is the expansion of the European Union. We started with 6, then 9, 10 12, 15 and in a big jump we opened our doors to ten new comers, most of them coming from the other side of the iron curtain. Three of them coming from the USSR, the 3 Baltic states. This happened without a war. And you have to understand that it is a real miracle, first of all because we are now in the longest period of peace since the days of the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago. Second, it is the first in our 2000 years of history that we are united without a war. We were united thanks to the Romans with the Roman Empire, then we had Charlemagne, then we had Napoleon, then Hitler all the times with wars. For the first time we are united, West and East of Europe, 27 countries belonging to the European Union, without a war through the will of the people democratically expressed by their votes. It is a real miracle, that’s the 3rd miracle.

And you have now to think like a European for one minute. When I started my diplomatic career it was the bipolar world, it was the confrontation between the West and the East, and the battleground of this confrontation was Europe. And we were a small community doing its best, now the European Union has nearly 500 million citizens belonging to the European Union. We represent a little more than your GDP, a little more than 30% of the world GDP. And if you think as a European what you see on the other side in the East, first the total transformation of Russia, it was 15 years ago, 20 years ago USSR, the other superpower a country of 300 million inhabitants, now we have Russia with 140 million inhabitants losing 1 million per year because of poor demographic, and so as a European belonging to the European Union the strategic perspective has totally changed. And you have on the other side of the Atlantic a strong Union, your strong ally for the 21st century. Of course you may say, well but, why did you say no to the Constitution. We’ll have to go back with the matter with our next president, we need a President for the European Union, we need a prime minister, we need better voting rights and so on. We’ll fix it. The no of the French has a lot to do with things which have nothing to do with the Constitution. When you ask the French by referendum what you think of the European Constitution they will tell you what they think about the President of France, the Government of France, the economic situation, the social situation, the weather and maybe Europe, and maybe the borders of Europe, maybe about Turkey which was part of our debate, and not much about the Constitution. So let’s go back to the matter and in the meantime, let’s focus on what we have to do together. What the next president of France will have to do with the United States of America. Well, he will or she will have to confront the challenges of the 21st century. For you, for us the 21st century started on 9/11/2001. As Jean-Baptiste said, I was at the time the Ambassador to the UN. I saw from the windows of my office the destruction of the Twin Towers. I saw the tragedy and it will remain in my heart for the rest of my days. But this was a personal reaction, what is amazing is that it was the reaction of 60 million French. The main daily in France, Le Monde, had a big title “We are all Americans”. And Jacques Chirac was the first Head of State to come to Washington and New York to express the total solidarity of the people of France with the US. And we were part of the war in Afghanistan right from the beginning and we will maintain troops until the end of this war, because this is a legitimate war.

You may say, what about Iraq. Well let’s turn this bitter page and let’s focus on the challenges of the 21st century.

For me, the 1st challenge is, can we prevent the war of religion in the 21st century? The 20th century was a century marked by the confrontation of ideologies, fascism, communism, and on our side, democracy, market economy. In a way we won. How can we win the challenge of the 21st century in terms of war of religion? and what do I mean by that? Well, it’s very simple. Al Quaida wants to impose their extremist view of Islam from Indonesia to Nigeria. They want to build a kind of huge Muslim caliphate, their way, and we have to make sure that this doesn’t happen. Because if they succeed, then yes we’ll have the war of religions, Islam versus Christianity, and that would be a disaster first of all for the Muslim people. Now how can we confront that risk? First by helping the moderates in the Muslim countries. We don’t think that you can impose democracy through war, the use of force. We do consider in France, basically in Europe, that democracy has to come from within. Is it mission impossible? Of course not. If you are French and you look at Muslim countries you think first of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia. Well, in Morocco, after years of debate, democratic debate, they adopted a status for women which is exactly the same as ours in Europe. Away from Koran and that was their decision. In Algeria, after a bitter war, now they have free and fair elections. In Tunisia, certainly no fair elections, but in 2 generations they have built a middle class, a bourgeoisie, which represents certainly between 70 and 80% of the total population. That’s the best recipe for tomorrow’s democracy. And in countries like Jordan you have an evolution which is very encouraging. So first let’s help the Muslim countries to develop, as Indonesia did, democratic institutions.

The second thing we have to do is to solve the problems of the Middle East. 5 years ago we had only one conflict the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, now we have four. The Israeli- Palestinian conflict and we applaud the reengagement of the US. We have the conflict in Lebanon. Not only the war with Israel last July between Hezbollah and Israel, but also the very difficult relations between Lebanon and Syria after the assassination of Rafik Hariri. And on this issue, Lebanon, I can’t see a better example of perfect cooperation than the one between Washington and Paris. We do a lot together and we achieved a lot together to help the Lebanese people to affirm their independence.

The third problem, the third conflict, is of course the war in Iraq. And we are participating in the Charm-El Sheik conferences with our representative because we think that the future will be positive, fruitful, promising only if there is a political solution inside Iraq and with the countries of the region.

And fourth, there is Iran, which is probably the most threatening conflict, the conflict about the nuclear program of Iran. And here 3 European countries took the lead in launching a negotiation of the UK, Germany and France and after 2 1/2 years we were joined by the US, Russia and China. So we have a lot of leverage. Unfortunately, Ahmadinejad was elected and it was a different story. So we have imposed two resolutions of sanctions over Iran, not to punish the Iranian people, but to tell them if you don’t suspend the enrichment program that may lead to a bomb, well, we’ll have no choice but to impose sanctions. Twice the Security Council voted unanimously to impose these sanctions, it was not enough and so we’ll see but we don’t want to punish Iran, as I said, we have proposed a huge package of incentive, if they stop their program leading to a bomb we’ll help them to develop nuclear electricity, their economy, and take care of their security problems in the region. So, that’s the deal we proposed. Now, all these four crisis are different. But there is a kind of glue between all of them and this glue has a name, Iran. Because Iran is helping Hamas in the Palestinian territories, financing and equipping Hezbollah in Lebanon, and supporting Syria and, financing and equipping the Shia militia in Iraq. So, it is important to see that these different crises are more and more interconnected. And each time we make progress on one, it has ripple and positive effects and the other 3. So that’s for the number one challenge that is how to prevent the war of religion.

The second one, in my view, is how can we integrate better in the world affairs the emerging giants and number one China and India. I’m a bit preoccupied by the temptation in the Congress to impose tariffs on the imports coming from China, or to go to WTO because of dumping and it may trigger a kind of commercial war which would not be helpful. I think we are already in a kind of transition in China. Why do I say that, because yes it’s true that today they have a huge competitive edge. And for one good reason their salaries are still low, but they are going up quite rapidly in the cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou. But what is important for you to understand is that most Chinese are working, and hard, because you have very few retirees and very few children. In 20 years the situation will be totally different when you think about it, because their baby boom came a little later than yours and ours, we will have in the next 20 years a massive movement to retire. Hundreds of millions of Chinese will retire. And China has destroyed the heath system and pension system which existed during the days of the domination of the communist party. So not only they have to reinvent a new pension system and a new heath system but they have to pay for it. So it will diminish their competitive edge. So it’s not only a question of salaries, it’s a question of how to finance the pensions and the health system. And all this will be on the shoulders of the result of the one child policy. That is you’ll have four grandparents retired, two parents on their way to retirement, and one child to pay for all of that. And if you add to that the fact that they have to clean their environment and not only because of global warming but just go to Beijing and you will see the quality of the air you breathe, or look at their rivers and you will see the dark color of their rivers and you can measure that all this will be very costly too. That’s why I say that we should not be too preoccupied, of course we have to survive well during this period when they still have a competitive edge but come on you don’t have any unemployment in America, so don’t complain, don’t be scared to death, we have unemployment and we know that we will fix the problem not by closing our doors to China but by introducing reforms in France. So that’s my message on China, and in a way the same for Brazil, or India even if it is coming a little later than China.

Now the third challenge, and the last one, is about global problems. We have global warming. You may discuss it, well in Europe we think it’s already there. We had a heat wave few years ago, three summers ago, 15,000 people died in France because of global warming. For us, it’s not the future, it’s our present. We have to fix all the problems of health which have no borders, bird flu, SARS. We have to help Africa get out of poverty. We have to do a better job with the Doha Round. All these global problems will be solved only if we have rules accepted by everybody. And for us it means institutions, global institutions, the UN, WTO, specialized agencies in great shape. In a globalized world, you need global rules. You may say well no, we don’t fear the law of the jungle, because in this jungle in a way, we are the 400-pound gorilla. So, if you are the only superpower left in the world why should you accept rules you impose the rules. That’s good for today. But think of tomorrow. In 20 years, you will be at that time hopefully the 500-pound gorilla, but maybe at that time China will be the 800-pound gorilla and India the 600-pound gorilla and that time you may regret not have good institutions and great rules respected by all the key actors. So it means that not only we need a multi-polar world, but we need the UN and global institutions in great shape. This means a degree of shared sovereignty, and I know from my years of experience and years in Washington that the Congress doesn’t like to share sovereignty, especially with the UN. In Europe, it’s the opposite situation, that is we share sovereignty on a daily basis through the European process, shared sovereignty, well the Euro in our pockets is the best symbol of shared sovereignty. So that’s a difference we have. So let’s work together to help the UN and other key institutions to adapt to the 21st century because we need these institutions even more than in the past.

So, in a way, we have today to defend and promote together the very values that our ancestors, George Washington, Lafayette, invented together, Democracy, Freedom, Liberty.

France’s contribution to the European economy is based on several important points :

• The globalization of corporate France is an important part of the transformation of European capitalism :
In the last 25 years, a vibrant form of capitalism has emerged from worldwide political and economic transformations.

For France, a major driving force has been the privatization process which has changed the face of French capitalism. It has resulted in the creation of powerful international companies, well managed, financially robust and well regarded by the markets : AGF, BNP Paribas ; EADS ; Gaz de France, EDF, France Telecom, Renault, ST Microelectronics, Sanofi-Aventis, Societe Generale, Suez, Thomson, Veolia, Vivendi. Together these companies currently represent a significant part of French market capitalization.

Another important factor shaping the face of modern French capitalism has been the role of entrepreneurs. The list of major companies with strong family roots is impressive : Bouygues, Carrefour, L’Oreal, Lagardère, LVMH, Pernod Ricard, Peugeot, and PPR. These companies also are great success stories. They have strong corporate cultures and very dedicated staff. They underline the lasting contribution of family based capitalism to the prosperity of our country.

Also, the French economy is extremely open. Like most other European countries, France derives a significant part of its GDP from external trade -significantly more than in the United States or Japan. In absolute terms, France ranks 5 th in the world in terms of exports and 4th in terms of imports.

Other indicators also point to the fact that France has become a truly internationalized business place. Behind the UK, the United States and China, France is the fourth destination in the world for foreign direct investment. In practical terms, 18,000 thousands subsidiaries of foreign companies are implanted in France. Together, they represent 1.9 million jobs, an increase of 90% over a 10year period.

• The attractiveness of France as a business location is also a major plus for the European economy :

France is a European hub for many multinational corporations. Paris ranks 2nd in the world for hosting the headquarters of these companies, after Tokyo and before London and New York. Therefore, Paris solidifies the presence of Europe in the world.

Another telling indicator is that 45% of market capitalization in France is held by non-French residents. This number raises to 70% for transactions made on the stock exchange. Foreign investors hold 56% of French sovereign bonds.

With a market capitalization of 1.4 trillion dollars in 2006, France ranks 4th in the world behind the United States (9.9), Japan (2.2), the UK (2.1) but before Germany (0.8).

• As a stable, well managed economy, France (AAA rating) is contributing to the stability of the European economy and the success of the Euro zone

France’s openness to the global economy, as measured by the ratio between international trade and GDP, rose from 11% in 1960 to 22% in 2005. During this time, France opened up to the global economy and foreign capital, and major French companies acquired European and even international enterprisesstanding.

Over the same period, the UK ratio rose from 16 to 20% and that of the United States from 3 to 10%. The comparison with the United Kingdom, always presented as the most open economy in the Old World, is particularly revealing. It shows both the French economy’s high degree of openness and its rapid transformation during the time in question. France is not standing still, as she is too often thought to be.

France has received AAA rating by Moody’sStandard and Poors, and is one of the few European countries to receive such a high mark on the index of performance, a sign of great stability. Foreign investment is a sign of good health and is indeed imperative in an increasingly open world.

• France also contributes to the emergence of a post-industrial society - a knowledge based economy - in Europe (R&D, sciences, healthcare, culture and tourism)

France is an active European partner in the fields of R&D, sciences, mathematics, healthcare, and technology.

Launched in 2004, France’s competitive clusters consist of an association of companies, research centers and educational institutions, working in partnership under a common development strategy to generate the collaborative execution of innovative projects targeting one or more given markets.

There are currently 66 clusters in France, in fields ranging from biotech to aerospace, from agribusiness to sustainable development. A wide range of actors have been mobilised, companies, research centers and universities through a ‘bottom up,’ collaborative approach. And the first results of the cluster policy are encouraging.

France is also a central point in Europe for its cultural assets and it’s prominent position as a tourist destination. France is the number one tourist destination in the world, with 78 million foreign visitors in 2006 (+ 3% compared to 2005). International tourism revenue has also risen by 2.5% reaching 35 billion euros in 2006.

The French public road and rail infrastructures, with the high speed trains as well as telecommunications are notoriously excellent.

France’s economic future is highly dependant on Europe

France can’t be economically successful without Europe.

• Our prosperity relies on the creation of a highly integrated market of 500 million consumers

The EU is one of the largest economic entities in the world with 500 million consumers. Significant efforts have been made to create harmonized standards to bring economic benefits through creating larger, more efficient markets. Today, the EU is the largest exporter in the world and the second largest importer.

• The same can be said for the Euro

In 2002, France gave up it’s original currency of many centuries, for the Euro. There is no turning back.

Since its inception in 1999, the Euro has been a stabilizing force in the European economy. Today, the 13 countries that are part of the Eurozone benefit from a fiscal stability. The Euro has brought monetary coherence thanks to a clear and common monetary policy. It is become a major currency for international trade that can compete with the dollar and the yen.

• European policies are needed to create critical mass in areas such as R&D, high level education, energy policy

The objectives of the European Union to boost spending on R&D to 3% by 2010 and to become a leading knowledge-based economy cannot be achieved without common policies.

R&D at the European level has a positive effect on productivity and growth. If Europe is to become a successful integrated research area, able to attract investments from all over the world it must develop wide-ranging European-level programs over national programs with little coherence.

France must work hand in hand with its partners on key issues such as : R&D, sciences, high level education through multilateral cooperation between institutions, and energy regulations. In that area, much has to be done : controls on production, energy management and efficiency, as well as market legislation. The increase of renewable energy programs, including nuclear energy, needs to be addressed as global warming has become a top priority particularly in France.

France and the European Union have to meet important challenges

• The financing of our system of social protection and the functioning of the labor market are two critical issues which have to be addressed

The French social system is characterized by two major factors : The first is financial : France already has a high taxation rate, which would be hard to increase without affecting the economy. The second factor is that the French are deeply attached to their solidarity system and it will remain one of the pillars of our society.

To insure the future viability of the social welfare system, a series of reforms are being implemented to guarantee its long term financing in an economically and socially sustainable way. A number of steps have already been taken in the last 5 years : the number of contribution years for retirement has been extended to account for the longer duration of life and measures have been successfully implemented to curb the cost of medical expenses. Such changes have been well accepted by the French population.

Improving the functioning of our labor market is another major challenge. An efficient labor market is a primary condition to create jobs and thus reduce unemployment. France is actively engaged in reforming its system, and is finding inspiration from other European countries who have been successful in bringing social partners to agree on improving labor market regulation.

• A stronger coordination is needed between countries of the Euro zone

Policy coordination among the members of the Eurozone and the non-members must be strengthened even if macroeconomic management in Europe has improved significantly since the beginning of the European Monetary Union. Such a coordination will lead to a greater convergence of the economic and budgetary policies within the group and will facilitate dialogue in a more open and efficient manner with the ECB (European Central Bank).

• Ultimately, the cohesiveness of the European economy is dependant on the achievement of a political Europe.

To create a zone of prosperity in a post-industrial economy, we must achieve a political Europe and a highly performing economy well-adapted to the Europe of today and in the spirit of the Lisbon Strategy.

The political dimension is extremely important. It opens the way to a more complete integration in the future.

As one of the largest economic and political entities in the world, the EU has to continually adapt its policies to the ever changing issues of the world.

France and Europe must separately and together address the important challenges of the 21st century. /.

Mr. Chairman,
Monsieur le Président,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to be with you once again for “La Nuit des Etoiles”, organized by the French American Chamber of Commerce in Chicago, to celebrate the extraordinary talents of John Bliven, Managing Director of Areva Transmission & Distribution.

This annual event, which has been held for many years now, symbolizes the very strong economic ties between the United States and France and the great vitality of the French presence in Illinois.

The economic and commercial links between our two countries are extensive, mutually beneficial and continually expanding. It is in each country’s interest to keep facilitating this strong economic partnership, therefore ensuring the stability and openness of our two markets. Last year, in terms of trade, the volume of transactions between France and the United States rose to almost 50 billion euros.

This dynamic is directly linked to the large amount of foreign direct investments on both sides of the Atlantic, which is the backbone of our commercial relationship.

With investments valued at 60 billion dollars the United States is the number one foreign investor in France. These investments have been significant over the last few years and continue to increase. Today there are no less than 2,200 US companies established in France.

On the other hand, France is the 5th largest foreign investor in America. As you may know, there are over 2,500 French subsidiaries operating in the United States. French owned companies employ more than 550,000 workers in the United States and around 90,000 people in the Midwest alone, compared to 600,000 employees of American owned companies in France.

In 2006, Illinois companies created more than 1,000 jobs in France, accounting for no less than 10% of the total number of jobs created by American companies in our country every year. This excellent outcome is largely due to investments from global industrial groups such as Caterpillar or Wrigley, as well as midsize companies such as MacLean Fogg, specializing in ceramics, or Viskase, in casings.

The French presence is increasingly diversifying with the regular arrival of new investors. In the same year, many new French businesses were created in Illinois in various sectors of activity including : auto-parts, information technology, retail distribution,...

The vitality of French investments in the United States is unfailing and is truly a great source of satisfaction.

But our relationship is not limited to trade and investments. Due to the deep and growing level of the integration of our respective economies and societies, France and the United States retain a high level of interdependance within the ongoing development of dynamic partnerships.

Prominent joint ventures are being launched in key sectors, where excellence meets excellence. Two great examples of these pairings are CFM in Cincinnati, a Joint Venture in aircraft engines between General Electric and SNECMA, and the creation of Alcatel-Lucent, a worldwide leader in the field of telecommunications equipment with a Research and Development Institute in Naperville, IIlinois.

This kind of cooperation and initiative is key to the vitality of the relationship between France and the United States. Common interests and actions bind our countries together in economic and political terms. We welcome and support this dialogue fostered by the French American Chambers of Commerce.

The heads of large companies in France and the Midwest are leading the way. They are dedicated advocates of forward-looking policies aiming at addressing the formidable challenges of the century ahead, foremost among them, sustainable development and the protection of our planet. With leadership and vision, our business communities today are actively engaged in finding solutions to environmental issues. Such is the case for Areva, the world leader in nuclear power, whose focus is the development and continuous improvement of reliable technological solutions for CO2-free power generation, and electricity transmission and distribution

In a world where clean energy and the effects of global warming have become top concerns, I am particularly pleased that this year’s nominee is Mr John Bliven, a top manager at Areva, a French corporation committed to actively expanding and investing in the United States in such an important sector.

Through this event, we also pay tribute to a man with a clear vision who contributes his talents to ensure the success and the development of his company. Mr. Bliven is a shining example in French-American business relations.

Y. Khadra: neglected by journalists, commended in Chicago
On May 14th, Algerian/French writer, Yasmina Khadra ended a promotional tour in Chicago with a conference at l’Alliance Française.

There were roughly thirty people present to listen to Yasmina Khadra in the auditorium of the Alliance Française of Chicago, where he presented his most recent novel The Sirens of Baghdad. The book was released in the United States in May. According to the author, the book has not experienced a warm welcome from the American public or American critics. This did not prevent Yasmina Khadra from embarking on a fourteen state tour in an attempt to make the American people understand that the book was written for them.

Though the author was wearied by travel, the fire that animates him remained intact. Passionate, engaged, sometimes angry, he answered frankly to a very attentive audience.

During his introduction, the author stated ironically "Were it not for the French colonization [of Algeria], I probably would have been a sultan today." Yasmina Khadra, whose birth name is Mohammed Moulessehoul, then went on address the Algerian oppression that he experienced, specifically the censorship of the army , as well as the lack of enthusiasm he is facing in the Western world.

Yasmina Khadra is a man that loves life above everything and "writes from love": "When I write, I am not Algerian anymore, I write for everybody, I am opening a door to the other". As he pointed out several times, the human factor is capital in all of his writing. "I go through people in order to experience everyday life.”

Extremely accessible, he is also a man who "loves women and owes them a lot." Indeed, since 1988 his work has been published under the pen name of Yasmina Khadra. In reality this is the name of his wife, which he assumed to bypass the censorship of the Army. Y. Khadra quoted his wife, who now signs all of his written work: "You gave me your name for life, I am giving you mine for posterity." He highlighted with humor that he himself is a paradox in the Arabic world. "This has never been seen: a man, above all a military man, who has a feminine name.”

In the end, the conference focused little on The Sirens of Baghdad. Rather, it offered a rare opportunity for dialogue between the Algerian/French writer and his public. Many French-speaking members of the audience had read his book, which was published in French in 2006. During the Q&A that followed the author’s presentation, conversation turned quickly to the situation in the Middle East. The author’s tone became more incisive: "We are all guilty of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is an insult to the human intelligence. The kamikaze spirit is not an Arabic inevitability." Finally, he did not place blame on the Western World but highlighted the fact that the process of recognition will be long: "It is going to take time. It is not up to the Occident to be tolerant but it is up to the Occident to realize that we are listenable". /.

RETROSPECTIVE
June 2007

“France and the United States: Perspectives on the Past and Prospects for the Future”

"The Economic Role of France and Europe"

2007 Gala Evening: "La Nuit des Etoiles"

"Yasmina Khadra: neglected by journalists, commended in Chicago"

RETROSPECTIVE June 2007

“France and the United States: Perspectives on the Past and Prospects for the Future”

"The Economic Role of France and Europe"

2007 Gala Evening: "La Nuit des Etoiles"

"Yasmina Khadra: neglected by journalists, commended in Chicago"

RETROSPECTIVE
June 2007