Juste un mouvement (2021) - full transcript

Cinema can serve to explore
the creation of forms, their embryology.

Embryology is extremely mysterious.

How, once a form has been chosen,

it can change,
and we can call that a revolution.

An about-turn, or as
Mao Tse-Tung put it, it spirals...

and that's how things change.

In that case, the first image...

Since those days, cinema has
always been made using two reels.

One that gets full,
and one that empties.

As if by coincidence, in video,
the left reel is called the slave

and the right one, the master.



Since real cinema
was the one that cannot be seen.

Indeed, this film is a real documentary.

They never accepted it as such.

A documentary is both a
little touching and ridiculous.

I was trying to present
in a plausible way

a girl who locks herself inside
her parent's big apartment

and for two months
plays at being a Marxist-Leninist,

like others have done,
in the street, or elsewhere.

There was both real
and not real in it...

There are central tasks
in a cultural revolution,

much to solve...

The problem is
that the visual medium

is so scrambled because over
2000 years of civilisation

its ideology hasn't changed,



so the visual is important,
but it's an ideology.

So, let's stop.

Hi Khouma, can you hear me?

Yes, I can hear you.

I'm in town, it's a little noisy.

How are you?

I'm fine, I'm on a shoot.
A series called "Black & White"

that tells the story
of a girl during colonisation.

So, things are a bit hectic.

What did you think of
the exhibition in Nanterre?

Did you see the
Godard footage in black & white?

The exhibition in Nanterre...

It always moves me when I see
cinema doing something different.

And here
it was even more remarkable.

But Godard is an actor too!

An actor?
You're saying Godard is an actor?

Yes, when you listen to his interviews,
sometimes he's a real actor.

Tell me...

The making-of you filmed during
the shoot with your super-8 camera?

Do you think we could look
at the footage,

and maybe use some of it in the film?

To use it in dialogue with my parent's
super-8 archives from Dakar?

Yes, yes...

Have you developed it yet?

No, it's impossible
to develop here in Dakar.

There's never been a lab here.
- Where will you develop it?

I'll send it to you,
you can get it developed in Brussels.

Ready?

Just a Movement

Omar is a figure in whom any African,
any young African,

especially educated,
but not necessarily,

can recognise themselves.

Not only because of the tragic path
destiny took,

but also in his desire
to reject the established order.

He never had any particular destiny
in mind for himself.

Except to always fight, and also
to protect his family, his brothers.

He felt responsible for us.

He never had anything
against Senghor in particular.

He saw him as being
a victim of himself.

He said, "He's a jerk!

"When you've been at
the prestigious Normale Sup,

"you don't behave that way,
you do something with it.

"He's a loser !

"He's not even
a good imperialist intermediary.

"Senghor is a has-been."

But he did believe that intellectuals
have a role to play in society.

But when you're a rebel,

you don't fight for yourself,
you fight for a cause.

What matters is that the
cause prevails, that it triumphs,

and not that you're there
to witness victory

because the brightest stars
are too often mowed down

long before the end of the struggle.

Omar Blondin Diop :
suicide or assassination?

He just died like that...
The truth never came out.

To find out what really happened,
they should declassify documents

concerning Gorée Prison

and the Ministry of the Interior
at the time of Jean Collin.

We just don't know.

Re-open the case

Palace of Justice

Omar's disappearance,
his assassination,

is one of the turning points
in Senghorian politics.

I believe that's why it is important
to know what happened,

because beyond this Omar

there were practices, there was
an ideology and a system behind it,

that we have to be able to read and
decipher to understand what remains

and what changes or fractures
have taken place since then.

We weren't really raised
as practising Muslims.

My mother was very pious
but my father wasn't religious.

We weren't very practising, though
the country is.

I know that at times
we transgressed religious codes.

Especially Omar.

At times,
people were shocked by that.

My mother used to tell him.

"When you go to people's homes
and it's prayer time, you pray!"

But he would just leave.

He said, you're praying,
you're false devotees.

Supposedly for fun, but they were still
pretty strong code violations.

When you understand this society,
it's not easy to say that kind of thing.

It was interesting.
His father was a doctor,

with the limitations imposed
on African doctors at the time,

that's to say,
only giving them lower-level roles.

His father had worked all over Africa.

His father was very
politically conscious.

He was someone who...

Omar's father's imprint on the family
was very strong.

This is not a fiction film.

If we were in a fiction,
we'd give directions.

For example, to the main actor...

"Walk over there, run to the side!"

No, in our film everyone
plays themselves.

I'm a director, so we see me filming.

Malal is the master of ceremonies
for the demonstrations going on now.

He will be the master of ceremony
later, for the screening of the film.

Malal is a rapper,
he raps in the film.

Omar's brothers bear witness...

His friends, like Paloma,
bear witness...

Madiaw is an actor in life,
and he's the only actor in the film.

The shaolin master
also plays his own role.

We're just filming people's lives...

The documentary is wide-ranging...

This is Madiaw.
He plays his own role in the film.

He's a performer
and in the film, he plays an actor.

He performed at Thiaroye.

We're showing the film, but first,
you'll hear Madiaw talk about theatre.

Not theatre,
that could take a long time,

but about how to play your own role.
- Yes, acting.

Where do ideas
that are true come from?

So, where do ideas
that are true come from?

So?

They fall from the sky?

No.

They come from social practice.

Journal of the Proletarian Left

For Resistance

The Senegalese student

A well know expression:

An arrow needs a target.

Just as the arrow
must aim at its target,

the Marxist-Leninist
must aim at revolution.

Omar...

An older brother
is always a bit of an idol.

Omar didn't live with us
during the school year.

We only saw him
during the holidays.

And every year,
we looked forward to his return.

Every year, Omar brought us
Gallimard publications...

So, we shared these books
amongst ourselves.

We discussed
revolutionary theories,

debated about what path would allow
us to put an end to this domination,

about how to end inequalities,

how to free the genius in everyone,
the potential of every individual, etc...,

So, we had friends
from all walks of life...

The working classes...

We facilitated and nurtured
these discussions.

All we talked about
was revolution.

Do not sell the future of Africans

The Marx-Engels duet concerto

or the 5th symphony of Marxism.

Karl Marx and Engels played a concert
on place de la Concorde.

Armed with percussions
and acoustic guitars,

they were able to bring
the crowd to a trance-like state.

They had decided
to keep their words light,

at the level
of their audience's understanding.

Between two concerts,
their manager told them

that money was now
the world's beating heart

and that it was time
to stop dreaming

and accept the sad reality
of modern times.

Those wily old capitalists
had handed out contraceptive pills

and so the revolution
will no longer be able to get pregnant

and bring into the world
a beautiful, strong, muscular child.

Everything good?
- All good

How are you?
- I'm good.

I need a bag.
-Yes...

Not a bag, a suitcase.

How is Amina doing?
- She's good.

Where is she?
- Amina is in China.

She's working over there?

Is Amina going to marry
a Senegalese and stay here?

A husband in China.

A Chinese husband?
-Yes.

No, a Senegalese husband.

This is good, strong?
- It's good quality!

Fifi!

Are you at home?
- How are you?

I'm fine.

Did a friend of mine
come by to see me?

What friend?
Nobody came by to see you.

I'm not comfortable
with you phoning while driving.

And you, how are you doing?
- We're healthy.

Pull over so we can chat.

It's dangerous to drive
while you're on the phone.

I'm going to get out of the car.
- You're moving too much.

Let's start the scene over.

Are you following the script?

Do you have a connection?

Amina, it's not complicated.

Look, it's as if I'm walking,
just like this.

Yes, I'll walk when you say " Action! "

Yeah, like that, that's good.

I was saying I'd like to return to Dakar.

Why do you want to come back?
- Yes, why?

Definitely don't come back.

You're old enough to get married,
find yourself a boyfriend over there.

You don't want me to come back?

Find a boyfriend in China
and stay over there.

There is Yin energy and Yang energy.

They're in movement.

They circulate.

Yin and Yang must circulate.

Circulation.

Yin can be transformed into Yang

just as Yang
can be transformed into Yin.

This is called mutation.

If I had to define Omar
I'd say he was a mutant.

A new kind of man
who wanted to change the times.

Many comrades still
have a very poor work ethos,

diametrically opposed
to the spirit of Marxism-Leninism.

They're like the man who tries
to catch a sparrow, blindfolded.

Why are you looking at me?

I'm not a strange animal.

I'm a human being.

And your gaze is the same as that
of whites on black people in America,

Arabs on Jews, or the
contrary, in the Middle East.

And in the communist world,
Russians on the Chinese.

The Chinese people strongly support
the just struggle of the African peoples

Omar wasn't very comfortable
with Maoism

because I think he
still respected intellectual constructs.

Maoism was just an alphabet to him.
He said:

"It's the revolutionaries' abc,
like Bible study.

"That will get us nowhere."

He liked elaborations.

Guys like Foucault,
he liked that, he liked...

Althusser.
When guys develop things

and then the militants use it
to shape political thinking

towards creating a popular movement
and advance the revolutionary cause.

Like Castro, Omar saw him
as a fighter, not a thinker.

He liked that with the situationists.

A constructed thinking,
that moves forward,

opening up
new pathways for thought,

promoting a revolutionary ideology.

He liked that in the situationists,
without being sure it could work.

He always believed it
could be useful in a Western context.

He made a distinction between that
and a third world context.

Liberalism deprives
the ranks of the revolution

of effective organisation
and rigorous discipline.

We must confront
vague ideas with clear images.

Let's go.

One.

Two.

Come in.
Three.

Excuse me, I'm sorry
- Ah, come in.

It's you.

You're a little late.

Yes, I apologise.

That's OK.

Come on, let's start again.

Salutations.

One.

The leg first,
we move the leg.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

Very good.

From the start again.

Don't forget,

when you execute a just movement
it must not deviate from its axis.

Make sure you stay on one axis.

Watch.

Your eyes always follow
the movement. OK?

But it must be the right movement.

What is that?
He attacks, I block.

Go!
One... he attacks.

The Chinese Girl

I first became interested in him
because of a film

he had a small part in.

"The Chinese girl",
if memory serves me right.

"Chinese girl" or "Chinese boy",
I'm not sure of the title

because it was a long time ago.

When I arrived in Paris,
I was a Maoist.

I became Maoist through
my personal development,

by observing
what was going on in the world.

So, as a Senegalese with similar
convictions he peaked my interest.

La Chinoise - 115 / take 2.

It was Godard's wife,
who was called...

Mauriac's granddaughter,
you know, the writer...

Anne Wiazemsky, that's it...

She lived with Godard and
they got married pretty soon after.

Godard wanted to make a film about

the passage towards a new generation
of French youth with '68 ...

Even before '68, the film was in '67.

He was trying to understand

what the left-wing movements
in universities were up to.

She told him:

"We have guys in Paris, in Nanterre.
Stuff is happening, come and see!"

He came to Nanterre.

He visited the campus and saw
posters for the March 22nd movement.

He didn't know what it was...

He asked questions,
he attended a meeting,

a General Assembly I think,
in an amphitheatre...

Afterwards he said,
"Look, I'm interested in filming this."

But when he asked them,
they refused.

These guys
refused to let him film them.

And his wife Anne knew Omar
because

as Mauriac's granddaughter, she was
friends with Antoine Gallimard.

So, she asked Antoine, "Do you
know anyone who could...?"

He replied, "My friend Omar
is one of the movement's leaders."

He introduced Omar to Anne,
Anne introduced him to Godard,

and Godard said 'Bingo!'

There's one real character
in the role of the black guy.

He was called Omar Diop.

I knew him through Anne Wiazemsky.

He studied with her
at the university of Nanterre.

I had asked him
to play his own role in the film.

I wanted it to be him
who gave a lesson to the others.

Precisely, as a black man.

Omar Diop died
in Senghor's prisons in Senegal.

Revolutionary students gradually join
the workers' and peasants' movement

This is Radio Peking.

Comrades and friends,
you have just heard the newscast.

The prospects of the European Left

This is Omar.
- Louder!

This is Omar, a comrade from
the Nanterre philosophy circle.

Enough!

Comrades and friends,

Those who consider Stalin...
- Shh...

responsible, over and above
his crimes and mistakes,

for all our disappointments,
mistakes and despair,

in whatever field,

may find themselves very unsettled

when they realise that the end
of intellectual totalitarianism...

Is that dogmatism?
- Yes, if you like.

When the end
of intellectual dogmatism

has not given us back
Marxist philosophy in full.

After all,

we can only free, even from
dogmatism, only those who exist.

I said to him:
"Look Omar, frankly,

"what you're doing is great but,
whatever you do, you'll never be French,

even if you were to
acquire the nationality."

We have a saying that goes,

a tree trunk may spend a lot of time
in the water, it will never be a caiman.

"You'll always be
Senegalese and Negro,

"so we have to look at
doing things in Senegal

"because that' s where
we can have a real impact."

What Stalin's death gave us

is the right to draw up an accurate
inventory of what we possess,

to call by their names
our riches and our deprivations,

to think and raise the problem
out loud,

and to engage in
rigorous and genuine research.

He spent time with

the Senegalese Student
Association in France,

and with FEANF,
Students from Black Africa in France

as well as the different factions
of the French intellectual Left,

with a marked preference for

the Marxist-Leninist movement,
with a Maoist tendency.

But, for example, when his friends
from the Proletarian Left asked him,

"What are you doing
with those Trotskyists?!",

from the Communist Revolutionary
League, he answered,

"I'm interested
in Trotsky's transition period."

That lasted three months,
then he moved on to something else.

That's how he discovered
the Black Panther Party,

how he discovered Castroism,

how he discovered Cheikh Anta Diop
in revolutionary African philosophy.

He could see the African situation
was irreducable

to any of the conceptual schemes
available on the "thought market".

So, he was looking
for a different course of action,

an innovative approach.

What introduced me
to Marxism-Leninism?

At first, I found Nanterre boring,
a faculty amidst the slums,

but I figured a working-class suburb
was the right place for philosophy.

I saw him empty an auditorium
mid-lecture, to trigger a strike.

He would enter the auditorium.

Two of his friends
had gone in before him

to cheer and clap
when Omar asked people to leave.

He would come in,
push the teacher away,

take the mic
and tell the students:

"What are you learning? Nonsense.
It won't help you in life.

"Take control of your existence.

"Let go of the education
you get from your parents.

"Seize control of your lives."

Speeches that fired people up.

Some were reluctant,
others played along.

His friends cried:

"You're right! Let's go!
Let's leave this bourgeois university!"

And the auditorium emptied.
Nearly every time.

These happenings were a way
of acting without warning.

It was often too slow
to get a strike order.

Revolution is an uprising,
an act of violence,

by which one class
overthrows another.

I'm in philosophy class.

Left-wing groups are operating
in all spheres.

They are particularly active
at the University of Nanterre,

for example, we have:
the Maoists,

the Revolutionary Communist Youths,
including some of the Trotskyists,

the Revolutionary Student
Liaison Committee,

the anarchists
and other colourful splinter groups.

Despite their contradictions,
these few hundred students,

have united in what they call
the March 22nd Nanterre Movement,

led by
the German and Jewish anarchist!

Who takes himself for Karl Marx!
The aptly named, Cohn-Bendit.

This is the first time
we've ever seen this.

That is to say, we are, de facto,
now occupying the Sorbonne.

People can go home, but evidently
we no longer have the right to be here.

The administration has decided to
outlaw those inside the Sorbonne,

so, they are occupying the Sorbonne.

Our task today is simply

to highlight and confront these
problems,

if we want to give a little existence
and theoretical consistency

to Marxist philosophy.

Action!

This is Awa, my friend
from the Confucius Institute.

Hello.

Today we are going to talk
about cinema.

The Red of La Chinoise:
Godard’s politics

But this time in Mandarin.

On the film’s release,
Godard was, at first,

accused of presenting a caricature

rather than a serious representation
of real Maoist militants.

However, thereafter, the film
came to be praised for being

firstly, a brilliant anticipation of
the events of May 68,

and also, a lucid appraisal

of the fleeting infatuation
of bourgeois youth with Maoism,

and its return to order
or the choice of terrorism.

He was in a constant state
of inner turmoil.

He wanted to make things happen
and break down barriers.

He was willing to go against the flow
and be different.

On the ground,

we erected barricades together

and threw cobblestones
like everyone else.

In Senegal, we call it barkelo.

When you participate in a movement

every individual has to make
their own small contribution.

I remember in May'68, during
the demonstrations in the streets,

Omar told me: "You see, there are
no dead people here.

"They've burnt hundreds of cars,
they've broken everything

"and look, there are no dead people.

"You realise, if it was back home,
you touch a guy's car, he kills you."

He told me: "We need to understand
the different worlds we live in."

Sorry to interrupt, in my headphones
I hear movement back there.

Was someone moving?
- I heard a few rustlings...

No one should be moving.

A FILM

A FILM BEING

A FILM BEING MADE

"A film being made", he tells us

This is to be understood
in several ways.

La Chinoise invites us onto the set.

It makes us feel like we’re watching
a film being shot.

But the film also makes us feel like
we’re watching Marxism,

or at least a certain form of Marxism,

telling its own story, play-acting.

With La Chinoise, Godard shows us

what “mise-en-scène”
means in cinema.

It is this interweaving

that we must look at more closely.

The “object lesson” method perfectly
aligns itself with the specific Marxism

that, here, serves as a principle
of representation,

namely, Althusserian Marxism
which in 1967,

was essentially
a doctrine that held that

Marxism, for the most part
still had to be invented,

and that inventing it was like

relearning the meaning
of the most elementary actions.

Godard is likely to have read
this sentence

in the preface of Louis Althusser's
"Reading Capital"

which could well sum up
his whole method as a filmmaker:

“I venture to suggest that our age
threatens, one day,

"to appear,
in the history of human culture,

"as marked by the most dramatic
and difficult trial of all;

"the discovery and learning

"of the meaning
of the ‘simplest’ human actions:

"seeing, listening, speaking, reading..."

Seeing, listening, speaking, reading.

Seeing, listening, speaking, reading.

"These actions which put man
in relation with his works,

“works it is often hard to
digest and inherit from,

“therefore making
a reinvention of the past necessary.”

So, Omar was part of
the March 22nd movement.

That got him expelled,
just like Daniel Cohn-Bendit.

And he ended up back in Senegal.

15 million Senegalese drowned in oil.

I simply demand transparency.

He says, "If contracts are
transparent, then publish them."

Publish the contracts.

Let us read them!

Let those who can read,
read for those who cannot.

That way things
will become transparent.

For those who can't read French,
let's translate it into Arabic,

or write it in Wolof or Serer,
write in the languages of the country.

It is time to inform the masses.

This is very important!

These demonstrations
are very important.

This is not a matter for experts.

If, ultimately,
oil is to belong to the people

then we must give the people
back their voice.

That's why
we chose this format.

Every Senegalese, wherever they are,
can ask their question.

So, guys, if you have questions:
come up and ask them!

Questions are very important,
they clarify things.

You should know that they are
continuing to block people.

Because this is the first time
they have surrounded Medina,

surrounded Centenary,
surrounded RTS and Colobane.

So, people are struggling to get here.

I simply demand
transparency

Preserve Our Common Assets!

Preserve Our Common Assets!

Our licenses are in the
hands of drug dealers

This corrupt prosecutor summons
everyone except the biggest thief

Mineral resources belong to the people

After being expelled in 1969,

Omar enrolled as a research assistant,
here at IFAN,

the Fundamental Institute
of Black Africa.

So, he had a small office
where he did his research

and he really didn't intend
to go back to France.

He spent time at the university
and he spoke at public conferences.

And his interventions
were very noteworthy because

he raised issues
that stirred up and excited the crowd.

He wasn't like most of us,

who came from more traditional
Senegalese families

where there was a sense
of hierarchy and discipline.

That was the main feature,
he had to be constantly controlled.

I think people forget
that the problem with Omar was that

you had to control him all the time,
or he'd go off the rails.

Don't forget that Omar's emergence
was under single party rule.

Even if the Senghor era was portrayed

as the fulfilment of black power,

it was, nonetheless,
a dictatorship, a single party.

And that's when Omar appears

and heralds democracy, a new culture,
the empowerment of women...

He heralds all that.

That's when Omar
started to get noticed in Senegal.

A minority with the right revolutionary
line is no longer a minority

And the tea?
- It's ready.

Salamalekum.
- How are you?

Good and you?
Thanks.

Ah! I get it, yes, I see.
There you go.

Come on, let's go!

Look at your watch, please.

Look at your watch.

Five, four, three, two, one...

You're on air.

Like very good politicians,
they were able to,

through their election campaign,

promise the earth...

but now we' re dealing
with a situation.

What is that situation?

After all, who will it be hard for?
Us!

Tomorrow the baker
will use diesel fuel,

the price of water will rise...

In the end,
the people can't take it anymore.

It creates situations of tension.

While at the same time, we hear
about billions here, billions there.

How much was spent
on the election campaign?

How much have those in power
stolen from the country?

From the taxpayers?

To govern is to anticipate.

And the State hasn't taken
the necessary measures.

In the end, it is the people
who end up paying the price.

So, I think we need to stop telling
the Senegalese people lies.

Some things are harmful
for a country's people.

This Situation Must Change

Y'en a marre (We're Fed up)
are not just rappers.

They are rappers, composers,

but, also, they're fighting
against Franco-Africanism,

fighting for the emancipation of youth,
the emancipation of women.

And all this, I connect it,
I think everyone would,

anyone who knew
our fight from forty years ago,

would make the connection,
the link.

One, two, three, four...

We have land
We have water

We can get through this

No one's going to give us food

Return to the fields,
Create prosperity

We have young people,
And the sun

God brings the rain
Let's prepare

Abundant agriculture
Plentiful livestock

Prosperity
Hunger won't kill us

Our leaders piss lying down

The watered waterer

At work, let's be serious

Entrust the country to a good leader

Sorry, Diggy,
I bungled a few lines there.

But, but... we're nearly there!

It's, it's ...I like it.

Let the country prosper
Men and women together

Will fight poverty
Gruel, millet and milk

The State cheats and deceives us all

Must we say it everywhere?

He tricked me, he tricked you

The power of fish is water

Think of the kick.
- Yes, the kick.

Work the fields for the country

The power of fish is water

Equip yourselves
With knowledge and hope

Young man drinking tea
On the street corner

What do you want?
You are our hope

Joe is dead

When I returned to Senegal,

we saw each other at the university.

Omar was with someone.

He said to me: "Bouba, I'm going
to introduce you to a free man."

I answered: "That's quite
a challenging thing to define.

"I might be disappointed."

He said: "You'll see,
he's a real character".

Then, Issa, better known as
Joe Ouakam, came over.

He was someone who
always evolved in a fantasy world.

Issa was a real surrealist.
He really was.

It always surprised me.

Omar and Issa.

How come they got on so well?

You had Issa,
who was very excitable, very lively,

and then you had Omar,
who was very cool.

Maybe he was learning.
He listened a lot.

For Issa...

The way Issa looked upon Omar
was more than just fraternal.

Dear brother,

Issa and Omar
were in a kind fo symbiosis

and Omar shared
so much knowledge with him,

about literary revolt
and how literature was evolving,

and the understanding
that society has to change

because the old word
is coming to get us...

That's what we said in May '68:

"Run, the old world
is right behind you!"

For a society to evolve,
the world has to constantly change,

because man changes.

In 1970, when he returned to Paris,

Omar showed a keen interest in
the artistic and cultural world

because he hoped that was where
you could find innovation,

where a new discourse
was being forged,

that maybe a new way of appraising
society was emerging there.

He didn't really associate with
political activists

in the conventional sense,

but he read a lot.

He read Sollers,
he paid attention to Derrida,

he was interested in what was
being initiated by the La Borde clinic,

with Deleuze and Guattari,
the anti-psychiatry movement.

He was interested in these
different lines of thought,

but not in the old Maoist currents.

He still read the situationists.

He'd kept issue 12
of the Situationist International.

There is a photo
that characterises Omar,

in which he is sitting
reading the Situationist International.

The situationists
were our guiding thinkers

because they were liberators.

They let no barriers limit them.

Godard:
the biggest of pro-Chinese jerks!

Truth is the internal link of
those things and phenomena,

that is, the laws that govern them.

To search is to study.

We must start from the real situation
inside and outside the country,

the province, the district, the borough,

to identify, to guide our action,

the laws that are
specific to the situation,

and not those triggered
by our own imagination.

Before playing in a neighbourhood,
you have to know its inhabitants.

Theatre, Year Zero

An actor?

That's hard to say.

Yes, yes, I am an actor.

Chinese students had demonstrated
at Stalin's tomb in Moscow

and the Russian police
had gone in hard with their truncheons.

The next day, in protest,

the Chinese students
gathered at the Chinese embassy

and summoned
the Western press corps.

People like Life,
or France Soir and so on.

One young Chinese man arrived

with his face completely
covered in bandages.

He screamed.

"Look at me! Look what they
did to me, those revisionist bastards!"

So, all the Western press flies
surrounded him

and started snapping away
while he removed his bandages.

They expected to see his face
covered in cuts, bruises, all bloody...

He removed his bandages like this,
very slowly

while they took pictures of him.

When the bandages were off they all
realised his face had nothing.

So, the journalists shouted angrily.

They hadn't understood
that it was theatre.

Real theatre.

A reflection on reality.

I mean something
like Brecht or Shakespeare.

Urban Theatre Project

Principle

Our country is made up
of two types of men:

those who live within
the orbit of Western culture,

or who are heading there,

and those situated outside it.

The latter represent
the vast majority of our people.

They are the ones
who have something to say

and the others can be seen
as mere parrots.

Re-establishing contact with
the people on the basis of

their daily experiences,
their history

and their language.

Our theatre

will be the theatre of life.

It will be street theatre.

It will convey the concerns
and interests of the people.

I saw the different sides of Omar.

On the one hand, a man who was
very focused on communicating,

who was drawn to those history has
done a disservice to, who are weak,

and he was able to listen
to groups no one pays attention to,

but during this period,
I also discovered a man of action.

The first completely hijacked film
in the history of cinema.

Can dialectics break bricks?

Let's be clear,
all films can be hijacked.

All the duds, the Vardas,
Pasolinis, Godards, Bergmans,

also, the great spaghetti westerns,
and all adverts.

Inviting.

Caring for.

The relationship between
Yin and Yang: harmony.

One, two, three, four...

Man learns martial arts,

martial arts shape man.

Working on art

is working on your body.

Regular exercise

leads to good health.

Good power,

leads to an alert mind.

One, two, three, four...

One, two, three, four...

Go!

Revolution is a cake
sold at a bakery kiosk

on every street corner in the world.

The Enraged, the Arsonists
are anaesthetised by efficient apps,

and their muscles and livers
are cut into pieces

by phlegmatic modern surgeons
in white blouses.

The classless society,
the dictatorship of the proletariat,

are succulent cakes,
delicious apple flap-jacks.

The revolutionary is compromised.

He takes off his shoes,
sunbathes on the beach,

breathes in the cool,
invigorating worldly sea air.

He no longer wants to
sacrifice himself

for a world caught up
in the trap of its own lethargy.

I heard a revolutionary, in his
delirious yet lucid ravings, say:

"I will no longer be a martyr."

Francis, isn't what's happening
now in China important?

Yes, of course it's important.

What about
the young Russian nihilists?

Yes, so?

They threw bombs,
they carried out attacks.

So, what happened next?
There was the October 17 Revolution.

Can we really compare tsarist Russia
to the situation in France today?

France, get out!

At the time when
Pompidou's visit was being prepared,

all left-wing circles, including
the Marxist circles I frequented,

agreed it was necessary
to express strong protest

against France's over-riding
control over our country.

From January '71 onwards,

the Arsonists group created here,

to some extent
with Omar as their inspiration,

took action by setting fire to

the French Cultural Centre
and the Ministry of Public Works.

It was a very heterogeneous group.

There were educated
and non-educated people,

politically aware people
and others who weren't,

but they all decided
to act together,

and that triggered
the French Cultural Centre operation.

We refused bureaucratic structuring.

We rejected the democratic centralism
so cherished by Bolshevism.

And above all, we were
in favour of action,

and preferably direct action
with everyone equally involved.

I was the only woman in the group.

In the end, I left the group
together with Issa

because when we understood
the orientation was towards violence

and more and more violent acts,
I was no longer interested

and I stopped going
to the meetings.

And without having discussed it,

Issa felt the same way about
the direction the group was taking.

For a whole year,

Dakar had been in turmoil because of
the French President's upcoming visit.

Palisades were erected so that,
while crossing the city,

the French President wouldn't see
the state the city was really in.

People lived in slums,

in huts built with recycled
wooden pallets

used for transporting
goods around the port.

That's how the shacks were made.

They set to
repainting all public buildings,

and placed French flags
all over the city.

All for a visit that
would last 24 hours.

The Africans prepared
for a whole year to host

a white king who would be
in the city for only half a day.

The rest of the time

he'd be in the palace,
in receptions and giving speeches.

Mr. President,

the Senegalese people
feel particularly honoured to receive

the President of the French Republic
and Mrs Georges Pompidou,

for Franco-Senegalese friendship
goes back more than three centuries.

Anyone volunteering?

OK.
Me.

I believe in terror.

For me, all revolution
is composed of terror.

At first, the idea was to create
situations to disrupt the visit.

They said: "The international press
will be there.

"Reports will go around the world.

"Everyone will know that in Senegal
people refuse French imperialism."

In the city, on the route followed
by the official motorcade,

the police arrested an individual
armed with a Molotov cocktail.

One, lost amongst
the enthusiastic multitudes...

Actually, it was an insane idea

because the presidential security
would have opened fire

and it would have been a bloodbath.

Luckily, we failed.

As a result, Senghor
and the rest of the political class,

considered this was a new
level of tension.

This wasn't just pamphlets!

There were Molotov cocktails,
so violence was involved.

At no time was Omar involved...

If he'd been there, he'd have
stopped us launching the attack

by convincing us how
badly thought through it was.

My brother Dialo, aka Pape Diop,
and all his friends,

once in prison, decided
not to let the system crush them,

so they continued to rebel in prison.

Omar was in Paris
when our parents learnt that

Pape Diop got a life sentence
for attempting to escape.

So, again, Omar abandoned
his philosophy teaching qualification

and headed back
to see what he could do

to get the arsonists, but also
all political prisoners, released.

Within this circle, don't forget,
history is repeating itself

but as they say in Mandarin:

One position, a thousand repetitions.

Learning a Tao requires
the same patience.

Always maintain a circle.

Do you know what Tao is?
Do you know?

A pathway
- The pathway.

But which path?

It is a path leading somewhere.

Very well, so...

Mr President...

Senegal, in its diversity,
intends to welcome the black world.

This museum was gifted to Senegal
by the People's Republic of China.

It was designed by
the Architectural Institute of Beijing.

They visited us to find out
what we desired.

We were looking for something
with an African inspiration,

so it's influenced by the
architecture of the Grand Zimbabwe

and by the
Casa Impluvium of Casamance.

Fire hydrant

Is it wood?
- Yes, all wood covering.

There is no echo here,

it's an amazingly well-designed space
without any echo.

Throughout the building,
there is no echo.

So, we have
several exhibition spaces.

There is this space.

None of these public spaces
need any artificial lighting.

Welcome to the Vice-president
of the People's Republic of China

In oral traditions, you must
be able to speak with your audience.

...Or exhibit other things.
An adaptable space.

Adaptable?
Where? How?

Over there.
- But where exactly?

There, in front of the wall.

The real issue is the total area
available for exhibiting.

In my opinion, there is a problem
with the construction design.

The outdoor areas are
difficult to exploit for exhibitions.

Inside, there are too many doors,
for example, in the round room.

All these spotlights
on the walls, it's a waste of space.

Yes.

You see those spotlights.

Actually, downstairs there is...

The circular room at the entrance
isn't adapted.

That's used as the lobby.
- Where?

The circular room in the middle.

Here, in front of you, the third gallery.

Echoes are perfectly controlled.

I wasn't given enough time.

But it was a good presentation,
that's what matters.

Thank you...

Your Excellency,
Thank you, thank you very much.

I think Omar's violence
was mostly verbal.

But he was frankly
shocked and outraged

by the severity of our convictions,

so much so that

when it became clear
we had received life sentences

and that his younger brother,
Mohamed, at 16,

had been given five years,

he dropped his PhD
and the Paris intelligentsia

and, with a few friends,

including Alymana Bathily
and Alioune Paloma Sall...

they decided to go to Palestine
for military training.

The first thing that was needed
to obtain their release

was to equip ourselves
with the means to move from

the weapon of protest
to an armed protest,

to use a famous catchphrase
from that time.

His plan was to kidnap
the French ambassador

in exchange for the release
of the political prisoners.

And the exchange
was to take place in Algeria,

under the aegis
of the Black Panther Party

who were in exile and had access
to the Algerian government.

They crossed Europe, via Turkey,
and ended up in Damascus.

And they were admitted
to a Fedayeen camp

where they underwent
basic military training.

The plan he outlined in his letter
was to move closer to Senegal

and kidnap
the French ambassador in Bamako.

I'm the one who explained
to him that it didn't make sense.

It was unnecessarily risky

because we'd been transferred to

a prison for young adults
called Fort B,

a sort of sinister cellar.

But it was also like a sieve.

So, I told him:
"We have an escape plan.

"Send us some money
and we'll be in Gambia

"before they realise
we're no longer in their dungeon.

"So, you go to Conakry
and once we get to Banjul,

"we'll take a plane
and meet you there."

Unluckily, during a search,

in Omar's pocket,
the police found my letter

describing our escape plan

and why I thought the French
ambassador shouldn't be kidnapped.

That's why Omar got
a three-year sentence.

For having had the intention
to infringe the security of the State

without ever having
actually carried out any illegal act.

It was Friday, May 11th.

That day,
Omar had come to the end

of one-month in solitary confinement,
with no visits.

You're on just bread and water,
no meals, nothing.

You're in a tiny little cell
you never leave.

When we arrived at the jetty,
there was a squadron of G.M.I.s,

the police mobile armed task force,

who were also taking the ferry.

We didn't suspect a thing.

It wasn't until
the arrival of the ferry

that the pilot
came down from his cockpit,

took me aside and explained
that Omar was dead,

he'd been killed
the previous night

and that they were
planning to bury him,

but that the island authorities
had refused.

So, my brother Auguste and I decided,

since our other brother,
Mohamed, was there too

and that we had no idea
if he knew yet...

We decided, at the entrance
of the circular prison,

to each run down one side
and shout to let him know.

"Omar's dead! They've killed Omar!"

What hurt most when he died,

was having to collect
his stuff from the prison.

I was summoned to the Ministry
of the Interior by the director of...

by the number two cop...
who said,

"I've got to give you this,
it's state procedure."

So, he reads me a list
and I sign a release.

Then he handed me a
cardboard box

with the newspapers
Omar was reading, Le Monde...

his razor, his toothpaste,

I think there were pyjamas,

and his famous Ovaltine
that he loved so much...

"Wait, that's it,
that's really it, it's over?"

When I left with this,
and drove to my mum's,

I swear, it just wasn't possible.

It was impossible.

I'm sorry.

It was impossible.

It was impossible. Unbearable.

Unbearable.

Unbearable.

They just hand over these
official documents

but it's a man's life.

That's the way it is.

But we knew from the start
that it couldn't have been a suicide.

Then I got the information
from my younger brother, Mohamed,

who had witnessed
the violence inflicted

by special G.M.I task force agents
sent from Thiès

to deal with the arsonists
and their accomplices in Gorée.

Those G.M.I's
are not prison officers

but they had been sent
to break us.

After their arrival, we became
victims of physical violence...

Repeatedly.

The State doesn't care,
it is violent by rights.

It does what it wants.
That's what's terrible.

I learned that Césaire had broken off
ties with Senghor after Omar's death,

saying:

"In your country too, as with Mobutu,
intellectuals die in seedy pits? "

I was crushed.
And then the police invaded my home

because the walls of the house
had been tagged:

"Blondin will live,
united we will overcome."

They had demanded
that we paint over it.

I'd refused, I'd told my sister
we wouldn't do it.

So, the police invaded our home
and wanted to take everything.

I went into the kitchen and tried to...
I tried to...

cut my wrists.

I said, "They want a suicide,
they can have a suicide".

When the news arrived
that they had buried him,

that was the trigger
that made things explode.

Then people started to express
their rage very vigorously.

It was crazy.

When Omar died,
when his death was announced,

it was like the intifada,
like a world war.

It was the students,
of all ages, everyone.

All high schools and colleges
went on strike.

From 1973 until his recent passing,

Issa always had
a friendly obsession with Omar.

A real one.

Omar led him
to create theatrical pieces

that were a manifestation
of his friendship for Omar

and also a condemnation of those
who had caused Omar's death.

Letter to an insular Being

The sculpture of sculptures
was created

In your courtyard

The one of the traveller's tomb

Initiation to death links us for eternity

to generosity, to selflessness,
and to the love of the other

The other self.

On several occasions, we have written

and after our third correspondence
we received no answer.

We write to the minister.
- We can only write to the minister.

Now...
you can decide...

Or you can try to
directly reach the head of State,

the supreme authority,
for him to give the instruction.

But I'm not convinced
that the path of collusion

would be more profitable
than the path of rupture.

But we can try.

Now I'm here permanently,
we could relaunch the process.

Maybe that will work better

because it's my, so-called,
radical opposition that's an obstacle.

Cheikh, what do you think?

I agree, if the political will existed,

we would have got to the
bottom of the story a long time ago.

But...

No matter how long the night,
the sun will always rise

and if it isn't us, it will be
our children or our grandchildren.

Sooner or later, light will be cast
on what really happened,

with or without the involvement
of the State authorities.

I think he was an incredibly
complex character,

remarkable,

and I've read and heard
a lot of things about Omar,

but I believe we've
only scratched the surface.

I'm not sure we've
highlighted what's most important.

I was struck by the way Omar wrote.

He wrote by hand

and I had noticed he always
returned to certain words.

He went back over them,
making them bolder.

As if to underline their importance.

One of the signs he would give
weight to was the question mark.

It was as if, for him, the question mark
was not just a punctuation sign,

and even less so
a typographic artifice,

but more like
some kind of logical connector.

Omar was someone who
constantly questioned himself.

In his eyes, you could never
take anything for granted

so he was ready
to put everything into question,

himself and his way
of seeing things included.

The way he saw the world.

Of course, when you make
a martyr of him,

somehow you fix him,
somehow you categorise him.

Personally, that is something
I am very reticent to accept.

I prefer, when I talk about him,
to recognise the parts of him

that were unexpected and unknown,
that part of incompleteness,

and I think I am loyal to him
in that respect,

because he believed that
loyalty to oneself comes in movement.

It comes in movement.

Important societal changes often occur
at levels that aren't talked about much.

Journalists are interested
in subversive, violent movements.

But do they go deep enough?

If you campaign in Casamance,
for education or health,

to increase political awareness,
it won't get noticed...

Not sensational.
- ...it won't be sensational.

It won't interest the press.

But, fundamentally,
change occurs at that level

and movement,
wide-ranging change,

needs other types of action,
not only acts of dissent.

Even if dissent is useful,
I'm not disqualifying it.

The Preserve Our Common Assets
movement is very important.

People out in the streets,
making a statement.

"It belongs to all of us.
it is ours!"

But we need to get people
to understand what's at stake.

What's at stake...

And make things
more transparent for people.

"This is what happened,
this is what's going on now.

"This pertains to us,
it is ours by rights.

"We are stakeholders.

"The way things are
managed is wrong."

We need to stand up,
clarify things with in-depth work.

We need to share and mobilise.

The two things go hand in hand.

Let's stop separating
action and thought.

They're not in conflict.
They're interdependent,

complimentary.
- Yes!

If we look at
the continent's social upheavals,

for example,
the Arab spring revolutions,

or take Filimbi, take Y'en a Marre,
take Le Balai Citoyen,...

Blaise Compaoré leaves,

in Tunisia,
Rached Ghannouchi leaves,

the movement is one
that brings people into the streets

to fight against a political power.

But who seizes power?

Organised political movements.
- Yes, indeed.

So, you've had a revolution
that gets confiscated

because you've planned the protest

but not how to deal with the aftermath

and what kind of society
to defend.

And so long as we can't
imagine what future we want

in the aftermath of protest movements...

But if I take
the example of Y'en a Marre,

just after the election of Macky Sall,
he received the movement,

the founding members,
and said to us:

"Listen, it's thanks to you
I got elected,

"because it was so hard
to fight against ex-president Wade.

"Now, don't be scared
to exercise power.

"Be brave.
You need houses etc...

"What degrees do you have
so I can give you government roles.

"Someone at that embassy,
someone at the ministry for youth..."

We told the president:

"All we want, is to be able
to monitor you

"for the programme
that got you elected."

He asks: "How do we do that?"

"Mr President, we want to meet you
every month, every three months

"to take stock of things,

"to discuss social issues,

"what are the priorities,
and so on..."

As far as I'm concerned,
the president just laughed that away.

It hurts me...

It really hurts me
when I pass by...

When I pass by the Grand Théâtre,

when I see
the Museum of Civilisations,

when I hear the French
talk about restitution...

I read somewhere that you're
involved in this project of restitution.

What exactly is the significance
of this museum today?

Do the young have any use for it?

The museum as a building
isn't that important.

What's important is
the questions restitution raises.

It makes us ask questions
about our history.

A significant part
of our material production

that bears witness to
our African history, our creativity,

our ingenuity and spirituality,

was plundered
and taken to museums in the West.

The fact that they
were there for a century

has hindered
the building of our identity.

A people can't construct itself

without an understanding
of its cultural heritage.

So, it evolves with frailties,
with psychological imbalances,

with a diminished self-image

and a eroded sense of its
contribution to human civilisation.

At the same time, being told:
"You're under-developed and poor,

"you've contributed nothing
of importance to civilisation."

That's false.

That's vital for
re-appropriating our own history

and reinventing ourselves.

But...

But, actually...

Aren't we just making
the same mistakes again

because the museum
is built by the Chinese,

designed and built by the Chinese.

The museum's built by the Chinese,
it's a gift from the Republic of China

and probably...
- But a gift is also a form of alienation.

No... I'm no fool.
China isn't there just to be charitable.

It's on the continent for the ressources,
the raw materials.

It's in Congo, Senegal,
it's in the mines.

In return,
China supplies infrastructures,

in the form of museums, stadiums,
bridges, roads

and it does so without
causing civilisational problems.

China offers the museum,
offers equipments.

It's what they call 'Soft Power'.

China needs economic contracts
and needs to be present culturally.

Without a cultural presence it's hard
to get those contracts.

China sets up the Confucius Institute
in Dakar.

It teaches Mandarin
and martial arts.

It promotes Chinese culture.

It tries to create the desire
in young Senegalese to go to China,

to study there, by offering grants.

Later, these Senegalese will
forge relationships with the Chinese

which will facilitate
the economic relationship.

That's the deal.

When France...
- They create the desire.

They create the desire,
the relations and the networks.

When France
makes it harder to go there

and increases inscription fees,

young Senegalese go to
the U.S, Canada and China.

That's what's at play.

How can we
progressively redress imbalances?

We must invest
in education and health

but we also need to invest
in building a new African identity.

For that we need the means.

So, yes, I accept...
- Building...

A new identity...
- Or a rehabilitation.

Or a re-invention.
- I prefer rehabilitation.

But in rehabilitation there's the idea
of something that's static.

Something was there,
it was problematic, you restore it.

It's like a resumption.
- Exactly.

But in re-invention
you have a dynamic dimension.

In part we restore,
but we also re-create.

The novelty aspect,
something being added.

The idea of movement..
- Movement!

The idea that identity is not fixed.

We are constantly re-inventing
what we have been,

by taking what was
rich and fruitful in our past

but adding other elements to it.

You and I,
we are not our ancestors.

We can choose from our ancestors
what we value

but we still need to
reinvent ourselves.

And our children
will be different to us.