PARIS: As president, Francois Hollande steered France through deadly extremist attacks, poured troops into battle abroad and anchored the boldest-ever world agreement to fight global warming.
But as he hands power Sunday to his former protege Emmanuel Macron, he may be most remembered for his failure to create jobs and his crushing unpopularity.
After a five-year term, Hollande makes way for Macron, his former adviser then economy minister, in a ceremony at the Elysee presidential palace.
The Socialist leader, who described himself as “normal,” was able to comfort and unite his nation during its worst terrorist attacks in decades.
Following Jan. 2015 attacks at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket, Hollande proved to be a statesman who brought world leaders together to link arms and march through Paris to defy extremism.
The emotional image of him hugging German Chancellor Angela Merkel, eyes shut, close to his cheek, was published around the world.
In November 2015, Hollande faced the deadliest attacks inflicted on France since World War II when 130 people were slain in Paris at restaurants, at a concert venue and outside a stadium.
That night, Hollande vowed to attack the Daesh group without mercy as the jihadist group claimed responsibility.
“When terrorists can commit such atrocities, they must know that they will face a determined, united France,” he declared
France remains under a state of emergency since then. Last year, another tragic attack killed 86 victims in Nice on July 14, France’s national Bastille Day holiday.
Over the years, Hollande turned from what some considered flimsy custard to become an active, strong chief of war.
In 2013, he launched a military operation in Mali against Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist extremists who he believed posed a threat to the African Sahel region. The same year, he also sent troops the Central African Republic in an intervention aimed at disarming ex-rebels and militias that were pushing the country toward anarchy.
Since September 2014, France’s jet fighters have been bombing IS targets in Iraq as part of the US-led coalition — and extended that operation to Syria beginning in September 2015.
During Hollande’s term, France achieved a seemingly unachievable triumph: uniting the world to seal a global climate pact. The Paris climate agreement, adopted on Dec. 12, 2015, was the culmination of more than a year of intense diplomatic efforts by France.
In a unique gathering, 151 heads of state came to Paris to give the negotiations a political push on the first day of the conference.
Hollande, as host of the UN climate change conference, became committed to a cause that he once barely paid attention to. At every meeting with a foreign leader and during every visit abroad prior to the talks, he kept mentioning the climate conference even when it was not front-page news.
Calling the agreement “historic,” Hollande urged the United States to respect it as “irreversible” following the election of President Donald Trump, who is firmly against regulations on businesses.
Despite his diplomatic successes, Hollande remained highly unpopular at home, presiding over a jobless rate of around 10 percent, which only starting to slightly decrease last year.
His poll numbers quickly dropped after he came to power.
He promoted a 75 percent tax on income earned above 1 million euros ($1.09 million) that triggered huge protests in the business, sports and artistic worlds. The super tax was never fully applied and ultimately abandoned, but it still damaged France’s image in international business circles.
Meanwhile, the government raised taxes on French households.
A pro-business turn in 2014, including policies to encourage job hiring, didn’t produce the expected results for France’s economy. Some on the French left, including ones within his Socialist party, accused Hollande of helping international businesses instead of French workers.
One year after his election, Hollande was able to legalize gay marriage and allow same-sex couples to adopt children. The measure still prompted hundreds of thousands to march for months in protest.
There’s no doubt Hollande will remain associated in French minds with one image — that of a man in a motorcycle helmet, reportedly going to a secret rendezvous with his lover, French actress Julie Gayet.
Hollande ended his seven-year relationship with Valerie Trierweiler two weeks after the report. Gayet and Hollande have never appeared together in public.
Last December Hollande look at his poll numbers and announced he was not seeking re-election. Despite the effort to present a fresh leader to the public, his Socialist party was crushed in the latest presidential election, not even making it to the May 7 runoff won by the independent Macron.
France’s unpopular Hollande leaves power after 5 hard years
France’s unpopular Hollande leaves power after 5 hard years
Testimonies of Afghan girls reveal grief, despair over Taliban school ban
- Fears of ‘lost generation,’ as education experts say ban has damaged Afghanistan’s entire social system
- ‘Iqra’ campaign by Afghan activists gathers stories of young women denied access to formal schooling
KABUL: When Salma was suddenly forced to stop her education in the eighth grade, she was left in limbo, every day waiting to return to the classroom. Almost three years later, the hope has faded not only for her, but also more than a million Afghan girls above the age of 13 who are no longer allowed to attend school.
Secondary schools for girls were suspended in September 2021, a month after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. The ban resulted in about 1.1 million girls being denied access to formal education.
For Salma and her friends, it was an end to their dreams of the future.
“I used to go to school every day. Every morning felt very exciting. We would meet our friends and teachers. We used to play together, eat and, of course, study,” she said.
“Every time I sat with my classmates, we would talk about our dreams and plans. I always wanted to be a teacher, my friend wanted to become a doctor, another one wished to become a computer engineer ... Everything changed so suddenly.”
Neither appeals at home nor international pressure on the Taliban administration have since helped to lift the ban, which authorities have repeatedly said was an “internal matter.” The only education the Taliban have allowed for girls is at madrasas, Islamic schools that focus on religious training.
Some of Salma’s colleagues tried to continue their learning and took private lessons online.
“But they banned those classes as well,” she said. “We just pass days and nights without doing anything meaningful. Our lives have become purposeless.”
The ban was later extended to universities, with more than 100,000 female students blocked from finishing their degrees.
Testimonies of girls and young women such as Salma are now being collected under the “Iqra” campaign by Afghan activists trying to amplify their voices.
The word “iqra,” meaning “read” in Arabic, was the first word of the Qur’anic revelation, which is interpreted by many Muslims as emphasizing the importance of education in Islam.
The campaign is organized by Musawer and Rawadari, two civil society organizations working for children’s education and human rights.
“We started the Iqra campaign as we were getting closer to the 1,000 days of school closure for girls in Afghanistan. We were so saddened and really grieved by it because every day is a day that will never come back for these young women. They can never go back and be of the same age and go back to school,” Shaharzad Akbar, director of Rawadari, told Arab News.
Rawadari has been contacting girls across Afghanistan, asking how it feels to be out of school for so long, how it has affected them, and what was it that they wanted.
“Their main demand is the reopening of schools and universities so that they can continue their education. When you talk to an 11-12-year-old in other parts of the world, they will talk about personal ambitions. But for almost all of these girls, they are talking about serving their communities,” Akbar said.
“Almost every single person said I wanted to be educated so I can serve Afghanistan and my people. That was really moving. What a waste that they will not be able to serve in the ways that they want to serve because they are banned from education.”
Women activists and education experts say the ban on girls’ education has already damaged the entire social system.
Fazila Muruwat, former head of the Kunar Teachers’ Education College, said that the restriction is taking a toll on both students and educators.
“People are hopeless and sad,” she said. “Female teachers are also forgetting a lot of what they have learned and taught before.”
Mahbob Mowahed, principal of a private school in Kabul, highlighted the damaging psychological and social consequences of the ban.
“In order to have a progressive and independent country, it is imperative for everyone to have access to education, which means that men, women, boys and girls should have the opportunity to learn,” he said.
“Women are an important part of the society and we cannot keep them illiterate forever. Even religion cannot be properly learnt without education.”
Fears are growing that the prolonged denial of education is resulting in another lost generation in Afghanistan.
“An entire generation was thrown into darkness. This is such a loss that Afghanistan will not be able to compensate for it for decades. It is not just a problem of girls but it is a discussion of the survival of Afghanistan,” Shafiqa Khpalwak, director of Musawer, told Arab News.
“I don’t know what the society will be like if girls don’t go to school and remain illiterate ... This is a human disaster. This is a violation of human dignity.”
8 arrested after gruesome murder of Indian politician
NEW DELHI: Eight people were arrested in India on Saturday for the murder of a politician who championed the rights of lower-caste Indians, police said.
K. Armstrong, the state boss of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), was hacked to death with machetes and sickles near his home in the southern city of Chennai on Friday night.
Six men traveling on motorbikes attacked Armstrong while he was “chatting with friends and supporters” near his home in the Tamil Nadu state capital, the Indian Express newspaper reported.
The men reportedly escaped before anyone could intervene.
Several of Armstrong’s supporters took to the streets later in the evening to protest his assassination and demand justice.
Senior Chennai police officer Asra Garg said eight suspects were being interrogated after a “preliminary investigation.”
Mayawati, the national head of Armstrong’s BSP, who uses one name, said the attack was “highly deplorable and condemnable.”
“The state government must punish the guilty,” she said in a post on social media platform X.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin also urged police to speedily conclude the investigation.
“Armstrong’s assassination is shocking and deeply saddening,” he said.
Airports, Wall Street and Olympics in crosshairs of climate activists
- Last 12 months have been the hottest ever, with swathes of world blanketed in extreme heat
- Campaigners say they have heavy-polluting corporations and business interests in their sights
PARIS: Climate activists in the United States and Europe are planning protests at airports, banks and the Olympic Games in a summer of stunts they have defended as necessary even if their tactics differ.
From blocking highways to spray painting jets and the megaliths at Stonehenge, and throwing food at artworks, some climate activists have turned to more provocative tactics since the Covid-19 pandemic put an abrupt end to the mass marches spurred by Greta Thunberg’s Fridays for Future movement.
The last 12 months have been the hottest ever recorded and with swathes of the world blanketed in extreme heat, campaigners have heavy-polluting corporations and business interests in their sights.
A22 Network, an alliance of activist groups committed to non-violent protest, said it was planning to disrupt airports in eight countries over the northern hemisphere summer.
Protests are planned in the UK, Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, US, Scotland and Norway, UK-based activists from the alliance told AFP.
Global aviation is responsible for around 2.5 percent of global carbon emissions, more than the annual carbon footprint of Brazil and France combined.
“Our resistance will put the spotlight on the heaviest users of fossil fuels and call everyone into action with us,” Just Stop Oil, one of the groups that embraced more controversial forms of protests, said in a statement.
UK police said they pre-emptively arrested 27 supporters from Just Stop Oil before the protest had even begun under laws that make it illegal to conspire to disrupt national infrastructure.
But Gabriella Ditton, a spokesperson for the group, said the arrests hadn’t deterred them.
“While we face the massive crisis that we are in, we can’t stop,” she told AFP.
They are demanding governments sign the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, which seeks a halt to the expansion of fossil fuels and the phasing out of coal, oil and gas.
In the US, activists have been targeting Wall Street and barricading the entrances to major banks and firms that finance, insure and invest in fossil fuel companies.
Organizers of “The Summer of Heat” campaign have vowed “joyful, relentless non-violent direct action to end fossil fuel financing” over the coming months.
Notably in Europe, Extinction Rebellion (XR), once notorious for shutting down bridges over the Thames River in London, have shifted their main focus from mass civil disobedience to building an inclusive grassroots movement.
This summer, they are calling on governments in the UK and France to establish citizen assemblies on climate and nature, while picketing the companies insuring the fossil fuel industry.
Gail Bradbrook, XR’s co-founder, told AFP their new-look approach to climate activism strived “to reach more mainstream folks” and do “the deeper work of local organizing.”
They are, however, planning “mass occupations” over the summer — including one at the start of the Olympic Games opening in Paris on 26 July.
Organizers in France say this could last several days but would be “more visible than disruptive,” but have not offered further planning details.
Which approach is best at grabbing attention — and which is better at driving change — has been the subject of debate, particularly following polarizing stunts targeting famous landmarks.
When two Just Stop Oil activists threw orange cornflour on Stonehenge in June “they got a heck more media attention than by spraying paint on airfields,” said Dana Fisher, a sociologist at American University in Washington DC.
The goal of these “shock” actions “is to make people mad,” Fisher said. The more people talked about the protest, the more they discussed the climate issue, she added.
Several studies in the UK and Germany showed that public concern about climate change stayed the same — or even increased — after acts of civil disobedience even if most people were unsupportive of such stunts.
“Historically, there is substantial evidence that shows that the radical flank drives support for the cause and moderate factions,” said Fisher.
But between “glueing yourself to something, blocking a bank or throwing soup, which is more effective, we do not know yet,” she added.
For Jamie Henn, co-founder of campaign group 350.org and director of Fossil Free Media, “confrontational tactics work best when they’re confronting the source of the problem.”
“Mainstreaming the idea that we can finally go fossil free needs to be a top priority for the climate movement,” he said.
Laura Thomas-Walters, a social scientist at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, said political change was achieved “by targeting the people of power propping up the status quo, and we need to do it in a sustained way.”
Biden dismisses age questions in interview as he tries to salvage reelection effort
- The 81-year-old Biden made it through the 22-minute interview without any major blunders
MADISON, Wisconsin: President Joe Biden, fighting to save his endangered reelection effort, used a highly anticipated TV interview Friday to repeatedly reject taking an independent medical evaluation that would show voters he is up for serving another term in office while blaming his disastrous debate performance on a “bad episode” and saying there were “no indications of any serious condition.”
“Look, I have a cognitive test every single day,” Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, referring to the tasks he faces daily in a rigorous job. “Every day, I have that test. Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, but I’m running the world.”
The 81-year-old Biden made it through the 22-minute interview without any major blunders that would inflict further damage to his imperiled candidacy, but it appeared unlikely to fully tamp down concerns about his age and fitness for another four years and his ability to defeat Donald Trump in November.
It left Biden in a standoff against a not-insignificant faction of his party with four months to go until Election Day, and with just weeks until the Democratic National Convention. The drawn-out spectacle could benefit Biden’s efforts to remain in the race by limiting the party’s options to replace him. But it also could be a distraction from vital efforts to frame the 2024 race as a referendum on Trump.
During the interview, Biden insisted he was not more frail than earlier in his presidency. He said he undergoes “ongoing assessment” by his personal doctors and they “don’t hesitate to tell me” if something is wrong.
“Can I run the 100 in 10 flat? No. But I’m still in good shape,” Biden said.
As for the debate, “I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparing,” Biden said.
Biden suggested that Trump’s disruptions — from just a few feet away — had flustered him: “I realized that, even when I was answering a question and they turned his mic off, he was still shouting and I let it distract me. I’m not blaming it on that. But I realized that I just wasn’t in control.”
At times, Biden rambled during the interview, which ABC said aired in full and without edits. At one point, he started to explain his debate performance, then veered to a New York Times poll, then pivoted to the lies Trump told during the debate. Biden also referred to the midterm “red wave” as occurring in 2020, rather than 2022.
Asked how he might turn the race around, Biden argued that one key would be large and energetic rallies like the one he held Friday in Wisconsin. When reminded that Trump routinely draws larger crowds, the president laid into his opponent.
“Trump is a pathological liar,” Biden said, accusing Trump of bungling the federal response to the COVID pandemic and failing to create jobs. “You ever see something that Trump did that benefited someone else and not him?”
The interview, paired with a weekend campaign in battleground Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, was part of Biden’s rigorous effort to course correct from his rocky debate performance. But internal party frustrations continue to fester, with one influential Democratic senator working on a nascent push to encourage the president to exit the race and Democrats quietly chatting about where they would go next if the president drops out — or what it would mean if he stays in.
“It’s President Biden’s decision whether or not he remains in the race. Voters select our nominee and they chose him,” said California Rep. Ro Khanna, a member of the Biden campaign’s national advisory board that works as a gathering of his top surrogates. “Now, he needs to prove to those voters that he is up to the job and that will require more than just this one interview.”
One Democrat who watched said they found Biden to be still shaky under controlled conditions and predicted more will call on him to leave the race.
Still, in Wisconsin, Biden was focused on proving his capacity to serve another term. When asked whether he would halt his campaign, he told reporters he was “completely ruling that out” and said he is “positive” he could serve another four years. At a rally in front of hundreds of supporters he acknowledged his subpar debate performance but insisted, “I am running, and I’m going to win again.”
While private angst among Democratic lawmakers, donors and strategists has been running deep since the debate, most in the party have held public fire as they wait to see if the president can restore confidence with his weekend travel and his handling of the interview. Top Biden campaign officials were texting lawmakers encouraging them to refrain from public comments about the situation and give the president a chance to respond, according to a Democrat granted anonymity to discuss the situation.
To that end, Sen. Mark Warner reached out to fellow senators throughout this week to discuss whether to ask Biden to exit the race, according to three people familiar with the effort who requested anonymity to talk about private conversations. The Virginia Democrat’s moves are notable given his chairmanship of the Senate Intelligence Committee and his reputation as a lawmaker who is supportive of Biden and has working relationships with colleagues in both parties. Warner’s effort was first reported by The Washington Post.
The strategy remains fluid. One of the people with knowledge of Warner’s effort said there are enough Senate Democrats concerned enough about Biden’s capacity to run for reelection to take some sort of action, although there was yet no consensus on what that plan would be. Some of the Democratic senators could meet as soon as Monday on how to move forward.
The top Democrats on House committees are planning to meet virtually Sunday to discuss the situation, according to a person familiar with the gathering granted anonymity to talk about it.
At least four House Democrats have called for Biden to step down as the nominee. While not going that far, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said in a carefully worded statement Friday that Biden now has a decision to make on “the best way forward.”
“I urge him to listen to the American people and carefully evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump,” Healey said.
In the interview, Biden was asked how he might be persuaded to leave the race. He laughed and replied, “If the Lord Almighty comes down and tells me that, I might do that.”
There were also a few signs of discontent at Biden’s campaign rally Friday, with one person onstage waving a sign that read “Pass the torch Joe” as the president came out. His motorcade was also greeted at the middle school by a few people urging him to move on.
But Rebecca Green, a 52-year-old environmental scientist from Madison, said she found Biden’s energy reassuring. “We were just waiting for him to come out strong and fighting again, the way we know he is.”
Many Democratic lawmakers, who are hearing from constituents at home during the holiday week, are deeply frustrated and split on whether Biden should stay or go. Privately, discussions among the House Democrats flared this week as word spread that some of them were drafting public letters suggesting the president should quit the race.
Biden appears to have pulled his family closer while attempting to prove that he’s still the Democrats’ best option.
The ubiquitous presence of Hunter Biden in the West Wing since the debate has become an uncomfortable dynamic for many staffers, according to two Democrats close to the White House who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
For many staffers, the sight of Hunter Biden, just weeks after his conviction on felony gun charges, taking a larger role in advising his father has been unsettling and a questionable choice, they said.
In a hastily organized gathering with more than 20 Democratic governors Wednesday evening, Biden acknowledged he needs to sleep more and limit evening events so he can be rested for the job. In trying to explain away those comments, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stressed that Biden “works around the clock” but that he “also recognizes the importance of striking a balance and taking care of himself.”
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who attended the meeting, said Biden “certainly engaged with us on complicated matters.”
“But then again, this is something that he needs to not just reassure Democratic governors on, but he needs to reassure the American people,” Beshear said.
China anchors ‘monster ship’ in South China Sea, Philippine coast guard says
MANILA: The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Saturday that China’s largest coast guard vessel has anchored in Manila’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea, and is meant to intimidate its smaller Asian neighbor.
The China coast guard’s 165-meter ‘monster ship’ entered Manila’s 200-nautical mile EEZ on July 2, spokesperson for the PCG Jay Tarriela told a news forum.
The PCG warned the Chinese vessel it was in the Philippine’s EEZ and asked about their intentions, he said.
“It’s an intimidation on the part of the China Coast Guard,” Tarriela said. “We’re not going to pull out and we’re not going to be intimidated.”
China’s embassy in Manila and the Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China’s coast guard has no publicly available contact information.
The Chinese ship, which has also deployed a small boat, was anchored 800 yards away from the PCG’s vessel, Tarriela said.
In May, the PCG deployed a ship to the Sabina shoal to deter small-scale reclamation by China, which denied the claim. China has carried out extensive land reclamation on some islands in the South China Sea, building air force and other military facilities, causing concern in Washington and around the region.
China claims most of the South China Sea, a key conduit for $3 trillion of annual ship-borne trade, as its own territory. Beijing rejects the 2016 ruling by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration which said its expansive maritime claims had no legal basis.
Following a high-level dialogue, the Philippines and China agreed on Tuesday for the need to “restore trust” and “rebuild confidence” to better manage maritime disputes.
The Philippines has turned down offers from the United States, its treaty ally, to assist operations in the South China Sea, despite a flare-up with China over routing resupply missions to Filipino troops on a contested shoal.
