International
Actress Sparks Walkout After Roman Polanski Wins Big at French Film Awards
Published
2 years agoon
By
Katie Calo
- When Roman Polanski won the best director award at the French Césars on Friday, several people walked out of the room in protest.
- Polanski has been called into further attention in the #MeToo era, as he plead guilty to having sex with a minor in the 1970s. He has evaded justice proceedings in the U.S. and has since faced more sexual assault allegations.
- Protesters gathered outside the award ceremony outraged by the director’s award nominations and victories.
Controversial Award
Tensions heightened on Friday at the César Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars, when director Roman Polanski won high honors for his latest film.
Polanski, 86, has been a controversial figure for decades. In 1977, the movie mogul pleaded guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl in the United States. While awaiting sentencing, he fled the country and has been evading extradition since. Polanski has also faced several other sexual assault accusations since the 1970s incident, including a rape allegation from Valentine Monnier who came forward as recently as November. The director has denied these allegations.
Polanski’s recent movie “J’Accuse,” or “An Officer and a Spy” in English, took home several awards at the Césars last weekend. When his name was announced as the winner for best director, “very few” people applauded, according to the French newspaper Le Monde.
Adèle Haenel, a French actress who recently said she was sexually abused as a child by a director in the country’s film industry, walked out of the room upon Polanski’s director victory. She was waving her arms and mouthing the French word for shame, and was followed by several others, including “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” director Céline Sciamma in which Haenel starred.
adèle haenel there are no words for how much i admire you pic.twitter.com/KuIk80GyL6
— lauren MERCI ADÈLE (@haenelswift) February 28, 2020
Haenel had previously condemned Polanski’s César nominations when they were announced in an interview with The New York Times.
“Distinguishing Polanski is spitting in the face of all victims,” Haenel told the newspaper in February. “It means raping women isn’t that bad.”
Polanski was not at the Friday ceremony. The day prior, he issued a statement in which he announced he would not be attending for fear of a “public lynching” from feminists activists.
These activists were indeed present regardless of Polanski’s no-show. Protesters gathered outside the event with signs bearing messages like “Shame on an industry that protects rapists.” Police clashed with the mass of people protesting Polanski and fired tear gas.
"Le viol est un crime, nous ne nous tairons pas !" #Polanski #cesars2020 pic.twitter.com/vVQWfq85tN
— Jonathan Moadab (@MoadabJ) February 28, 2020
#Cesars2020 POLANSKI VIOLEUR CINÉMA COMPLICE pic.twitter.com/MFBc1a9Qvd
— exhausted gemini (@Captain_Klu) February 28, 2020
PARIS 28 FEB: Feminists try to storm the red carpet of the #cesars2020 Cesars (French oscars) to protest the nominations of child rapist #Polanki who fled justice proceedings in the US and is accused of several rapes. The protest continue to the streets. pic.twitter.com/IONnW23Z8q
— anne paq (@annepaq) February 29, 2020
Further Disapproval
The disappointment in Polanski’s formal recognition was widespread. Several prominent figures including Jessica Chastain, Rose McGowan, and Thandie Newton shared their support for those who walked out of the venue.
Adèle Haenel, who was abused by a director, left the #César awards when they gave best director to Polanski.
— Jessica Chastain (@jes_chastain) February 29, 2020
I FUCKING STAN https://t.co/BsJHIO3SuI
Dearest Adèle et Céline,
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) February 29, 2020
I know what it's like to have that heartbeat rushing in your ears as you do the right thing. You have both done it. You are breaking the French system. Keep going. #CelineSciamma #AdeleHanael #cesars2020
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 #AdeleHaenel https://t.co/fxSeoVjuOj
— Thandie Newton OBE (@thandienewton) February 29, 2020
Florence Foresti, the actress and comedian who hosted the award ceremony, took shots at Polanski throughout the evening. At the beginning of the night, she welcomed the “predators” in the audience.
“There are 12 moments when we’re going to have an issue,” she said, referring to the 12 nominations for Polanski’s “J’Accuse.”
Foresti did not return to the stage after Polanski was named best director. Shortly after, she posted an Instagram story with the French word for disgusted.
Hours before the Césars started, French Cultural Minister Franck Riester said in an interview that it would be a “bad symbol” if Polanski won the best director award given the “necessary awareness that we must all have in the fight against sexual and gender-based violence.”
However, Riester added that he didn’t think “J’Accuse” as a whole should not be chosen for best film just because of Polanski’s actions. The best film award ended up going to “Les Misérables.”
The entire board of the César Academy, which distributes the awards, resigned mid-February amid backlash for nominating Polanski’s film for 12 awards.
See what others are saying: (New York Times) (BBC) (CNN)
International
Israel Relaxes Abortion Restrictions in Response to U.S. Supreme Court Ruling
Published
8 hours agoon
June 28, 2022By
Chris Tolve
The reforms follow similar moves by France and Germany as leaders across the political spectrum denounce the court’s decision.
Health Minister Makes Announcement
Israel is easing access to abortion in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s repeal of Roe v. Wade, Nitzan Horowitz, the country’s health minister and head of the small left-wing Meretz party, announced Monday.
“The U.S. Supreme Court’s move to deny a woman the right to abortion is a dark move,” he said in the announcement, “oppressing women and returning the leader of the free and liberal world a hundred years backward.”
The new rules, approved by a majority in the parliamentary committee, grant women access to abortion pills through the universal health system. Women will be able to obtain the pills at local health centers rather than only hospitals and surgical clinics.
The new policy also removes the decades-old requirement for women to physically appear before a special committee that must grant approval to terminate a pregnancy.
While women will still need to get approval, the process will become digitized, the application form will be simplified, and the requirement to meet a social worker will become optional.
The committee will only conduct hearings in the rare case it initially denies the abortion procedure.
Israel’s 1977 abortion law stipulates four criteria for termination of pregnancy: If the woman is under 18 or over 40, if the fetus is in danger, if the pregnancy is the result of rape, incest, or an “illicit union,” including extramarital affairs, and if the woman’s mental or physical health is at risk.
All of the changes will take effect over the next three months.
The World Reacts
Politicians across the political spectrum from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have denounced the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision since it was announced Friday.
On Saturday, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne expressed support for a bill proposed by parliament that would enshrine the right to an abortion in the country’s constitution.
“For all women, for human rights, we must set this gain in stone,” she wrote on Twitter. “Parliament must be able to unite overwhelmingly over this text.”
Germany scrapped a Nazi-era law prohibiting the promotion of abortion Friday, just hours before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
In Israel, abortion is a far less controversial issue than it is for Americans. Around 98% of people who apply for an abortion get one, according to the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics.
Part of the reason for Israel’s relatively easy access to abortion is that many residents interpret Jewish law to condone, or at least not prohibit, the procedure.
In the United States, several Jewish organizations including the American Jewish Committee, Hillel International, and the Women’s Rabbinic Network have expressed opposition to the court ruling, and some Jews have protested it as a violation of their religious freedom.
See what others are saying: (The Washington Post) (ABC News) (The Guardian)
International
Flight Deporting Refugees From U.K. to Rwanda Canceled at Last Hour
Published
2 weeks agoon
June 15, 2022By
Chris Tolve
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said the U.K.’s asylum policy sets a “catastrophic” precedent.
Saved By The Bell
The inaugural flight in the U.K. government’s plan to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda was canceled about an hour and a half before it was supposed to take off Tuesday evening.
A last-minute legal intervention by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) halted the flight. Tuesday’s flight originally included 37 people, but after a string of legal challenges that number dwindled to just seven.
In its ruling for one of the seven passengers, a 54-year-old Iraqi man, the court said he cannot be deported until three weeks after the delivery of the final domestic decision in his ongoing judicial review proceedings.
Another asylum seeker, a 26-year-old Albanian man, told The Guardian he was in a “very bad mental state” and did not want to go to Rwanda, a country he knows nothing about.
“I was exploited by traffickers in Albania for six months,” he said. “They trafficked me to France. I did not know which country I was being taken to.”
A final domestic effort to block the flight in the Court of Appeals failed on Monday. The High Court will make a ruling on the asylum policy next month.
Britains Divided by Controversial Policy
U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel spoke to lawmakers after the flight was canceled, defending the asylum policy and saying preparations for the next flight will begin immediately.
“We cannot keep on spending nearly £5 million a day on accommodation including that of hotels,” she said. “We cannot accept this intolerable pressure on public services and local communities.”
“It makes us less safe as a nation because those who come here illegally do not have the regularized checks or even the regularized status, and because evil people-smuggling gangs use the proceeds of their ill-gotten gains to fund other appalling crimes that undermine the security of our country,” she continued.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Filippo Grandi, told CBC the policy sets a “catastrophic” precedent.
“We believe that this is all wrong,” he said. “This is all wrong. I mean, saving people from dangerous journeys is great, is absolutely great. But is that the right way to do it? Is that the right, is that the real motivation for this deal to happen? I don’t think so. I think it’s… I don’t know what it is.”
An Iranian asylum seeker in a British detention center who was told to prepare for deportation before being granted a late reprieve was asked by ABC whether he ever thought the U.K. would send him to Africa.
“I thought in the U.K. there were human rights,” he said. “But so far I haven’t seen any evidence.”
The Conservative government’s plan was announced in April, when it said it would resettle some asylum seekers 4,000 miles away in Rwanda, where they can seek permanent refugee status, apply to settle there on other grounds, or seek asylum in a safe third country.
The scheme was meant to deter migrants from illegally smuggling themselves into the country by boat or truck.
Migrants have long made the dangerous journey from Northern France across the English Channel, with over 28,000 entering the U.K. in boats last year, up from around 8,500 the year prior. Dozens of people have died making the trek, including 27 who drowned last November when a single boat capsized.
See what others are saying: (BBC) (The Guardian) (CNN)
International
Ryanair Draws Outrage, Accusations of Racism After Making South Africans Take Test in Afrikaans
Published
3 weeks agoon
June 9, 2022By
Chris Tolve
Afrikaans, which is only spoken as a first language by around 13% of South Africa, has not been the country’s national language since apartheid came to an end in 1994.
Airline Won’t Explain Discrimination
Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, has received widespread criticism and accusations of racism after it began requiring South African nationals to complete a test in Afrikaans to prove their passport isn’t fraudulent.
The airline told BBC the new policy was implemented because of “substantially increased cases of fraudulent South African passports being used to enter the U.K.”
Among other questions, the test asks passengers to name South Africa’s president, its capital city, and one national public holiday.
Ryanair has not said why it chose Afrikaans, the Dutch colonial language that many associate with white minority rule, for the test.
There are 11 official languages in South Africa, and Afrikaans ranks third for usage below Zulu and IsiXhosa. Only around 13% of South Africans speak Afrikaans as their first language.
“They’re using this in a manner that is utterly absurd,” Conrad Steenkamp, CEO of the Afrikaans Language Council, told reporters. “Afrikaans, you have roughly 20% of the population of South Africa understand Afrikaans. But the rest don’t, so you’re sitting with roughly 50 million people who do not understand Afrikaans.”
“Ryanair should be careful,” he continued. “Language is a sensitive issue. They may well end up in front of the Human Rights Commission with this.”
Ryanair’s policy only applies to South African passengers flying to the United Kingdom from within Europe, since it does not fly out of South Africa.
The British government has said in a statement that it does not require the test.
This is not a UK Government requirement. Information about the requirements for South African passport holders to enter the UK can be found at https://t.co/t3Ry3BHqQT https://t.co/Koxz17zwWe
— UK in South Africa🇬🇧 (@ukinsouthafrica) June 3, 2022
Anyone who cannot complete the test will be blocked from traveling and given a refund.
Memories of Apartheid Resurface
“The question requiring a person to name a public holiday is particularly on the nose given that SA has a whole public holiday NEXT WEEK commemorating an historic protest that started in response to language-based discrimination,” one person tweeted.
The question requiring a person to name a public holiday is particularly on the nose given that SA has a whole public holiday NEXT WEEK commemorating an historic protest that started in response to language-based discrimination. Utterly befok. https://t.co/B5eHcPd12Y
— Chelsea Haith (@chelsea_haith) June 6, 2022
South African citizen Dinesh Joseph told the BBC that he was “seething” with anger when asked to take the test.
“It was the language of apartheid,” he said, adding that it was a trigger for him.
Officials in the country were also surprised by Ryanair’s decision.
“We are taken aback by the decision of this airline because the Department regularly communicates with all airlines to update them on how to validate South African passports, including the look and feel,” South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs said in a statement.
Any airline found to have flown a passenger with a fake passport to the U.K. faces a fine of £2,000 from authorities there. Ryanair has also not said whether it requires similar tests for any other nationalities.
Many people expressed outrage at Ryanair’s policy and some told stories of being declined service because they did not pass the test.
UK accused of blocking South Africans at airports unless they pass Afrikaans test.
— Vehicle Trackers (@VehicleTrackerz) June 3, 2022
MyBroadband spoke to a South African expat who said she & her 11-year-old son were denied their boarding passes from Ireland Airport to the UK two weeks ago.
She got 3 out of 15 questions wrong.. pic.twitter.com/PhLSN1m3xO
As a South African who speaks Afrikaans as my second language, WTF? We have 11 official languages. Afrikaans is not THE national language. Not all of us speak it. @Ryanair this is Racist and ridiculous. https://t.co/IWPjZkab2l
— Lesley-Ann Brandt (@LesleyAnnBrandt) June 8, 2022
See what others are saying: (The Washington Post) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

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