This Wednesday, November 13, 2024, the writer Amélie Nothomb was the exceptional guest of L’Indépendant as part of the Quinzaine du Japon en Occitanie, an event initiated by the Groupe Dépêche Foundation with the Yujo association. The novelist agreed to take on the role of editor-in-chief for a day. She gave her opinion on the international, national and local news that our journalists will cover in our newspaper on November 14, 2024.
How will Donald Trump’s re-election impact the war in Ukraine?
Amélie Nothomb: “The re-election of Donald Trump is a disaster for the United States but also for Ukraine, which will be a collateral victim. Unfortunately, Ukraine will have even less support. However, the Ukrainians are our defenders. We must not abandon them. Then, the relationship between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump is very ambiguous. We are not immune to a stroke of madness from the new American president.
Publication of a study on French sexuality
Amélie Nothomb: “I will read this study with the greatest interest (laughter).”
Nicolas Parent – The Independent
Families announce taking TikTok to court after teenage suicides
Amélie Nothomb: “I don’t have the internet, I don’t have social networks. I experience this from afar, but what I hear about the excesses of social networks is absolutely alarming. TikTok is the art of skim over subjects and this skimming is pernicious.”
Mobilization of farmers against an agreement between the European Union and Mercosur
Amélie Nothomb: “A great country is a country that supports its agriculture”.
The Mazan rape affair is beyond barbarism
Mazan rape trial: final hearings of the defendants
Amélie Nothomb: “If we had been told that such a thing would be conceivable, we would have thought that it was a novel in very bad taste. We would never have imagined that such a thing would be possible. The testimonies, at least what we read about them, are just mind-blowing. The number of women who are given drugs without their consent is beyond barbarism. acts of gangster who are incredibly trivialized, including in the political world We are really not moving towards a progress of civilization, quite the contrary. I think of this man who says but no I do not think that it is. rape. Those who are among the defendants are people who have not discovered the existence of the other.”
Requisition at trial of FN parliamentary assistants
Amélie Nothomb: “I hope that in the next elections we will not take inspiration from the United States either because the United States has proven that it was not at all a problem to put at the head of the State a convict. Normally affairs break out when a politician leaves the presidency, it is even before the presidency that the head of this party has extremely serious affairs.
It would still be good to stand together so as not to be so easily intimidated by terrorists
Statements from Samuel Paty’s colleagues
Amélie Nothomb: “It’s a terribly important subject. All of society should feel concerned. At Albin-Michel (Amélie Nothomb’s publishing house) we have just published a book by Samuel Paty’s sister. is a very important book. However, some bookstores refused to put this book on sale because they were afraid of reprisals. I know it’s easy to have courage in the place of others but it would still be good. to stand up so as not to be so easily intimidated by terrorists.”
Nicolas Parent – The Independent
Donald Trump appoints Elon Musk to head a ministry of “government efficiency”
Amélie Nothomb: “It’s absolutely appalling. We suspect that the next four years will be extremely harmful for the United States and therefore for the world. But what is terrible is that when we look at the nature of this nuisance, we realize that this will exceed the four years of Donald Trump’s mandate. Assuming that in four years there is a change at the head of state, how can we dismantle everything that will be done wrong by Elon Musk? These are not small files that he will be responsible for, these are files that are essential for the future of the planet. It’s scary.
Uprooting vines, a remedy for a sector in crisis?
Amélie Nothomb: “I am very far from being a specialist on this subject. I have no solution to offer but how sad it is when you see the beauty of these vines. I only think there is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing it, when they are sometimes very old, being torn away. In addition there have been historical precedents which should make us think with the phylloxera pandemic which destroyed 99.99. % of the vines. In champagne, it was found that some vineyards of the old French vineyard had survived for no particular reason. Perhaps for the same reasons that some of us have better health than others. policy will take this subject very seriously.”
Nicolas Parent – The Independent
It is high time to address the climate with great urgency
Commemorations of the 25th anniversary of the deadly floods of November 1999 in Aude
Amélie Nothomb: ‘It’s very important to talk about it, not only to commemorate but obviously to prevent this from happening again. We obviously think of what is thought in Spain. It is high time to address the climate with the greatest urgency.”
France – Israel: a tense match
Amélie Nothomb: “It’s terrible to think that a football match has become such a security issue.”
I admire sports commentators. The tone, the enthusiasm, it feels so good
New All Blacks coach played in Perpignan
Amélie Nothomb: “It’s fascinating. I don’t know much about sport but there is no team on Earth that is as interesting as the All Blacks. I don’t have television but it happens to me to have lunch or dinner in restaurants where there is television, it is often very depressing except when there are matches I don’t understand anything about it but I love the tone I admire the sports commentators. your, the enthusiasm, that makes so much good even if I don’t understand what they are saying I tell myself that we should talk like that all the time, it feels really good. .”
In Céret, a cooking workshop in search of Umami flavor
Amélie Nothomb: “It’s so fascinating, the Umami flavor is a flavor that only Japan has been able to identify. I love that there is hyperproximity information. It’s very important. It’s fantastic . The courage it takes when you are in a small town with so little help to embark on such initiatives. This information brings a smile back.
