La Grand-Combe, a small Cévennes town caught up in the national debate on Islamophobia
At the end of April, the murder of young Malian Aboubakar Cissé in a mosque traumatized the small mining town in the Gard region. Then came the controversy over Islamophobia, with national political figures and a communist mayor openly disagreeing. This is how La Grand-Combe found itself at the center of a highly sensitive French debate.
Near the Khadidja Mosque, just outside La Grand-Combe, the chirping of birds mingles with the roar of the Gardon, a river that flows below the road, amidst pine and chestnut trees. Only a few cars occasionally disturb the peace. A true corner of “paradise” for Mohammed Mechti, a direct neighbor of the mosque.
Yet, a few weeks ago [on April 25], a terrible tragedy occurred here. Aboubakar Cissé, a 22-year-old Malian, was cleaning up after Friday prayers when a man entered the mosque. He wanted to know how to pray properly. As Aboubakar knelt to show him, the intruder took a knife from his bag and stabbed him 57 times. The young man died instantly. His killer, Olivier Hadzovic, a young Roma man of Bosnian origin, fled, before surrendering three days later [to Italy].
[He] is said to be suffering from schizophrenia and hallucinations, and to have acted not for ideological reasons, but rather driven by a “murderous impulse” [he was subsequently charged on May 9 with “murder based on race or religion” ]. Basically, the 21-year-old could have attacked anyone, according to the police.
But on the side
Published in the country's financial capital, it is a traditional and benchmark title, with centrist and liberal leanings. With a cutting-edge international presence, it is read by all German speakers. Eric Gujer, its editor-in-chief since 2015, has driven two notable developments. First, what some have deplored as a right-wing shift in the newspaper's positions, particularly on immigration issues. Second, the desire to consolidate its position in the German market in an attempt to offset the declining sales facing the daily, like the rest of the press.
When it was launched on January 12, 1780, the Zürcher Zeitung positioned itself as a kind of international courier of the time. In the first issue, editor-in-chief Salomon Gessner wrote: “We have arranged to receive news from the best French, English, Italian, Dutch, and German newspapers, as well as from private correspondents, and to print it as quickly as our neighbors can.” In fact, the title specialized in international affairs, as censorship at the time prevented any serious journalistic work on Zurich and Switzerland.
The NZZ website is a veritable database: in addition to articles from the online editorial team, around a hundred files group together articles from the print and online versions on major topics.
Courrier International
