Koupdimonn 1998 : Yon Rèv enkwayab pou Lafrans

Emmanuel W. Védrine
 

Koupdimonn 1998
Lilian Thuram
«Koupdimonn 1998», yon koup ki fèt anndan Lafrans, gen yon dal enpòtans pou peyi sa a opwendevi sikolojik, politik, ekonomik e etnik pou rive konprann manifestasyon jwa Fransè yo.

SIKOLOJIK

Se yon rèv ki tounen yon reyalite pou Fransè yo. Kòm nou konnen deja, Lafrans klase pami 6 gran peyi nan lemonn. Men opwendevi espò mondyal sa a, yo te santi yon konplèksdenferyorite lefèt yo pa t janm fè listwa (si n ap gade lòt peyi ewopeyen tèlke Almay, Itali… ki pran koup la deja epi Lafrans pa t manm klib 7 peyi ki pran koup la deja. Se te yon bagay ki domine panse yo anpil (si n ap fè kritik espòtif) malgre yo konnen, lemonn konnen yo avanse nan plizyè domèn epi yo toujou konsidere kòm sant sivilizasyon an Ewòp (depi kèk tan). Se tankou yon ekriven k ap ekri depi lontan, ekri anpil men li pa rekonèt nan yon anbyans entènasyonal e menm nasyonal pafwa. Lè ekriven sa a ta vin pran yon gwo pri literè, e si pa chans li ta rive pran«pri nobèl» la, imajine w kòman l ta montre kontantman l (diferan de Jean-Paul Sartre ki te rechte pri sa a) men pa bliye, misye te yon filozòf dènye degre, tout Lafrans te gentan konnen l deja (menm jan yo konnen Foucault) men, lefèt Sartre te rechte pri a, popilarite l monte plis paske se premye ekriven, yon gwo ekriven, yon filozòf nan listwa ki fè yon bagay konsa. Donk, endirèkteman, li pase kòm chanpyon. Ou p ap jwenn yon lòt ekriven ki pral rechte yon pri nobèl kounyeya paske Sartre fè sa deja.

POLITIK

Se yon viktwa pou Chirac paske lè yon peyi pran yon koup, premye moun yo kòmanse felisite se prezidan peyi sa a (menmsi l pa t fè anyen grandyoz). Se menm jan lè yon peyi gen siksè (sou yon gouvèlman), se prezidan an ki jwenn tout glwa yo (bousòl la se sou li l pwochte), menm bagay la si peyi sa a ta an chen (tankou Ayiti), se gouvèlman yo y ap toujou kritike, se yo ki responsab. Donk, tout bagay yo mache «ton sur ton». Sèdike, fokis lemonn nanzafè koup la pa chita sou Lilian Thuram, Zinedine Zidane (Zizou), Emmanuel Petit (3 meyè jwè ekip la nan semifinal kou nan final) ak gadyen ekip la, Fabien Barthez (yon gadyen estraòdinè tou) oubyen pou lemonn ta poze bousòl la sou Aimé Jacquet ("Monsieur le sélectionneur des Bleus"). Fokis la se sou Lafrans pito (kòm peyi) ki pran tout glwa a epi l gen yon istwa byen long dèyè l, plis enfliyans li nan kontèks «mondyalizasyon».

EKONOMIK

Koup sa a pote dè milyon dola pou Lafrans, pou Fransè yo e pou moun k ap viv an Frans. Dabò, se yon envestisman kote Lafrans fè yon pwofi maksimòn (si n konpare ak lòt peyi ki te òganize koupdimonn deja tèlke Etazini). Byenke mwen poko li data sou ekonomi Lafrans pandan yon mwa koup la, men m konnen gen gwo dosye ki pral pale sou sa. Wè, si n ta pran tan pou n ta pase sitiyasyon ekonomik Ewòp an revi e patikilyèman Lafrans nan fen syèk la e avan koup la, nou pral wè yon seri koub ki kwaze sou aks Y/X ekonomis fransè yo ka fè pi devan pou eseye montre n pwofi Lafrans fè (nan tout sans) epi lajan sa a rete andedan peyi a pou l envesti ankò, kreye plis anplwa pou moun nan peyi a, amenaje bagay espòtif Lafrans… Si n ta pran touris pa ekzanp, nonb de moun ki antre pou vin nan match yo (moun ki sot nan kontinan ewopeyen an ak lòt kote), ki rete Lafrans pandan tout mwa a, nou te ka pale an tèm de bilyon dola. Epi gen dè milye moun ki desann Ayewopò «Orly Ouest» oubyen «Charles De Gaulle» chak jou Bondye mete. Sèdike, tout otèl fè mago, chòf, kafe, restoran, nayklib, transpòtasyon, vandè nan lari, mize… tout sa n te ka site fè yon pwofi estraòdinè. Epi reyalite ekonomik lan, sèke se «lajan kach» touris sa yo kite. Lajan sa a, remake byen, se pa nan pòch gouvèlman l soti (byenke gen yon pati ki soti nan pòch gouvèlman / fim prive ki t ap prepare konstriksyon, fè reparasyon estad, konstwi estad nèf, travay nan amenajman espòtif elatriye… men tout kòb sa yo antre soulechan (si n vin analize depans avan + pwofi apre, yon ekwasyon k pral ban nou yon balans pozitif). Se ekip fransèz la tou ki pral resevwa plis lajan ke tout lòt 31 ekip yo, plis dèmilye dola yo pral fè nan piblisite. E se poko anyen! Apre koup la, touris kontinye ap debake Lafrans, sèdike gen dè milye dola Lafrans pral antre ankò nan souvni ki pral vann.

ETNIK

Opwendevi etnik, se yon siksè pou politisyen fransè pran woulib, espesyalman pati Chirac sot ladan an, yon pati konsèvatè. Si n gade ekip fransè a, n ap wè l gen yon bon konpozisyon etnik ladan. Sa non sèlman montre divèsite etnik nan peyi Lafrans (diferan de anpil lòt peyi ewopeyen) epi depi lontan, Lafrans te konsa byenke se blan fransè ki toujou sou pouvwa, ki nan meyè dyòb men, se yon reyalite kounyeya pou wè kilès ki konpoze sosyete fransèz la e enpòtans kontribisyon imigran an Frans, kijan yo travay pou avansman peyi a byenke "rasis" la ekziste an Frans (sou yon fòm deferan de Etazini) men nou pa ka nye l. Petèt nou ka li kèk siy an Frans ki di «Ne touche pas mon pòt». An anglè, «Leave my ass alone» oubyen «Kite bounda m trankil» (an kreyòl), yon mesaj anti-imigran an Frans men malgre tou, Lafrans ap toujou rete Lafrans.

An palan de «etnisite» nan match la, lemonn antye wè enpòtans jwè tèlke Lilian Thuram (yon nwa ki voye ekip la nan final ak de gòl li fè sou ekipòlann lan) ak Zidane (pitit imigran arab k ap viv Marseille). Mwen wè se de meyè jwè ki fè Lafrans gen koup la byenke m poko li lòt kritik pou wè sa yo di), plis Emmanuel Petit (yon blond) ki fè yon gòl anvan match la fini.

Nenpòt kritik ap di de gòl Zidane yo pi enpòtan, yon fason pou te bay Fransè yo plis asirans ke yo devan e kòm pwovèb la di nou, devan devan nèt. Men, nou konnen Brezil, sa l te ka remèt; malgre l fin pran de gòl nan premye mitan an, anpil fanatik Brezil panse yo te ka rive egalize nan dezyèm mitan pou yo ta al nan pwolongasyon (si l posib epi si sa pa ta mache pou yo ta al nan penalite, menm jan sa te fèt nan dènye koup la ant Brezil / Itali epi pou koze penalite a, kritik espòtif konnen pwa Tafayèl kòm gadyen ekip Brezil la) men, sikolojikman moral Brezilyen yo te bese anpil (apre de gòl yo), jwenn sipò jwè seleksyon fransèz la jwenn nan men piblik la ak teknik yo t ap jwe tou.

Donk, petèt ak kòmantè m fè yo lektè k pral li atik sa a kapab plizoumwen konprann manifestasyon jwa fransè yo ak moun k ap viv Lafrans pandan yon semèn, «La semaine de gloire pour les Français» ak enpòtans koupdimonn lan o nivo sikolojik, politik, ekonomik e etnik.

(E. W. Védrine, ete 1998)

The 1998 World Cup : an incredible Dream for France

by Emmanuel W. Vedrine

”The 1998 Soccer World Cup”, a cup that took place inside France, has a great importance for this country at the psychological, political, economical and ethnical point of view in order to understand the level of joy manifested by the French people.

PSYCHOLOGICALLY

It's a dream that becomes a reality for the French. As we already know, France is classified among the 6 great countries in the world. But in term of this international sports, they felt a sort of inferiority complex the fact that they never made history (if we are looking at other European countries such as Germany, Italy… that have won the cup already and France has never been a member of the club of the seven countries that had won the cup before). It was something that dominated their thinking a lot (if we are making sportive comments) despite they know, the world knows that they are very advanced in many areas and they've always been considered to be Europe's civilization center (for quite a long time). It's like a writer who has been writing for a long time; he writes a lot but is never recognized at an international level and even national sometimes. When this writer would receive a major literary prize, and if by any chance he would get the “Nobel prize”, imagine how happy he would be (different from Jean-Paul Sartre who has rejected such a prize), but don't forget that he was quite a great figure and well-known philosopher, the whole France already knows him (the same way they know Foucault) but, the fact that Sartre rejected this prize, its popularity increases more because he was the first writer, a great writer, philosopher in history to do a such thing. So, indirectly, he is considered to be a champion here. We will not find another writer rejecting that prize now because Sartre has already done it.

POLITICALLY

It's a victory for Chirac because when a country wins a cup, the first person they start congratulating is the president of that country (even if he did not do anything grandiose). That's the same way when a country has success (under a government), it's the president who receives all the gory (the focus is on him), the same thing if that country would be in bad shape (like Haiti), it's the governments they will always criticize; they are the ones who are responsible. So, everything works “ton sur ton” (as we would say in French). That is, the world's focus on issues related to the cup is not on Lilian Thuram, Zinedine Zidane (Zizou), Emmanuel Petit (3 best players of the team in the semi-final and in the final match) and the goal keeper of the team, Fabien Barthez (an extraordinary goal keeper also) or for the world to focus on Aimé Jacquet ("Monsieur le sélectionneur des Bleus" (Mr. coach of Blues). The focus is rather on France (as country) that receives all the glory and it has a long history behind it, and its influence in the “globalization” context.

ECONOMICALLY

This cup has brought many millions of dollars to France, to the French and to the people living in France. First, it's an investment where France make a maximum profit (if we compare with other countries that have organized the world cup in that past, such as the United States). Though I have not read the data on France's economy during the whole month of the World Cup, but I know for a fact that there are heavy documents that will talk about it. Well, if we were to take time to review Europe's economic situation and particularly France at the turn of the century before the Cup, we will see a series of curves crossing the Y and X axes that the French economists can do later, trying to show us France's profit (in all sense) and that money remains in the country for investment again, creating more jobs for people in the country, better the sportive stuff for France… if we take tourists for instance, the number of people entering the country to see the games (people who come from the whole European continent and elsewhere), who live in France during the whole month, we could talk in terms of billion of dollars. And many millions of people who arrived at the airports “Orly Ouest” or “Charles De Gaulle” each day. That is, all the hotels made millions, the shops, the cafés, restaurants, nightclubs, transportation, street vendors, museums… all that we could cite made a maximum profit. And the economic reality is that it's “cash money” that the tourists left behind. This money, notice it well, does not come from the government pockets (though a part of it did come from the government and private firms that were doing construction works, repairing stadiums, constructing new stadiums, working in ”amenajman espòtif” so on and so forth… but all they got all that money back right away (if we want to analyze expenses before + profits after, an equation that will give us a positive balance). Also, it's the French team who will receive more money than the other 31 teams, and many millions that they will be made from advertising. It's nothing yet! After the cup, tourists continue visiting France; that is, France will be making many millions more just from souvenirs that these people will buy.

ETHNICNICALLY

Ethnically speaking, it's a success for French politicians to get a free ride, specially for the party where Chirac came from - a conservative one. If we look at the French team, we'll see that it's made up of a great ethnic composition. That not only shows ethnic diversity in France (different from many other European countries) and since a long time, France has been like that though it's mostly white French who are always in power, who hold the best jobs, but it's a reality now to see who composes the French society and the importance of immigrants' contribution to France, how hard they've worked for the country's advancement though “racism” does exist in France (a bit different comparing to the United States) but it's not something that we can deny. We may read some signs that say: “Ne touche pas mon pòt” (Leave my ass alone), an anti-immigrant message but despite all, France will always remain France (it has something that makes people love it). In reference to “ethnicity” in the games, the whole world saw the importance of players such as Lilian Thuram (a black who sent the team to final with the two goals he scored on the Dutch team) and Zidane (the son of Arab immigrant living in Marseille). I can say that they were the two best players that made France won the cup though I have not yet read other critics on that), and Emmanuel Petit (a blond) who scored a goal before the match ended. Any critic would say that the two goals by Zidane are more important, a way to give France more insurance that are leading and as the Creole says “devan devan nèt” (those who take the lead will keep it). But we know Brazil, what it could have done; though the French team scored two goals on Brazil in the first half, many Brazilian fans thought that they could have a chance to a tie in the second half in order to go to “prolongation” (if possible and if that would not work out, they would go to penalty kicks, the same way it happened in the last cup's final between Brazil and Italy and concerning penalty kicks, sport critics know Tafayèl's weight as the goal keeper for the Brazilian team) but, psychologically the moral of the Brazilians went down a lot (after the two goals), added to that, we can say the support that French team has received from the public and also the techniques they were playing with were amazing. So, maybe with my comments, the readers of this article can, more or less, understand the joy that the French and the people who live there have shown during “La semaine de gloire pour les Français” (the glory week for the French) and the psychological, political, economical and ethnic importance of this cup.

(E. W. Védrine, Summer 1998)

Emmanuel W. Védrine
E. W. VEDRINE CREOLE PROJECT, Inc.
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