Ukraine war   SILVER LININGS

How the Russian invasion has sparked a renaissance of Ukrainian culture

As the war in Ukraine enters its fourth year, going to the theatre or visiting one of the city's newest bookshops provides a moment of refuge for the people of Kyiv. But culture has also become a powerful means of resistance and a way to assert Ukrainian identity.

Sens is a bookshop and café on three levels which opened a year ago in the centre of Kyiv. © Aurore Lartigue/RFI

By:RFI
04/03/2025 - 

As the war in Ukraine rages on and air raid alerts in Kyiv remain a daily occurrence, a somewhat surprising new trend has flourished on TikTok – young people are posting about the race to get hold of theatre tickets.

"Before, we used to announce new seasons a month in advance. Now we open ticket sales three months in advance and within two hours, everything's gone," said Victoria Bourkovska, the administrator of the Ivan Franko National Theatre – currently celebrating its 105th anniversary – who can hardly believe this turn of events.

In 2024, the hot ticket was for The Witch of Konotop, an adaptation of a 19th-century satirical novel about a Cossack chieftain battling witches. On TikTok, videos of the play have been viewed millions of times.

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In front of the pastel blue facade of the theatre, Veronika and her group of friends are delighted to be among the lucky few who have seen the play. Yet Grehori, 32, confesses that before the war, he had never set foot in a theatre. One day he went along, and loved it. Tonight, the group don't know what they're going to see: "We just took whatever tickets they had."

Evgeny Nuschuk, director of the Franko Theatre since April 2024, said: "There is a theatre craze at the moment. And it's not just in Kyiv. With theatre, there's this here and now aspect." A living art form, a format that chimes with current events, it is also a source of inspiration for the future, as reflected in the theatre's slogan for the new season: "Today's theatre must reflect tomorrow's society."

There have been adjustments since the invasion. Big Russian names such as Pushkin and Chekhov have been eliminated from the repertoire – but a new generation of directors has seized upon Ukraine's literary and theatrical heritage.

Actor, former Minister of Culture and involved in the Ukrainian armed forces, Evgeny Nuschuk is now director of the Ivan Franco theatre in Kyiv, Ukraine, February 2025. © Aurore Lartigue/RFI
Fundraising for armed forces

In the event of an air raid alert, the play is stopped. And familiar faces have disappeared from audiences. "We have lost some regulars," says Nuschuk. "They had bought tickets for the evening of 1 January, intending to start the year with us. Some other spectators brought flowers to lay on their seats."

Before taking over the reins of the establishment, the director twice served as the country's minister of culture. In the early days of the war he volunteered, and the theatre is engaged with the war effort. "In six months, we have collected more than 55 million hryvnias [almost €1.3 million] for our armed forces. Our troops perform in military hospitals and we lend our spaces to displaced troops from Sumy, Kherson or Mariupol every Monday," said Nuschuk.

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"There has always been a renaissance of Ukrainian culture in difficult times," Tetiana and Olha told RFI. These two students have also become regular theatre-goers since the start of the war.

"Remember the proliferation of poetry and theatre in the 1920s, for example [at the time of the occupation by the Soviet Union]. But I also think that one of the reasons for the craze we are experiencing is that today's directors are reviving a certain authenticity in Ukrainian culture, breaking away from the rigid and overwhelming Russian culture embodied by the great authors and the great ballets."
Language as resistance

In this cultural war, language is another battlefield. In a country where most people have historically mastered both Russian and Ukrainian, the former is being rejected while use of the latter has become a symbol of resistance.

On Khreshchatyk Avenue – Kyiv's Champs-Élysées – where Vladimir Putin was planning a victory parade in 2022, the Sens bookshop opened its doors a year ago. On this Saturday afternoon, its two floors are bustling with people, particularly young people. With its café and stylish interior, it's eminently Instagrammable. The store's motto? "You can do what you like here, but not in Russian." You won't find any books in the language of Tolstoy for sale in this shop.

When the first Ukrainian language only bookshop opened, just before the full-scale invasion of February 2022, many people were sceptical, says Oleksii Erinchak, one of the owners and founders of Sens. "We would always hear that books in Ukrainian were more expensive, that there were few translations and therefore little choice... We wanted to promote books in Ukrainian. And we've shown that there is a demand for them."

The Sens bookstore, in the center of Kyiv, Ukraine, opened in February 2024. 

© Aurore Lartigue/RFI

He added: "Of course, it's an act of resistance. For centuries, Russia stifled our culture. This is like putting a protective dome over it." He believes culture is a weapon, one Russia had tried to deploy in Ukraine long before the invasion: "Putin thought that the Ukrainians would welcome the Russians with open arms because culture had already prepared the ground."

Before the war, around 75 percent of the book market in Ukraine was made up of books imported from Russia, illustrating Russian influence. Since 2022, these have been banned.

Today, eight of the shop's top ten bestsellers are written in Ukrainian. They include a collection of love poetry, an anthology on Ukrainian nationalism, and a thrilling detective novel by Illarion Pavliuk, a Ukrainian writer and journalist turned soldier.

The bookshop also organises the collection of Russian-language books for recycling, with the money raised going to anti-aircraft defence.

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Maria Smirova, who is browsing for books to give as gifts with her husband Dimitrov, said: "Before the war I only bought books online, and most of them in Russian. Now everything has changed. We only speak to each other in Ukrainian and we've got rid of all our books in Russian." For her, shopping here also means supporting Ukraine.

Over the last two years, some 50 new bookshops have opened across the country. According to Rostyslav Semkiv, a professor of literature at the University of Kyivand a literary critic, this "cultural blossoming" can be explained by "a reformatting of our identity".

"Before 2014, the cultural landscape was dominated by a post-Soviet identity. The large-scale invasion shattered this identity. This Ukrainian ethnic identity has become political. Many people are starting to take an interest in Ukrainian history, art and literature. What makes up Ukrainian culture? There is a search for ‘Ukrainianness’," he explained.

Somoloskyp (meaning "torch"), the small Ukrainian-language publishing house run by Semkiv, is a testament to this movement. "Ten years ago, for us, printing 1,000 or 2,000 copies of a book was huge. Today, we have average print runs of 4,000 to 5,000 copies, and we can go up to 30,000. And every book that comes out goes very quickly," he says. Production is in fact struggling to keep up with demand, with the printing works slowing down as a result of the war.
Renaissance and resilience

In a basement in the centre of Kyiv, around 30 people have taken their seats. "Glory to Ukraine! Putin, you dickhead!" shouts stand-up comedian Arthur Petrov as he takes to the stage.

Nadiya and Stanislas, who discovered Petrov on YouTube, are here hoping to escape for an hour "from our difficult daily lives, and hear a few good jokes about Russkies, fighting and body bags," says Stanislas, with a heavy does of irony.

"Laugh and keep your head up" is the name of the programme offered by this venue, the Underground Standup Club, which was founded in 2016 and sends 20 percent of its takings to the armed forces.

Stand-up comedian Anton Zhytlov in a room in a new district of Irpin, near Kyiv, Ukraine on 26 January, 2025. © Aurore Lartigue/RFI

When the hour is up, Petrov has another engagement – a charity show with two other comedians in the town of Irpin, near the capital, which has been hit hard by the war. The money raised will go to a charity that buys drones.

The show is taking place in the brand new community hall of a newly built neighbourhood, on a street formerly known as Dostoevsky Street and now renamed for Olha Kobylianska, a Ukrainian feminist writer. The atmosphere is warm among this young, hip audience.

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Taxi drivers, the Montessori education method, talking in Ukrainian during sex, air raid alerts... war is not the only ground covered by the comedians, and laughter is clearly an outlet. Far from silencing it, the war has seen a huge increase in the number of comedians performing in Ukraine.

"Before the war started, most of the big stand-up shows in Ukraine were in Russian," says Anton Zhytlov as he leaves the stage. "With the start of the war, we stopped using Russian and this has led to a sort of renaissance in Ukrainian humour."

In the audience, Rima is happy to be able to relax a little. Her husband is at the front, but she doesn't know where exactly. "It's invaluable for our mental health," she says.

For Zhytlov, the fact that Ukrainians still go to stand-up shows and comedians continue to perform, despite the war, is indicative of the national mentality: "We are courageous and we look fear in the eye. We're not afraid of anything."

This article has been adapted from the original in French, by our correspondent in Kyiv.

DRC mineral contract with China slammed by NGOs citing 'major losses'

A controversial mining deal between the DRC and China has come under the spotlight, as NGOs and civil society groups warn of financial losses and lack of transparency, one year after the 'contract of the century' was updated.

Workers walk in the copper-cobalt Mutanda Mine in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on 19 June 2023. AFP - EMMET LIVINGSTONE

By: RFI
07/03/2025 -

A major mining agreement between the Democratic Republic of Congo and a Chinese consortium is facing renewed scrutiny, as civil society organisations allege that a recently renegotiated deal continues to put the Congolese state at a disadvantage.

The CNPAV coalition – "Le Congo n'est pas à vendre" or "Congo is not for sale" – comprises of anti-corruption NGOs who claim the new terms are still heavily skewed in favour of Chinese companies, resulting in a $132 million (€124 million) loss for the DRC in 2024 alone.

The group is urging the government to reopen negotiations to secure a fairer agreement.

The so-called "contract of the century" was originally signed in 2008 under then-president Joseph Kabila, granting Chinese companies access to extensive copper and cobalt mines in exchange for infrastructure development.

Renegotiated in early 2024, the agreement was meant to yield nearly $4 billion (€3.8 billion) in additional benefits for the Congolese.

However, watchdogs argue that the new terms fail to rectify previous imbalances.

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Fluctuating markets

One of the primary concerns raised by CNPAV is the dependence of infrastructure funding on the fluctuating price of copper.

Under the revised terms, the DRC is supposed to receive $324 million (€312 million) annually for road infrastructure over a 20-year period.

However, these payments are only guaranteed if copper prices remain above $8,000 (€7,700) per tonne.

If prices fall below this threshold, "the state will receive less, or even nothing at all," warns the coalition.

Additionally, even if copper prices soar to $12,000 per tonne, the Congolese side will still receive the same $324 million, preventing the country from fully benefiting from market upswings.

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Skewed payment structure

A further criticism of the deal lies in its fixed payment structure, regardless of the volume of minerals extracted.

Baby Matabishi, coordinator at the Carter Center-DRC and a member of CNPAV, highlighted the issue in an interview with RFI’s Kinshasa correspondent Pascal Mulegwa.

"Everything depends on the price of copper. There is this volatility and uncertainty of price, which doesn't necessarily guarantee that the $324 million is secured," Matabishi explained to RFI.

The NGO also raises a key inconsistency: "How can it be understood that a company that produces 100,000 tonnes of copper pays $324 million – and on the day it produces 200,000 tonnes or 400,000 tonnes – and then pays the same amount?" Matabishi emphasised.

Hence, the lack of a production-based scaling mechanism means the DRC does not proportionally benefit from increased mining output.

CNPAV has also condemned ongoing tax exemptions granted to Chinese companies, which cost the DRC at least $100 million annually.

While the Kinshasa government argues that infrastructure development will offset any losses, civil society organisations claim that many promised projects remain incomplete or substandard.

Archaeological findings on France's Ile de Ré reveal North Sea trade links

Archaeological excavations on the Ile de Ré, an island off France's Atlantic coast, have unearthed graves and artefacts dating back to the 8th century – findings that confirm trading ties with Northern European and Celtic peoples.

\Archaeologists have uncovered 50 graves on the on Ile de Ré, including that of this individual, who was buried with a pearl necklace and an iron basin. 

© INRAP/Yohan Manthey

By:Zeenat Hansrod

RFI
02/03/2025 - 

"What is exciting and quite unique is to find various objects from as far as Ireland, England, the Netherlands and Germany buried with the corpses in this part of western France, in the late 8th century," archaeologist Annie Bolle, of France's National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP), told RFI.

Bolle is the scientific project manager for excavations taking place at La Flotte, a village on the Ile de Ré, off the French Atlantic coast.

INRAP was called in to look at a plot of land ahead of the construction of a house – because in 1985 a Gallo-Roman villa dating back to the 4th century was unearthed next door.

This 9th century map shows the position of Ile de Ré, on France's Atlantic coast. © INRAP

Between October and December 2024, the INRAP team uncovered around 50 graves in and outside a chapel. Having belonged to the priory of Saint Eulalie, according to texts from 1156, it was later destroyed during the French Wars of Religion, between Catholics and Protestants, in the 16th century.

"The findings provide rare tangible evidence of close ties between the Carolingian Empire [a Frankish empire in Western and Central Europe during the early Middle Ages] and a population from the North and Celtic Seas," said Bolle.
Unusual burials

Five of these graves stood out. The position of the bodies and the artefacts they were buried with "are quite rare to find on Ile de Ré or even in western France," explained Bolle.

Two of the bodies were not positioned in the customary Christian fashion, with the heads facing east towards Jerusalem, but were orientated towards the south.

The lower limbs of some were bent rather than extended, as would be expected. Furthermore, two others were laid on their sides and one female was found lying face down.

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"The bodies in the five graves were buried with various objects and ornaments. This practice, common during the 6th and 7th centuries, disappeared later in the 8th and 9th centuries, around the time we think the five were buried," said Bolle.

Among graves unearthed on Ile de Ré, 13th century bell ovens can be seen in the centre. © INRAP/Clémence Pilorge

The archaeologists found two combs and necklaces made of amber, glass, bone and copper beads.

The findings from the La Flotte excavations have been preserved and will undergo analysis to gather information about their composition and provenance.

"By finding out what technique was used to make the combs, we will be able to tell when and where they were made. DNA testing of the material used – bones or antlers – will help us to more accurately determine where they came from," Bolle explained.

Other artefacts unearthed include a metal belt with an intricate design, and a knife similar to one previously found in the south-east of England.

Excavation of a burial site at La Flotte on Ile de Ré, on France's Atlantic coast. © INRAP/Clémence Pilorge
Social status

"Stable isotopes analysis of the human bones will help us to reconstruct the diet of the individuals," Bolle said, explaining that what they ate will give an indication of where they came from – as well as their social status, given usually only people with means could afford meat.

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"Paleogenetic analysis of the skeletons’ DNA should help us determine the sex of the individuals and whether they were related or not," she added.

The findings have been sent to various laboratories around France, with some at the Arc’Antique Laboratory in Nantes, while some of the DNA testing – of the combs, for example – will be done at the Natural History Museum in Paris.
Trade links

Most of the artefacts unearthed from the graves appear to originate from northern Germany, the Netherlands, south-east England and the area around Dublin in Ireland. The beads are Irish, the knife or the belt could come from England and the combs may come from the Frisian region in north-western Europe – in modern times, parts of the north of the Netherlands and north-west Germany.

Examination under a binocular magnifier of a copper alloy belt at the Arc’Antique laboratory in Nantes. © INRAP/Patrick Ernaux

"What is fascinating is trying to uncover how the various objects from so many different places found their way in this small plot of land on Ile de Ré," Bolle said.

"The La Flotte excavations [have uncovered] rare archaeological evidence of the active trade relations we’ve read about between the Carolingian Empire and the population around the North Sea."

Danish and German archaeologists have already shown an interest in the La Flotte findings. Now follows at least two years of investigation to uncover the story behind them.

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"What we don’t know yet is whether the individuals were locals buried with their own objects or whether they were foreigners buried on this land," said Bolle. "It says a lot if the foreigners were buried amongst the locals. It means that they were well accepted. And, resonates with what is happening nowadays in terms of tolerance towards migrants."

Music

Guinea’s Queen Rima wins 2025 RFI African music prize

It was third time lucky for 28-year-old Guinean singer and dancer Queen Rima, who won the 2025 RFI Discovery Prize, a competition open to budding musicians from Africa.

Queen Rima winner of RFI Prix Découvertes 2025. © RFI

By:Ollia Horton with RFI
07/03/2025 - 

Queen Rima (born Born Marie Tolno) is considered one of the pioneers of dancehall in her native Guinea Conakry, a style that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s in Jamaica before taking the world by storm.

She was a finalist in the RFI Prix découvertes (discovery prize) in 2022 and 2023, and her determination to win the 2025 crown impressed the jury, chaired by Benin’s Angélique Kidjo.

"If we give her the chance to have a career and we surround her well, she can have a long career. She can surprise us," Kidjo said at the prize ceremony on 17 February.

"She can do a lot of things with her voice. That is why, unanimously, with the votes of the public, we voted for Queen Rima. But the others are also good."

For Kidjo, it was difficult to choose a winner among the ten candidates, who were all very talented and motivated.

But she was particularly impressed by Queen Rima's stage presence, especially with the song "Lantchou mi Yobaï", which means in Pular "I will manage".

"It gives me hope for my continent because there’s quality, and the future looks bright. I’m happy to see African artists taking on board their respective cultures and mixing things up," Kidjo told RFI.

Upon learning the results of the competition, Queen Rima, contacted by RFI, said she was "so happy she cried" and hadn’t slept a wink prior to the announcement.

"I’m proud of everything I’ve accomplished. This is a great victory for women who make urban music like me in Guinea," the artist said.

The winner of the RFI Discovery prize pockets 10,000 euros and gets an African concert tour in partnership with the Institut français network, as well as a concert broadcast by RFI.

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Upending stereotypes

28-year-old Queen Rima started her career as a dancer and has accompanied numerous Guinean artists such as Singleton or Djelika Babintou.

She formed her dance group Toxaï Girls, before devoting herself, ten years ago, to writing music, which she calls "afro-fusion dancehall" - mixing styles and borrowing from reggaeton, amapiano and traditional music.

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Singing in local Guinean languages such as Pular and Susu as well as French and English, Queen Rima has made a niche for herself in what is a very male-dominated genre of the music business.

She told RFI that she "wants to prove to men that women are just as capable as them of making urban music," and likes to upend stereotypes with video clips like "Boss Up" where she appears surrounded by four bare-chested, muscular men.

In her title "Guinée Won nomane", she pays tribute to all the strong women of her country, who face inequality in a patriarchal society.

Culture

All-female exhibition aims to restore women’s voices in art history

Poitiers – French artist Eugénie Dubreuil has collected more than 500 works by female artists, beginning in 1999. Last year she donated her collection to the Sainte-Croix Museum in Poitiers, which is now putting them on display in an exhibition that aims to restore the forgotten voices of women in art.


02:59
The "La Musée" exhibition at the Sainte-Croix Museum in Poitiers, western France.
© Ville de Poitiers

By :Isabelle Martinetti
Issued on: 08/03/2025 -
RFI

"Women artists have long been marginalised in art history courses and by museums and galleries," Manon Lecaplainn, director of the Sainte-Croix Museum, told RFI. "For decades, art history has been written without women. Why should our exclusively female exhibition be shocking?"

"Our aim is not to exclude men from art history," she explains. "The goal is to make people think."


Eugénie Dubreuil en mariée (1990) by Danièle Lazard. © Musées de Poitiers, Ch. Vignaud

The Sainte-Croix Museum has been known in France for its proactive policy of promoting women artists since the 1980s.

In this new exhibition, Lecaplain and her co-curator Camille Belvèze are showcasing nearly 300 works from the 18th century to the present day, divided into three sections: the collection of Eugénie Dubreuil, the hierarchy of genres in art history, and the social role of the museum.


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This exhibition is the first step in a five-year project to promote Dubreuil's collection – entitled La Musée – and relies on a financial grant of €150,000.

"Why not an initiative like this on a larger scale in France, Europe, the world?" asks Dubreuil.

The "La Musée" exhibition showcases 300 works by female artists, thank to a donation made by Eugénie Dubreuil in 2024. © Ville de Poitiers

► La Musée runs until 18 May, 2025 at the Sainte-Croix Museum in Poitiers.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for SURREALIST WOMEN

International Women's Day

Africa sees gender equality progress, but continent ‘still only halfway there'

As the world marks International Women's Day, RFI looks at the situation in Africa. Women on the continent are closer to equality today than they were four years ago, according to the latest report by the UN and the African Development Bank, but the continent is still only halfway to achieving gender parity.

Women march against rising cases of femicide in Nairobi, Kenya, on 27 January, 2024. 

AP - Brian Inganga

By: RFI

 08/03/2025 -


Commenting on the report’s findings, Nathalie Gahunga, manager of the Gender and Women Empowerment Division at the African Development Bank (AfDB) said they are "a call to action for African governments to invest in Africa’s women and girls for sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development that works for all, across the continent".

She emphasised that this could be achieved through evidence-based, gender-responsive policies and programmes, adding: "At the African Development Bank, we will continue collaborating with governments to address this important gap."
'A more prosperous Africa for all'

The Africa Gender Index 2023 Analytical Report measures gender equality in 54 African countries, scoring them between 0 and 100 – representing full equality.

Entitled “African Women in Times of Crisis”, this second edition of the Africa Gender Index (AGI) is the latest conducted by the AfDB and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and was released in November 2024.

It shows that between 2019 and 2023, Africa’s overall gender index score improved from 48.6 to 50.3 percent. While this marks progress, it also highlights a sobering reality: women on the continent still experience half the economic, social and representation opportunities available to men.

A woman carries a banner reading "zero rape in my country" during a protest organised by the Ministry of Women, Family and Children Affairs against gender-based violence in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, in December 2021. AFP - SIA KAMBOU

Keiso Matashane-Marite, head of UNECA’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Section, said: "None of the targets for United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality are on track. For instance, equal representation in parliaments won’t be reached until 2063. This is unacceptable."

She believes Africa cannot achieve sustainable prosperity if half its potential – that represented by the women of the continent – remains underused.

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Matashane-Marite is urging policymakers to act decisively, using the AGI findings to implement practical solutions and close gender gaps.

“The need for accelerated action is clear," she said. "By addressing these gaps, we can build a more inclusive and prosperous Africa for all.”

The AfDB's Gahunga echoed this, saying: "This effort requires strong support in investing gender data and statistics for more evidence-based decision-making, that leads to transformative public policy reforms."

Key findings

The report found that women in Africa score just 50.3 percent in equality across economic, social and public representation areas – a slight improvement from the 48 percent score in 2019.

Women in Africa are closer to equality in social areas, with a score of 98.3 – a parameter that includes access to education and healthcare. Girls on the continent now outnumber boys in graduation rates across primary, lower secondary and upper secondary education.

The report also found a 1.5 percent increase in women’s representation, which rose to 24.4 percent. However, women continue to be underrepresented in Africa's parliaments, ministerial positions and private leadership roles.

Economically, there has been a decline in gender equality. Women’s economic parity dropped from 61 percent in 2019 to 58.2 in 2023. While both men and women experienced economic setbacks during the reported period, women were disproportionately adversely affected.

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Women in war zones

Women are also often the first victims of the conflicts raging on the continent.

"When conflict and crisis strike, displacement, hunger, and poverty follow," according to the charity Oxfam. "But, all too often, it is women’s rights that become the early casualties of war."

Women in the M'Berra camp, collecting rubbish as part of an initiative led by refugees, in Bassikonou, Mauritania, 8 June 2022. AFP - GUY PETERSON

The charity reports that one in five refugee or displaced women suffers sexual violence, and that in countries affected by conflict girls are 2.5 times more likely not to be in school.

"As they flee conflict, travel, and settle in refugee camps they are highly vulnerable to all forms of violence. They face exploitation, sexual harassment, and rape; they risk being sold into early or unwanted marriages or resorting to survival sex just to get their basic needs for food, shelter, and transport met."

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Recommendations

Building on its findings, the AGI recommends targeted actions to close the gender gap across three key areas.

In the social sphere, the report urges countries to invest in overcoming barriers that prevent women from thriving in education, such as the burden of unpaid domestic work, early marriage and inadequate sanitary facilities in schools.

On representation, the report recommends strict enforcement of gender quotas in order to increase the number of women in leadership roles, in both government and the private sector.

Recognising that women often attain higher education levels than men, the report also calls for African countries to tackle harmful gender norms and practices, and address occupational segregation, to boost women’s economic participation.

International Women's Day

Spray it to say it: graffiti group sees women make their mark in Paris

A vacant lot in southeastern Paris has become a hub for graffiti artists from France and the world thanks to an initiative by community group Spot 13. It prides itself on promoting female graffiti artists and is holding an event to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March.

03:46

Graffiti artist MIU works on a wall at an open-air street art gallery run by the non-profit Spot 13. © RFI / Ollia Horton

By:Ollia Horton

RFI

 08/03/2025 


The outskirts of the French capital's 13th arrondissement have been undergoing a radical transformation in recent years, with new residential buildings popping up among office blocks and older architecture.

Where the southern Paris city limit meets the suburb of Ivry, three busy overpass bridges provide a vast web of concrete canvases for street artists hailing from Europe and further afield, as well as local talents.

"Even though we’re under the ring road, it feels like we’re in the countryside and we have a sense of freedom," says Spot 13 founder Joko – who is also a graffiti artist and a keen skateboarder.

While graffiti artists have been using the site since 2017, Joko set up his non-profit organisation in 2021 and got permission from the local council to "beautify" what would otherwise be a no-man’s land – part of a wider initiative by the co-operative Plateau Urbain, which repurposes unused urban spaces.

Spot 13 also prides itself on promoting female graffiti artists. "In general, there isn’t much room for women in urban art. There tends to be a lot of testosterone," Joko says, adding that he created Spot 13 in homage to his mother.

Joko, the founder and president of Spot 13, a non-profit organisation that hosts a graffiti art hub in the 13th district of Paris. © RFI / Ollia Horton
'Everyone is welcome'

Joko points to an artist known as MIU, who is working on a large wall in the bright sunlight – this is her first time working on such a large surface since she started doing graffiti just over two years ago.

She loves interacting with the people who come to ask questions and observe the artists at work. It’s a laidback, family-style atmosphere, she says. "While the question of gender still exists elsewhere, I don’t think it’s an issue at Spot 13. Everyone is welcome here, regardless of social background, identity or gender."

MIU’s latest work is a portrait of a child from the Toraja ethnic group in Sulawesi, Indonesia, wearing traditional colourful dress.

A work by graffiti artist MIU, inspired by the Toraja ethnic group from Sulawesi in Indonesia. © RFI / Ollia Horton

Describing herself as a modern art historian whose job it is to "preserve memory," she likes to use art as a means to represent minorities around the world whose cultures and way of life “we don’t know much about, and which are becoming extinct".

MIU is one of 15 female artists invited to take part in a live graffiti "jam session" on the theme of freedom, to celebrate International Women’s Day, on the weekend of 8-9 March.

Organised by Spot 13 and the collective Bombasphères, part of the profits from artists’ prints will be donated to the Maison des Femmes charity in Paris, whose work includes supporting women experiencing gender-based violence.

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Street art on a vacant lot hosted by community group Spot 13. © RFI / Ollia Horton
Building bridges

Jacques, a longtime volunteer with Spot 13, emphasises that giving back to the community is part of the project's DNA. More than just a place for people to legally practise street art, the space has a role to play in social cohesion, in an area that used to have a "pretty bad reputation," he says.

"We try to have good communication with our neighbours. It’s very important to be accepted, to be understood...it’s not just about painting," he explains, adding that making art provides a focus that can diffuse tensions between groups.

This part of the 13th arrondissement of Paris has become a hub for graffiti artists from around the world. © RFI / Ollia Horton

Joko – whose personal tag includes the slogan "taking art towards infinity and beyond" – agrees that art can be a powerful way to promote mutual respect, as well as a valuable tool for maintaining mental health.

"Art is a good way to stay calm. When you’re making art, you’re calm, and it brings a sense of peace to viewers. It’s great to have a designated place where art and nature meet."

Spotlight on Africa: celebrating female empowerment for Women's History Month

He hopes to make the current initiative in this part of Paris a permanent one. "We’re trying to bring some life into the suburbs and public spaces. It really comes from the heart."

Spot 13's initiative has created an open-air gallery under the city's ring road. © RFI / Ollia Horton

Gender inequality

Why do women in France still earn less than men?

France's gender equality legislation has helped narrow the pay gap by a third over the last 30 years. But women in the private sector still earn an average of 22 percent less than their male counterparts. RFI looks at what's behind the gap and what could be done to close it.

A woman holds a sign reading "It's time for change" during a demonstration calling for gender equality and an end to violence against women on International Women's Day in Paris on 8 March, 2024. © Abdul Saboor / Reuters

By:Alison Hird

RFI
08/03/2025 - 

France co-founded the United Nations International Labour Organisation in 1919, championing "equal pay for equal work", and in 1972, the agency wrote the principle of pay equality into its labour code.

In 1983, France's Roudy law mandated equal opportunities in the workplace, requiring companies to publish annual reports comparing the situation of its male and female employees and introducing a tool to help human resources managers identify and measure pay differences.

In 2018, the country launched an index to monitor the performance of large companies in the field of gender equality.

But this battery of legal measures has still not enabled France to close its gender pay gap.

Data published this week by the French National Statistics Institute (Insee) showed that in 2023 women’s average annual salary was €21,340 net compared to €27,430 for men – a difference of more than 22 percent.

While there has been progress, the pace is slow, with the gap narrowing at a rate of 1 percent per year over the last five years.

The primary reasons behind the gender pay gap are hours worked and type of jobs held. Women work on average 9 percent less than men and they're also more likely to work part-time. But even when working hours are identical, their average salary is 14.2 percent lower than men’s, Insee found.

What’s more, working part-time is not necessarily a life choice says Anne Eydoux, an economist specialising in employment and gender issues.

"It's a choice made under constraint, and some of the constraints refer to the gender divide of family roles where women take [more] parental responsibility," she tells RFI. "But it's also the result of occupational segregation." Women are over-represented in for example supermarket and cleaning jobs, where split shifts are common.

Sexism and workplace inequality is rife in most areas of French life, research shows
Gendered occupations

Women are also far more likely to work in low-paying sectors such as health, care and education.

According to Insee, more than 95 percent of secretaries are women, with an average full-time net salary of €2,044 per month.

Meanwhile, only a quarter of engineers and IT executives – professions in which average monthly net salaries are close to €4,000 – are women.

"Women are over-represented in the care sector, where their skills are under-recognised," Eydoux said. "And this is a fact for many female-dominated occupations, as the Covid crisis showed."

Women also have less access to the highest-paying jobs. In 2023, they accounted for 42 percent of full-time equivalent positions in the private sector, and yet just 24 percent of the top 1 percent of high-paying jobs. The glass ceiling is still there, as Eydoux noted.

France works towards gender equality in top jobs while UK women are still struggling
Cultural attitudes

Working less and in lower-paid sectors does not, however, fully explain the 22 percent wage gap. Women doing the same job as men in the same company are still paid 3.8 percent less.

There are historical and cultural reasons for this according to Marie Donzel, an expert in social innovation and author of "Justified inequalities: how to pay women less with a clear conscience".

Until 1945, France had a "female wage". Based on the assumption that a woman's pay was intended merely to supplement her husband's income, "women could be paid 10 to 15 percent less just because of their gender," Donzel told RFI.

This has helped foster gendered attitudes towards salaries. "Women tend to see [their pay] in terms of how much they need to live, and men see it in terms of 'how much my job is worth'," she said.

Donzel also points to a cultural prevailing negative image of women who take an interest in money. "We have a gendered socialisation in France that teaches us to be modest. When we talk about money, there's still the spectre of venality."

Gender pay gap means French women are 'working for free' until end of year
'I thought negotiating was vulgar'

Women themselves are not always aware that they're being discriminated against. It took Nathalie, a regional director for a multinational company, 15 years to find out.

"While chatting with my male counterparts, I realised that I was earning about €1,000 less per month than they were," she told Franceinfo. "I’d lost €150,000 over 15 years."

After comparing pay slips with colleagues, she realised that "every time, the women had significantly more experience in the role, more qualifications, we checked all the boxes. And yet, we were paid less. And the higher you climb in the hierarchy, the bigger the gap becomes".

Nathalie took her case to court and won, securing a raise for herself and her colleagues. She questions whether women "negotiate their salaries enough".

The question of negotiating pay "is as taboo as sex," says lawyer Insaff El Hassini.

She set up a training and coaching company called Ma Juste Valeur – meaning "My True Worth" – to help women overcome that barrier and negotiate their pay, after facing gender discrimination in the workplace herself.

"I found out my male colleague earned €5,000 a year more than me," she told RFI. "When I voiced my concerns I was told, 'Well you're already well paid, you should have negotiated your starting salary when you joined'. No one had told me you had to negotiate. I thought it was vulgar."

Gender gap at work far wider than expected, women's pay remains static, UN says

Closing the gap

This year France will implement the EU's 2023 Pay Transparency Directive, obliging companies to provide employees with pay scales for equivalent posts. Both Eydoux and Donzel welcome this transparency measure.

Eydoux also points to economic measures such as increasing both the minimum wage and income tax on very high wages, which together would narrow the pay gap. But the French government, which is trying to reduce the country's huge deficit and keep high-earners and businesses on board, is not currently in favour of either.

Donzel insists that salaries in the female-dominated education and care sectors must be raised, given the contribution they make to society. "Whether it's taking care of children, the elderly or in caring professions, this is obviously what's most valuable, yet the economy has reversed the value system and that's what we pay the least for."

Eydoux would also like to see France's gender quota policy, which has proven "very efficient" in breaking the glass ceiling by imposing gender-balance on executive boards, extended to other sectors.

Growing 'masculinist' culture in France slows down fight against sexism

For the moment, however, she says there aren't many signs of improvement: "I don't see much political will to focus on the gender pay gap and reduce it."

Resistance to gender equality is nothing new, she added, and while younger women in particular are "more conscious of the gender pay gap and more willing to improve the situation", they are now facing new forms of resistance.

"More and more young men are defending masculinist positions and ideologies," she said, with some claiming the 22 percent gender pay gap is "fake news".

France and other European leaders back Arab proposal to rebuild Gaza

France, Britain, Germany and Italy have said the Arab-backed plan to reconstruct Gaza and avoid displacing Palestinians from the terrritory is a "realistic path".

Palestinians break their fast among the rubble in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, March 1, 2025. The UN says more than 90% of homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. REUTERS - Hatem Khaled

By: RFI

Issued on: 08/03/2025 - 


The $53 billion plan, put forward by the Arab League, was formally adopted on Saturday by the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at an emergency meeting in Saudi Arabia.

The Egyptian-crafted proposal is an alternative to US President Donald Trump's plan to turn the Gaza Strip into a "Middle East Riviera", displacing its 2.4 million inhabitants.

On Saturday, the foreign mnisters of France, Germany, Italy and Britain welcomed the five-year Egyptian plan, saying it promised "swift and sustainable improvement of the catastrophic living conditions" for the people of Gaza, they said in a joint statement.

French Foreign ministry says forced displacement of Gazans would be 'unacceptable'



A "realistic" path

The plan would rebuild the Gaza Strip under the future administration of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and does not outline a role for Hamas, which controls Gaza.

Hamas and the PA welcomed the plan after it was presented by Egypt on Tuesday.

OIC, which represents the Muslim world, has urged "the international community and international and regional funding institutions to swiftly provide the necessary support for the plan".

Both the US and Israel have rejected it, claiming it fails to address the realities in Gaza.

"Residents cannot humanely live in a territory covered in debris and unexploded ordnance," Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for Trump's National Security Council, said Tuesday.

However, European foreign ministers said it showed "a realistic path to the reconstruction of Gaza".

"We are clear that Hamas must neither govern Gaza nor be a threat to Israel any more," they said in their statement.

"We commend the serious efforts of all involved stakeholders and appreciate the important signal the Arab states have sent by jointly developing this recovery and reconstruction plan."

The four countries said they were committed to working with the Arab initiative, the Palestinians and Israel to "address those issues together".

The majority of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been forced to leave their homes since Israel began bombarding Gaza following the 17 October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel which killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.

More than 48,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

(with newswires)

Adopted orphan brings couple ‘paradise’ in war-ravaged Gaza


By AFP
March 7, 2025


Iman Farhat said the idea for her and her husband to adopt a child 'was cemented by' Gaza's war - Copyright AFP BASHAR TALEB

Youssef HASSOUNA

In their home in war-devastated Gaza City, Iman Farhat and her husband cherish the “paradise” brought by their newly-adopted baby, one of many orphans in the Palestinian territory after more than 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas.

Wrapping five-month-old Jannah in a brightly coloured blanket, Farhat gently sang as she rocked her to sleep.

“I chose Jannah just as she was,” the new mother said smiling, explaining the couple simply wanted to adopt a young child without preference for gender or physical appearance.

“Her name was Massa, and I officially changed her name from Massa to Jannah,” which means “paradise” in Arabic, she added.

Farhat, 45, and her husband Rami al-Arouqi, 47, adopted the well-behaved and chubby baby in January.

“At first, we had mixed feelings of both joy and fear, because it is a huge responsibility and we had never had a child”, said Arouqi, a Palestinian Authority employee.

The couple already owned a cat.

“The idea of adopting a child had crossed our minds, but it was cemented during the war” which “wiped out entire families and left only orphans”, he added.

In September, the United Nations children’s fund, UNICEF, estimated there were 19,000 children who were unaccompanied or separated from their parents in Gaza, Jonathan Crickx, UNICEF’s spokesman for the Palestinian territories, told AFP.

Data for the number of adoptions in Gaza was not immediately available.

The war sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel left more than 69 percent of Gaza’s buildings damaged or destroyed, displaced almost the entire population and triggered widespread hunger, according to the United Nations.



– Life ‘turned upside down’ –



Hamas’s attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 48,446 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures reliable.

Farhat and her husband said that before Jannah’s adoption, she was taken care of by the SOS Children’s Villages — an international NGO which looks after children in need.

After the NGO’s premises in the southern Gaza city of Rafah were destroyed in the war, the organisation had to move to nearby Khan Yunis where “they could not house all the children in buildings, so they set up tents for them,” Farhat said.

Her husband Arouqi told AFP that another motive for adopting a child came from the idea that “Palestinians should stand by each other’s side”.

“The whole world has abandoned and let us down, so we shouldn’t let each other down,” he added.

Once the pair took Jannah home, “our life was turned upside down in a beautiful and pleasant way,” he said.

“Her name is Jannah and our world has truly become a paradise.”

A fragile truce took effect on January 19, largely halting the devastating fighting between Israel and Hamas Palestinian militants.

The ceasefire’s first phase ended last weekend.

While Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase until mid-April, Hamas has insisted on a transition to the deal’s second phase, which should lead to a permanent end to the war.