Cyclone Chido: Macron’s Reckoning
The French territory of Mayotte, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, barely survived the Chido cyclone. According to Reuters, the worst storm to hit it in the last 90 years and it’s currently plastered all over the headlines online. While the landscape is reduced to what looks like a big pile of scattered dirty Lego bricks, Macron found himself in hot water when he faced an angry crowd that didn’t hold back when it comes to airing grievances. Of course, there was no guillotine waiting for the man they felt badly disappointed them, but the situation was nevertheless tense and uncomfortable. Because there’s no comfort here: people lost everything, some lost their lives, their friends or family members. While it’s easy to sympathize, you could really feel why his simultaneously reassuring and insulting remark about their good fortune completely missed the mark.
The incident proved once again that out of sight really means out of mind. With the current political crisis in French government, this was likely the last thing anyone wanted to deal with on an already full plate. But that’s not how politics works. Unfortunately, due both to his position and the proportions of the tragedy, Macron couldn’t simply excuse himself out of it and let someone else deal with all of this instead. Off he went, and in a similar fashion like the Prince and Princess of Wales in Jamaica, faced a rather sour reception. His reaction wouldn’t have been so surprising were it not for the fact that the French have a long tradition of rebellions, from Robespierre to the gilets jaunes in 2018. Though his choice of words couldn’t have been worse, it certainly doesn’t mean they’re not true. When he said they’d be in much deeper shit if it weren’t for the fact they belong to France, he’s right. Primarily for the fact that it’s a bigger, powerful entity.
If it hadn’t been the case, they would have a much harder time finding a long-term solution on their own, floating in the ocean so far away from Europe. You can describe it as remains of a colonial past, but those can be regarded as perks too. A bit like having rich relatives: you might not be the one with the pool, but you are allowed to have a dip. The problem with Mayotte is the same one shared with many far-off territories, small countries, rural areas or fringe communities in general. It always takes much longer for the winds of change to reach them, which also delays improvements in the standard of living, education, infrastructure and similar crucial elements of life. This was obvious in the confrontation between the French president and an angry local who dished out his frustrations due to unfulfilled promises and negligence. I found the embittered man very relatable, he was indeed speaking for all of them.
Since I happen to live in a country where people are governed by fear from voicing any kind of opinion in this sort of way, they let their leaders get away with things that obviously don’t get a pass in Mayotte, and good for them. They reprimanded Macron for waiting 6 whole days to respond to their needs, with some having no access to water for days. What was intended to be an encouraging gesture of presidential support turned into a public spectacle exposing him as someone in way over his head and hardly able for a constructive dialogue beyond the usual, performative rhetoric which evaporates into thin air as soon as he goes back to France. They kept telling him about the situation in their slums, whereas even the troubles of Parisian suburbs occasionally seem to be outside of his orbit. With the current situation in the EU getting ever more complicated, the Ukrainian war and the crisis in the Middle East, domestic issues get out of the spotlight. That creates space for people like his nemesis, Marine le Pen.
This is most definitely not a let-them-eat-cake situation because he’s not wearing a hoop skirt and a powdered wig, yet it doesn’t mean there’s no need for some polish. You can’t go out there and throw obscenities at people who just had their whole life washed away by a cyclone. It’s true the French national piggy bank should be sufficiently equipped to handle this and locals can indeed count their blessings for having access to it. Otherwise they’d have to rely on a much smaller one. Just like the Commonwealth is an updated, loose version of the British empire, France still has ample influence in many former colonies. After all, in the video, locals speak fluent French, though with a passionate twist which is in complete contrast to Macron’s desperate attempt to keep his composure. It worked until he snapped and went off script, a rather Trumpian move. You can’t play this game without getting your hands dirty in more ways than one. The politesse of the elite was interpreted as utterly out of touch.
It leads to the conclusion that if there’s a next World War, it will resemble the first one, where subjects rebelled against the aristocracy. The changes in the European political landscape are a good indicator. Countries like Turkey, Hungary, Poland and Germany are either on the way or already back at the nationalist narratives aiming to preserve a rather conservative historical idea of identity. The past is never behind them, but within eyesight all the time. So much so that you lose the perspective over your future as such. Or at least their own version of it, wrapped in pink bows of piled-up resentment and grudges against everyone who might have wronged you both yesterday and hundreds of years ago. Old sins always cast the longest shadows. Especially when it comes to the troublesome history of French colonialism. They can’t hide from this, a bit like paying child support to your ex who moved far away and took the kids with her.
The latest case in Mayotte is another proof of the need to change the relationship between power players and those depending on their help. Sometimes there’s no more room left in your throat to swallow your pride. Now is the time of the year where we are generous to one another and if you got a betinseled tree up, there should be something giftwrapped underneath. These people need more: their whole world has been turned upside down, a rug pulled underneath their feet. Promises won’t do anymore. While it’s true you can’t get everything done overnight, basic provisions supply shouldn’t too big of a short term stretch. In order to build a brick wall, each one has to be installed individually. The process is at the essence of all of this, prioritizing the weakest links of the chains. Right now, there are quite a few. Escalation is likely just a matter of time.
European leaders are so busy with the current deep shit at home they forget gaffes like this reverberate all the way back to Paris and turn into a field day for their rivals. Not just the right wing, but also those on his side of the isle who’d beg to differ on several important issues of the day, especially immigration. They refuse to see that looking from that little corner of the Indian ocean, Brussels is nothing more than an abstract entity hardly relevant for them. But it’s one of the crucial pillars of French foreign policy. Unlike Germany, they were wise enough to resist the terror of environmentalists whose pathetic attempts at activism don’t achieve anything of significance, so they kept their nuclear plants working, making themselves more resistant to Putin. On the other hand, the Emperor of Kremlin was smart enough to know that it’s easy to blackmail Merkel into doing whatever he wanted simply by threatening to close the gas taps.
Without a doubt, environment has never been so crucial of an issue. Not just because of pollution, natural disasters like hurricane Katrina or cyclone Chido. There’s no time to postpone dealing with this. It’s a domino effect about to squash us if we don’t make important compromises. Unfortunately, going completely sustainable is politically unsustainable. If going green implies hooking your wagon to the locomotive driven by a dictator don’t be surprised when he blackmails you into looking the other way while he invades a country due to his perceived historical prerogative. Diplomacy turns into a silly charade when faced with that infuriated crowd in Mayotte or the desert Mariupol has been reduced to in the meantime. I know Macron and his friends would disagree. But now that they can no longer refuse certain offers, they got to play ball. Let me tell you a secret: you’ll be footing the bill for it, in blood and bones. Because if you’re counting on them, you might as well be dead.
