Rapper on trial for taking a liberté

If this monkey hates France so much, why won’t he move to his native Congo? The same could be said of the millions of other African savages who riot, gang-rape, steal, assault, murder, and burn cars on a daily basis in today’s multiracial France…all because of French — wait for it, wait for it! — rAYcism and discrimination… I’d feel sorry for the French, if I didn’t know just how weak and spineless and traitorous their democratic politicians are — people they keep electing and reelecting. It is said that the French government refused to call on the “French” armed forces (now in name only) to intervene during the recent riots, because of the high percentage of Muslim immigrants (mostly Arab, North African, and African) in the military…apparently, it couldn’t be certain of their allegiance. France is only a few short years away from a full-blown civil war. And Germany is next.

Rapper on trial for taking a liberté
By Charles Bremner and Marie Tourres
The Times
London

A case involving alleged obscene material is being seen as a test of free speech

A VIDEO of naked women writhing against the French flag was played to judges yesterday at the trial of a rap star accused of disseminating obscene material to minors.

Richard Makela, 30, a Zairean-born rapper who performs as Monsieur R, has been brought to trial in a private prosecution by a conservative MP from the Pyrenees who says that lyrics and images from the internet video insult France.

Daniel Mach, an MP for President Chirac’s Union for a Popular Movement, is outraged over FranSSe, a song from Monsieur R’s 2005 album Politikment Incorrekt, in which he vows to urinate on Napoleon Bonaparte and General de Gaulle and says: “France is a bitch/ Don’t forget to fuck her/ To the point of exhaustion/ Like a slut/ She should be insulted.”

The case at Melun, in the southern Paris suburbs, is the latest in a dozen legal actions over the past decade against French rappers for lyrics deemed to insult national institutions. Most have failed.

Dominique Tricaud, the lawyer representing Monsieur R, said that he was certain his client would be acquitted in the name of freedom of speech, the grounds that have been used to exonerate performers in previous cases. [Right, French magistrates prefer to fine and imprison scholars who dare to present a dissenting version of history here.]

Monsieur R could face three years in prison or a €74,000 (£51,000) fine. But convictions in previous cases have produced suspended sentences and lesser fines.

The video for “FranSSe” also enraged his critics — France was represented by two nude women rubbing themselves with the French flag; France was compared to the 3rd Reich; and French leaders were accused of neo-colonialism. The video included excerpts from a Jacques Chirac speech from the 1995 election and of his meeting with Zaïre’s former dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko.

The district where Monsieur R grew up, Seine-Saint-Denis, was at the centre of rioting that saw 3,000 arrests and 9,000 burnt cars. By November 25, 200 French MPs (not including Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin) had laid the blame on seven rap groups, including Monsieur R. They have called for these groups to be prosecuted. Monsiuer R’s opinion on the subject: “Hip hop is a crude art, so we use crude words. It is not a call to violence”

Source.