Contenu du sommaire : Écrits d'avant prison. Pour la libération de Fariba Adelkhah

Which language do actors speak within European institutions ? What are the variables leading agents from various countries and cultural backgrounds to agree on a working language ? What is the importance of such a choice from the vantage point of these actors and what can be its consequences ? This paper questions the taken-for-granted dimension of the languages used within European institutions building on a study of the EU representative bodies based in Niger. The article emphasizes the local and international struggles in which these choices are embedded. The first section shows the effects of the use of French language on the internal organisation of the EU capacity-building mission (EUCAP Sahel). The second section stresses the subversion logics which occur at the headquarter. The third section shows how linguistic issues may reorder power relations at the local level.

This article explores rumors, conspiracy theories and other unverified information to study local representations of French intervention in Mali since 2013. The aim is not to verify the veracity of rumors, but to probe why they are locally credible and what they reveal about local perceptions of political order and authority. I argue that rumors are a contestation of French-led intervention. They constitute a politics of truth which draws to a significant extent on historical registers to inscribe the current situation in past events; that is, colonial encounters. The permanence and depth of intervention makes possible and legitimates a form of internationalized government that many Malians perceive as a humiliation and a violation of national sovereignty, turning them into objects of intervention that are deprived of power and agency. This critique, however, extends to Mali's extraverted political elites, who are blamed for the crisis itself, but also for inviting and enabling internationalized government, which has helped them to maintain their political power.