X-Posed

X Makeena is one of the few bands in France that is putting their music where there mouth is. They are not happy with the present political situation in France and have mighty strong views against the French Government and the French President that they feel the world needs to know about.
“Lots of people in France start to feel they have been conned. There has been a very large media cover around Sarkozy during the presidential campaign compared to other candidates. He has been elected mainly around a very marketing baseline "Work more to earn more". Just after his elections, the first things he did was, go on holiday on a very luxury yacht belonging to Bolloré, a very big Industrial C.E.O. who offered him these vacations and then he made a big "tax gift" to some of the few richest French citizens for around 1.5 billion euros, adding to which he increased his salary by 180%.”
Now here is the harsh reality
The price of basic food and gas has increased tremendously. Pastas and cereals have almost doubled in 4 months. Funny enough, the price of ham goes up when the price of pork goes down. People earn as much as they used to and they can't buy what they used to!
As for the Media, there is a lot of self-censorship, journalists fear loosing their jobs if they go too far. The larger media conglomerates are very close to the government or personal friends of the president.
“We don't appreciate Sarkozy and the way he leads the country, he doesn't seem to take care of his ministries opinion and is very intrusive and impulsive on their domains. All his "bing-bling lifestyle" (Carla, Jets, Raybans etc) really irritates a lot of French workers who don't see what he promised to them. But the situation is quickly changing these days and there is pressure from both the media and even his party workers.”
They hope this will make him change his behavior.
“ Many people are also worried because he doesn't always seem as psychologically stable has a president should be, he insulted a French citizen a some weeks ago during a public visit and many people felt insulted themselves.”
As for French culture, it is really complex and full of paradoxes: Culture (including TV, cinema, theater, dance) has always been helped by government funds. Concerning music, we have venues called Smac (amplified music venues), which are surviving a lot with the government provided funding and they can risk to program a young band, or underground music.
X Makeena say that in a recent budget, Sarkozy voted to reduce culture spending in all the countryside. Theaters and small stage venues help earn money and provide employment, but people in Paris don't have a clue about that, the huge theaters will still program big plays.
“Also, a lot of local politician thinking on Sarkozy’s lines have started " demolition work" in most of the towns. For example, in our hometown, (Rennes) all the bars who used to hold small concerts are closing one by one (police pressure / neighborhood angry because of the noise) They really want to clean the town centers of all dynamic places like that to keep it quiet, clean and posh. While Rennes has a punk city reputation with many bands and festivals,” said Nico.
There is a special status existing in France: called " Intermittence du spectacle. It's kind of a unemployment help, that you can get if you work a lot as a technician, artist, dancer, comedian. “It's quite hard to get 507 hours of 'official and paid’ work in a period of 10 months. We tour a lot and we only received it two times in 7 years (in the lasts 10 months),” said Stefo.
“This status is quite threatened, and we were sure that Sarko would kill it really quick. It is still existing even if the conditions to get it are getting really tough for young workers.
The reason about that is the media lobby; Sarkozy is good friends with most of the biggest TV channels (TF1 especially who is spreading his propaganda for years) and these channels are hiring most of the workers with that status to pay fewer wages,” adds Stefo.
Most people from other countries especially previous French colonies have migrated and are migrating to France, X Makeena talks about the French Government hypocrisy on this matter.
“There is a big integration problem in France. Migrants have often problems to get a job or a home and are easily harassed by the police in the streets for identity checks. People who work and live in France for years, have a good social integration, and pay their tax but can be dumped if they don't have the French nationality i.e. on the whims and fancies of the government. Many people (especially from north Africa) with a French citizenship have trouble to find their place in French society and feel banned in big building in the suburbs where there is a few social and cultural infrastructures. Some feel really betrayed when their grandparents fought for France during the war, helped to rebuild it after and have to make so many efforts to integrate. The government leads a "chosen immigration policy" that consist of mainly accepting immigrants who have an interesting job for the French economy (Doctors, Programmers etc).”
Usually trying to stay away from religious contradictions, X Makeena point out their view on matters concerning the French policy on excessive show of religion and their viewpoints on that matter.
“It's a very delicate question. Since the French revolution that divided the State and the Catholic Church, there is a very important concept witch is considered as one of the pillar of the French Republic: Laïcité (laicity or "laicism") it's the absence of religious interference in government affairs and government interference in religious affairs. French people suffered from the kings for too long and don't want do live this anymore.
People working for the government and students don't have the right to show their religious beliefs in too obvious ways-- this can be interpreted in different ways, for instance a simple Christian cross on a necklace can be tolerated but wearing a Scarf for Muslims or a Turban for Sikhs at school can lead to a ban from that school.
It's a very complicated issue and it's hard for us to take a position. We are really attached to the concept of Laïcité, which is very important for our democracy and which is endangered these day by our president and in another way,” said X Makeena, all the members agreeing in tandem.
They add that this concept may sound weird to the Indians because they are more religious than the French and can easily and freely follow their beliefs.
X Makeena are here to stay and any restraint would make them come back even harder.
“Sarkozy is slowly killing everything that was good in our country, arts, research, social politic. It's like if we were going back in time, loosing every evolution we gained thanks to big struggles and strikes.. So we see the future in a dark and gloomy way, wondering how shittier our country will be. That's maybe why we are not into love songs that much! If you get informed about what's happening in France and in the world, it's hard not to feel furious and sad about that. The positive point in this approach is that you can turn all those dark ideas into positive energy during the shows: instead of making a realistic and depressing show, we try to use this power to free people from those bad energies,” said Nico confirming their point.