ALGIERS: Algeria cancelled the accreditation of France 24, the communications ministry said Sunday, a day after parliamentary elections in the former French colony.
The move was due to the satellite news channel's "clear and repeated hostility towards our country and its institutions", the ministry and government spokesman Ammar Belhimer said, in quotes carried by the APS news agency.
The outlet said authorities had given the channel a final warning on March 13, over its "coverage of Friday marches" of the long-running Hirak anti-government protest movement.
France 24 did not immediately respond to Sunday's announcement, but in March its director Marc Saikali had defended the outlet as "just doing our work as journalists, respecting the rules in place".
The French government, which has tense ties with Algiers, did not immediately comment on the withdrawal of France 24's accreditation.
Both foreign and local journalists in Algeria often face bureaucratic and unclear procedures to obtain permission to work.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Algeria 146 out of 180 countries and territories in its 2020 World Press Freedom Index, a 27-place drop from 2015.
The withdrawal of France 24's accreditation came a day after the North African country held legislative elections, with almost 70 percent of voters abstaining according to official figures.
It also comes amid mounting official pressure against the Hirak and a string of arrests of journalists and opposition figures.
Although former Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika stepped down in 2019 in the face of anti-regime protests, demonstrations have continued, demanding an overhaul of the ruling system in place since independence from France in 1962.
The authorities say the movement's main demands have been met, and accuse the remaining protestors of working against Algeria's interests.
Algeria cancels France 24 accreditation: State media
https://arab.news/nmuxq
Algeria cancels France 24 accreditation: State media
- Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Algeria 146 out of 180 countries and territories in its 2020 World Press Freedom Index
- The French government did not immediately comment on the withdrawal of France 24's accreditation
To infinity and beyond: Grendizer’s 50 years of inspiring Arabs
- 50 years after its creation, the Grendizer anime series continues to capture Arab imagination
- Arab News Japan speaks to creator Go Nagai, Middle Eastern fans and retells the story behind the UFO Robot tasked with protecting our planet
LONDON: Few cultural imports have crossed borders as unexpectedly, or as powerfully, as Grendizer, the Japanese giant robot that half a century ago became a childhood hero across the Arab world, nowhere more so than in Saudi Arabia.
Created in Japan in the mid-1970s by manga artist Go Nagai, Grendizer was part of the “mecha” tradition of giant robots. The genre was shaped by Japan’s experience during the Second World War, and explored themes of invasion, resistance and loss through the medium of science fiction.
But while the series enjoyed moderate success in Japan, its true legacy was established thousands of kilometers away in the Middle East.
The anime “UFO Robot Grendizer” arrived on television in the region in 1979, dubbed into Arabic and initially broadcast in Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war. The story it told of the heroic Duke Fleed, a displaced prince whose planet had been destroyed by alien invaders, struck a chord with children growing up amid regional conflict and occupation by Israel.
Its themes of defending one’s homeland, standing up to aggression and protecting the innocent were painfully relevant in the region, transforming the series from mere entertainment into a kind of emotional refuge.
Much of the show’s impact came from its successful Arabization. The powerful Arabic dubbing and emotionally charged voice-acting, especially by Lebanese actor Jihad El-Atrash as Duke Fleed, lent the show a moral gravity unmatched by other cartoons of the era.
The theme song for the series, performed by Sami Clark, became an anthem that the Lebanese singer continued to perform at concerts and festivals right up until his death in 2022.
By the early 1980s, “Grendizer” had spread across the Middle East, inspiring fandoms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and beyond. For many, it was not only their first exposure to anime, it also delivered lessons on values such as justice and honor.
Grendizer was so influential in the region that it became the subject of scholarly research, which in addition to recognizing the ways in which the plight of the show’s characters resonated with the audience in the Middle East, also linked the show’s popularity to generational memories of displacement, particularly the Palestinian Nakba.
Half a century later, “Grendizer” remains culturally alive and relevant in the region. In Saudi Arabia, which embraced the original version of the show wholeheartedly, Manga Productions is now introducing a new generation of fans to a modernized version of the character, through a video game, The Feast of The Wolves, which is available in Arabic and eight other languages on platforms including PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, and a new Arabic-language anime series, “Grendizer U,” which was broadcast last year.
Fifty years after the debut of the show, “Grendizer” is back — although to a generation of fans of the original series, their shelves still full of merchandise and memorabilia, it never really went away.
