For the one who led the association Clowns sans frontières at the start of her career, the duo of militant actresses from the CGT who came to teach her a lesson on the stage of the Molières looked like two sad clowns at best. We were far from the panache of Gérard Philippe when, at the twilight of his (short) life, the most popular actor in France vilified theater managers, encouraged the strike of curtain raisers and defended the rights of actors everywhere.
But do not tell Rima Abdul-Malak that these artists gathered on April 24 at the Théâtre du Châtelet for the 34th Molières ceremony are only spoiled children: an expression that freezes his (left) blood, so much this Franco- Lebanese, arrived at the age of 10 in Lyon, has spent her life defending the famous French cultural exception. Alongside Bernard Delanoë when he was mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Macron as cultural adviser at the Elysée Palace and for a year at the head of the Ministry of Culture.
Checks, she keeps signing to support a profession damaged by the Covid, or today by the high cost of living. This year, she snatched a 7% raise for her department. During the health crisis, 1.3 billion euros was mobilized to guarantee an income for intermittent workers in the entertainment and audiovisual sectors, deprived of work. As for the cultural recovery plan, designed in 2021-2022, it amounted to 2 billion euros. No other country has defended the artistic milieu as much as France.
So when she heard the lies and personal attacks uttered on stage by the two CGT representatives, she said stop. “Usually, the minister’s role is to sit still and say nothing. But here, it’s no longer possible,” she explained by way of preamble. An intervention that looks like a publicity stunt, shouted his detractors. That evening, Rima Abdul-Malak’s legs were shaking, her voice quavering, and she feared her speech would be buried in boos. But overcoming her stage fright, she did not let herself be discouraged. She set the record straight. His repartee, his calm, his truths were applauded. Since her right of reply, enacted live, the 27th Minister of Culture no longer counts the messages of support received from her predecessors in Place Valois, from the artistic or political milieu. As if, in the face of bad faith, a wind of revolt had finally risen.