Symbols in spades. Entering the lair of Rima Abdul Malak is a bit like experiencing a Heritage Day a few months in advance, as she is unbeatable on the slightest gilding on the ceiling. But it also means having an overview, in a concentrated format, of one’s political, cultural and genetic heritage. Of her specificities that she seems to want to (de)show us at all costs, in a flood of words difficult to curb: of the office used in her time by François Mitterrand – “when I write there, it does something to me…” – to a lithograph offered with the Franco-Lebanese artist Zeina Abirached, via The Bible Hellfest and comics Mortal Adele. The Minister of Culture had little time to imagine herself here and put on her new clothes. One night, precisely, during which she struggled to sleep.
It was on the very day of the solemn announcement on the porch that she learned of her appointment: fifteen minutes passed midnight on Friday, May 20, her telephone rang, and the name of Elisabeth Borne appeared on the screen. Were the hesitations of the executive couple about the future holder of the post numerous? Probably. Has Culture been the last adjustment variable of the always laborious composition of the government? We dare not imagine it. The Elysian adviser, who sees insomnia dawning on her nose, asks for a few hours of reflection to clear her mind. “For me, it’s good, it’s not worth seeing each other at dawn, we don’t have time anymore”, replies the future tenant of Matignon. A few days earlier, she submitted a list of names to Emmanuel Macron: mayors involved in cultural policy, directors of institutions, more atypical profiles… To extract a few from him, on the other hand, you will have to get up very early. Abdul Malak swears that she never wanted to become a minister; yet it “didn’t cross her mind for a second to say no”. And this, for the best of reasons and with the best of remedies against the syndrome of the impostor: “I have confidence in the intuitions of the president.” The interest of having unlimited faith in the Head of State.
“At the Elysée, I was a little out of place”
Others had a harder time understanding the president’s epiphany. In the entourage of Emmanuel Macron, some, like the boss of the MoDem François Bayrou, welcomed with kind coldness the appointment of a counselor rue de Valois. A tech? A Parisian woman ? A complete stranger to the French? We expected more panache. From sight. “People didn’t know me and thought I was a techno, but that’s not true, she says. I have never been a senior civil servant, I have never been good at making files, writing notes.” Recruited at the Château at the end of 2019, she contrasts with the style of the previous cultural advisor, Claudia Ferrazzi. “Rima showed quite quickly that she had a nose, that she knew how to prioritize subjects, understand the meaning of arbitrations”, recalls a former adviser to the Palace. Her involvement and her influence grew over the months, to the point that she was sometimes nicknamed “the second Minister of Culture”, to the chagrin of Roselyne Bachelot. It’s an open secret in Macronie: the political animal with a strong character was horrified by the place occupied by the former director of Clowns without borders.
Going from backstage to the stage in the space of a few hours is not easy. Like a certain Clément Beaune, special adviser to the president on European issues who became Secretary of State for Europe two years earlier, Rima Abdul Malak has the advantage of already knowing a large part of its ecosystem by heart. Extremely rare are those who dare to cast doubt on his 360-degree view of the cultural world. “I was impressed, as rarely I had been before, by a minister who mastered his files to such an extent, breathes L’Express Edouard Philippe, who welcomed the Minister of Culture to his home in Le Havre last September. She knows her ecosystem, national or local, inside out, she has been able to keep a freedom of tone and analysis on her subjects, what she thinks she should implement, she implements it… No, I assure you, it is estimable.”
Gaspard Gantzer
Only, and this is the whole paradox of manager Emmanuel Macron, he wanted ministers who were experts in their field… only to lament a few months later about their lack of political and media profile. Like what, intuitions, sometimes… For a time, Rima Abdul Malak, a discreet novice, is part of this magma. But the Minister of Culture has managed to demonstrate that she has a sense of “kairos” – a certain skill in seizing the poles that the news offers her. “Taking ministerial office is never easy, slips Clément Beaune. There are two strategies: either we dive into the bath right away; or we wait a bit to take our marks. She showed caution and skill, she quickly set a number of markers, such as the defense of public broadcasting and freedom of creation. We saw later that she was political!
In February, she half-worded the media empire of Vincent Bolloré to withdraw the TNT frequencies of CNews and C8, after about twenty interventions by Arcom, in particular about Do not touch My TV. “I just stated the law… But I won’t stop,” she says. Vivendi has found an enemy. Rima Abdul Malak, a sounding board. “To attack Bolloré as she did, it was extremely courageous, praises his friend Gaspard Gantzer, former chief communicator of François Hollande at the Elysée. It is not just any media boss , she knows that Macronie is a big fan of Cyril Hanouna, she has shown that she has guts.” On April 24, a new judo take: she did it again during the Molières evening by taking the microphone to respond to two artists from the CGT. Of course, nothing is improvised, it would have been suicidal not to prepare anything, but the episode, unprecedented for a Minister of Culture, gave birth to a voice in the rue de Valois.
“She now has a political force, now she must chain, let go of the horses, invent crazy things”, asserts Gaspard Gantzer. But nothing is less simple a few months from a possible reshuffle and within the framework of a government roadmap which leaves little room for culture. Is Rima Abdul Malak doomed to only perform blows? “It has, unfortunately, a glass ceiling to its action, it is the absence of cultural policy at the level of the presidency, regrets a fellow traveler of Emmanuel Macron. It is a ministry weakened in its competences, the fact is that there is nothing to embody. The legacy of the Head of State will be the Culture pass for the first five-year term, Notre-Dame, an event endured, and Villers-Cotterêts, and these are files which he carries himself.”
Against Wauquiézian neo-populism and the cancel culture
So, the one who has “a real social-democratic political corpus”, according to his colleague at Labor Olivier Dussopt, does not hide – even ostensibly puts forward – his desire to do battle in the public debate. “I want culture to become a real political and ideological battle, it’s a real fight, and we’re going to have to be even more armed in the times to come.” She castigates just as much “extreme right populism, Wauquiézian neo-populism and certain excesses of the cancel culture extreme left”, and warns the artistic world: “They must realize that nothing is certain, that it is this triple wave which can sweep them away in a second. I want to tell them: don’t make the mistake of enemies.” There is no alternative, but rue de Valois, we do not appreciate anglicisms.
Would Rima Abdul Malak feel intoxicated by the political game? She who frolics, intermittently, in this theater for almost fifteen years does she see herself presenting herself one day in front of the voters? She is hesitating. She eludes. “My party is culture.” First rule in improvisation: never refuse a proposal, minister. So… she does not rule it out: “Given what is looming, if we have to fight because the political context requires it, I will fight.” Never insult the future. And, above all, have a sense of priorities. A year after his promotion, Rima Abdul Malak does not intend to be struck by what she calls “the curse of Valois”: “It has now been a decade that ministers of culture have been in office for just over two years. I would like to stay here longer, as long as possible.” This is what looks very much like a call from the foot to see itself renewed for at least one season. What influence Emmanuel Macron’s intuitions?