The Debate

By FRANCE 24 English

The Debate episodes

June 16, 2020 Take them down? Row over statues goes global
How did we go from the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police to the toppling of statues around the world? The Black Lives Matter movement has sparked a global conversation on systemic racism, the slave trade and the colonial past. But where do you draw the line? How to honour the past? Which figures of history deserve to remain in our public squares today?
39 min
June 15, 2020 Grand reopening? FRANCE 24 and Deutsche Welle at the French-German border
A new phase begins: As many EU nations lift their coronavirus travel restrictions, host François Picard of The FRANCE 24 Debate is in Schœneck while Deutsche Welle's Melinda Crane is in Saarbrücken at the border between France and Germany.
37 min
June 11, 2020 Lives or livelihoods? The challenges of easing lockdown
Would a second lockdown prove politically impossible? As citizens in Europe eye the spectre of cancelled summer travel, some are even second-guessing whether confinement was worth it. In the UK, where a new study shows that 20,000 lives could have been saved had lockdown begun a week earlier and where the Covid-19 infection rate remains high, the pressure is nonetheless building to re-open fast. How to measure success or failure when it comes to lockdown? How many lives did lockdown save? How many livelihoods did it destroy?
45 min
June 10, 2020 Called to order? Pressure for police reform goes global
How did we go from more cops on the beat to defund the police? France has felt the outrage over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis with calls for an end to police brutality and racial profiling. Now, the government has announced measures that include a ban on chokeholds and the immediate suspension from active duty of officers suspected of wrongdoing. How to build a better relationship between law enforcement and citizens?
21 min
June 08, 2020 Filtered or unfiltered? Trump, social media & US elections
Outrage against the system got Donald Trump elected. Now will outrage against the system get him voted out in 2020? The sharing over social media of one video, that of a 46-year-old African American’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police, has sparked worldwide uproar over racism and police brutality. But it's Twitter's decision to filter Trump's reaction that led to the US president's decision to sign a decree to rein in social media.
44 min
June 04, 2020 No turning back? China, Hong Kong and the post-Covid 19 world
A turning point for Hong Kong and for the planet? Days after China announced a new security law that could effectively submit Hong Kongers to the same censorship as the mainland, local authorities for the first time banned annual June 4 pro-democracy commemorations in that former UK possession. Will the tightening of the screws undermine Hong Kong's place as the world's third-biggest financial centre, or will it be business as usual?
44 min
June 03, 2020 George Floyd effect? Protests in France against police violence
Why is #BlackLivesMatter topping Twitter trends in France? As the whole world watches protests in the United States over the death of George Floyd, François Picard's panel expresses surprise at seeing 20,000 people brave a ban on protesting in Paris to rally over the 2016 death of 24-year-old Adama Traoré in police custody. France abolished slavery for good in 1848, but resentment lingers over its past and tensions between minorities and police spiked during lockdown. How far do the comparisons go?
44 min
June 02, 2020 Send in the army? Trump's answer to protests
One week after the Minneapolis killing of yet another unarmed black man at the hands of police sparked nationwide protests, the US president is doubling down with the threat to send in the army and the singling out of radical left antifa activists. When is political violence legitimate? Would a long, hot summer reminiscent of the 1968 race riots in America offer Donald Trump a ticket to re-election?
44 min
June 01, 2020 Boiling point in America? Rage over racism, police brutality
As the United States faces its biggest protests since the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., François Picard's panel discusses the role of local police departments amid what demonstrators denounce as unaccountable brute force and outsized powers with minorities unfairly targeted. Black Lives Matter has now spawned a new hashtag, #DefundThe Police. Why has so little changed since the riots of 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri? Can communities come together to reform the way the US practices law and order?
44 min
May 28, 2020 Who is Félicien Kabuga? Rwandan genocide kingpin arrested in France
How could he be hiding in plain sight in a quiet Paris suburb? After 26 years on the run, the past has finally caught up with Félicien Kabuga, the alleged supplier of machetes for the Rwandan genocide and the founder of its Radio Mille Collines propaganda arm. François Picard's panel asks where international justice will best be served and whether Kabuga's capture could net more ringleaders in a grim chapter of history that to this day still poisons relations between France and Rwanda.
43 min

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A live debate on the topic of the day, with four guests. From Monday to Thursday at 7:10pm Paris time.

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