Review
Culture-Jeune Afrique Magazine
A Magazine Publisher Remembers-On my own responsibility,the memoirs of the founder of Jeune Afrique
Reading the memoirs of the late Alhaji Ismail Babatunde Jose,the former managing director of the Daily Times of Nigeria is like studying the place of the press under colonial rule and the tasks of nation building.In the case of the Francophone world,and if Bechir Ben Yahmed,the founder of Jeune Afrique Magazine was a braggart.Ten years before his retirement,he could browse the back issues of JA magazine and sniff I am the only person,who carved a special place for a French language magazine in our global world.
The benefits of starting right and very early
In short,Bechir Ben Yahmed,died on May 3, 2021 at the age of 93 and the recent publication of On my own responsibility,the memoirs of the founder of Jeune Afrique is a repository of what is worth knowing in the annals of African affairs since 1943.The author was born into a family of traders on the Tunisian island of Djerba in 1928. The colonial society,his education and his career as a trainee banker were well described in the early pages of J'assume... I am the only person and henceforth we shall be two volunteers was the reply of Mohamed Masmoud,the Paris representative of the party of Habib Bourguiba,when he contacted him to be one of their members.
A top aide to president Bourguiba
As a political activist,he proved his mettle by writing reports,notes and speeches for the leader of the Neo-Destour movement to the point that he became one of his top aides and heard in August 1954 this declaration of Pierre Mendes France,the prime minister I will advice you to make your country a tourist destination because you have a coastline,abundant sun and a rich cultural heritage,during a political negotiation.At the age of 28,he became the minister of information in post independence Tunisia and resigned in 1960 to launch a weekly magazine.The situation of the magazine in Rome was very precarious and the opening of the Paris office in 1964 made the magazine to enter the years of prosperity:prosperity in the form of an increase in advertisements,paid supplements and subscriptions.It was also the period of the recruitment of bright journalists like Aldo Da Silva,Siradiou Diallo,Amin Maallouf,Taofik Ben Yahmed,Sophie Bessis,Sennen Andriamirado and Francois Soudan.
Tiny anecdotes For Historians
Again on my own responsibility:the memoirs of the founder of Jeune Afrique is spiced with the circumstances of bad investment decisions and the consequences of the devaluation of the CFA franc in January 1994.African affairs specialists will agree with the author that most African presidents lacked the capacity to make economic development happen.Historians will consider his position on Sekou Touré in 1958 as unfair(in the light of the independence of India in 1947,Morocco in 1956 and the Gold Coast with the assistance of Governor Arden Clarke in 1957)and wonder aloud why the advisers of president Mugabe, failed to advice him on the need for a massive agricultural training programme before initiating his land reform policies.
His relations with many African leaders will be questioned and the strength of this material is in tiny human anecdotes:For example,one is related to his wife,a supporter of life-long learning,who will simply take a private teacher to resolve graphic design,accounting and computer problems.And the other one is related to why he took French nationality, because Affif Ben Yedder, a former staffer, of Jeune Afrique who relocated to London dazzled his British passport in front of him and he explained the numerous professional advantages.
Culture| | Diplomacy | Death-of-the-queen| |Metropolitan France
