Le Monde diplomatique (nicknamed "Le Diplo" by its French readers) is a monthly publication offering analysis and opinion on politics, culture, and current affairs.
Its articles are typically pieces of in depth and opinionated analysis.
First created mainly for a diplomatic audience, as its name implies, it has in recent years taken a critical view on the effects of economic
capitalismCapitalism is an economic and social system in which the means of production are privately controlled; labor, goods and capital are traded in a market; profits are distributed to owners or invested in technologies and industries; and wages are paid to labor...
on the world and its population.
Since the 1970s, its editorial line has become decidedly altermondialist and left-wing.
Throughout the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
, it had a neutralist viewpoint, often critical of
US foreign policyThe United States has formal diplomatic relations with most countries on the world.-Pacific:-Latin America:-Caribbean:The term "Caribbean" is used loosely to refer to countries in or near the Caribbean sea other than those included under "Latin America"....
.
As of March 2008 the paper is headed by
Serge HalimiSerge Halimi is a journalist with the Le Monde diplomatique since 1992. In March 2008 he become the editorial director .. He is also the author of Le Grand Bond en Arrière.-Biography:...
.
The original French edition has a circulation of about 350,000; sixteen editions in other languages bring the total to about 1.4 million readers worldwide.
Jean-Marie ColombaniJean-Marie Colombani is a French journalist, and was the editor of the daily newspaper Le Monde from 1994 until 2007....
, editor of the daily
Le Monde, was attributed by
Le Monde diplomatiques former director general Bernard CassenBernard Cassen is a founder of ATTAC and director general of Le Monde diplomatique newspaper, from 1973 to January 2008.-References:**...
as saying: "Le Monde diplomatique
is a journal of opinion; Le Monde
is a journal of opinions."
1954 : Formation
Le Monde diplomatique
was founded in 1954 by Hubert Beuve-Méry, founder and director of Le MondeLe Monde is a French daily evening newspaper with a circulation of 371,803. It is considered the French newspaper of record, and is generally well respected, often the only French newspaper easily obtainable in non-Francophone countries....
, the French
newspaper of recordNewspaper of record is a term that may refer either to any publicly available newspaper that has been authorized by a government to publish public or legal notices, or any major newspaper that has a large circulation and whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered professional and...
.
Subtitled the "organ of diplomatic circles and of large international organisations, " 5,000 copies were distributed, comprising eight pages, dedicated to
foreign policyA country's foreign policy, also called the international relations policy, is a set of goals outlining how the country will interact with other countries economically, politically, socially and militarily, and to a lesser extent, how the country will interact with non-state actors...
and
geopoliticsGeopolitics is the art and practice of using political power over a given territory. Traditionally, the term has applied primarily to the impact of geography on politics, but its usage has evolved over the past century to encompass a wider connotation....
.
Its first
editor in chiefAn editor in chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. The term is generally applied to newspapers, magazines, yearbooks, and television news programs...
, François Honti, made the newspaper into a scholarly reference journal.
Honti attentively followed the birth of the
Non-Aligned MovementThe Non-Aligned Movement is an international organisation of states considering themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. The movement is largely the brainchild of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, former president of Egypt Gamal Abdul Nasser and Yugoslav...
, created out of the 1955
Bandung ConferenceThe first large-scale Asian–African or Afro–Asian Conference—also known as the Bandung Conference—was a meeting of Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent, which took place on April 18-24, 1955 in Bandung, Indonesia....
, and the issues of the "
Third WorldThe term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned or neutral with either capitalism and NATO or communism and the Soviet Union...
".
1973-1989
Claude JulienClaude Julien was a French journalist, editor of French newspaper of record Le Monde in 1969 and editor-in-chief then director of Le Monde diplomatique....
became the newspaper's second editor in January 1973.
At that time, the circulation of Le Monde diplomatique
had jumped from 5,000 to 50,000 copies, and would reach, with Micheline Paulet, 120,000 in less than twenty years .
Without renouncing its "Third-worldismThird-worldism is a tendency within left wing political thought to regard the division between developed, classically liberal nations and developing, or "third world" ones as of primary political importance...
" position, it extended the treatment of its subjects, concentrating on international economic and monetary problems, strategic relations, the Middle-East conflict, etc.
Le Monde diplomatique took an independent stance, criticizing the
neoliberalNeoliberalism is a synonym of classical economic liberalism. The term was coined in 1938 at the Colloque Walter Lippmann by the German sociologist and economist Alexander Rüstow, one of the fathers of Social market economy. The label is referring to a redefinition of classical liberalism,...
ideology and policies of the 1980s, represented by
Margaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the only woman to have held either post....
and
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
.
Post
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
After the November, 1989 Fall of the
Berlin Wall|-||-||-||-||}The Berlin Wall was a physical barrier erected by the German Democratic Republic completely encircling West Berlin, separating it from East Germany, including East Berlin. The longer inner German border demarcated the border between East and West Germany...
and the 1990-1991
Gulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , known also as the Gulf War, the First Gulf War,or often as the Second Gulf War and by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as The Mother of all Battles, or commonly as Desert Storm, for the military response...
, the newspaper made an important turn, and criticized the "American crusade" .
Le Monde diplomatique (nicknamed "Le Diplo" by its French readers) is a monthly publication offering analysis and opinion on politics, culture, and current affairs.
Its articles are typically pieces of in depth and opinionated analysis.
First created mainly for a diplomatic audience, as its name implies, it has in recent years taken a critical view on the effects of economic
capitalismCapitalism is an economic and social system in which the means of production are privately controlled; labor, goods and capital are traded in a market; profits are distributed to owners or invested in technologies and industries; and wages are paid to labor...
on the world and its population.
Since the 1970s, its editorial line has become decidedly altermondialist and left-wing.
Throughout the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
, it had a neutralist viewpoint, often critical of
US foreign policyThe United States has formal diplomatic relations with most countries on the world.-Pacific:-Latin America:-Caribbean:The term "Caribbean" is used loosely to refer to countries in or near the Caribbean sea other than those included under "Latin America"....
.
As of March 2008 the paper is headed by
Serge HalimiSerge Halimi is a journalist with the Le Monde diplomatique since 1992. In March 2008 he become the editorial director .. He is also the author of Le Grand Bond en Arrière.-Biography:...
.
The original French edition has a circulation of about 350,000; sixteen editions in other languages bring the total to about 1.4 million readers worldwide.
Jean-Marie ColombaniJean-Marie Colombani is a French journalist, and was the editor of the daily newspaper Le Monde from 1994 until 2007....
, editor of the daily
Le Monde, was attributed by
Le Monde diplomatiques former director general Bernard CassenBernard Cassen is a founder of ATTAC and director general of Le Monde diplomatique newspaper, from 1973 to January 2008.-References:**...
as saying: "Le Monde diplomatique
is a journal of opinion; Le Monde
is a journal of opinions."
History
1954 : Formation
Le Monde diplomatique
was founded in 1954 by Hubert Beuve-Méry, founder and director of Le MondeLe Monde is a French daily evening newspaper with a circulation of 371,803. It is considered the French newspaper of record, and is generally well respected, often the only French newspaper easily obtainable in non-Francophone countries....
, the French
newspaper of recordNewspaper of record is a term that may refer either to any publicly available newspaper that has been authorized by a government to publish public or legal notices, or any major newspaper that has a large circulation and whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered professional and...
.
Subtitled the "organ of diplomatic circles and of large international organisations, " 5,000 copies were distributed, comprising eight pages, dedicated to
foreign policyA country's foreign policy, also called the international relations policy, is a set of goals outlining how the country will interact with other countries economically, politically, socially and militarily, and to a lesser extent, how the country will interact with non-state actors...
and
geopoliticsGeopolitics is the art and practice of using political power over a given territory. Traditionally, the term has applied primarily to the impact of geography on politics, but its usage has evolved over the past century to encompass a wider connotation....
.
Its first
editor in chiefAn editor in chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. The term is generally applied to newspapers, magazines, yearbooks, and television news programs...
, François Honti, made the newspaper into a scholarly reference journal.
Honti attentively followed the birth of the
Non-Aligned MovementThe Non-Aligned Movement is an international organisation of states considering themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. The movement is largely the brainchild of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, former president of Egypt Gamal Abdul Nasser and Yugoslav...
, created out of the 1955
Bandung ConferenceThe first large-scale Asian–African or Afro–Asian Conference—also known as the Bandung Conference—was a meeting of Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent, which took place on April 18-24, 1955 in Bandung, Indonesia....
, and the issues of the "
Third WorldThe term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned or neutral with either capitalism and NATO or communism and the Soviet Union...
".
1973-1989
Claude JulienClaude Julien was a French journalist, editor of French newspaper of record Le Monde in 1969 and editor-in-chief then director of Le Monde diplomatique....
became the newspaper's second editor in January 1973.
At that time, the circulation of Le Monde diplomatique
had jumped from 5,000 to 50,000 copies, and would reach, with Micheline Paulet, 120,000 in less than twenty years .
Without renouncing its "Third-worldismThird-worldism is a tendency within left wing political thought to regard the division between developed, classically liberal nations and developing, or "third world" ones as of primary political importance...
" position, it extended the treatment of its subjects, concentrating on international economic and monetary problems, strategic relations, the Middle-East conflict, etc.
Le Monde diplomatique took an independent stance, criticizing the
neoliberalNeoliberalism is a synonym of classical economic liberalism. The term was coined in 1938 at the Colloque Walter Lippmann by the German sociologist and economist Alexander Rüstow, one of the fathers of Social market economy. The label is referring to a redefinition of classical liberalism,...
ideology and policies of the 1980s, represented by
Margaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the only woman to have held either post....
and
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
.
Post
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
After the November, 1989 Fall of the
Berlin Wall|-||-||-||-||}The Berlin Wall was a physical barrier erected by the German Democratic Republic completely encircling West Berlin, separating it from East Germany, including East Berlin. The longer inner German border demarcated the border between East and West Germany...
and the 1990-1991
Gulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , known also as the Gulf War, the First Gulf War,or often as the Second Gulf War and by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as The Mother of all Battles, or commonly as Desert Storm, for the military response...
, the newspaper made an important turn, and criticized the "American crusade" .
Ignacio RamonetIgnacio Ramonet is a Spanish journalist and writer.He was the editor-in-chief of Le Monde diplomatique from 1991 until March 2008....
was elected director in January 1991.
Le Monde diplomatique analyzed the post-
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
world, paying specific attention to "ethnic" conflicts – the
wars in former YugoslaviaThe Yugoslav Wars were a series of violent conflicts fought in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the 1990s and 2001...
, the 1994
Rwandan GenocideThe Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Rwanda's Tutsis and Hutu political moderates by Hutus under the Hutu Power ideology. Over the course of approximately 100 days, from the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana on 6 April through mid-July, at least 500,000...
, the conflicts in the
CaucasusThe Caucasus or Caucas is a geopolitical region between at the border of Europe and Asia. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, including Europe's highest mountain ....
, etc. – as well as to the new
information technologyInformation technology , as defined by the Information Technology Association of America , is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." IT deals with the use of electronic...
.
After having published a famous editorial in January 1995 where Ramonet coined the term "pensée unique" ("single thought") to describe the supremacy of the neoliberal
ideologyAn ideology is a set of aims and ideas that directs one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a...
, the newspaper supported the November-December
1995 general strikeThe 1995 strikes in France were a series of general strikes in France, mostly in the public sector in late 1995. The strikes received great popular support despite paralyzing the country's transportation infrastructure...
in France against Prime minister
Alain JuppéAlain Marie Juppé is a French right-wing politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997, under President Jacques Chirac. In December 2004 Juppé was convicted of mishandling public funds; his political career was subsequently suspended until he was re-elected as Mayor of...
's (
RPRThe Rally for the Republic , was a French right-wing political party. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic , it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 and presented itself as the heir of Gaullism...
) plan to cut pensions.
Three years later, after a proposal in a 1997 editorial by Ignacio Ramonet, Le Monde diplomatique took a founding role in the creation of ATTAC, an
alter-globalizationAlter-globalization is the name of a social movement that supports global cooperation and interaction, but which opposes the negative effects of economic globalization, feeling that it often works to the detriment of, or does not adequately promote, human...
NGONon-governmental organization is a term that has become widely accepted as referring to a legally constituted, non-governmental organization created by natural or legal persons with no participation or representation of any government...
, which was originally founded for advocacy of the
Tobin taxA Tobin tax is the suggested tax on all trade of currency across borders. Named after the economist James Tobin, the tax is intended to put a penalty on short-term speculation in currencies...
, and which has since spread throughout the world.
Today
It now supports a variety of left-wing causes :
Newspaper also takes an important role in the organisation of the 2001
Porto AlegrePorto Alegre is the eleventh most populous municipality in Brazil and the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian state. Porto Alegre is one of the most important cultural, political and economic centers of...
World Social ForumThe World Social Forum is an annual meeting, based in Brazil, that defines itself as "an opened space – plural, diverse, non-governmental and non-partisan – that stimulates the decentralized debate, reflection, proposals building, experiences exchange and alliances among movements and...
.
After the
September 11, 2001 attacksThe September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by Al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. On that morning, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners...
and the
Second Gulf WarThe Iraq War, also known as the Occupation of Iraq or Operation Iraqi Freedom, is an ongoing military campaign which began on March 20, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a multinational force led by troops from the United States and the United Kingdom.Prior to the war, the governments of the United...
starting in 2003 under the
George W. Bush administrationThe Presidency of George W. Bush began on his inauguration on January 20, 2001 as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
, Le Monde diplomatique
continues its position of criticizing the US policy of violent intervention in the Middle East and the neoconservative' project to reshape the so-called "Greater Middle EastThe Greater Middle East is a political term coined by the Bush administration to englobe together various countries, pertaining to the Muslim world, specifically Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Various Central Asian countries and the lower Caucasus and Cyprus and Greece are sometimes also...
" region.
9/11 conspiracy theories
The NorwegianNorwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants ...
version of the July 2006 Le Monde diplomatique sparked interest when the editors ran, on their own initiative, a three page main story on the 9/11 attacks and summarized the various types of
9/11 conspiracy theories9/11 conspiracy theories allege that the September 11 attacks in 2001 were either intentionally allowed to happen or were a false flag operation orchestrated by elements within the United States government...
(which were not specifically endorsed by the newspaper, only reviewed) .
The
Voltaire NetworkThe Réseau Voltaire is an international non-profit organisation, based in Paris. It states that it aims at promoting freedom and secularism , that is separation of church and state, faith and politics. Chaired by Thierry Meyssan, new changes in the group's political orientation led to a split in...
, which has somehow changed position since the September 11 attacks and whose director,
Thierry MeyssanThierry Meyssan is a French journalist and political activist.He is the author of investigations into the extreme right wing , as well as into the Catholic Church...
, became a leading proponent of 9/11 conspiracy theory, explained that although the Norwegian version of Le Monde diplomatique
had allowed it to translate and publish this article on its website, the mother-house, in France, categorically refused it this right, thus displaying an open debate between various national editions .
In December 2006, the French version published an article by Alexander CockburnAlexander Claud Cockburn , born 6 June 1941, is an Irish-American political journalist. Cockburn was brought up in Ireland but has lived and worked in the United States since 1972. Together with Jeffrey St. Clair, he edits the political newsletter CounterPunch...
, co-editor of CounterPunchCounterpunch can refer to:* Counterpunch , a punch in boxing* CounterPunch, a bi-weekly political newsletter* Counterpunch , a type of punch used in traditional typography* Punch-Counterpunch, a Transformers character...
, which strongly criticized the endorsement of conspiracy theories by the US left-wing, alleging that it was a sign of "theoretical emptiness."
The Norwegian Le Monde diplomatique
, did again however mark its difference from the mother edition by allowing David Ray Griffin's response to Cockburn to be published in their March 2007 issue .
Le Monde diplomatique
SA
The monthly became a subsidiary company of Le Monde
SAS.A. generally designates corporations in various countries, mostly those employing the civil law. Though literally translated as anonymous society, anonymous company, anonymous partnership, or share company, it is known more commonly in English as a public limited company and can be differentiated...
in 1996, which grants its complete editorial autonomy from Le Monde
. André FontaineAndré Fontaine is a French historian and journalist . He started working at Temps Présent, and then at Le Monde in 1947, at the official beginning of the Cold War. He became the newspaper's editor from 1969 to 1985, and director from 1985 to 1991. As of February 2007 he was still contributing...
, the director of Le Monde
, had already signed a 1989 convention with Claude Julien which guaranteed the monthly's autonomy, but it gained complete statutory, economic and financial independence in 1996 with the creation of Le Monde diplomatique SA
. With a donation from Günter Holzmann, a German antifascist exiled before World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
to Bolivia, the monthly's employees acquired approximately one-quarter of the capitalIn economics, capital or capital goods or real capital are factors of production used to create goods or services that are not themselves significantly consumed in the production process. Capital goods may be acquired with money or financial capital...
, while Les Amis du Monde diplomatique
, a 1901 Law association of readers, bought another quarter. Thus, since the end of 2000, the newspaper's employees and readers retain 49% of Le Monde diplomatique SAs capital, largely above the control stock necessary to control the direction and editorial line of the
Monde diplo. The remaining 51% is owned by
Le Monde .
Distribution and advertising
As of 2007, the original French edition had a circulation of about 350,000. Worldwide there were seventy-one editions in twenty-six other languages (including thirty-eight in print for a total of about 2.2 million copies and thirty-three electronic editions).
Although
Le Monde diplomatique publishes few
advertisementsAdvertising is a form of communication used to influence individuals to purchase products or services or support political candidates or ideas. Frequently it communicates a message that includes the name of the product or service and how that product or service could potentially benefit the consumer...
in order to retain its editorial independence, it has sometimes been criticized for the quantity and nature of the published advertisements . In November and December 2003, two-page advertisements by
IBMInternational Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM, is a multinational computer technology and IT consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, Town of North Castle, New York, United States. The company is one of the few information technology companies with a continuous history dating...
and a car manufacturer were placed. The issues of February and March 2004 contained
advertisementsAdvertising is a form of communication used to influence individuals to purchase products or services or support political candidates or ideas. Frequently it communicates a message that includes the name of the product or service and how that product or service could potentially benefit the consumer...
by
MicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices...
in a "social" atmosphere with a picture of children, which led to agitation.
Rerouting of Air France 438
An
Air FranceAir France is a French airline headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, France , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
passenger jet flying directly from
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to
Mexico CityMexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country, and the most populous city, with about 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008...
on 18 April, 2009 was not allowed to fly over
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
territory and was rerouted to the
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
island of
MartiniqueMartinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . It is an overseas department of France. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados. As with the other overseas departments, Martinique is also one of the twenty-six regions of...
. The flight crew was informed that U.S. authorities did not allow Hernando Calvo Ospina, a
ColombiaColombia , officially the Republic of Colombia , is a constitutional republic in northwestern South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the northwest by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean...
n journalist traveling on an assignment for
Le Monde diplomatique, to fly over U.S. airspace. The
No Fly ListThe No Fly List, sometimes called the terrorist watch list, is a secret list created and maintained by the United States government of people who are not permitted to board a commercial aircraft for travel in or out of the United States. The list has also been used to divert away from U.S. airspace...
maintained by the U.S. government does not allow people on it to even cross American airspace. In Mexico City, Calvo Ospina was briefly detained and questioned. He then proceeded to
NicaraguaNicaragua officially the Republic of Nicaragua , is a representative democratic republic. It is the largest country in Central America with an area of 130,373 km
2. The country is bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west of...
for his assignment. A possible reason for the rerouting is Calvo Ospina's journalism, sharply critical of U.S. foreign policy. According to the flight crew, the rerouting was without precedent for Air France.
External links