Stellio Gilles Robert Capo Chichi (December 9, 1981 in Strasbourg - ), better known by his nom de guerre Kémi Séba (French language version of Egyptian for "black star"),[1] is a Black French activist and political leader. He founded the group Tribu KA in Paris; it was classified as radical and anti-Semitic and, after repeated violations, dissolved by the Ministry of Interior in 2006. Kémi Séba was imprisoned for criminal contempt because of the founding of Génération Kémi Séba, judged a reconstitution of Tribu Ka, as well as anti-Semitic activities. Jeune Afrique referred to him as "the French Farrakhan", linking him to the leader of the Nation of Islam in the United States (US).[2] Kémi Séba converted to Islam in prison and, afterward became secretary general of the Mouvement des damnés de l'impérialisme (MDI, "Movement of Those Damned By Imperialism"). As of April 2010, he was appointed the head of the francophone branch of the United States-based New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. Later that year he resigned his position at MDI.
Contents |
Capo Chichi was born in Strasbourg to immigrant parents from Benin.[1][note 1] He joined the US-based Nation of Islam (NOI) as an eighteen-year-old, and later formulated his own ideology while visiting Egypt in his twenties.[3] As a result of this process, he took the nom de guerre Kémi Séba and became the spokesperson of the fringe Parti Kémite (Kemet Party), which was founded in 2002 and inspired by Khalid Abdul Muhammad.[4][5]
In December 2004, Capo Chichi founded the Parisian political group Tribu KA, which promotes black identity and has been accused of racism against whites.[6][7][8] The group said it followed the ideology of the American NOI leader, Louis Farrakhan.[9][10] They have also been described as proponents of a mix of antisemitic Kemetism and Guénonian Islam.[11] The group's name is an abbreviation for 'The Atenian Tribe of Kemet'.[5]
In a May 2006 demonstration, 20 or more Tribu Ka members marched along the Rue des Rosiers in the Marais, a Jewish neighborhood) shouting antisemitic slogans and threatening pedestrians.[9][10][12] Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy sent a letter to Justice Minister Pascal Clément saying Tribu Ka could be indicted for racist incitement; SOS Racisme and the Union des étudiants juifs de France also called for Tribu Ka to be banned; and Clément opened an investigation.[7] The Ministry of Interior dissolved Tribu Ka on July 26, 2006, but it reformed in Sarcelles under the name Génération Kémi Séba.[6][7][8] During the trial of Youssouf Fofana, the leader of the ethnic gang Les Barbares that murdered Ilan Halimi, Capo Chichi had sent an intimidating e-mail message to various Jewish associations.[5]
Capo Chichi was arrested in September 2006 for allegedly antisemitic posts on his website, and again in February 2007 after he called a public official "Zionist scum." After the initial court hearing in 2006, supporters chanted, "The judge is a Zionist, the client is a Zionist, the decision will be Zionist." In February 2007, a French court near Paris sentenced Capo Chichi, the self-described "militant defender of the dignity of French citizens," to five months imprisonment for criminal contempt of the law.[6][13] In April 2008, a Parisian court verdict determined Génération Kémi Séba was the reconstitution of the dissolved group Tribu Ka, and sentenced Capo Chichi to a one-year prison sentence with suspension.[14]
In June 2009, Brice Hortefeux, Minister of the Interior, ordered the dissolution of the group Jeunesse Kémi Séba, founded to replace Génération Kémi Séba.[15][16]
After his release from prison in July 2008, Capo Chichi announced that he had converted to Islam.[17] In March 2009, he became the secretary general of Mouvement des damnés de l'impérialisme (MDI, "Movement of Those Damned By Imperialism"). MDI retains close ties with the Shia paramilitary Lebanese-based group Hezbollah in their anti-Zionist campaigns.[18] In June 2009, MDI announced that Holocaust denier Serge Thion had joined the movement.[19]
In April 2010, Malik Zulu Shabazz, leader of the US-based New Black Panther Party (NBPP), appointed Capo Chichi the party's representative in France and gave him the nom de guerre Kemiour Aarim Shabazz.[20] In July 2010, Capo Chichi left his position as the president of MDI but continued as the head of the francophone branch of NBPP.[21]
Dieudonné M'bala M'bala, commonly known as Dieudonné, has become a controversial French comedian. For six years, he satirized numerous groups with his childhood Jewish friend and stage partner Elie Semoun. Since 2002, Dieudonné has often been accused of anti-Semitism and has appeared to move to the right politically, appearing with Marine Le Pen of the French National Front, for instance.[12] In 2006 Dieudonné allowed Kemi Séba to use his Theatre La Main d'Or, to hold meetings in which he "reportedly praised Hitler's ideas on race."[12] Dieudonné's office issued a statement noting his ideological distance from Séba, but he later that year allowed Séba to stage a show (titled Sarkophobia) in his theater.[12]
That is not true his parents were from Ivory Coast or Haiti. Capo Chichi is a well known family in Benin, which originates from Savalou.
|
||||||||