The pleasure of giving, the joy of receiving? That's exactly what it was all about. On July 28, continuing his official trip to the Pacific, Emmanuel Macron stopped off in Papua New Guinea. He announced a €60 million partnership to help the country's efforts to preserve its primeval forest. Papua New Guineans know how to be grateful, so he was showered with gifts in return.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape first presented the French President with a wooden totemic figure illustrating the famous Papuan statuary art and reflecting his people's attachment to their endangered forest. Then, he gave Macron a particularly flashy nickname, "Champion of the Forest Nations," thereby handing him the symbolic mission of defending the environmental cause around the world... Who was it who said that gifts were poisonous?
Macron obviously adapted his outfit for the forest walk in Varirata National Park, near the capital, Port Moresby. On the steep paths, he untied his tie and dropped his jacket, ending up in his shirt-sleeves. To walk with ease, he had dispensed with his customary strict black formal shoes, donning instead a pair of imposing black boots with steel toe-caps to ensure that he could take any knocks without pain... A totem can fall so quickly.
Pay attention to the presence of a pair of iconic shoes in the audience. These yellow sneakers were the Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66. Created in 1968 in Japan, they became a household name in 1973, when Bruce Lee wore them in the film Enter the Dragon, and enjoyed a resurgence in popularity 30 years later, in 2003, when Uma Thurman wore them in Kill Bill. 20 years on, has the trend reached its ultimate destination, or is it time for a comeback? You be the judge.
Lastly, let's note the several children and teenagers in traditional dress in the audience. In particular, they were wearing a raffia loincloth, which has a special meaning in primitive Papua societies. When a child reaches the age of four, she inherits her first loincloth. Woven by the men of the village, it symbolizes the end of the first age and even indicates, in practical terms, that the young girl can now make herself useful to the tribe... From a loincloth to hard labor? Let's not get carried away.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.