An interview with Zahra Ali, president of Al Houda, a Muslim women’s organisation. During the Social Forum of the Banlieues (FSQP), in October 2008 at Nanterre, Paris, Naima Bouteldja interviewed Zahra Ali, 22, the president of Al Houda, a Rennes-based Muslim women’s organisation. Zahra, a student, is preparing a dissertation on the emergence of a
Geography: France
Organising in the banlieues
An interview with Pierre Didier, president of the Social Forum of the Banlieues. Pierre Didier, who is active in the Lyon banlieue of Vaulx-en-Velin, is president of the Social Forum of the Banlieues. He is also a member of the Movement of Immigration and the Banlieues (MIB), and DiverCités, a campaigning coalition in Lyon of
A tribute to Abdelhakim Ajimi
A death in police custody in south-east France is causing community concern. Behind a banner proclaiming ‘police blunder, assassins’, hundreds of people, a thousand perhaps (according to the organisers), took part in a largely silent demonstration (except when marching past the police station) on Sunday 11 May in the centre of the south-eastern city of
Racism and Islamophobia in France: the far Right and the grassroots
In debates surrounding the complex social, political and economic situation that France is facing, the far Right has continued to exercise its political voice. Yet young people from the banlieues (suburbs), many of whom are affected by racism and discrimination as part of their everyday lives, suffer from a dearth of political representation and are
Understanding the riots in France
Excerpts from ‘France: the riots and the Republic’ an article which will be published in Race & Class, April, 2006. It is France’s Hurricane Katrina. The recent uprising (November 2005) of disenchanted youths that swept across France left parts of the country damaged and shocked. The government saw fit to invoke a state of emergency
Bienvenue en France!
In a new book, an undercover journalist exposes the shocking treatment of detainees at France’s ZAPI 3 holding centre. Conditions at France’s notorious Roissy holding centre, nicknamed ZAPI 3, have been exposed in book entitled Bienvenue en France! Six mois d’enquête clandestine dans la zone d’attente de Roissy (Welcome to France! Six months undercover at
After Sangatte – assistance criminalised
Calais residents who dare to help asylum seekers in northern France are being criminalised by the French authorities, according to the Kent Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers. Since the Sangatte refugee camp was closed, just before Christmas 2002, French asylum support groups have tried to provide food and material support to asylum seekers in northern
The ballad of the ‘sans papiers’
According to the National Coordination of Sans Papiers, the movement of undocumented workers, ‘This struggle is becoming a central issue in French politics and life.’ Thousands of sans papiers from 40 different countries have joined the movement with protests in Lille, Versailles, Toulouse, Essone, Brittany and Nantes. Twenty-four collectives have formed across France, the most