First impressions from the travelling suburbs caravan [with pictures]

Travelling caravan as a decentralized action of the NoBorder Camp in Strasbourg, 19 to 28 July 2002, Parc du Rhin.

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30.Nov.99 - the "Justice in the suburbs" caravan is an initiative of the Permanent Festival against Racist Laws and of the Suburbs and Immigration Movement (MIB) within the context of the No Border Camp as a decentralised action that would be visible in the popular neighborhoods of Strasbourg from July 21-26 2002. The goal is:

-To spread information and raising awareness outside the mass media on the problematics raised during daily life of the residents of popular neighborhoods (housing, job discimination, people killed in detention, systemic repression, double penalty for legal infractions, repression and social control, the stigmatisation of urban zones...) -But also to emancipate the populations to exercise their duty and their right in the heart of the city in the exercise of that notion we call citizenship...

The caravan subscribes to a more global phenomenon that has been segmented for a long time in the Paris suburbs and the rest of France regarding the problematics cited earlier; the caravan is a mobilizing force so that the suburbs will cease to be ignored. It is more than necessary, in the game of politics, to establish a show of force so that the inhabitants of the suburbs cease being stigmatized (with stereotypes such as, "they live in insecurity," or, "they are savages"...) and especially so that the voice of these populations (who have been stigmatized, reprimanded...) be restored to them.

The caravan aims to break isolation through exchange. The latter is a necessary and paramount condition because the image of the inhabitants of these districts is criminalised and dirtied whereas in fact the populations suffer the most. Public opinion tends to dehumanize them to legitimize certain repressive acts (police brutality, racist laws, deaths in prison...) as a response to the social problems in these districts.

There is one constant which is that of the struggle for respect and human dignity for all. Whether one is french by origin, foreign or immigrant. The travelling caravan made a visible presence in various districts of Strasbourg, starting with Meinau, the District des Ecrivains, Cronenbourg and Elsau. But it was not possible in Neuhof because of the authorities' prohibition of any No Border demonstration. Thus the organizers of caravan decided not to impose this confrontation with autorities in a district which is stigmatized and criminalised.

Here some impressions of the caravan during its tour of the various districts:

pendant la préparation du camp