(en) France, Alternative Libertaire AL #227 - Saint-Denis: The poorly housed contruisent their struggle (fr)

In Saint-Denis, the housing issue is central: slum, unhealthy, lack of space ... However 
mobilization pay, as the evolution of the situation of the expelled es Dezobry street 
shows. ---- An important part of Dyonisiennes and Dyonisens live in a situation of high 
uncertainty in terms of housing between 30 and 40% of substandard housing in the city 
center, hundreds of Roma living in slum slumlords who profit from rents prohibitive, 
scarcity and lack of access to housing for undocumented regular fires involving casualties 
in the population, "City Policy" which aims to rehabilitate neighborhoods veering too poor 
inhabitants The situation ... could be explosive, but people are rather low profile, 
hoping to get out individually without making waves.

In December 2011, the inhabitants and residents of two buildings of Saint-Denis (76, rue 
Gabriel Peri and 11 Dezobry street) were expelled es. Legally, they were unhealthy 
buildings. Although legally the winter break does not apply to so-called "no right or 
title" occupants, there is a precedent: never before has there been thrown into the street 
families in winter [ 1 ]. It took more than a year of struggle for the last 11 are 
expelled-street-art Dezobry be relocated since the last expelled has received housing 
until very recently.

A series of expulsions

In summer 2012, the inhabitants and residents of 59 and 61 rue Charles Michels (one died 
in a fire in 2008) have in turn been expelled es. After the fire, the state, the mayor, 
the council, the inhabitants and residents and associations have signed a protocol 
providing for the regularization on humanitarian and resettlement of people. Promise not 
kept, since it was one of the expelled es thirty persons whose names appeared in the 2008 
Protocol. But that's not all. Thereafter, further evictions followed: a building rue 
Violet Leduc and land occupied by Roma families on the outskirts of Paris. And others 
should follow, since building still occupied the city Saint-R?my should be demolished at 
the end of the year.

Struggles against the government

However, the mobilization achieves results, since for the former inhabitants of 76, rue 
Gabriel Peri and other ill-housed es-es more isolated, the end of the winter break was 
postponed for two weeks March 30. In addition, the sub-prefecture opened a special window 
for elders 76, rue Gabriel Peri without residence, an old demand-are expelled and their 
supporters. Aware that the issue of requisitions empty dwellings is more than ever, the 
inhabitants and residents of housing owned by La Poste, requisitioned by the dionysiac 
kindred social movement in 2009 [ 2 ], organized a cocktail-chat on March 18, to discuss 
the situation of their building, and consider the future. Because even if the 
sub-prefecture announced not have other expulsions called unhealthy housing of schedule, 
it has proven repeatedly that his word is worth nothing.

In all these examples, the "public actors" make the round back: the mayor said 
"over-invest" in social housing but can not find solutions for expelled es (or so under 
the constraint of social movement local), the prefecture has turned a deaf ear and 
obviously has a legalistic view. Tellingly, the Commissioner of Saint-Denis combines 
massive squats and crime, welcoming streets Dezobry evictions and Peri also speaking of 
"improving the appearance" of neighborhoods [ 3 ]. And this is a new area that is new in 
seeing the day around the station with housing for the middle class who can not afford to 
buy or rent in Paris ...

What mobilizations build?

If the mobilization pay at the margin, it is difficult to cope with the scale of the 
housing crisis that affects more broadly across the Seine-Saint-Denis and part of the 
Ile-de-France . The question is difficult and activism on this issue is time. A 
departmental protest against evictions and requisition, called by some thirty 
organizations (AL) on March 2 gathered a few hundred people. It is still too low compared 
to the issue, but it shows the willingness of the social movement to take this issue head 
on. Still, we can not remain in the incantatory and disparate support in response to 
expulsions.

On the offensive is to ask specifically to requisition empty housing and thus create the 
arc force permitting. This requires taking into account the difficulties of these 
mobilizations, especially in terms of sometimes undemocratic vis-?-vis the first concern 
and first-e-es practices. This is a necessary step in order to advance political claims 
for the socialization of housing.

Alexis (AL Saint-Denis)

[ 1 ] See " Housing and undocumented St Denis: we live here, we stay here "in AL No. 213 
in January 2012 and" Housing and undocumented: We live here, we stay here (continued)! 
"in AL No. 214 of February 2012.

[ 2 ] See " Requisition of accommodation in Saint-Denis: Post troubled "in AL No. 183 of 
April 2009.

[ 3 ] Journal of Saint-Denis, 03/12/2012.