Blockage of the renewal of residence permits in Isère ---- This is
happening at the University of Grenoble where more than a hundred
students and research staff find themselves without a residence permit
because of delays or administrative obstacles from the prefecture.
Indeed, for more than a year, the administration has only partially
processed requests for extension of residence permits, even though the
people concerned are in the middle of the academic year. This has very
unfortunate consequences right away, such as, for example, the inability
to receive scholarships or housing assistance; work-study contracts are
also suspended. Also, since the end-of-year holidays, people have not
been able to return to France. The presidency of the University is
mobilizing with the help of professors. A petition is online while
waiting for a stronger mobilization to push the prefecture to shift into
second gear!
source: Réseau Universités sans Frontières
petition on change.org "blocking the renewal of residence permits in Isère"
Political demonstration (!) in Calais
It's not every day that there is a mobilization of this type on migrants
other than the citizen commemorations that take place the day after each
tragedy at the Richelieu park in Calais. On January 11, around 600
people - associations, political parties, unions, humanitarians and
citizens in solidarity - gathered to denounce Franco-British migration
policies. A few days before, the Calais town hall (right "republican")
tried to cancel the demonstration by issuing a municipal decree banning
it while the Pas-de-Calais prefecture had validated it. The argument put
forward by the mayor Natacha Bouchard is mind-boggling: the lack of
police to supervise the procession while the northern coast is the most
militarized in metropolitan France. Unfortunately for the mayor, she was
rejected not by the courts - a summary liberty application had
nevertheless been filed by the organizers - but by her hierarchy,
because the sub-prefecture, as the competent authority, confirmed that
the demonstration would go ahead.
On the same day, a compact crowd marched through the streets of Calais.
Of course, there were words and actions in tribute to the victims (89
deaths in 2024, a record since 1999) but also more political speeches
but dominated by the national parties or organizations: LFI, Place
Publique, PCF, PS, Les Écologistes, Lutte Ouvrière and Révolution
Permanente. While some interventions were warmly received, others
sparked anger and indignation. The speech by Place Publique (the
Glucksmann line), focused on the implementation of migration quotas, was
particularly poorly received, provoking boos and whistles. The
representative of the Socialist Party was not spared either, reminding
many of the violence and repressive policies of the Hollande government.
Only the FSU, among the unions, spoke, insisting on the fact that exiled
people are also workers who suffer racism and persecution on a daily
basis. In the ranks, the same question came up in the face of the
absence of an inter-union in the procession: why? Let us nevertheless
highlight the initiative because, for a long time, there had not been
this kind of demonstration. Let us hope that it will be repeated with,
in fact, a stronger union and local presence and voice, the only ones
capable of establishing a sustainable balance of power in the long term.
In the meantime, the border and the States continue to cause deaths.
Since the beginning of this new year, there have already been two
victims: a young Syrian in his twenties found crushed in a canoe on the
night of January 10 to 11 and, a few days before, a migrant hit by a car
near Grande-Synthe.
Sources: Calais la Sociale and la Voix du Nord
Occupation of the Gaîté Lyrique by the collective of young people from
the Parc de Belleville
Since December 10, this collective that needs no introduction (see our
previous sections) has occupied a cultural venue in the City of Paris,
the Gaîté Lyrique. Every evening, 350 meals are distributed and many of
these unaccompanied minors (MNA) live on site - around 300, which
corresponds more or less to the total number of MNA in Paris. Moreover,
associations like France Terre d'Asile direct young people to this large
premises, so it is a victory for the collective to provide a roof,
heating and food to everyone. But, as usual, it depends on volunteers
and above all the housing situation is extremely precarious and unstable
because of the attitude of the Paris City Hall. After a month of
occupation, the municipality, via the Social Emergency Mission, deigned
to hold a formal meeting with the collective. But the meeting was cut
short because the town hall spoke of its intention to launch a legal
eviction procedure at the Administrative Court, of the future arrival of
a bailiff and of a count by the municipal police every day. Faced with
this pressure, the collective reacted and continued to want to confront
the Socialist Party and its allies with its contradictions since Hidalgo
publicly positioned herself against the immigration law on January 27,
2024; yet she refuses to implement a real reception policy. To maintain
the pressure, regular demonstrations are organized. Only the fight pays!
Let us recall that the collective of young people from the Parc de
Belleville organized other occupations of Parisian public places such as
the Académie du Climat, the Cent-Quatre, then the Maison des Métallos:
operations that have always led to temporary shelters by the public
authorities. Source: Collectif des jeunes du parc de Belleville
A young person from the collective beaten up by the cops
He is not one of the young people occupying the Gaîté Lyrique, he is a
young person already housed thanks to the collective's action by the
Paris city hall. On December 18, at the Denfert-Rochereau metro-RER
station, he was knocked down and handcuffed by RATP security because he
was seen jumping over the turnstile. The police were called and a GAV
began at the 18th arrondissement police station. He arrived in good
health in the jails and during the night, the young person asked to go
to the toilet. In response, five police officers entered the cell,
removed the cameras attached to their uniforms and began to beat and
insult him. While a police officer crushed the unfortunate man's jaw
with his boots to stop him from screaming and another crushed his back
with his foot to immobilize him, a third kicked his foot until it was
broken. The other two stood in front of the door to prevent anyone from
outside from entering. These physical attacks behind closed doors were
accompanied by racist and anti-migrant insults. One of the police
officers told the young man that he and his fellow cops "didn't give a
damn about people like him who came by boat without a passport". ACAB!
Beyond the structural racism of the police, it should be noted that
unaccompanied minors in Paris do not have the free Navigo card; but like
everyone else, they need to travel for the administrative and
associative procedures related to their situation. As with
accommodation, school and health, this legal void of minority appeals
puts young people in a very vulnerable position and sometimes it ends up
at the police station.
Source: leaflets from the Belleville Park youth collective
Alès Solidarity Assembly and death of an unaccompanied minor in Nîmes
The Alès Solidarity Assembly is a meeting of individuals and groups who
help young migrant minors in the area, there is this same structure in
Nîmes. The members denounce the treatment or rather the non-treatment by
the State and its services of unaccompanied minors. They are tossed
between the department (ASE), National Education (CIO and CASNAV for
learning French in the UPE2A structure) and the justice system which
does not want to take charge of them, creating or taking advantage of
the legal uncertainty. On December 24 in Nîmes, a teenager of Ivorian
origin named AWA, an unaccompanied minor, died alone in an apartment
made available by the department. The day before, on the phone, she had
said that she was sick and that she felt like vomiting, the next day the
educators arrived too late. She was normally taken care of by a social
children's home but due to the lack of resources, teenagers find
themselves housed alone. In this context, on January 10, there was a
gathering of about thirty people in front of the Gard departmental
council in Nîmes to react to this tragedy but also to remind the
department of its theoretical obligations.
Source: collective blog
A former director of Coallia suspected of having embezzled 12 million euros
We regularly talk about this structure which partly manages the former
foreign workers' homes in the Paris region, which are now called social
residences. It is largely subsidized and clearly housing immigrants is
profitable! since the former territorial director embezzled a tidy sum
of 12 million euros, between January 2020 and October 2024. He is under
investigation for "organized fraud, embezzlement of public funds,
receiving stolen goods, aggravated money laundering, active and passive
corruption". A fine bunch... according to the ongoing investigation,
this man employed service providers including companies he managed or
friendly companies that paid a kickback in exchange for the contracts
obtained. We are far from the first functions of Coallia which was
previously called AFTAM (association for the training of African and
Malagasy workers) founded in 1962 by a certain Stéphane Hessel, the
"Indignez-vous" man. Today the association employs 5,000 people and,
according to a recent report from the Court of Auditors - which
incidentally criticizes the financial management of the bazaar -
received 148 million euros in subsidies in 2022. The immigrant brings in
money! Source: Le Grand Parisien
In Mayotte, discrimination in humanitarian aid
We have all seen the images of devastation following the passage of
Cyclone Chido on December 14, which caused an unprecedented humanitarian
crisis in a French department. We will probably never know the human
toll of this disaster because, due to the anti-migrant policy of the
French State, most of the undocumented inhabitants of the shanty towns
(40% of the population) managed to face the elements alone without going
to the shelters provided by the State for fear of being arrested. This
fear is based on the last major anti-migrant operations on the island:
numerous record expulsions to the Comoros, destruction of shanty towns,
muscular intervention by the police (CRS 8), etc. Once the initial
shocks have passed, the situation persists and cases of discrimination
in humanitarian aid based on nationality exist. On the one hand, the
distribution of aid is conditional on the possession of a French
identity card, a residence permit, a health card or proof of address. On
the other hand, many foreigners do not go to the distributions for fear
of being arrested. Moreover, "voluntary return" operations have
multiplied since the disaster. We can fear that this event will be used
to expel even more foreigners as in the aftermath of Hurricane Luis,
which ravaged the French island of Saint-Martin in 1995, and which
allowed the State to complete the destruction of the island's shanty
towns. Of course, Mayotte is not Saint-Martin, the scales of the
undocumented population are not the same, but we can expect a political
use of the aftermath of the cyclone in the months to come. To be
continued. Source: GISTI letter to the President of the European Commission
Nightmare of migrants employed on British farms
Since Brexit, English farmers have been massively recruiting migrants
from Indonesia, Nepal or Central Asia to work hard. As usual in these
environments, the working and living conditions are deplorable:
immigrants crammed three or four per room, slum landlords, odd jobs such
as bicycle delivery to supplement miserable wages. Many workers arrive
on the island with a seasonal visa - valid for 6 months - some stay and
become undocumented, which does not bother the State and British
capitalists at all because it becomes an even more exploitable and
corvée workforce. Each year, 45,000 seasonal visas are issued.
Recruitment is done on social networks or via recruitment agencies such
as Manpower in Asian countries. The costs of the trip are astronomical,
as a young Indonesian testifies. The agency charges him 65 million
Indonesian rupiah (3,860 euros) for the flight, visa fees, a health
check, a week of "training" without any real content and his fees.
Often, migrants get into debt; as a reminder, the average salary in
Indonesia is 288 euros.
Source: Le Monde
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4377
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
happening at the University of Grenoble where more than a hundred
students and research staff find themselves without a residence permit
because of delays or administrative obstacles from the prefecture.
Indeed, for more than a year, the administration has only partially
processed requests for extension of residence permits, even though the
people concerned are in the middle of the academic year. This has very
unfortunate consequences right away, such as, for example, the inability
to receive scholarships or housing assistance; work-study contracts are
also suspended. Also, since the end-of-year holidays, people have not
been able to return to France. The presidency of the University is
mobilizing with the help of professors. A petition is online while
waiting for a stronger mobilization to push the prefecture to shift into
second gear!
source: Réseau Universités sans Frontières
petition on change.org "blocking the renewal of residence permits in Isère"
Political demonstration (!) in Calais
It's not every day that there is a mobilization of this type on migrants
other than the citizen commemorations that take place the day after each
tragedy at the Richelieu park in Calais. On January 11, around 600
people - associations, political parties, unions, humanitarians and
citizens in solidarity - gathered to denounce Franco-British migration
policies. A few days before, the Calais town hall (right "republican")
tried to cancel the demonstration by issuing a municipal decree banning
it while the Pas-de-Calais prefecture had validated it. The argument put
forward by the mayor Natacha Bouchard is mind-boggling: the lack of
police to supervise the procession while the northern coast is the most
militarized in metropolitan France. Unfortunately for the mayor, she was
rejected not by the courts - a summary liberty application had
nevertheless been filed by the organizers - but by her hierarchy,
because the sub-prefecture, as the competent authority, confirmed that
the demonstration would go ahead.
On the same day, a compact crowd marched through the streets of Calais.
Of course, there were words and actions in tribute to the victims (89
deaths in 2024, a record since 1999) but also more political speeches
but dominated by the national parties or organizations: LFI, Place
Publique, PCF, PS, Les Écologistes, Lutte Ouvrière and Révolution
Permanente. While some interventions were warmly received, others
sparked anger and indignation. The speech by Place Publique (the
Glucksmann line), focused on the implementation of migration quotas, was
particularly poorly received, provoking boos and whistles. The
representative of the Socialist Party was not spared either, reminding
many of the violence and repressive policies of the Hollande government.
Only the FSU, among the unions, spoke, insisting on the fact that exiled
people are also workers who suffer racism and persecution on a daily
basis. In the ranks, the same question came up in the face of the
absence of an inter-union in the procession: why? Let us nevertheless
highlight the initiative because, for a long time, there had not been
this kind of demonstration. Let us hope that it will be repeated with,
in fact, a stronger union and local presence and voice, the only ones
capable of establishing a sustainable balance of power in the long term.
In the meantime, the border and the States continue to cause deaths.
Since the beginning of this new year, there have already been two
victims: a young Syrian in his twenties found crushed in a canoe on the
night of January 10 to 11 and, a few days before, a migrant hit by a car
near Grande-Synthe.
Sources: Calais la Sociale and la Voix du Nord
Occupation of the Gaîté Lyrique by the collective of young people from
the Parc de Belleville
Since December 10, this collective that needs no introduction (see our
previous sections) has occupied a cultural venue in the City of Paris,
the Gaîté Lyrique. Every evening, 350 meals are distributed and many of
these unaccompanied minors (MNA) live on site - around 300, which
corresponds more or less to the total number of MNA in Paris. Moreover,
associations like France Terre d'Asile direct young people to this large
premises, so it is a victory for the collective to provide a roof,
heating and food to everyone. But, as usual, it depends on volunteers
and above all the housing situation is extremely precarious and unstable
because of the attitude of the Paris City Hall. After a month of
occupation, the municipality, via the Social Emergency Mission, deigned
to hold a formal meeting with the collective. But the meeting was cut
short because the town hall spoke of its intention to launch a legal
eviction procedure at the Administrative Court, of the future arrival of
a bailiff and of a count by the municipal police every day. Faced with
this pressure, the collective reacted and continued to want to confront
the Socialist Party and its allies with its contradictions since Hidalgo
publicly positioned herself against the immigration law on January 27,
2024; yet she refuses to implement a real reception policy. To maintain
the pressure, regular demonstrations are organized. Only the fight pays!
Let us recall that the collective of young people from the Parc de
Belleville organized other occupations of Parisian public places such as
the Académie du Climat, the Cent-Quatre, then the Maison des Métallos:
operations that have always led to temporary shelters by the public
authorities. Source: Collectif des jeunes du parc de Belleville
A young person from the collective beaten up by the cops
He is not one of the young people occupying the Gaîté Lyrique, he is a
young person already housed thanks to the collective's action by the
Paris city hall. On December 18, at the Denfert-Rochereau metro-RER
station, he was knocked down and handcuffed by RATP security because he
was seen jumping over the turnstile. The police were called and a GAV
began at the 18th arrondissement police station. He arrived in good
health in the jails and during the night, the young person asked to go
to the toilet. In response, five police officers entered the cell,
removed the cameras attached to their uniforms and began to beat and
insult him. While a police officer crushed the unfortunate man's jaw
with his boots to stop him from screaming and another crushed his back
with his foot to immobilize him, a third kicked his foot until it was
broken. The other two stood in front of the door to prevent anyone from
outside from entering. These physical attacks behind closed doors were
accompanied by racist and anti-migrant insults. One of the police
officers told the young man that he and his fellow cops "didn't give a
damn about people like him who came by boat without a passport". ACAB!
Beyond the structural racism of the police, it should be noted that
unaccompanied minors in Paris do not have the free Navigo card; but like
everyone else, they need to travel for the administrative and
associative procedures related to their situation. As with
accommodation, school and health, this legal void of minority appeals
puts young people in a very vulnerable position and sometimes it ends up
at the police station.
Source: leaflets from the Belleville Park youth collective
Alès Solidarity Assembly and death of an unaccompanied minor in Nîmes
The Alès Solidarity Assembly is a meeting of individuals and groups who
help young migrant minors in the area, there is this same structure in
Nîmes. The members denounce the treatment or rather the non-treatment by
the State and its services of unaccompanied minors. They are tossed
between the department (ASE), National Education (CIO and CASNAV for
learning French in the UPE2A structure) and the justice system which
does not want to take charge of them, creating or taking advantage of
the legal uncertainty. On December 24 in Nîmes, a teenager of Ivorian
origin named AWA, an unaccompanied minor, died alone in an apartment
made available by the department. The day before, on the phone, she had
said that she was sick and that she felt like vomiting, the next day the
educators arrived too late. She was normally taken care of by a social
children's home but due to the lack of resources, teenagers find
themselves housed alone. In this context, on January 10, there was a
gathering of about thirty people in front of the Gard departmental
council in Nîmes to react to this tragedy but also to remind the
department of its theoretical obligations.
Source: collective blog
A former director of Coallia suspected of having embezzled 12 million euros
We regularly talk about this structure which partly manages the former
foreign workers' homes in the Paris region, which are now called social
residences. It is largely subsidized and clearly housing immigrants is
profitable! since the former territorial director embezzled a tidy sum
of 12 million euros, between January 2020 and October 2024. He is under
investigation for "organized fraud, embezzlement of public funds,
receiving stolen goods, aggravated money laundering, active and passive
corruption". A fine bunch... according to the ongoing investigation,
this man employed service providers including companies he managed or
friendly companies that paid a kickback in exchange for the contracts
obtained. We are far from the first functions of Coallia which was
previously called AFTAM (association for the training of African and
Malagasy workers) founded in 1962 by a certain Stéphane Hessel, the
"Indignez-vous" man. Today the association employs 5,000 people and,
according to a recent report from the Court of Auditors - which
incidentally criticizes the financial management of the bazaar -
received 148 million euros in subsidies in 2022. The immigrant brings in
money! Source: Le Grand Parisien
In Mayotte, discrimination in humanitarian aid
We have all seen the images of devastation following the passage of
Cyclone Chido on December 14, which caused an unprecedented humanitarian
crisis in a French department. We will probably never know the human
toll of this disaster because, due to the anti-migrant policy of the
French State, most of the undocumented inhabitants of the shanty towns
(40% of the population) managed to face the elements alone without going
to the shelters provided by the State for fear of being arrested. This
fear is based on the last major anti-migrant operations on the island:
numerous record expulsions to the Comoros, destruction of shanty towns,
muscular intervention by the police (CRS 8), etc. Once the initial
shocks have passed, the situation persists and cases of discrimination
in humanitarian aid based on nationality exist. On the one hand, the
distribution of aid is conditional on the possession of a French
identity card, a residence permit, a health card or proof of address. On
the other hand, many foreigners do not go to the distributions for fear
of being arrested. Moreover, "voluntary return" operations have
multiplied since the disaster. We can fear that this event will be used
to expel even more foreigners as in the aftermath of Hurricane Luis,
which ravaged the French island of Saint-Martin in 1995, and which
allowed the State to complete the destruction of the island's shanty
towns. Of course, Mayotte is not Saint-Martin, the scales of the
undocumented population are not the same, but we can expect a political
use of the aftermath of the cyclone in the months to come. To be
continued. Source: GISTI letter to the President of the European Commission
Nightmare of migrants employed on British farms
Since Brexit, English farmers have been massively recruiting migrants
from Indonesia, Nepal or Central Asia to work hard. As usual in these
environments, the working and living conditions are deplorable:
immigrants crammed three or four per room, slum landlords, odd jobs such
as bicycle delivery to supplement miserable wages. Many workers arrive
on the island with a seasonal visa - valid for 6 months - some stay and
become undocumented, which does not bother the State and British
capitalists at all because it becomes an even more exploitable and
corvée workforce. Each year, 45,000 seasonal visas are issued.
Recruitment is done on social networks or via recruitment agencies such
as Manpower in Asian countries. The costs of the trip are astronomical,
as a young Indonesian testifies. The agency charges him 65 million
Indonesian rupiah (3,860 euros) for the flight, visa fees, a health
check, a week of "training" without any real content and his fees.
Often, migrants get into debt; as a reminder, the average salary in
Indonesia is 288 euros.
Source: Le Monde
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4377
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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