At Izards, in Toulouse: “We were born in French soil”
Toulouse (Haute-Garonne).– Six, and more… barely. This Thursday at the end of March, gathered in a hall of the Izards, in the northern districts of Toulouse, the eleven teenagers aged 12 to 16 may well unite their efforts, they and they do not count, after a first round of table, only four presidential candidates are arriving: Le Pen, Macron, Mélenchon and Zemmour. After hesitating a little, one of them adds Pécresse. At the end of the session, Driss, stealthily passing by, will slip in the name of Dupont-Aignan. Meanwhile, another had tempted Sarkozy, he was repacked. Arthaud, Hidalgo, Jadot, Lassalle, Poutou and Roussel remains stranded.
Yanis, Rayan, Bilal, Kelyan, Mehdi, Yasmina, Kamilya, Amel, Farah, Asma and Zora are young middle and high school students (the youngest are in 5andthe oldest in 2of) who regularly follows the “school support and cultural openness” sessions set up by the association Izards Attitude. Work slots of one and a half hours or two and a half hours offered every day of the week except Friday at the end of the afternoon.
Since the start of the school year in September, about a hundred students have benefited from this homework help every week, accompanied by about fifteen adult volunteers who take turns at their side. Eight “referent mothers” ensure the coordination of the system, also in turn. This Thursday evening, Leïla and Houria are there. “Macron is quiche”calls out an unidentified voice, prompting a few chuckles.
Their sources of information? “”TPMP” with Cyril Hanouna”, “BFM-TV”, ” Featured “ and “the 15” are the channels and program cited most spontaneously. Add it: “And Gulli. » Giggles again. Very quickly, an exchange in haiku mode begins on the questions of racism, Islam, secularism and on the incessant reference to “origins”, these “young people from the city” have been confronted with since their childhood. The evening can begin.
– Bilal (14 years old): “Zemmour interests me. He is funny… “
– Zora (12 years old): “Do you think he has good arguments? No, pffff….”
– Mehdi (15 years old): “It’s Mélenchon, he’s tarpin well. He speaks well, he has the words. »
– Zora: “He is not racist. »
– Asma (13 years old): “He likes the Arabs, he goes to Morocco. »
– Nora, co-host (19 years old): “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean anything, Marine Le Pen too, she’s going to Morocco…”
Seated in a semi-circle around the tables, some prefer silence. Others, school reflex, raise their arm to ask for the floor. When he takes her, Mehdi always has a word for her. “secularism”, a term he drops like sesame, his eyes shining. Everyone says to each other “Muslims”.
– Kamilya (16 years old): “The veil, they want to remove it? We have to accept the religions of others, right? »
– Zora: “I don’t understand why they don’t want veiled women, it’s just a headscarf! »
– Asma: “They believe that all Muslims are terrorists. And it’s not true. »
– Kamilya: “There are people, they change their name in the CV because those who are more with French names are more advantaged. »
– Norah: “But we are all French…”
– Kamilya: “Yes. When I say the French, I mean treated as French… Religion and nationality have nothing to do but there are more and more racists. They are no longer hiding. They see that there are people giving them arguments. »
Diverse fortunes for Zemmour, Macron, Mélenchon
In terms of “arguments”, not all are accepted, as evidenced by the very lukewarm reception given to those who try to explain that “Zemmour, there is something he is right about, it’s when he says that there should be no more gays in France”. The debate branches off on the case of Benjamin Ledig, this young man who made the buzz by broadcasting images on the social network TikTok of him twerking first in one then by shooting provocative videos with regard to Islam.
The teenagers of the Izards have the video shot on a smartphone, son condemning “lack of respect” that some boys present link to his homosexuality. One, not very sure of his move, a little questioning in tone, tries to settle the question: “You can’t be gay and Muslim anyway…” Answer, pedagogue and benevolent of Kamilya: “Yes, you can be gay and Muslim. If you don’t do weird things with boys, you can be gay and Muslim, yes. »
Back to the presidential small horse race. The outgoing is only highly valued. “My father, as soon as he sees him on TV, he insults him”drop a teenager. “Macron, he came with a great electoral program and he did nothing at all”deplores Amel (16 years old) when Nora worries about the going-to-war side of the Élysée: “On enough stories in France with the Covid and the yellow vests, why is he going to get involved in Ukraine? It is the president in Europe who talks the most about the war! »she believes.
Many of them, on the other hand, correspond to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, although he is white, 70 years old and does not live in the neighborhoods, the ” represented “. “Because he defended Muslims”, assures Bilal. Another argument, more unexpected: “Mélenchon, he wants to legalize cannabis, that’s good. Afterwards, we will be quiet…” Houria and Leïla, the two referent mothers, silent until then, make their approval heard: “Of course we have to legalize it. »
A patient work of emancipation
The Izards district has been one of the hotspots for drug trafficking in Toulouse for fifteen years. Linked to this economy, a upsurge of violent settling of accounts cost the lives of several of its young people. It is this tragic context which, in 2013 – a year after the “Merah affair”, the assassin having spent part of his youth in his small HLM bars -, had led several women from the Izards to organize themselves into an association .
“Basicallysays Yamina Aïssa Abdi, founder and manager of Izards Attitude, the association was born because the children in the neighborhood were growing up in an environment that worried the mothers a lot: trafficking, prison, violence and death… We set up parenting support groups in 2014. Work has been carried out with women to free up speech, emancipate themselves, gain confidence, work on postures, learn to respond to their interlocutors, etc. We got help from psychologists, it was quite a journey. The idea was to say, “OK, we’re going to help our children get by, but we have to take care of it, we don’t want to delegate that.” »
Started in January 2020 and today a flagship project of Izards Attitude, homework help as it exists, supported by mothers in the neighborhood, is the culmination of this patient work of emancipation and self-organization. Last September, the association obtained approval from the CAF to welcome students as part of tutoring. “Compared to the objective set at the start, the feedback is very positivewelcomes Yamina. On a few dropouts of course, but it works well. In addition, young people come with friends who are not obliged to Izards, it allows them to get out of the community of the neighborhood. »
Discussion groups and writing workshops continue with the women of the Izards, who are also preparing a play to tell the story of this associative adventure. Take back control of everyday life, occupy space, act as interlocutors of institutions, offer other outcomes than trafficking to children, gain confidence… Painstaking work. Which, with the youngest, must constantly be put back on the bench.
Asked about what she plans for the rest of her school career, Asma, in 5andsigh: “I’m stupid, I won’t go in general, it’s hard. I want to sell and trade. » An internalization of the “professional sector” destiny of young people from the neighborhoods which makes Leïla, one of the two referent mothers, jump. She addresses Yasmina and Asma: “You have to learn, what do you want to do? Laundry ? »
Leïla fought so that her eldest son was not directed to an apprenticeship as many of his teachers wanted. “The system here, as soon as there is a problem with an Arab child, it puts him on a Segpa [classe accueillant des enfants en difficultés scolaires importantes – ndlr]and then we find him doing the “chouf” [guetteur – ndlr] in the city…”
Her son will pass the baccalaureate in the spring. “When he gets it, I’m going to show the paper to the teacher who told him he sucks!” »she promises.
In the meantime, the country will have voted. And even if it’s for Zemmour or Le Pen, “remigration doesn’t worry us that muchassures Nora. We were born in French soil”.