À Bordeaux, le Noël des exclus, moment social et aussi très politique
This Saturday, there are single people, families, children. Everyone is huddled under sofas as usual, to resist the cold. We pick from large piles of toys provided by associations, merchants, people from the neighborhood.
Her daughter in her arms, Nora chooses what to give gifts. “It’s nice to see so many people, people who are in need, we don’t see them often,” she said. I never do anything at Christmas. I have eight children, seven of whom are placed in foster families, whom the judge does not want to return to me. So I try to do something for my last. But as long as I haven’t picked up the others, I’m not celebrating Christmas, there’s no tree at home, no decorations, nothing… I came to get two or three little gifts to give to the others and for Also get some for my daughter. I am here primarily for sharing. It was Annick who told me about this Christmas, I have known her for twenty years, she stopped being a lawyer to take care of the poorest. She got me off alcohol, drugs, all that stuff. It’s as if I were his daughter. »
” No solution “
This Christmas of the excluded owes a lot to the municipal councilor Myriam Eckert, of the Bordeaux group in struggles (ex-group of Philippe Poutou). It was she who launched the idea, place André-Meunier. “There was a Christmas of exclusives in Bordeaux at the very beginning of the 2000s, already there, with the association Clé de départ and the Droit de réquisition collective, because the DAL did not yet exist. It lasted three days, with meals, free zone, concerts… Then it stopped. This summer, we took over Place André-Meunier to take care of expelled students. Afterwards, we wanted a moment of relaxation for the families and the volunteers. I knew the format, I proposed and we did it. »