Journalist at RFI (ex-DW, BBC, CBC, F24...), writer (on art, music, culture...), I work in radio, podcasting, online, on films.
As a writer, I also contributed to the New Arab, Art UK, Byline Times, the i Paper...
Born in Paris, I was based in Prague, Miami, London, Nairobi (covering East Africa), Bangui, and in Bristol, UK. I also reported from Italy, Germany, Haiti, Tunisia, Liberia, Senegal, India, Mexico, Iraq, South Africa...
This blog is to share my work, news and cultural discoveries.
Banksy is the artist who has rocked the most the global artistic scene since Picasso and Dali. He is the figurehead of street art worldwide. For the most conservative critics, his work is weakened by its ephemeral nature. But one thing is certain for most art historians, graffiti is the greatest revolution that art has known since the second half of the twentieth century, and Banksy is its hero and herald.
With a growing but anonymous success worldwide since 2003, questions about his identity have multiplied. Attempting to unmask Banksy has become an end in itself. But rather than searching whether Banksy could be a certain Robert Banks, Robin Gunningham or Cunningham, Robert Del Naja or even a collective of artists, the most interesting quest around Banksy’s art is about the roots of his career and artistic message.
Once Upon A Time in Bristol…
A month ago, one of Banksy's most iconic pieces returned to the Bristol Museum: ‘A Devolved Parliament’. The move came 10 years after he created it for a unique, free and open-to-all exhibition in the city’s main art gallery: Banksy versus Bristol Museum, opened in the spring 2009.
Since February 2015, I have been exploring Bristol’s artistic scene, meeting and interviewing musicians, rappers, graffiti artists, and engaged Bristolians… I pulled from these exchanges a book, Out of the comfort zone, first published in France in October 2016, and recently published in the UK. And to understand Banksy, according to me, you indeed have to go to Bristol, where he grew up and started in graffiti in the early 1990s.
Banksy’s unconventional creativity comes from his hometown precisely, according to me. A multicultural city, marked by a troubled history, slavery and the fight against slavery, a series of riots, and a few waves of migrations from Ireland, Italy and the Caribbean. For Bristol’s creativity did not just emerge in any part of the city, it came from an underground community, especially in St. Paul’s and Montpelier, mainly among immigrants, self-taught rebels and punk fans, during the Thatcher years.
Banksy clearly followed the footsteps of pioneers who opened an underground scene there 15 years before him. And these early writers and taggers made of graffiti an art loaded with messages. Among them, the first of the pioneers was Robert Del Naja, known as a graffiti artist as 3D, who first made graffiti murals in order to create an outdoor artwork set to upset and awaken.
From Bare Walls to the Gallery
Inspired by the writers from the Bronx and Brooklyn, like Futura 2000 and Jean-Michel Basquiat, from 1983, at just 18, this self-taught draughtsman imposed graffiti in Bristol and got noticed rapidly by other graffiti writers based elsewhere in England, then in New York City. 3D, born in 1965 in Brighton, grew up in Bristol with a passion for comics, was better at drawing than at maths, and was a passionate music lover from his early years. He switched from The Beatles to punk rock at 11 years old, and was later blown away by a series of EPs of electronica, dub reggae and hip-hop. The Clash were his favourite band and they introduced him to the work of graffiti artist Futura 2000…
Since 1980/82, a few brilliant DJs had emerged in Bristol’s multicultural underground scene, influence by the sound of post-punk, reggae, dub and early hip-hop. They operated in a triptych form: while the DJ mixed discs, they introduced MCs to rap along, breakdancers and graffiti artists, tagging the walls during their performances, illustrating their invitations and flyers, and putting the crews’ names on the city’s walls.
This is what 3D was soon invited to do for the best crew: The Wild Bunch. His early graffiti represented the collective of DJs in the city centre as much as its different hills. Entitled ‘No Great Crime’ or ‘The Day The Law Died’, his bigger murals soon afterwards became a trademark for a new form of graffiti, soon to be rebaptised ‘street art’.
“Young boys took buses from the nearby suburbs just to be able to see 3D’s murals for real, including me and probably Banksy!” remembers Steve Lazarides, later to become Banksy’s manager and a powerful gallery owner.
3D inspired many wanna-be graffiti writers, who started to follow him and compete with him, from the Z-Boys to Pride. D, as he was known by his friends by then, worked closely with the Z-Boys from 1984, and befriended an artist known as Oli T. He also worked alongside with Inkie, aka Tom Bingle, born in 1970 in Scotland but bred in Bristol.
“I was literally trying to follow 3D everywhere,” Inkie told me for my book, when I met with him in 2015. “I even managed to invite myself to his birthday party, ‘cause I knew it would be unforgettable! At the time in Bristol, we were still cut off from London,” he added, “we were living in our bubble, so we shared a lot, ideas, projects, good spots, and we helped each other. Everyone knows everyone in the city, or at least your mother or your cousin!”
In 1985, the graffiti scene had been through such a boom in this city that the Arnolfini Art Gallerie decided to host a unique exhibition: Graffiti Art. 3D, at 20 years old, was the main artist involved. This became the first exhibition in Europe devoted to street art. Breakdancers, DJs and the graffiti artists from all over Britain came to a memorable launch evening. Other taggers and writers like Fade, Jaffa, Pride, Goldie, and Bio and Brim, from New York, were among the guests.
That year, 3D also started to write lyrics to augment some of their events. He quickly became one of the best rappers in the club they performed in, The Dug Out.
Counter-Reaction Versus Counterculture
But this revolution on Bristol’s walls was badly seen by the authorities: British police wanted to fight the graffiti phenomenon, like it was doing in the rest of England. Graffiti artists then appropriated themselves the term “vandals”, used to describe their misdeeds. Graffiti became more disturbing than ever, alternative and anti-system.
Arrested twice in 1985 and 1986, condemned to work of general interest, 3D decided to continue his art with commissioned works for pubs, and in other forms, via collage and stencils. He further transformed his art from 1987, evolving towards painting, influenced further by Basquiat and Andy Warhol. He painted walls and canvas inspired by the political era, referencing Margaret Thatcher and the vast unemployment problem. Then he became increasingly dedicated to music, embodying the very strong visual aspect of his new band, Massive Attack.
In 1989, the police found an address book full of names of graffiti writers and launched Operation Anderson to arrest dozens of young people, including Inkie. A gap began to widen between artists who continued their works on the street, and those who reinvented themselves via prints, posters, and illustrations. Instead of letting the scene die, these forms enabled artists to survive, live from their work and thrive beyond the Bristol’s walls. And Bristol was soon ready to strike again.
Banksy’s first steps
In 1985, at the Graffiti Art exhibition, on the sidelines, an 11-year-old child observed 3D at work. He was the future Banksy… A few years later, from 1991, at about 17 years old, he started graffiti writing. The Barton Hill Centre, in East Bristol, was one of the sets of his debuts in graffiti, in the early 1990s. This place helped many artists break through during the Thatcher years; young people could come to play football or practice free bomb design.
Banksy’s first graffiti appeared in Bristol in 1993. He became a member of the DryBreadZ Crew (DBZ) with, among other artists, Kato and Tes. But he didn’t get really known until 1998. That year, he begins to work in the rest of the region, including the largest music festival in England: Glastonbury. There he created with Inkie the work ‘Silent Majority’, outside the Tent devoted to dance music. Inkie was in charge of the lettering. “I painted the truck with Banksy and Lokey for two days at the 1998 Glastonbury Festival,” he told me. “It’s really important because it was probably one of the last times Banksy painted in public and made characters, freehand images, before devoting himself to realisations made mainly with stencils.”
A few months later, Banksy decided to leave Bristol for London and the rest is history. He left to Bristol his most famous local mural: The Mild Mild West in Stokes Croft. Banksy spent a few years in Hackney, switching his art to stencils and written messages, charged with a cynical, dark humour. I would need another article to describe the entire body of his work: rats and monkeys interacting with abstract figures, the formers embodying the stencilled artist, and the later the politicians…
Then he designed his first illegal shows and invented the concept of his ‘Santa’s Ghettos’, unauthorised and surprise exhibitions where one of the first artists he invited to participate was 3D Del Naja.
A Group of Revolutionary Artists
In one of his rare interviews, with the pop culture magazine Swindle in 2006, Banksy himself declared: “When I was about ten years old, a kid called 3D was painting the streets hard. He was the first to bring spray painting to Bristol. I grew up seeing spray paint on the streets way before I ever saw it in a magazine or on a computer.”
3D, by the mid-1990s, had shied away from street art, when it started to lose its anarchist appeal, and transformed his art in order for it to remain thoughtful and insightful, referencing British history like few have, inspired by his city’s very colonial own past. “3D quit painting and formed the band Massive Attack,” Banksy wrote in his book, “which may have been good for him but was a big loss for the city.” But if his legacy is not visible everywhere in Bristol, it had a resonance all through. It inspired a second then a third generation of writers and artists. Unlike other cities like Sheffield, it never lost its passion fro graffiti and dozens of artists have emerged from Bristol since the late 1980s, as well as street art tours and graffiti festivals like Upfest in July.
3D and Banksy have been working together regularly since. For Santa’s Ghettos as well as Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem. From what I understood in my many interviews in Bristol, it was actually 3D who had the idea to stencil Palestinian walls. From 1998, with the worldwide success of Massive Attack’s third album Mezzanine, including fame and long tours, it was obvious that 3D couldn’t spray walls discretely or intensely the same way again. D continued painting, creating artwork for record sleeves and group exhibitions of underground artists.
And Banksy created his own print factory, working on pieces in three dimensions as well, which enabled him to have his first unauthorised exhibitions, in London then in 2006 in Los Angeles. This particular show attracted movies stars and the prices of the pieces on auction went skyrocketing…
All this changed the game for Banksy. And enabled him to keep to stencilling for free, anonymously, in areas each time more surprising. Unlike other street artists, he never lost his stance however, and remains one of the most provocative and political graffiti artists of the world to this day. A touch he owes greatly to his youth in Bristol, and to his primary inspiration, the aforementioned 3D Del Naja.
Massive Attack – Out of the Comfort Zone
Melissa Chemam is a writer and journalist, author of a book on Bristol, Massive Attack – Out of the Comfort Zone, published in March 2019 by Tangent Books.
Come along to a special after-hours view of the British Academy Summer Showcase. Alongside 15 interactive exhibits, enjoy spoken-word poetry from Jaspreet Kaur, talks by Nikesh Shukla and Nikita Gill, a ‘Neolithic nibbles’ tasting by food historian Tasha Marks of AVM Curiosities, music from Afro-fusion jazz and funk band Nelson & Friends and more. We have something for everyone, so drop in to explore, or simply relax with a cocktail at our robo-cat themed bar.
Anti-suffrage waxworksJoin performer and suffrage historian Naomi Paxton for a special demonstration of an Edwardian parlour entertainment, featuring six exceedingly life-like figures with hidden clockwork mechanisms inside. Come and be amused by the delightful anti-suffrage waxworks 7:00–7:20pm & 8:00–8:20pm
Period poetryJoin poet and activist Jaspreet Kaur, founder of the Behind the Netra blog and YouTube channel, in a spoken-word exploration of period poverty and stigma. 7:20–7:30pm & 7:45–7:55pm
Reinventing literatureHow are writers redefining literature for YA audiences? From fairy tales to political fiction, we ask award-winning author Nikesh Shukla and leading poet Nikita Gill to discuss how reinvention, modern re-tellings and fresh perspectives are empowering a new generation of readers. 6:45–7:45pm
Food and drink
‘Cat’ caféProject Soothe is on a mission to find out what kind of photographs help us to relax. So, if you spend hours looking at photos of animals, this robo-cat café is for you! Drink cat-themed cocktails, discuss what photos make you happy, or take a selfie for the project. What meow could you want?
Neolithic nibblesChannel your inner hunter-gatherer and taste your way back to BCE with our limited-edition prehistoric treats. A taste of history, brought to you by food historian and artist Tasha Marks, founder of AVM Curiosities
Music
Nelson & Friends Wind down with a performance by London-based Afro-fusion collective Nelson & Friends, serving a soulful blend of native Mozambique music, jazz and funk.
Balamii Radio feat WussahJoin Wussah, resident Balamii DJ for a very special friday night installment that will bring Peckham-based community radio station to SW1. Balamii broadcasts some of South London's finest young DJs across the world 24/7.
As some of you may know, I have lived and travelled in many different parts of Africa, mainly in the East Africa (I was based in Nairobi for 18 months and travelled in the region) and Central Africa (Bangui, CAR). Visited 14 African countries in total.
My family is also originally from North Africa, from a Berber group, and one of my keen interest i building bridges between Europe, North Africa and Subsaharan Africa.
I’m currently working on a novel, inspired by my experience as a journalist in America, Europe then Africa....
I’ll back in Bristol on July 3rd and particularly interested in this event:
Africa Writes 2019 – Bristol Friday 28th June – Thursday 4th July Venues across the city, including Malcolm X Community Centre, Arnolfini, The Cube, Foyles, Wickham Theatre and Waterstones
From Friday 28 June – Thursday 4 July we’ll be celebrating contemporary literature from Africa and the African diaspora with a series of performances, book launches, panels and workshops.
This exciting literary week brings together over 30 writers and creatives drawing on histories and geographies from across Botswana, Cameroon, Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria, Somaliland, South Africa, Uganda, UK, USA and Zambia.
2019 marks the launch of New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby (following on from her landmark Daughters of Africapublished in 1992) and featuring the work of over 200 writers from across the globe – from Trinidad and Tobago to Kenya, Equatorial Guinea to the USA – to celebrate a unifying heritage, illustrate an uplifting sense of sisterhood, and showcase the remarkable range of creativity from the African diaspora. New Daughters of Africa has very much inspired our programming for Africa Writes – Bristol 2019, with nearly every panel featuring a contributor to this important new anthology (from Ros Martin to Jay Bernard to Nadifa Mohamed), and a particular emphasis on showcasing the extraordinary literary achievements of Black women writers from Bristol-based Liz Mytton’s new play Back Home to Namwali Serpell’s debut novel The Old Drift. We are also hugely excited about our headline New Daughters of Africa event in partnership with St Paul’s Carnival where Dialogue Books’ Sharmaine Lovegrove will be in conversation with Margaret Busby and contributors to the anthology at the Malcolm X Community Centre.
Tickets
Many of the events at Africa Writes 2019 Bristol are free and do not require booking. Where you are required to book, click through from these pages and you’ll be taken to Eventbrite to reserve your ticket: africawrites.org/category/bristol-2019/
As this country gets deeper into its own self-division, I wrote this piece about being a refugee, while I was reporting about the issue for the German international radio, DW.
Here I expose the situation of those who arrive in the country I live in, the United Kingdom.
Meanwhile, 17 million people across the world are now refugees.
Have a good read.
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Refugees in the UK:
Safe haven or hostile environment?
The UK is often described by its political leaders or the right-wing press as the favoured destination for a lot of asylum seekers fleeing wars and political oppression. This claim has been for years used to reinforce the discourse against immigration and, since David Cameron’s government, the UK has shown less and less support for refugees. But the reality shows that people fleeing their country often arrive in the UK not by choice, and that they struggle in a way they are not prepared for once waiting to get asylum granted here.
By Melissa Chemam
Iraki children, living in the camp for displaced people in Iraqi Kurdistan
photo by Melissa Chemam, spring 2016
At the start of this year 2019’s Refugee Week (17-24 June), the UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed plans for the UK government to resettle 5,000 refugees in the first year of a new consolidated global scheme.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has “welcome the UK’s commitment to resettle at its current levels beyond 2020 and with a broadened geographical scope beyond the Middle East and North Africa,” as declare IOM UK Chief of Mission, Dipti Pardeshi. Today, less than one per cent of refugees worldwide have been resettled and their need continues to be dire, he however added. “Countries must do more under our shared humanitarian responsibilities to offer more legal pathways like resettlement, family reunification and community sponsorship.”
IOM works closely with national and local governments, the UNHCR and other partners to resettle the refugees most in need of protection. Some of them require for instance urgent medical treatment. Others have survived violence and torture so remain very fragile. And women and children are often at risk, wherever they settle.
But will this move be enough?
A policy creating a hostile environment
Since the Tory government came to power, one thing that refugees have testified about however is that the hostile environment currently in place in the UK is making them struggle much more than ever before. It’s actually making the situation harder for everyone, from those arriving to those trying to help.
Migrant Connections Festival, Tottenham, London, on 8 June
photo by MC
This is something that Nurozen, a 22-year old young woman from Eritrea I met in London, has clearly underlined in our interview. “I feel partly integrated; I feel that I can find a community here but this has happened thanks to charities, not the authorities. My parents and I left Eritrea to find a refuge, when I was under-aged, the first possible refuge, the United Kingdom or elsewhere. I feel lucky in a way to have arrived here, yes, because it seems to me that I now have more future than my friends in Eritrea. But to be honest, our opportunities are very limited by the asylum system, and by hostile immigration policies. We feel that the government is doing everything to make the climate very hostile to push the refugees back home. The legislative system is not human…”
Nurozen has been able to study and now speaks English perfectly because she arrived at 17. But a lot of her refugee friends are unable to pursue their education, for various reasons.
The situation for refugees from Central Africa is often much worse. The UK Home Office often dismisses their situation as not dangerous. I met with a couple of friends still waiting for a response to their asylum claims, though they have been through telling violence in their country for political reasons. They could testify of these with emotion. C. (who wanted to remain anonymous) has fled Cameroon after political repression and heavy persecution. “I’ve been to prison,” he told me after hesitating to talk for half an hour. His asylum bid is still pending and he’s currently losing hope. His friend S., who participated to a day of solidarity in London’s Tottenham neighbourhood, in an event baptised Migration Connections Festival, a week ago, was mostly silent. They both struggle to get financial support. And without the help of an organisation called Room To Heal, they wouldn’t even have a shelter. The community is bringing support to torture survivors and victims of human rights abuse.
A few hours prior, I met with Sarya Tunç, who’s a Kurdish journalist from Turkey. While discussing randomly at the Festival, around a cup of coffee, she told me how her family has been persecuted by the current Turkish regime for years: her father is a refugee in Germany and her brother in Switzerland. She came to England to perfect her English two years ago, planning to stay for two weeks. But while she was trying to depart, she found out that the Turkish government had cancelled her passport.
Since then, she has been stuck in London but also forbidden to join her father, refugee in Germany, or her brother, in asylum I Switzerland. “My father is an author. My brother is also a journalist and also a refugee. It was because of my political activities that my passport was cancelled, and because of my father’s political activities. He’s often written against Erdogan’s policy. He is a member of the Kurdish party.”
Sarya is still disturbed by 18 months of mistreatments: she never received the £20 she should have been granted per week by the home office; she was left confused by the asylum demands; she was never helped for accommodation, etc. “They were horrible,” she repeats, not willing to go into details, visibly afraid of saying to much.
Sarya has been able to remain in London, thanks to the help of members of the Kurdish and Armenian communities in the capital, avoiding her a deep isolation. She has improvement her English drastically and is still writing scientific and political article in Kurdish for Kurdish websites.
But other people were not so lucky. Like A. from the Democratic Republic of Congo (who also wants to remain anonymous), who was first forced to live in Wigan, near Liverpool, by the Home Office. Isolated and depressed, she has finally found a family to host her in London, thanks to religious charity groups.
Solidarity to overcome fear
But in places where people embrace solidarity, hosting refugees and building on events to help them integrate in the community, the situation improved quickly and asylum seekers have found their place and role in their new society.
This is for instance what the International Organisation for Migrations’ spokesperson has clearly stated in our exchanges and in a recent op-ed to be published later this week.
The case of Jane and her boyfriend, Kurds from Syria settled in Bristol, is an illustration of a successful integration. They now participate every year in the Bristol Refugee Festival, mid-June, paying music with her Syrian boyfriend as well as another refugee, who came from Sudan. The Festival is set up by Jules Olsen and Danny Vincent and offers half a dozen events over a week around World Refugee Day, on 20 June.
“Local communities play a key role in managing effective migration and integration policies, which was manifested in both the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) and the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) signed by countries from across the world last December, including the UK,” Abby Dwommoh, spokesperson for the IOM in London, explains. “By doing so, communities can become more active in the global arena - like Bristol - which gives opportunities to build upon existing forms of collaboration in the future. Walk the streets of Bristol and you will hear 91 languages from people of over 180 different nationalities. With 16% of its population outside the UK, Bristol is a global city.”
In Bristol as well, a large group of people also created a charity to bring awareness around the case of Ken Macharia, who fled Kenya because of his homosexuality and has been refused asylum by the Home Office.
In Sheffield, the famous case of Magid Magid, British Somali man who arrived in Britain from Somaliland as a child refugee in 1994, and became Deputy Lord Mayor and more recently was elected as a Green MEP in the recent European parliamentary election has raised awareness positively all over the country.
But one thing is sure, the journey to a new life in Britain hasn't been an easy one for any of these refugees.
Melissa Chemam qui a passé plusieurs années à Bristol pour l’écriture de son livre En dehors de la zone de confort (Éditions Anne Carrière), racontera la naissance d’une musique qui a changé la bande son de la fin du 20e siècle.
Baptisé ’Bristol Sound’ ou ’trip-hop’, le son de Bristol mêle une base hip-hop et rap avec un groove soul et des rythmes venus du reggae, saupoudrée d’influences comme le post-punk et la musique électronique. Si tout commence en 1989/1990 avec l’album Blue Lines de Massive Attack, ce son a fermenté pendant des années d’expérimentation au sein de la scène underground de Bristol où graffeurs et rappeurs se mêlaient dans un melting pot culturel créé par des décennies de migrations.
Massive Attack a depuis influencé largement la scène musicale, de Tricky à Portishead, mais aussi de Londres et bien au-delà. Leur leader, qui donne peu d’interviews, est le principal personnage du livre de Mélissa Chemam, avec lequel elle a échangé et discuté pendant des mois. Une trentaine d’artistes ont également été interviewés pour retracer cette histoire.
Diplômée de l’École de journalisme de Sciences Po, Mélissa Chemam a travaillé pour France 24, la BBC, RFI, France Culture et pour des magazines dont Le Monde des Religions, la Public Art Review, Tsugi ou encore Transfuge. Elle est aujourd’hui basée en Angleterre, travaille régulièrement pour la BBC, et écrit sur l’art, la musique, les liens postcoloniaux et le changement social.
Des tickets peuvent être retirés à l’accueil 1h avant le début.
Séances d’écoute grand format
Des séances d’écoute en haute qualité et dans leur intégralité d’albums fondateurs du Trip-hop seront proposées à la médiathèque pendant la semaine précédant la conférence (entre le 4 et le 6 novembre).
J'ai réalisé ce reportage pour la radio internationale allemande, Deutsche Welle, pour la Semaine mondiale en soutien des réfugiés.
Il sera diffusé ce soir à 17h, puis en ligne demain sur leur site, je partagerai le lien.
Voici le texte en attendant. D'autres, j'espère, suivront.
Bonne journée.
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VU D'ALLEMAGNE
L'ombre de l'extrême droite après le meurtre d'un élu allemand // Les difficultés des réfugiés au Royaume-Uni
L'Allemagne craint "un attentat politique d'extrême-droite" après l'arrestation d'un suspect, dans l'enquête sur meutre d'un élu au début du mois de juin. Un fait-divers qui illustre les attaques de plus en plus fréquentes contres les élus dans le pays. Dans la seconde partie de ce magazine, reportage à Londres auprès de réfugiés. Ils confient leurs difficultés quotidiennes dans le pays.
Dans la seconde partie du magazine, Vu d'Allemagne poursuit sa série sur les personnes réfugiées, à l'occasion de la journée mondiale des réfugiés, le 20 juin. Cette semaine direction le Royaume-Uni, un pays considéré, au sein de l’Union européenne, comme l’un des pays les plus sûrs pour les réfugiés, mais aussi le plus difficile à atteindre. Difficile à atteindre, d'abord parce que c'est une île et en raison de sa politique d’accueil de plus en plus restrictive. L’immigration a d’ailleurs été l’un des enjeux majeurs des débats sur le Brexit.
Comment se passe la vie de ceux qui atteingnent tout de même le Royaume-Uni ? Est-ce simple de s'installer sur place ? Mélissa Chemam nous emmène dans la capitale britannique.
Au sein de l’Union européenne, le Royaume-Uni est souvent l’un des pays les plus sûrs pour les réfugiés, mais aussi le plus difficile à atteindre. A la fois géographiquement, et en raison de sa politique d’accueil de plus en plus restrictive. L’immigration a d’ailleurs été l’un des enjeux majeurs des débats sur le Brexit… En cette Semaine mondiale des Droits des Réfugiés, notre correspondante dans le pays a été à la rencontre de ceux qui ont réussi à arriver de l’autre côté de la Manche, contre vents et marées…
Un reportage de Mélissa Chemam.
Londres, début juin 2019. Quelques jeunes du quartier de Tottenham organisent un festival pour améliorer l’accueil des nouveaux arrivants. Migrant Connections Festivalconnecte réfugiés, demandeurs d’asile et résidents locaux, offrant musique, nourritures, et ateliers gratuits.
Hera et Sohail, d’origines grecque et iranienne, s’occupent de mettre tout le monde en contact… Pour beaucoup, la journée est une bouffée d’oxygène, offrant un peu de solidarité au milieu des tracas administratifs. Comme pour ce demandeur d’asile camerounais, qui souhaite rester anonyme…
Il a subi de nombreuses violences dans son pays, et attends toujours la réponse à sa demande d'asile. Le désespoir est souvent pesant.
Pour Nurozen, réfugiée érythréenne de 22 ans, même une fois l’asile obtenu, l’installation en Angleterre reste difficile…
Elle explique son point de vue:
« Je me sens en partie intégrée, je sens que je peux retrouver une communauté ici et cela est arrivé grâce aux associations. Nous sommes partis pour trouver un refuge, le premier possible, le Royaume-Uni ou ailleurs. Je me sens chanceuse d’être arrivée ici, oui, d’une certaine façon, parce qu’il me semble que j’ai plus d’avenir que mes amis en Erythrée. Mais pour être honnête, nos opportunités sont très limitées par le système d’asile, par les politiques d’immigration hostiles. On sent que le gouvernement fait tout pour que le climat soit très hostile pour pousser les réfugiés à rentrer. Le système législatif n’est pas humain… »
Sarya Tunç est quant à elle journaliste. Elle est turque mais s’est vu annuler son passeport soudainement leur d’un séjour linguistique, du fait de ses articles et des activités politiques de sa famille, d’origine kurde. Après une attente de plus d’un an, elle a reçu son statut de réfugiée il y a deux mois :
« Mon père est un auteur et est quant à lui en Allemagne, où il est réfugié. Mon frère est aussi journaliste et vit en Suisse, il est également réfugié. Et c’est à cause de mes activités politiques que mon passeport a été annulé, et des activités politiques de mon père qui écrit souvent contre la politique d’Erdogan. Il est membre du parti kurde. »
Selon l’Organisation internationale des migrations, OIM, près de 9 millions de résidents au Royaume-Uni sont des étrangers. Mais les réfugiés sont infiniment moins nombreux : lors des 12 derniers mois 17000 personnes se sont vues accorder le droit d’asile.
Pour la plupart, l’intégration est extrêmement difficile. Sarya a trouvé un logement grâce à la communauté kurde, mais nombre de réfugiés sont envoyés dans d’autres villes d’Angleterre très isolées.
Une exception selon l’OIM est la ville de Bristol, où se trouvent 181 communautés de nationalités différentes… J’y ai rencontré les organisateurs du Bristol Refugee Festival, Danny et Jules, ainsi que Jane, une réfugiée syrienne qui joue de la musique traditionnelle pour leur festival…
Jane raconte:
« Quand je suis arrivée au Royaume-Uni, je me suis demandée comment trouver un moyen de m’intégrer à la société… Et j’ai rencontré Danny Vincent qui m’a permis d’accélérer cette intégration, d’améliorer mon anglais et de rejoindre le Chœur européen de musique, ce qui m’a beaucoup aidé. En arrivant ici, les gens étaient parfois fermés, mais ensuite ils s’ouvrent… »
Selon le Haut Commissariat au Réfugiés de l’ONU, en 2017, le monde comptait 65,6 millions de réfugiés. La même année, le Royaume-Uni a reçu 26 547 demandes d’asile.
Gloomy day in my country. No government, no direction and a grey, rainy weather, a few days before the Summer Solstice... Climate Change karma?? I believe everything is wrong is western politics because we spend our time talking about the men and ideas with hate, instead of nourishing the projects and prospects we want! You don't need a degree in political sciences (though I have one...) to figure that out. We must focus on our inspiration, whether by re-reading Plato or going to the Green Party's meetings, that's your choice, but please stop posting about these blond/orange monsters who don't deserve any access to power... You can read this instead! Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists is the first ever museum retrospective of Native American and Canadian female artists. It opened at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and until 18 August, over 115 artists from 50 native communities are being given the credit they deserve. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jun/13/native-american-female-artists-minneapolis-institute-of-art
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I worked lengthily on the history of Native Americans in 2018, when at Velvet Film. This looks like a great exhibition!! The film project is still in the making... But in the meantime, let's get inspired by this marvelous artwork:
Christi Belcourt (Métis) - The Wisdom of the Universe, 2014
Gratuit
