A In G Major, and a special broadcast today, since we took the path of the RER and other suburban trains to meet the Chibanis. White-haired, in their sixties and over, they were mostly these young immigrant workers from the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa, which France needed to rebuild itself after the war, and then as a workforce from the 70s.
Today, the hour of retirement rings painfully: since these forgotten of the “glorious thirty” (about 110,000 in France) housed by Adoma ex-Sonacotra live in immense precariousness, supported Allah y Berek by tenacious associative networks including theATMF (the Association of Maghreb Workers of France). It is moreover in the premises of this association in Gennevilliers, near Paris, that we meet those who have the elegance to testify to their status and their life course, these chibanis who – I admit – have a bit of my grandfather’s face. They are three with, in order of appearance, Mohamed Djoumi, Abdellah Moubine (president of ATMF) and Mouloud.
Music played during the show
Meskoud Abdelmajid Al-Assima
Rachid Taha ya rayah
Idir Vava inouva
(Rebroadcast July 7, 2020)