An extraordinary trial opens this Thursday, November 7 in Marseille, that of rue d’Aubagne, six years almost to the day after the death of eight people in the collapse of two buildings in the city center. Since then, dozens of associations and groups of citizens have mobilized, because the tragedy has become a symbol of the fight against substandard housing.
Impossible to ignore the hollow tooth of the rue d’Aubagne, this white space left by buildings 63 and 65, which contrasts with the blue sky of Marseille. Six years after the tragedyaround a hundred people listen to the relatives of the eight victims.
A relative of Fabien Lavieille left a message: “ On November 5, 2018 at 8:55 a.m., Fabien called his mother because he was no longer able to open the door to his apartment […] He literally saw the building fall on him and couldn’t do anything. His mother never had the strength to return to rue d’Aubagne […] but she would have liked to say to what extent she was touched by citizen mobilization and by everything that the collectives have achieved. »
Support justice
This shows the importance that civil society has taken in the fight against substandard housing: there was a before and an after the tragedy, confirms lawyer Chantal Bourglan, now retired. She has been fighting for years against substandard housing and has taken care of the cases of certain families on rue d’Aubagne: “ It was an electric shock for Marseille civil society to see that a city of such importance as Marseille could have so much substandard housing, dangerous for people’s lives and health. And there, it’s true that there was a very strong movement from the collective and that changed a lot of things all the same. »
Volunteers have also been a major support for the lawyers. They helped to compile files, for the trial or to help some of the 8,000 people displaced in the wave of evacuations of dilapidated buildings which followed the tragedy. “ All these associations, these collectives, helped us a lot to put together the files because the people were not able, given the trauma they had suffered, to gather documents, evidence, elements, know which lawyer to contact. , which structure to go to », agrees Chantal Bourglan.
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Direct prevention in the home
Associations plan their actions using social networks, particularly on WhatsApp. They organize a series of workshops open to all on substandard housing, or even door-to-door visits to popularize the issues at stake in the trial which begins this Thursday, November 7.
Prevention work which also involves direct vigilance among the inhabitants of Marseille. Mélina Foubert is project manager at the association of Compagnons builders Provence, which practices supported self-rehabilitation, that is to say repair by tenants: “ We work on home visits which allow us to carry out diagnostics in the accommodation, and to be able to identify work to be carried out by tenants. We support them at this level. And also to assert the rights of tenants regarding disturbances to the lessor, to initiate mediation, or even more if we see that the owner is not carrying out the necessary work. »
Citizen support is not only logistical, but also emotional. Ouafa Labbani lived in unsanitary housing for four years and regularly testifies in workshops. The collective of residents of the 3rd arrondissement of Marseille, CHO3, supported her during this difficult period: “ I paid slumlords. [Le CHO3] they always pushed me, they told me “you are a strong mother, try to be patient, you will succeed”. They ran with me, left, right “.
Broaden the issue
The associations are in contact with residents of Lille, Grenoble and even California, who intervened in the neighborhood just before the trial to testify during round tables on the situations in their respective cities.
For Kevin Vacher, member of the Collective of November 5 and resident of the rue d’Aubagne district, substandard housing is everywhere. “ The trial will demonstrate this because it puts the former Marseille town hall in the dock. But it also includes a trustee, a social landlord, co-owners, an expert. And that is a caricature of the situations of unworthy housing that we know everywhere in Franceeven in the world, it is an opportunity for us to discuss the system of substandard housing », Explains the activist.
Today, things are gradually moving in Marseille, with a charter to protect evicted people, put in place thanks to the work of residents, collectives and associations.
The trial will last until December 18: it has 87 civil parties and will have to determine the responsibility of 16 defendants, including a deputy of Jean-Claude Gaudin, the mayor at the time. A significant step, one among the many that punctuate the long road in the fight against unsanitary housing: at least 600,000 homes are still considered unworthy in France.
Listen to 8 billion neighborsAre there too many of us to live in decent housing?