“The Laundromat, trafficking, violence and daily life: a year of immersion in the heart of a city”: independent journalist Siam Spencer, 26, is publishing this Thursday with Robert Laffont Editions an immersion book in the heart of the Moulins district in Nice. She lived there for seven months near La Laverie. This “four”, nickname given to the deal points, was the most profitable in the Alpes-Maritimes (450,000 to 600,000 euros per month), before the destruction of the building began in October. Interview.
How did you end up in this neighborhood? Did you intend to make a book about it?
No, the idea was not to make a book. I came to work in Nice, I was looking for accommodation. I didn't have a very good rental record, I'm a freelancer, no real pay slips, it's complicated. I found rental accommodation for young professionals and students in the Moulins district.
You are a journalist, you were aware that the neighborhood is called “sensitive”. No worries about living there?
I had already done subjects in sensitive neighborhoods. So certainly, living there is different than going there for a report. But I had a stupid thought: 7,000 people live there, why not me? When I arrived, there were fewer shootings; I saw it above all as a working-class neighborhood.
You talk about life in the neighborhood, but especially the soundscape. You were marked by the noises…
The most striking thing when I arrived were the watchers screaming “it’s happening”every time the police approach. This thing resonated constantly. I come from a radio background, so obviously I am more sensitive to sounds. Then the “it’s happening” came one after another, I got used to it. It punctuates the days. There were also firework mortars, or sometimes firearms.
You evoke danger, fear. Is it constant? You even slept on a mattress on the floor to avoid a possible stray bullet…
The danger is at times. When it shoots, there is still a fear that sets in on the submarine. I didn't tell myself “I'm going to take a bullet”, but reflexes were put in place. A little side “You never know.”
How do people experience this fear?
When I heard the first shots under my window, I went out to the Place des Amaryllis. I was really surprised to see that life continued. People said “These are things that happen”. There was a form of resignation. Through the associations with which I was from time to time, I was able to chat with certain mothers. Some, out of fear, take the car to travel 300 meters.
The watchers, a lost youth?
No, that would condemn them, most of them don't want to be watchers all their lives. This is a vulnerable youth. For unaccompanied minors, there are social issues, poverty, and clichés that can stick with them. What struck me is that they are not aware of the danger, they are teenagers who tell themselves that nothing is going to happen to them. They feel like superheroes.
You talk at length about the functioning of the La Laverie deal point, but you devote a large part of your book to the residents, to their daily lives, often based on solidarity…
Les Moulins is a mix of the two. There are strong moments of violence, but in everyday life I have noticed a lot of solidarity, the nice little word when going to the market. Like this senior ball mixing all generations, or environment days. There is especially one thing that I did not find in the city center, and that is the fact that young people help the elderly. I found a wonderful village life there.
You are talking about another form of violence, this one social…
That's what made me the most angry. Living among cockroaches, rats, trash cans, days without hot water, without elevator. It's socially violent, it's another form of insecurity. The residents are both resigned and angry about this.
Being a young woman of 26 years old in this neighborhood, how did you experience it?
I didn't have a bad experience. On a daily basis, I pay attention to being feminine, I have not changed the way I dress. I only received one comment from a guy who told me “You’re cute.”while in the center of Nice I was harassed by tourists, like rarely in my life. I just put some brakes on myself to go to the café on the Place des Amaryllis because there are only men there. Instinctively a terrace full of men is not a place where I want to sit.
“The Laundromat. Traffic, violence and daily life: a year of immersion in the heart of a city.” Editions Robert Laffont. 263 pages
