Anas, Meryem and Malka are between 15 and 25 years old. They are all three from Saint-Denis and, on Thursday, June 27, they are settling into the improvised movie theater set up by the Ghett’Up association, which mainly deals with social justice in working-class neighborhoods, in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis). A large television screen is placed in the center of a room where you can read on signs the first name of Nahel, killed a year ago by a police officer in Nanterre, or “down with hess”misery. About thirty chairs fill the room, which gradually fills up, especially with first-time voters. The film begins, followed by a debate to find ways to fight the extreme right, a few days before the early legislative elections.
The film chosen for this film debate organized by the Popular Youth Front collective? They did ita comedy directed in 2015 by Rachid Akiyahou and Saïd Bahij. It is the story of Khalifa Kamara, a Frenchman of Senegalese origin who has just been removed from Pôle emploi. Faced with the difficulties that the young forklift driver encounters in finding work, he decides to get involved in politics and run in the municipal elections in his town to put an end to this glass ceiling. The young man struggles to put together a list, the Fédération des banlieues de France, and goes on the campaign trail. Behind the slogan “vote for us is to vote for you”, he mobilizes his neighborhood, neglected by the mayor running for re-election, who is experiencing significant abstention.
Khalifa Kamara’s epic makes people laugh and smile in the audience. It resonates strongly with current events. The happy ending of the film inspires hope and makes you want to savor a victory. The audience is also hoping for one, on Sundays June 30 and July 7. “Okay, it’s still a film,” tempers, lucid, Jiro, 28 years old. But the story of this epic encourages him to mobilize.
“The fight is imminent”
Originally from 15e arrondissement of Paris, Jiro now lives in Essonne. Even though he does not come from a working-class neighborhood, he shares a common reality with the inhabitants of these territories, that of children from immigrant backgrounds, of “racialized” people. After studying law and history, Jiro dedicated himself to rap and, for the past week, he has been helping people close to him and those less close to him to check their registration on the electoral lists or to make proxies.
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In the evening, he came to take part in the debate and answer the question: ” What are we doing “, now and after? How to take ownership of the political battle? Anas, 15, admitted to being disoriented. Even though he cannot yet vote, he feels fully involved and is afraid of making the wrong choice later. Abdenour, 20, thinks that we must call for voting while understanding the reasons for abstention. For him, we must fight the ideas of the extreme right at the root. For Sarah, 18, “The fight is imminent, we must call for a vote” without being paternalistic or blaming.
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