The lowlands of Paris

I was a gang leader The analysts of juvenile deviance and delinquency will be interested in popular environment, the citizens concerned by these subjects as well as many social workers. The first part of the book corresponds to the autobiographical story of Lamence Madzou, a young man from Congo who has become a “ street »Of a city Hlm from the south of Essonne. If his delinquent career, which brought him from the age of fifteen in prison (seven incarcerations between 1987 and 1996), constitutes the common thread of his story, many social dimensions often more or less linked to it are nevertheless discussed: the tests of emigration/immigration, family tension, expulsion of French territory and forced return to the country of origin led to the discovery of a civil war, the loves of a “ gang chief “, Political clientelism symbolized in the work by” Dassault system “De Corbeil-Essonnes (set up in the 1990s) and by connections between the association” Sos Racism “And the Elysée (1980s) aimed at recovering” Marche for Equality “From 1983 (now” The Beurs Marche ), The rapid decline of the fraternal and pacifist ideals carried by the young “ Zulu Nation »Coming from the Bronx and arrived in Paris in the mid -1990s…

Lamence Madzou offers us a trip to a “ band world “, Rather than in a” gang world “As the title of the work indicates, which explains that the second part of the book, written by the sociologist Marie-Hélène Bacqué, is entitled” Travel to the world of bands “And not in that of” gangs (Street). Terminology “ gang “Seems to be exaggerated if we consider that the American, Brazilian, Salvadorians, South African street gangs, etc., define and restrict the possibilities of use of the term” gang »: Political and police corruption at the local level, associative and charitable activities at the local level, truly military activities with war weapons in many cases, distinctive signs specific to gang (tattoo, dress, coded language …), longevity of the organization with renewal on several generations (as is for example the case with the gang of Crips of Los Angeles), etc.

Bands, therefore … however the bands of the 1980s in which the author mingled until winning the leadership From one of them are very specific bands, extraordinary in a certain way, in the sense that they are clearly different from small neighborhood bands which constitute the ordinary of the “ bandwall »Parisian yesterday and today. The bands considered by the authors correspond indeed to groups structured at the start by the emerging artistic practices of the African-American hip-hop culture, a popular and urban culture influenced in its beginnings by the precepts of the “ Zulu Nation ». The source of this culture is then found in intramural Paris, in Garde du Nord, Châtelet-les-Halles and Defense for example. Hundreds of young people “ suburban Discover the four corners of Ile-de-France to discover the tags, the graphs, the breakdance and the rap. Fascinated by American power, built by the socio-economic crisis and the “ malaise of the suburbs “That they associate more or less with the horror of” ghetto US “, They show a certain geographic mobility to join the central places of Parisian hip-hop culture, thus invalidating in part, as indicated by Marie-Hélène Bacqué, the analyzes which favor the problems of spatial segregation and territorial confinement (sometimes to the detriment of their causes) to describe the social tensions experienced by the popular youth of the 1980s/2000.

In these Parisian districts where hip-hop culture flourishes, find themselves and mix novice adventurers and young artists from all over the Parisian suburbs and popular Parisian districts such as 18^ethe 19th^e and the 20th^e. Most of these young people come from the most insecure class fractions in the popular world where Maghreb families are then overrepresented and, more and more, sub-Saharan families. They then form qualified groups of bands, bands whose workforce can reach, depending on the legend and the opportunity, several hundred members. They bring hip-hop in the suburbs, first in the northern suburbs. We know that the artistic disciplines of hip-hop will have a great success and that the principles of “ Zulu Nation »Will be largely ignored and even ridiculed.

At the same time, the different forms of racism suffered by the bands concerned, in particular on the part of the bands of “ skins “Which rampant in the 1980s and which symbolize the revival of the extreme right and ultra-violent racism, push some of them to claim their color, black in this case, and to” hunt skins “(Filled since on the Boulogne park of the Parc des Princes ?). The skin color, which defines vaguely but quickly “ the breed From belonging, becomes a first -rate identity mark. Solidarity between “ Black »Should allow the stigma and the balance of power to be revealed in certain public spaces. The Madzou Lamence Autobiography as well as the analysis of Marie-Hélène Bacqué raise the question of an identity “ Black “From France, an identity which, at least in the” bandwall “, Syminalically links ethnic groups and sub-Saharan nationalities to the eyes of” Whites (Franco-French and son of immigrants from southern Europe combined). Recall that sub-Saharan immigration becomes “ significant »As from the 1980s. Lamence Madzou said it bluntly: in the street, the” Black »Beginning to represent a force, capable of muzzling the racism of some” Whites “, Or some” Arabs »We would be tempted to add even if it is not mentioned in the book. We will also add that the latter have known the same process. The sons of immigrants from all Tunisian, Moroccan and Algerian regions (including Kabylia), were widely confused under the same identity “ Arab », The identity attributed to them spontaneously by people foreign to the Maghreb. Remember that we are not talking about the whole population here “ Arab ” Or “ black “, But of a specific population: that of” bands of the bands », An essentially masculine and popular youth, particularly stigmatized and precarious.

The socio-economic problem is combined here with the racial question and this constitutes one of the major interests of the Travel to the world of bands Proposed by Marie-Hélène Bacqué. Madzou’s blade then describes the misunderstanding between two “ generations »Of Parisian hip-hop culture: that of young adults who blame their cadets for betraying the ideals of the” Zulu Nation », And that of adolescents, more dissatisfied and violent. After uniting against the “ skins These adolescents clash them, in an increasingly self-destructive interview. To each their Parisian districts, their spaces of influence, which gathered becomes what divides. The rivalry between bands gradually takes on a vague territorial dimension. Two large blocks take shape after many hesitations and reversals: those of the North (with names as imagined as: the “ Junior sharks ” – claiming a parentage with” Vicious sharks ” – or” Black Fist “, THE “ Mendy “, THE “ Criminal Killer Crew “) And those of the South (the” Fight Boys “, THE “ Boys stuffing “, THE “ Black Dragons “, THE “ Syndicate of Crime »). The northern bands, ultimately united, dominate most of the strategic sites. Lamence Madzou organizes revolt and, with the help of “ Fight Boys “Gets” respect for the North “(That is to say, fear), as well as a more advantageous Parisian territory, after” three years »De l’Er menstante (1989-1991).

Asking and noting daily the unnecessary costs of their Guéguerre as well as the dead end in which it leads them, Lamence Madzou and several of his knowledge decide to take risks in a much more calculated and above all more profitable way. From a virilist expression delinquency, we therefore go to an acquisition of acquisition, more territorialized, less visible, closer to the suburbs.

Drug trafficking and stolen cars, burglaries and scams “ Nigerian », Racket and possession of firearms: then parade the list of criminal acts which lead to Madzou’s blade to the border of another world, that of” teams Great banditry, which at the time also moved to the Parisian suburbs. Lamence Madzou then questions his choice of life (by following among others the advice of certain police officers who spotted him and with whom he more or less sympathized !), Before being expelled from French territory and being plunged for two years in the Congolese civil war.

Back in France, he found the strength to bounce with an unusual vigor (regularization of his administrative situation, writing of rap texts and then a few years later of his autobiography, couple life and birth of a son in the meantime, new associative experience, contribution to several reports in suburban neighborhoods, etc.), until becoming a “ media figure “Malaysian and hopes of” The suburbs “, Like Yazid Kherki.

The major contribution of the book is undoubtedly all the lighting it brings to the famous bands “ Parisian Who worked on the chronicle of the mid -1980s until the early 1990s, an era when certain renowned researchers like François Dubet explained that the bands had disappeared under the effect of social disorganization. Since the bands have returned to the sociological analysis of juvenile deviance and delinquency in popular environment, in particular with the problem of spatial confinement, territorial appropriation and “ bizness In the suburban cities.

Thanks to the trip offered to us the testimony of Madzou’s blade and the analysis of Marie-Hélène Bacqué, we better understand the changes made in this “ bandwall », A world like the society that generates it.