(en) France, Alternative Libertaire AL dossier spécial sur
l'éducation populaire - Reclaiming the MJC, possible (fr, it, pt)
[machine translation]
Yes, the MJC may be more than a place where one makes the socio-cultural animation to
"occupy" neighborhood youth. With a little imagination and political will, it can play an
effective social role in relation to the inhabitants and residents, and defending its
margin vis-à-vis government autonomy. ----------- Houses Youth and Culture (MJC) took off
in the 1960s, supported by the will of the Gaullist government of "youth care", while the
company was moved from the phenomenon of "hooligans "(every time his anguish ...). ----
However, once the post-May 68, now considered "red nests", they have become a target of
repression, and the authorities have tried to put them in line. If we add to that the
professionalization of animation, it's been over thirty years that we see wither activists
and volunteers of the MJC networks, and reduce support for activities by-using and users
themselves. Yet all is not lost, as demonstrated by some experiments.
Takeover by wage earners ...
There are some signs that suggest that currently, in the MJC, we may be witnessing the end
of a cycle delegation, which was allowed to docile professional management structures,
instead of acting for manage collectively we either user, moderator or facilitator ... We
can say that with people like Franck Lepage[1] and Laurent Ott[2] and the relatively large
audience they face, we feel up a desire for reappropriation of popular education places.
This feeling seems to match the MJC where I work, in eastern Paris. In 2011, the structure
was in near bankruptcy filing, they are employed - ruling themselves other associations in
the same district - who lent the money to pay salaries. At the same time, the place was
ransacked by young people in conflict who could not find their place in the structure. For
some, the street is both a place of confrontation between rival gangs, and drug use in the
open place. There were times when the entrance to the MJC was monitored by security guards ...
... And by users, and-using
Agoras were held in 2011 to redefine a project with wage earners, volunteers, and
users-using. At the same time, a new contract was signed with the City for equipment
management and implementation of activities. At first, the reorganization of work spaces,
rooms were made, allowing a discussion of what we do or not. The battle was also to bring
out the consumption and rolling joints outward, while opening new opportunities, for
example by allowing young people to propose and organize parties.
So several evenings prepared by the young people themselves, with young people took place.
The purposes of these evenings were also discussed:
financing of hours of studio recording, another evening to help parties buddies in prison.
This has opened a debate on what the MJC could secure or not, what aid might serve. If for
the first evening, a dozen professional them were present, three are enough today, youth
support functions and organization, which is the condition for the MJC opens at nightfall .
Once again become a place of socialization and solidarity
Gradually, it is to be again a place for socialization and non-market games. We can set up
a reflection on consumption, have on display both concerts at the local church as punk
gigs in bars in the neighborhood. A real range of choices.
A "book service" (where you can take or leave books) was established. Films and debates
take place also: on agriculture, the undocumented, the Chiapas and the EZLN ...
MJC has developed solidarity tools with a strong public undocumented: through workshops to
help with homework, French foreign-language courses (FLE) for non-francophone parents, the
public writer hotlines , workshops job searches, use of computers ... There are also exits
to the stadium, donated books, the library, the availability of documents on social rights
on free activities Paris in the summer, etc ... This is primarily to keep and reclaim the
basic principles of popular education that is free, solidarity, sharing, do-all,
developing the critical thinking and knowledge.
Class struggles at the MJC
Redefining the MJC project is eliminate activities which the association is a local
provider unrelated to the inhabitants and residents. The activities, even imposed by the
specifications of the Town Hall, should enable the coexistence of all social categories.
We managed until now, despite the stress of the new school timetables and impoverishment
especially among the middle classes. This is to ensure that there is not a side activity
for the rich and the other activities for the poor, but to maintain diversity in all actions.
Discussions with local authorities who want to make public education their armed wing are
to remember that we are bearers of values and that, depending on these, we deploy own
activities or self-funded. The pressure is important. In Paris, the town feels more in
difficulty, the more she wants us to act in its meaning. Subsidies can lead to diktats,
after which the associations propose but not bend to the demands of elected representatives.
We must also fight against the personal pressures on the pretext of their engagement, are
sometimes abused at work. SOUTH Asso, which the unionized wage earners associations,
speaks of "Stockholm Syndrome" to refer to those workers who espouse the view of their
boss, because he is "left" ...
It is necessary to move towards greater cooperation between structures in the communities,
to offset the competition between associations, which has shut down more than thirteen MJC
in Île-de-France in 2015!
Christmas (AL Oise / asso sector CNT-SO)
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Se-reapproprier-les-MJC-c-est
