Not so long ago, everyone in Paris could hear a very popular song by rapper Oboy, who grew up in the Parisian banlieue. The song is called “Avec toi” and is about how nice it is to drive through the suburbs of Paris at night: We grew up in poverty, sings Oboy, viens on roule seuls dans la ville, et j’fuis les 22 comme la peste, we drive through the city alone, I’ll run away from the cops. In the video you can see Oboy, who was born in Madagascar in 1997, driving an expensive new Mercedes through the streets of the banlieues and partying with his friends on the roofs of the social housing towers.
The song tells of the hope that happiness can also be found in the suburbs. These hopes were brutally ended for 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk when, on June 27 in Nanterre, just before 8 a.m., he was caught in a police check at the wheel of a new Mercedes AMG and was shot dead at close range by a police officer after a chase . Ever since the riots broke out, there have been arguments about the banlieue again – about the suburban settlements that are shown in songs and music videos as a romantic alternative world, while in reality politicians leave them to their fate. Many of the so-called Villes Nouvelles, the new ghettos with their concrete towers, were built around Paris after the colonies were abandoned in the 1960s to 1980s to accommodate the growing population and migrants from North Africa. Often there was no connection to the existing city with its squares and job opportunities. There was as little mixing as there were opportunities for social advancement. The banlieusards were exploited as cheap labour, a lack of prospects and anger grew, 44 percent of the residents now live on the poverty line.