La prochaine aire, a word game for being the next rest stop/next era is a project that based in an abandoned canal house that was used for navigation.
The town of Joigny used to be a place for the military industry and in the 90’s when that industry left, 10% of the population left leaving the town with many social issues, poverty and empty buildings.
In a region mainly holds a right wing conservative population the left activists were looking for a safe space to gather in the outskirt of town and were passing by that abandoned house and realized they could use that space as their venue for meeting and establishing a community space.
Nowdays the place is managed by association based in town and run by volunteers that live in the house and operates during the days as a cafe stop for cyclists following the canal with a bike shed and self repair station. And on occasions holds social events ,workshop and live concerts.
From my understanding the people of the project had in mind the idea of making the space inclusive to people from all background and that they value having a good portrayal in the eyes of the locals and have a more moderate approach regarding the political agenda and cooperation with the town council and other partners.
It was a very different from the last 2 projects I’ve visited with the biketour (Bure and Lentilleres) that had a much stronger political stand of radical action and resistance to the authorities.
It raised an interesting debate between the group after we were proposed to interview for a local newspaper that it identified with the conservative right, with the question of how we would like to be portrayed and if we are ok with having an outside perspective “explaining” our ideology and especially considering the writers and readers of that newspaper and what agenda they are promoting.
As some of the group participants felt uncomfortable with that it was decided to reject the offer of the interview.
During our stay we watched live concerts that took place in the house, we organised some workshops such as Squatting and picklocking, we had a circle and a well needed rest after some long days of riding.
The group changed dramatically during our stay with 14 people leaving and 11 joining and in my perspective we took most of the time to get to know each other while not having really successful integration with other volunteers from the project.
I guess there is a thin line between our willingness to get involved with other collectives and activists with skill and knowledge sharing to maintaining a comfortable space for our own group dynamics.
On our second day there was a huge rainstorm in the afternoon, it is amusing how much we are affected by the weather as people were running everywhere to save their open tents, cover and hide the communal equipment, take down their freshly washed laundry while trying to stay dry.
Myself i hid in the tent for some 20 minutes hoping for the rain to slow down till i could reach my pannier and get my raincoat but the 1 meter separating between the tent and the bike was far enough to make sure i got half a shower.
The rest of the day plan changed as the concert moved inside the house were people were taking shelter and making some art while some were fixing bikes in the shed.
For me it is a great reminder how vulnerable we are to the environment and the ability to empathize better with people that cannot live inside a house or living in regions that are widely affected by the climate crisis.
Myself i hid in the tent for some 20 minutes hoping for the rain to slow down till i could reach my pannier and get my raincoat but the 1 meter separating between the tent and the bike was far enough to make sure i got half a shower.
The rest of the day plan changed as the concert moved inside the house were people were taking shelter and making some art while some were fixing bikes in the shed.
For me it is a great reminder how vulnerable we are to the environment and the ability to empathize better with people that cannot live inside a house or living in regions that are widely affected by the climate crisis.