The article "I will sleep in the northern quarters" by Aurélie rash of the school of Journalism and Communication of Aix-Marseille received the third prize Charles Gide of the "best reportage in social economy" of the Cooperative Credit Foundation. This award by a jury of a dozen professionals is aimed at the final year students of the 13 journalism schools recognized by the profession. We have three reasons to thank Aurélie Rash for her article. This award allows a young journalist to have been able to recognize her talent by taking as subject the coopérative of inhabitants Hotel du Nord. Charles Gide was a great defender and theorist of consumer cooperatives (see on Wikipedia: Http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Gide). This award promotes a cooperative experience in Marseille. Marseille was both the place of abandonment and cooperative hope. In 1888, it was at the Congress of Marseille that the cooperative expectations arising from the revolution of 1848 were abandoned for the benefit of a part of the single workers [1]; In 1940 it was in Marseille that a workers ' cooperative, the Biscuit Factory "The Golden Fruit" was founded and would work 200 refugees until 1942; It is in Marseille that from 1944 to 1946 that the recommendations of the Resistance Council which advocated the establishment of a "true economic and social democracy" gave rise to an experience of self-management of company unique in France AvecMARseille Entreprises REQuisitionnées: 15,000 workers have thus acceded and participated in the management of 15 companies in Marseille [2]. Finally, it is also in Marseille that the consumer cooperative is reinventing itself with autoparting Provence, Proxi-rickshaw or northern hotel without forgetting recently Fralib where trade unionism reconnects with the cooperative (see article of the world of 18 June 2013 [3]).
I'll sleep in the northern quarters.
Contemplate the Mediterranean, the industrial back-port or the Garrigue, but from the cities. In Marseille, a cooperative created by local residents offers guest rooms in neighbourhoods that are usually not frequented by tourists. The bay window opens onto a terrace bathed in light. The winter-shaving sun cuts the landscape into glittering objects. At a loss of sight, the sea, Majestic and radiant, imposes its immense presence. "The view of the Mediterranean while we are in the northern districts, it always amazes," amuses Virginie Lombard. This Parisian of 49 years has lived for thirteen years in the 15th arrondissement of Marseille. Since last November, she has rented the room from her apartment on the fourth floor of the Cité de la Cabucelle through the Coopérative Hotel du Nord. Some people have made this original initiative two years ago: renting their rooms, in the heart of the cities, to discover the unknown wealth of the Marseille suburbs. The Northern Hotel is one of the first cooperatives in France to give the floor to the inhabitants. The idea was born out of a bet: "It was thought that it was possible to develop an offer of hospitality and market discovery in the northern neighbourhoods and that it would meet a demand," says Prosper Wanner, the manager. This training engineer found himself at the head of a project conceived as early as the years 1990. I met a collective of heritage curators who militated on this territory. A few years ago they had published a manifesto to protest a project to modernize the administration. For them, museums were out of step with the territory they were in, he says. At the time co-manager of a cooperative that accompanies the innovative economic structures, he joined the concept of Hotel North in 2002. They came to ask me how to develop an economy that would involve the inhabitants. We have done internships for the creation of companies, reports on the notions of heritage and economy, attempts at common actions on the ground, etc. Three years later, Europe provides them with a first reference legislative framework: the Faro Convention, which recognises that "every person, alone or in common, has the right to benefit from the cultural heritage and to contribute to its enrichment". If France ignores the text, the town hall of the 15th and 16th arrondissements of Marseille became the first signatory in 2009. Local support that allows the next year to launch five guest rooms in the neighborhoods. In the Face of the success of this test period, the North Hotel Heritage Cooperative is officially set up the following year. Rooms starting from five euros today, the team managed by Prosper Wanner has about 50 members including thirty associates. "A good bunch of motivated," jokes Virginia. This botanist and shared garden host attended the Co-op for six months before becoming a member. "Local artists ' collectives made me know North Hotel a year and a half ago. What interested me was that the tourist, as the inhabitant, discovers by walking all the richness of the neighborhoods! Five months later, she decided to open her room. For Prosper Wanner, the challenge is to make people cross. How to address everyone, knowing that we are in very diverse neighbourhoods in terms of habitats, social categories, etc. ? Another obstacle, legal this time, prevents some tenants from becoming a host. If Virginia, whose property is in co-ownership, can rent his good, the tenants of social habitats are not entitled to it. Being a guest house is likened to subletting, an illegal practice that the cooperative is trying to get accepted. The senator-mayor of the 15th and 16th districts, Samia Ghali, is currently preparing a proposal for a law to ensure that the guest house activity is occasionally possible in social housing. While waiting to expand the accommodation offer, thirty-six rooms in apartments, maisonettes or Bastide houses are already available. Prices, fixed freely by each host, vary between 5 and 160 euros. The Co-op recovers a percentage of 10% on the number of tariffed nights. The rest goes to the hosts. But for Virginie, as for Michèle Rauzier, owner of one of these bastide, the recipe is not the first motivation. "We receive charming people with whom we create links. Some have even become friends. That's my heart. But I don't like to win a little bit of money: a house like that is a real financial chasm! The young retiree by unveiling her property. In a green setting, adjacent to a lighthouse, the large blue-flaped house overlooks the area and offers a wide view of the industrial port. A landscape that can also be admired from the room that Michèle rents. "Don't be too careful, the last host just left, I haven't cleaned up yet," she apologises by arranging the bed of the room with an immaculate white. For this girl of a bar boss, hospitality is second nature. "I get people like I'm getting family, I've always lived like that since I was little," she claims. A welcome that was just as warm for Daniel and Martine Pattin, who have just left the apartment in Virginia after a weekend. "It's a nice surprise, we're very happy. We have already come to Marseille five years ago but this time we did not feel like tourists but rather to be invited, "recounts Martine. It is after discovering North Hotel in a magazine that the couple of Parisians contacted Virginie via the website of the Cooperative. "The interest of this accommodation is really to be inserted into the city, to live the neighbourhood life. But there are also local products, history and heritage memory, which is what makes the difference, "concludes Daniel. Another image of the northern districts develop hospitality in the neighborhoods, it is also to make forget the blackboard that is too often drawn from Marseille, especially in the media: Account settlements related to drug trafficking, theft of jewellery, dirt of The city, etc. We rely on a militant project. The northern neighbourhoods have exciting stories, but they probably remain to write and tell, commented Julie. This member participates in the other flagship activity of the cooperative: The heritage walks, which reveal small corners of paradise close to the concreted neighborhoods. For six euros, we discover massive limestone by climbing through the garrigue, ruins of an ancient Celtic civilization or an unearthing waterfall just two steps away from the cities. To complete these courses, the cooperative, listed in the Guide of the 2013 backpacker, also offers books, stories of hospitality, a dozen local products, including handmade soap, and honey produced in the neighborhoods. Since its creation, Hotel du Nord, which receives financial support from public structures, closes its balance sheets to balance. In two years it generated an overall economic activity of 42 500 euros, of which 20 000 euros of revenue via the rooms. The number of nights has more than tripled and the rides attract more and more amateurs. Today its activity is slowed down by a problem of legal status. Trump France, the agency charged by the State to manage tourism development, does not take into account its cooperative nature and obliges it to make a choice: to call on a travel agency to continue to offer its offers, or to pay the surety to be registered as such. As a cooperative, the North Hotel asks to be recognized as a Solidarity travel agency. A request that Prosper Wanner sent to the Minister of Social economy and solidarity, Benoît Hamon, in mid-April. "If we win, we could sell stays, overnight packages plus strolls, or overnight more work, without going through a travel agency," he hopes. While waiting to settle its legal obstacles, Hotel du Nord does not lose sight of the millions of tourists expected this summer for the year 2013, for which Marseille was designated European Capital of Culture. About twenty walks and a dozen additional rooms are being opened. Aurélie Rash, School of journalism and Communication of Aix-Marseille