Jean Marie Guillon

 

The commune of Carnoux-en-Provence was created in August 1966 – the culmination of a strange story, perhaps unique of its kind, since in the 20th century it was more common to merge or get rid of communes than it was to create them. That difference is what justifies this news item.

At the beginning it was just a corner of the garrigue, 270 hectares (667 acres) in area, divided between two properties and situated on the territory of Roquefort-Le Bédoule, between Aubagne and Cassis. In 1957 it was purchased for 45 million by some ex-colonials from Morocco who wanted to build homes  for people being forced to leave Morocco – 1,200 of them – but who wanted to remain together. As Emilien Prophète, the initiator of the affair says, this was one of the direct consequence of Morocco's independence. A witness explains: "there were a number of us who thought we would be forced to leave Morocco, a land we considered our home, either because we had been born there or because we had spent our working lives there. So we chose one of our number to go back to France to find a place where we could all live when the time came."

To do this, a cooperative estate management company was created in Casablanca in March 1957. The following year work began, building the first batch of 45 houses, followed  in 1962 by another 250 houses. But building these houses, only 6 kilometres from La Bédoule, was not without problems, particularly since the Prefect had granted them building permission even though the land was not suitable for building – a valley in the middle of a rocky area. There were no services and no shops, electricity only arrived two years later in 1960. Defects appeared. The cooperative was in trouble, the promoter, who was still selling lots from Morocco, had legal worries, the communist town-councils of Roquefort-La Bédoule and Aubagne were well enough disposed but didn't want to carry the cost of a new urban agglomeration (the wisdom of the initial grants was now being called into question). In addition, with the arrival of the expatriate colonials from Algeria, the population grew (1,300 in 1966) and its composition changed, the new arrivals being younger and from a different background, above all they owed nothing to the original promoters. The inhabitants split into two camps, the "prophétistes" and the defence committee which was formed in 1962. To resolve the crisis an administrator was brought in, but the issue of the administrative status of the agglomeration remained unanswered. La Bédoule feared it would be drowned if it absorbed these new residents, and the latter did not want to be attached to Aubagne, since they would lose their autonomy and identity. They finally agreed on a joint plan: La Bédoule bringing in 140 extra hectares (346 acres) and Aubagne 25 (62 acres). So a process begun in 1964 was completed in 1966. On the town hall (which had not yet been built in 1966) there is a commemorative plaque put up in 1984 which lists some of the stages the commune went through. When this news film was made a special committee, chaired by a former colonel of native affairs, had just been set up to organise local elections. These took place on January 15th 1967 and were highly disputed by the two clans. The "prophétistes" were beaten, the expatriates from Algeria won, which explains the atmosphere in this clip, coming from both the interviews and the pictures and sound (Enrico Macias, obviously). The commune cultivated its pied noir specificity, meaning: Algeria remains French. The town centre, later named Place Maréchal Lyautey, the church, called far from innocently, Our Lady of Africa (the same as the basilica in Algiers), the form of Catholicism worshipped there, the names given to the streets (Maréchal Juin, Cardinal Lavigerie etc) even the social hierarchy were all redolent and reminiscent of Algeria. The camera lingers quite deliberately on the Arab builders building houses they will not live in and on the shanty town where they do live, a situation which the journalist puts down to legacies of the past. However the film also takes into account a great vitality, particularly economic and social. Some people express a desire for openness and integration in the region's affairs, which has since largely happened, even if there still remain many traces of the small town's origins.

Bibliography:

Roger-Pierre Raoult, Naissance d'une idée, création d'une cité ... Carnoux-en-Provence, La Guerche, Association “Carnoux-Accueil”, 1988.

Abdelmalek Sayad, Jean-Jacques Jordi et Émile Témime dir., Migrance. Histoire des migrations à Marseille, tome 4, Aix-en-Provence, Édisud, 1991.