France: Concertina, coming together to explore imprisonment

Bernard Bolze. I have always been driven by this belief. Artists are able to cut through a complex issue in a sensitive way. They can make a message legible to everyone without using specialist, professional, or activist jargon. I’m thinking of Marceau the mime, who travelled the world silently yet knew how to communicate in every culture. Poets, musicians, actors, and circus performers can do the same.

Of course, it’s good to not reduce our message to a simple emotional one. We absolutely need the kind of people who can produce knowledge and put their observations to use, sharing ideas without being difficult or speaking over others. In fact, since becoming involved in these issues, I’ve always tried to suggest a hybrid approach that ties a message that speaks to the head to one that speaks to the heart. In 1994, we organised a consciousness-raising evening regarding prisons around the world at the Roman theatre in Vienne, combining artistic performances and social commentary. Nearly seven thousand people came to hear us talk about prison. We approached the subject from a few angles, prison of course but also unemployment, poor quality housing, racism, as many issues as can lead to prison. Representatives of these movements spoke. Every speech was paired with an artist. The people there still remember it. It was a magnificent evening, people left as the sun was starting to rise.

At the founding of the International Observatory on Prisons (Observatoire international des prisons, OIP), we worked with graphic designers from the world over and with musicians and singers like Jacques Higelin, Idir, Jane Birkin, the Têtes Raides, Juliette, Miguel Angel Estrella, and Louis Sclavis. The American rock ‘n roll and blues man Calvin Russel, who served ten years in prison, also comes to mind. They were all experts in their own way at making us, like them, sympathise with the fate of incarcerated people.

The artistic expression associated with this first edition of Concertina is limited as of yet, but will develop. We want to involve the many artists local to these Gatherings, and others who will join them.

We consider our artistic statement to centre on music. A big music school is located in Dieulefit and one of the highlights of these Gatherings will be a shared meal around which everyone will gather. We’ve named it “the cantina”. That will be a festive Saturday evening, with dancing.

BB. It’s a light-hearted, happy word. The concertina was originally an old, somewhat rustic instrument, a small accordion often used by clowns. It lent its name to barbed wire prior to the first World War, simply because it’s unfolds like the instrument and its creators wanted to give it a name without the stigma of the ominous-sounding “barbed wire”. This concertina is armed with fearsome sharp blades. I personally learnt the term while working for the Controller-General for Places of Deprivation of Liberty (Contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté, CGLPL). Concertina is found in every correctional facility…and in all CGLPL reports. Thus, concertina is also this cruel and efficient tool: “This is the finest fencing in the world. Light as air. Stronger than whiskey. Cheaper than dirt. All steel, and miles long. The cattle ain’t born that can get through it.” (John Warne Gates, barbed wire salesman. Texas, 1870).

It’s an appropriate name for our event, which will mix convivial moments with serious conversation.

One artist, a concertina player, will accompany some sessions. The instrument will also be present at a talk given by philosopher Olivier Razac, author of A Political History of Barbed Wire (Histoire politique du barbelé), a short, highly political work retracing the history of barbed wire, this “ingenious agricultural tool” invented as the American West was conquered to pen in bison and eliminate Native Americans. It would become the symbol of the First World War’s trenches and later, of Nazi concentration camps. Today it’s used in infinite ways, including to hinder migrant journeys.

BB. These Gatherings are fully linked to Prison Insider’s work. They put a human face to largely intangible efforts: Prison Insider is of course connected to the world, day to day and to the degree it can be. But it operates, even more so since coronavirus burst onto the scene, via online communications, phone calls and video conferencing. Each and every one of us has, in turn, felt the loss of rich human contact and gratifying collaboration. Prison interests people more than we might think. It mobilises people. We want to facilitate meetings and healthy emulation. Populist, even authoritarian regimes in Brazil, Turkey, Algeria, China, and Russia, prepare the ground for an extensive use of incarceration. This is also the case in democracies plagued by racism and inequality, such as the United States.

No country emerges unscathed from its carceral practices. Our dream is to create a permanent space for people motivated by the important question of imprisonment, and bring them together for a brief period every year

When I got involved in the world of prisons on the cusp of the 1970s, we activists were concerned about prisons. For the good reason that we were inside them! At the time, two major “families” were interested in prison: Christians and anarchists. It’s a Manichean view of things, but it summarizes two perspectives: the apolitical one of caring for “your” prisoner, and the “burn it all down” alternative. Prisoners were on the roof of many prisons and in many countries. The Prisons Information Group (Groupe d’information sur les prisons, GIP), and then the Prisoners’ Action Committee (Comité d’action des prisonniers, CAP), were active. The early 90s were the early years of the OIP, which today lacks the hoped-for global reach. The old-school Prison Visitors Charity (L’Œuvre de la visite des détenus dans les prisons, OVDP), got a facelift and became the National Association of Prison Visitors (Association nationale des visiteurs de prison). A movement was born. It was joined by new university courses, the emergence of human rights institutes and instruments, and medical care independent from the prison administration. This culture thrived, the prison administration evolved, and the circle of associated researchers grew. In fifty years, the landscape has changed considerably. Prison is an issue that interests seemingly distant disciplines. With Concertina, our dream is to create a permanent space for people motivated by the important question of imprisonment, and bring them together for a brief period every year. People in attendance will not agree on everything and may even have significant disagreements. The organising committee welcomes debate.