Word: homelessness
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...this" began on Dec. 16, when an association known as the Children of Don Quixote set up around 100 tents for the homeless alongside the canal. The organization then called on more affluent Parisians to come spend time - or even an entire, freezing night - at the camp to feel what the poor experience. Brothers Jean-Baptiste and August Legrand founded Children of Don Quixote, and laid out nearly $4,000 in personal savings to dramatize the situation of the homeless during a French pre-electoral season in which poverty seems conspicuously absent from the political debate. Since then, additional homeless...
...know what it will change in the end, but there sure are lots of people coming up here to have a look," says a 54-year-old homeless man who identifies himself only as G?rard as he pulls blankets, trash bags of clothes and even a Razor scooter from his tent while tidying up. Passing motorists slow down to gaze upon G?rard and his fellow campers; foreign tourists and vacationing French people stroll by, some taking photos and others stopping to converse with the homeless protestors. "Usually people avoid us - change to the side of the street...
...protest has been more effective than the Legrands had imagined. Sustained media coverage has lured interested visitors and sympathizers to the canal, turning up the heat on politicians. Conservative presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy was the first to respond, issuing a vague campaign promise to virtually eradicate homelessness - a socially ambitious position for an otherwise militantly free-market candidate. Initially reticent to respond to what it snubbed as a grandstanding manipulation of unfortunates, France's conservative government returned from its Christmas break with promises to increase and improve shelter capacity for the homeless. Under personal orders of President Jacques Chirac...
...Supporters of the homeless - officially estimated to number 85,000 in a nation of 60 million, although some put the number closer to 150,000 - say that isn't enough, and vow to remain in their canal encampment until they have shaped public opinion in support of long-term remedial action. Temporary shelters and emergency aid, they argue, are but a temporary solution that will eventually leave the homeless back on the streets. Instead, experts say state funding would be better spent creating or requisitioning subsidized housing for the homeless, offering a base of stability from which they can reintegrate...
...wooden pallets as insulation. Along a stretch of embankment an improvised sign has renamed "SDF Boulevard," G?rard backs into and zips up his tent to prepare for what he good-naturedly anticipates will be "another night, and more people wandering by." Further upstream, in a series of more permanent homeless camps by the canal, visitors are greeted with far less cheer - and told to go "back down there if you want a show." Asked why his group seemed hostile to the homeless protest drawing so much attention to his plight, a bearded man in a heavy army coat waved...