“Switzerland is another world, you have to tell the truth” (Swiss Press Local 2021, by Antoine Menusier) - Swiss Press Award
Bon pour la tête
Antoine Menusier
In the summer of 2020, at the peak of the heat and the lowest point of the Covid-19 wave, the Jura municipality Porrentruy decided to ban non-Swiss people from the urban swimming pool because antisocial and dangerous behaviour had increased. The measure mainly affected young French border workers in the metropolitan area of Belfort-Montbéliard. How was this decision, which triggered controversy in the media and social networks, received in the nearby municipality Delle? The journalist set off to meet the residents of this usually quiet town, which nonetheless suffers from the same social tensions as other French cities and which supplies neighbouring Jura with many workers. Delle’s swimming pool was experiencing the same problems with behaviour, until the community put stronger protective measures in place. This story highlights the ambiguous relationships between the two border regions. We know each other well, and yet we
live alongside, rather than with each other – in two different worlds.
Interview with Antoine Menusier
