- Specialist educator in Dunkirk since 1993, the author of the book, Philippe Toulouse, fought to have a relay house built for the homeless.
- Philippe Toulouse accuses the leaders of the association for which he worked of having embezzled public funds.
In his book Les Invisibles * , the Dunkerquois Philippe Toulouse recounts his various battles. Worthy of the TV series, Baron Noir , the book, published on February 6, retraces what he calls "his itinerary as a specialized educator". By wanting to help the most underprivileged, the educator claims to have discovered the well-oiled cogs of a system of corruption where the politician has control over the whole city. Interview with a whistleblower.
A large part of your book is devoted to your fight with the homeless. What motivated this fight?
As a specialized educator, I saw a lot of people who died on the street when we could help them by creating suitable structures and professionalizing the marauders. I had only one idea in mind: to create a house for the homeless and to avoid deaths. But despite my requests to the association in which I worked, the leaders did not move. It was there that I learned how the association worked. Everything went through the magistrate [the mayor]. So I arrested him and it was from there that my troubles started.
How did these troubles translate?
Fighting misery in France is dangerous because it affects power. I was under daily pressure, they put me in the closet, they changed the locks on my office ... I realized that I should not expect anything from my leaders and politicians. This first fight with people in the street brought me into worlds that I never imagined: show biz, politics, union ... I observed the system. This is how I learned. So I got involved in politics to make sure that the relay house, which I had wanted, was born. I also asked Dany Boon to sponsor this project.
What was the role of Dany Boon?
In 2002, Dany Boon's notoriety rose in the North. Many locals recognize their authentic personality. I tell him about those I call "the Invisibles", those people who die in indifference. I evoke my idea of a relay house project that he accepts to sponsor. He is a man with a big heart. We owe him a lot.
You also denounced cases of embezzlement and corruption within your association ...
The objective of the mayor of Dunkirk was to have control over the association to better restructure it. Everyone was in cahoots. I was starting to receive examples of embezzlement and misuse of corporate assets by mail. The documents showed the names, first names and payments of the “local barons” who were reimbursed their property taxes with the association's money. Children were greeted in slums and violence exploded. Our colleague Fabrice ended up committing suicide.
Can we say that this suicide set fire to the powder?
We wanted to denounce the practices of the leaders and the pressures started to mount. They wanted to silence me. Since 2013, I have undergone 36 hours in police custody, a home search, one at my workplace, six complaints and seven summons to the police station.
* The Invisibles: revelations on the business of distress, Max Milo, Paris, 2020, 236 p.
Signings scheduled for February 8 at La Librairie 33, rue Emmery, in Dunkirk, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
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