After the Seine, French swimming activists attempt to observe the Parisian instance

“We hope that Paris’s example will encourage other cities in France and Europe to create open-water swimming areas,” stated Pierre Rabadan, deputy to the mayor of Paris answerable for the Seine. At the solarium on the Bercy swimming web site on Wednesday, August 27, the official expressed this hope because the capital’s swimming season had simply been prolonged by two weeks.

The concept will not be new, however the “popular success” of the Paris experiment – with practically 100,000 swimmers for the reason that starting of summer time – has introduced it again to the forefront. “We feel that this is the right time to get our message across,” stated Julien Néméry, member of the Les Gens qui ont Chaud (“People Who Are Hot”) collective, based in May, which campaigns for the fitting to swim in open water in southeastern Grenoble.

In the southeast Vienne and Isère and northeast Meuse areas, “activist dives” have multiplied. “It’s a symbolic way of calling public authorities to take action. Access to river water is a right,” stated Antoine Maltey, member of the citizen collective Baignade Critique (“Critical Swimming”).

These initiatives draw inspiration from Big Jump, a European marketing campaign launched in 2002 by the European Rivers Network. Every 12 months, on the identical day, 1000’s of individuals throughout Europe soar into rivers, lakes and streams to demand higher water high quality. “It met with unexpected success,” stated its founder, Swiss nationwide Roberto Epple. Each initiative is listed on a map out there on the website. “Some years, we counted nearly 600 actions of various kinds. And then it got out of control: Local groups started organizing their own events without us even knowing.”

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