Overview

The Bumidom (Office for DOM Migration, Bureau des migrations des départements d'Outre-mer) was founded in 1963 by Michel Debré, following a state visit in Réunion with General Charles de Gaulle. Millions of people were sent to Paris and to the French back-country, a one-way trip which, according to Aimé Césaire, was close to deportation. The living conditions in the mainland were far different from what had been promised beforehand. Jackie Bastide gives a voice to those who have lived through the Bumidom and had to suffer from a migration that was meant to be the road to a better life.