Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Benoît Hamon should participate in the march for freedoms on Saturday June 12, 2021 in Paris – ISA HARSIN / SIPA
On May 5, several figures from the political, trade union and cultural left called in a column published in Release to a “march of freedoms” to “say no to the extreme right”. It will be done this weekend in many cities of France where parades are scheduled for Saturday. This “march”, very different from the events dominated by the unions, is intended to be a large-scale event.
But the political cast will be dispersed. The rebellious Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Benoît Hamon (Generations) and the ecologist Julien Bayou should participate in Paris. Communist leader Fabien Roussel will be in Lille, socialist Olivier Faure in PACA, while EELV MEP Yannick Jadot will participate in another event.
A long childbirth
A sign that the birth of this “march” was long and complex: the process began in the fall of 2020, says LFI deputy Eric Coquerel, co-initiator with the spokesperson for Générations Thomas Portes. Opposition to the comprehensive security bill, and in particular its provision for sanctioning people filming police officers, has crystallized the anger of a broad spectrum on the left.
The idea does not find an outlet for the deconfinement at the beginning of the year, but is revived by the approach of the Minister of Higher Education Frédérique Vidal wanting to attribute to the CNRS an investigation on “Islamogauchism” in research, in February. The controversy that immediately followed him on single-sex meetings at UNEF finally convinced Eric Coquerel and Thomas Portes to step up.
Overcome dividing lines
But the division of left parties on subjects such as secularism, the police and the Republic, complicates support for an initiative on freedoms which would have been unanimous in this part of the political spectrum several years ago. Especially since the membership of Eric Coquerel in the close guard of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, more and more isolated on the left after the controversy over his remarks linking presidential and terrorism, has placed in some minds the event in competition with another unitary initiative, more oriented towards 2022: the meeting of the left at the call of Yannick Jadot.
To overcome these obstacles, the initiators turned to the cultural, associative and trade union lefts through a call circulated in Release. Support for a march on June 12 then flocked quickly, from the CGT to the Cimade via the LDH, the FSU, the Syndicat de la magistrature or various NGOs for the climate.
“The great diversity impresses me. It shows that there is a concern for authoritarianism in power, and ideological and electoral pressure from the extreme right which affects everyone. But it still has to materialize in the street on Saturday, ”notes Eric Coquerel, cautiously confident. These serial signatures in return force the left parties to position themselves. But again, nothing simple.
“We feel on the ground that people (on the left) are fed up with taking hits”
The PS and the PCF, whose leaders participated in the police demonstration in front of the National Assembly on May 19, did not sign the unitary appeal, later announcing their participation in a separate press release. As for the environmentalists, of agreement on the substance, they sign after having regretted the timing of this “march”, one week before the regional elections which they set up as a priority.
Their leader Julien Bayou will however participate in the press conference organized at 12:45 p.m. at the start of the event in Paris, Place de Clichy. At 2 p.m., the procession will set off towards Place de la République via Boulevard Magenta. The unions will march in front, then the associations, and finally the parties, in a “festive atmosphere very different from the traditional union processions”, indicates Thomas Portes. All framed by a “very muscular security service,” he warns. Thomas Portes sees a “capital importance” in the parades of Saturday: “We feel on the ground that people (of the left) are fed up with taking blows”.