The coincidences of the news meant that the Joël Guerriau affair, this senator accused of having drugged the deputy Sandrine Josso with a view to sexually assaulting her, arrived a few days before November 25, the international day against violence done to women. But in an interview given to 20 minutes, Mathilde Viot, co-founder of the Observatory of sexist and sexual violence in politics, recalls that these facts are not a coincidence and are a system. The author of The politician, I make compost (Stock), where she recounts her experience as a political collaborator in a world where sexism is king, also takes stock of the Observatory’s two years.
The Joël Guerriau affair highlights sexist and sexual violence in politics. Is it an environment that is more conducive than others to this type of abuse and abuse of power?
What I saw in the wayith which political staff were recruited, and which is valid very early in the training of militants, is that we bring up men who are aggressive and dominant. This is true among young rebellious people, young environmentalists… everywhere else. They are often young guys who have the desire to dominate the opponent, and not just from a rhetorical point of view. There is something that is based on a desire for aggression. This clearly favors the over-representation of violent men in politics.
The Observatory denounces “ systemic violence » in the political environment. What do you mean ?
Talking about “systemic violence” is a way of describing the entire system. Starting with the recruitment process, which I just talked about, up to why the deals don’t come out. What is happening in this whole system so that this violence can continue with extremely well-established mechanisms of impunity, with an omerta that is still extremely present, because women are still advised against speaking out.
The situation with Joël Guerriau is interesting given the fairly rapid reaction from the political world and the way the media picked it up. We are almost in a flagrant investigation, it is very different from usual, where often, we are removed from the facts in time, we quickly fall into “word against word”, there are rarely searches . There, there are all these material elements which bring solidity to what she says and therefore we can make fun of it less.
Furthermore, she is an MP. If she had been a collaborator, I think the handling of her speech would have been extremely different. It is likely that the political world would have turned against such a statement. The word “systemic” brings together all these elements, which range from how it is generated in the political world, how it persists and how, in the end, there is resistance.
You recently denounced the proliferation of cases in the Macronist sphere. Is there a particular problem in this camp, or is it being in power that changes the situation?
The Observatory is really attentive to what is happening in all parties. I think there is a problem with the macronie from the moment when the Minister of the Interior was accused of rape and was not disembarked, and where Éric Dupond-Moretti, the Minister of Justice, multiplies sexist comments and we consider it normal. These are still two absolutely key ministries in the criminal justice system and in the protection of women’s rights. This reflects the way in which this power behaves with women. This also attracts men who consider that there is no difficulty in acting this way. There is a real responsibility for this majority because it is in power, but also because it behaves in this way.
You launched #MeToo politics two years ago. I assume the fight is not over, but what is your assessment?
Things happened. We were formed just before the presidential election to take advantage of this moment to bring business to fruition. It worked a little in the sense that certain nominations for the legislative elections could not take place. I think of Jérôme Peyrat [un temps candidat Renaissance en Dordogne], who had been convicted of domestic violence. To Benoît Simian [élu député LREM en 2017, aussi condamné pour violences conjugales]. who had tried to be reinvested. The Damien Abad affair [ex-LR, nommé ministre en mai 2022 et accusé de violences] was obviously a turning point for us since with the action coordinated with Mediapart, we managed to make visible something which, ordinarily, would have been absolutely hidden.
From now on, thanks to the fundamental role of the press, this subject is being covered when it was not before. When I set up the collective Chair Collaboratatrice with others in 2016 at the Assembly [collectif de collaboratrices parlementaires visant à recueillir la parole des victimes de sexisme à l’Assemblée nationale], we were the first to talk about these difficulties and there were no cases. The Baupin Affair was fundamental in raising awareness, but it was seen as a news item, as someone isolated who did not know how to restrain himself. It was necessary to demonstrate that it was not a news item, but generated by a climate in the political sphere. Little by little we start to get there.
This year, you are launching a political #MeToo at European level. Why and for what?
When we speak with counterparts, activists from other European countries, we realize that they are hit by the same difficulties in existing in politics, in not being subjected to violence… We saw thehe fate that was reserved for Sanna Marin (former Finnish Prime Minister), further we saw the eloquent words of Jacinda Ardern (former New Zealand Prime Minister) when she left her post: she explained that it was too much violent, too brutal. When we talk to European women politicians, what they say first is that the hardest thing is that the violence comes from their own political parties. Exactly as in the case of Sandrine Josso.
In France, thanks to the work of the press, these subjects are starting to be addressed, but this is not the case everywhere in Europe. We really need to create links of solidarity, method… to help each other. And allow us to question on a larger scale what this atmosphere does to political power. What does it say about power when we have people in this relationship of domination? What does this say about the rise of the far right?….