The tricolor flag hoisted higher and higher

At the rate things are going, we will soon have forgotten but the French flag will remain, in our little hearts of observers, the object of the first chicanery of this presidential year. Its replacement by the European flag under the Arc de Triomphe, on December 31, to mark the start of the French presidency of the EU, the next day, sparked a ridiculous or exciting controversy, depending on the point of view. In any case, ours, very symbolic.

That Valérie Pécresse was the first to gun down to satisfy the “ciottist” base of LR, closely followed by Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour to denounce “an attack on the identity of our homeland” (in the words of the candidate of the National rally), it was understood. On the other hand, the echo brought by the candidates of the left, in particular Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Fabien Roussel, was less predictable. It lets float the idea according to which the right would no longer have the monopoly of the blue, white, red banner. And that we would be taking an additional step in the rehabilitation of the tricolor in progress for a few years among politicians.

A symbol gradually abandoned by the left

“It’s an electoral process, tempers Raphaël Delpard, author of The fabulous history of the French flag (Marie B editions). There is an underground fear among the French linked to all the upheavals they are witnessing, reinforced by the health context. The flag is a way to reassure ourselves, to tell ourselves that we are not alone. Politicians have understood this. “

Inherited from the Revolution of 1789 and the union of the colors of the king (white) and the city of Paris (blue and red) – according to the official version of the Elysee, because others exist on the origin of the blue (the color of the cope of Saint-Martin given to Clovis in the 6th century) and of the red (the “big question” of the
vexillologists, according to Raphaël Delpard) -, the tricolor flag became, over the Fifth Republic, the prerogative of right-wing parties. This has undoubtedly diverted part of the population from this symbol. “If the right uses the tricolor so much, it is also because blue has never been imposed and the left has long abandoned the three colors in favor of only red”, noted in 2017 the historian Bernard Richard, author of Emblems of the Republic (CNRS éditions), in Release.

Valérie Pécresse during her first campaign meeting, on December 11, 2021 at the Mutualité. – Jacques Witt / SIPA

On the left, no one can really explain it to himself. “It is indeed curious, observes the former socialist minister Jean-Louis Bianco. The Marseillaise and the flag are linked to the French Revolution, which can be described more as left than right. I don’t know why the left abandoned them a bit. “In 2007, he was in the front row when Ségolène Royal, in the home stretch of his campaign, had
launched the reconquest with an iconoclastic proposition. A flag in each house and the Marseillaise sung in the living room to reappropriate “these symbols left too long to the extreme right and to the National Front”.

His co-campaign manager rewinds: “It wasn’t opportunism. This came from his deep conviction, linked to his personal history, that the homeland is something important which should not be abandoned to certain abuses. From the start of her presidential adventure, she had verified the knowledge of her team on the national anthem. “Lucky for us, they went beyond the chorus and the first verse!” », Smiles Jean-Louis Bianco.

The Liberation flag rendered more than 60 years later

At the time, a good part of the left was strangled by discovering these proposals. “Everything but a surprise”, assures the current president of the association Vigie de laïcité, which tackles “intellectual laziness, dogmatism, on the left as on the right”, on these questions. “Ségolène Royal’s proposal was undoubtedly a little excessive, but she was basically right. We should have, at school, a civic education course on what the French flag is ”, judges author Raphaël Delpard, who observed“ with amazement a certain lack of interest from people for the flag ”during sessions. dedication or conferences around his work.

If the ideas of Royal were never taken up, the tricolor banner came out of the closet in the years 2010. An event that occurred in a village in the Ardèche first installed it at the opening of the news. The huge flag hung on August 25, 1944 under the Arc de Triomphe during the Liberation of Paris, which had disappeared the next day, reappears. An incredible story, it was an American soldier who had brought it back as a souvenir and kept it in the back of a cupboard for more than 60 years. It finally landed in the hands of the mayor of Chandolas, Alain Mahey, in 2009, through a neighbor based in New York.

“Waving the flag for a beautiful camera framing is not enough”

The councilor then contacted the city hall of Paris to organize a return in due form. It took place on September 18, 2010, with drums, trumpets and teary-eyed veterans. “It was an amazing day. What I remember, really, is the emotion provided by this flag ”, proclaims Alain Mahey, particularly sensitive to the controversy of last weekend. “I’m very attached to the flag,” he said, almost apologizing. “I am not a nationalist, I am not in the National Rally. Its activists defend it as if it belonged to them, but it belongs to all French people. “

The famous flag, hoisted on the facade of the town hall of Chandolas on September 18, 2010.
The famous flag, hoisted on the facade of the town hall of Chandolas on September 18, 2010. – PHILIPPE MERLE / AFP

A few years later, it is François Hollande, a man of the left, who takes him out of his traditional place in the meeting crowd to stand behind him during his victory speech, on May 6, 2012, in Tulle. Neither Jacques Chirac nor Nicolas Sarkozy had done so before him. And today, it’s hard to imagine, for those who want to be presidential, a speech without blue, white, red in the background. “We see it more, but it should be deeper than that, nuance Jean-Louis Bianco. It should be the sign of a political thought which asserts itself on France and on Europe. Waving the blue-white-red flag for a nice camera framing is not enough. “

Question of image or not, it has not escaped the politicians that the flag conceals a real attachment. In recent years, extreme moments, such as the attacks in 2015 or the victory of the Blues at the World Cup in 2018, have revealed it. “It is a simple and effective way to show our belonging and our pride, to celebrate the historical, festive or tragic events of our country”, notes Nathan, reader of 20 minutes having responded to our call for testimonials.

“He has become a popular emblem again”

“It has less of a“ far right ”connotation today. Its greater use in society at large is the most striking fact of the past ten years for us, ”notes Gaëlle Colaert-Doublet, Managing Director of the Doublet company, the French leader in the manufacture of flags.

Recently, retail and sports brands have been placing orders with it. Proof that the demand is there. “The flag has once again become a popular emblem,” says the entrepreneur. The policy is not hermetic. The first delivery for a meeting has left in recent days. Certainly not the last by April 24.

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