Monday, December 28, 2015

La culture pour contrer le FN

La culture pour contrer le FN

Saint-Loup-sur-Semouse est une commune de Haute-Saône, en Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, ayant voté majoritairement Front National après avoir été socialiste depuis 2004. Selon le maire de la ville, Thierry Bordot, le manque de culture et la misère sociale ont grandement contribué à la montée des extrêmes dans cette commune de 3 500 habitants.

Mairie de Saint-Loup-sur-Semouse - © Marguerite Gallorini

Saint Loup a voté à 35% pour le FN au deuxième tour. Etes-vous surpris de ces résultats ?

Pas du tout. On commençait déjà à sentir des signes avant-coureurs, surtout depuis 2002 qui a été un tournant : du moment où Le Pen est passé au deuxième tour des présidentielles, les langues se sont déliées et on ne se cachait plus d’être Front National. Certes, aux régionales de 2010 Saint-Loup était encore PS, mais on commençait déjà à voir le FN monter et monter. Maintenant, les gens d'extrême-droite ne se cachent tellement plus de leur position qu'on pourrait quasiment les recenser à l'aide d'une carte !

Pouvait-on s’attendre à ce que le revirement républicain du deuxième tour n'affecte pas Saint-Loup ?

On a bien senti cet élan ici aussi, si, le PS est arrivé deuxième grâce à cela : le taux de participation est passé de 41 à 51%, plus élevé que celui de 2010 de 46%. Mais ça n’a pas suffi. Le danger avec les appels à « voter utile », c’est qu’on ne peut pas prévoir pour qui les gens vont voter… La preuve en est que le FN est resté en première place dans de nombreux villages de notre communauté, qui comprend 42 communes. Saint-Loup n’est pas la pire, bien qu’ayant voté à 35% pour le FN : trois ou quatre communes on voté à gauche, trois ou quatre à droite, et tout le reste a viré au FN, certaines avec plus de 50% des voix (ndlr : la commune de Ainvelle a par exemple voté FN à 52%).

La question de l'immigration à Saint Loup a-t-elle joué un rôle dans ces résultats extrêmes ?



Il existe effectivement une vraie fracture communautaire ici, révélée une fois de plus après 2002. Mais elle touche surtout les communes où il y a peu ou pas d’immigration, justement ; où les gens vivent plutôt confortablement, et où la seule source de jugement provient du JT de 20h. L’immigration, ils la vivent tous les jours à travers leur télévision, et leur sentiment d’abandon en est renforcé. C’est très schématique tout ça, mais la déficience culturelle dans nos régions joue un rôle crucial, et agrandit le sentiment d’abandon des communautés reculées. Il est vrai que nous nous trouvons dans une région très pauvre, et mal desservie. C’est pour ça que le discours du FN marche aussi bien – c’est un pur discours de marchand de sable, qui vise les racistes convaincus, et qui ne sont au final que des gens en perdition et désabusés de la politique traditionnelle – c'est pourtant elle qui devrait se remettre en cause avec de tels résultats ! Mais on ne peut pas grand-chose au niveau local, un vrai changement ne peut venir que des grands partis financés eux-mêmes par l'Etat ; mais personne ne va scier la branche sur laquelle ils reposent. Donc avec les moyens qui me sont attribués, j'essaie tant bien que mal de contrer ce discours de marchand de sable.

Quel genre de mesures concrètes cela implique-t-il à votre niveau local, pour enrayer ce phénomène ? 
 
Je tiens à souligner que, selon moi, c’est par la culture et la communication qu’on peut contrer cela – le dialogue, c’est de la culture aussi. Mais ça va être un travail de longue haleine, et on en aura pour un bon moment. Pour vous donner un exemple, on voudrait créer une médiathèque intercommunale basée à Saint-Loup. Si le financement n’était que le problème de ce projet, ce serait bien ; mais le problème principal vient des deux tiers des élus eux-mêmes, qui me répondent « à quoi ça sert ? » ; « on a d’autres priorités ». Il n’y a pas d’ouverture, pas de maturité de leur part. Chacuns se retranchent derrière leurs craintes, et aucun dialogue n’est créé, seulement une polarisation des positions de chaque côté.

Comment amener ce dialogue ?

La relation à l’autre devrait être une priorité. Après les attentats de janvier, on voulait tous créer des ponts entre les communautés… et puis tout ça est retombé dès février. Aujourd’hui, il est encore un peu tôt pour dire cela des attentats de novembre, ceci dit les élections ont eu ce bon côté de mettre véritablement le doigt là où ça fait mal. J’ai rendez-vous mi-janvier avec les responsables de la mosquée pour parler d’idées de manifestation commune. Je pense par exemple à une sorte de conférence pour expliquer les fondements de l’islam, ou bien expliquer la radicalisation – afin de différencier les deux, et de poser leurs fondements qui ne sont pas les mêmes. Il faut placer ces repères en premier lieu, pour ensuite créer un dialogue qui soit cohérent. Ce genre de manifestation doit se passer absolument au niveau local, au-delà du national – pour que les gens se rencontrent vraiment, et arrêtent de fantasmer à travers l’écran du JT. Si des passerelles sont créées entre les personnes et qu’on donne une chance à l’autre d’expliquer qui il est, plutôt que de se faire son interprétation erronée dans son coin, alors 80% du chemin est fait, et le discours du FN prendrait beaucoup moins bien.

Cette interview fut réalisée en tant que devoir universitaire.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Activists Denounce State Reprehension During Demonstration

Activists Denounce State Reprehension During Demonstration
By Marguerite Gallorini | 28 November 2015

On the Place de la Republique in Paris on Sunday, a peaceful demonstration was aiming at putting pressure on the COP 21 government officials. It will result in 289 arrests, of which 174 people in police custody: environmental activists are angry at the State taking away their right to demonstrate.

A demonstration on Sunday gets ugly in Paris
Thousands gathered in spite of the current ban. A policeman barrier now follows the peaceful human chain on the plaza, and dismay is the general feeling among people present on the scene. A passer-by on the phone mutters "state of urgency, my eye"; an activist distributes lists with names of lawyers for the demonstrators that got taken.

Around and in the policeman barrier, dismay was the general feeling. A passer-by on the phone mutters "state of urgency, my eye". An activist distributes lists with names of lawyers for the demonstrators that got taken.

The French riot police make up a human barrier around the
Place de la République

Yet everything was calm up to the middle of the day. Even a policeman part of the human barrier acknowledges it: "The human chain around the plaza's monument, up until noon or one, that was alright. It really started to go wrong when that little group of 200, 300 violent anarchists attacked us with anything they could get their hands on."

Environmentalist activists are becoming increasingly critical of the French State's motives since it launched and prolonged its state of urgency. Under this law, twenty-four anti-COP 21 activists have been assigned to their homes the time of the conference, so that they do not make waves according to the French AFP agency.

One of the two groups of people is being blocked by the police, at the start
of Faubourg du Temple street



Alma, 27, is a member of the Association in Support to Arrested Demonstrators. She describes what she has been witnessing and told since she arrived on the premises at three in the afternoon: "Policemen blocked the plaza, and for a little while there was a back-and-forth movement between them and the demonstrators. There was also a peaceful human chain around the monument [where there is a memorial for the Paris attacks], but they were standing well afar from the flowers and candles. All of a sudden though, the police just rushed onto them, breaking everything, to spread people away. And now, two groups of people closely blocked by ranges of policemen, and they've been breathing tear gaz..."




General mood on the Place de la Republique on that day. Policemen straighten their human barrier, some backup arrive - one of which armed of a videocamera for future proof. People get impatient, some of them shout "Shame on the Republic!", others laugh of the situation. Monique, a sixtysomething activist, is holding a sign "State of climatic emergency" while singing 'Le Chant des Partisans' (The Partisans' Song).

In between the police cars and vans parked around the plaza, demonstrators are taken away one by one. One of them, while being taken, calls out to her friend: "Have you recorded everything ? Good !" A sixtysomething woman, another member of the association, and anti-COP 21, is indignant: "This is outrageous. They [the French State] are killing two birds with one stone, that's it. Their state of urgency was just kept somewhere in an old box, waiting to be used with the first opportunity. They're doing the same thing as the Americans with the Patriot Act."
A demonstrator is taken away by the police

A man in the crowd shouts "If the police protects us, who will protect us from insanity ?"; policemen are booed; people chant "Shame on the Republic !", and "Let – go of our comrades". Photographers and passers-by approach, more and more numerous. An old man with a moustache arrogantly drops "If only people were disciplined !", to which a woman demonstrator replies "We can't possibly be disciplined in front of this !" A police van painstakingly goes through the crowd; an undercover police car, more impatient, almost hurts a passer-by.

Tourists, photographers and passers-by all record what is happening

Within the encircling barrier stands Christiane, 50. Among the indignant but quiet crowd, this self-described sympathizer to civic causes deplores the state of things: "We're right in a big coup against freedom. But I'm far from ready to let go of some freedom for a little security. In any case, we've seen, historically, that letting go of it never led to an actual rise in security. Now clearly, for a little climate march turning into this, the State clearly shows it is afraid of us and feels its authority threatened. But the COP won't do anything; citizen movements should be heard, they can make a difference !"

Dozens of police motorcycles, cars and vans are parked
all around the plaza

Bintou, a 22-year-old activist, holds the same view: "The COP is not going to change anything. What we need is a confrontation of ideas within the population. But now we're taking our right to demonstrate away : we're banned to create that dialogue."

Now while the foreign press almost unanimously denounces draconian measures, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls does not exclude prolonging the state of urgency beyond the limit voted upon by the Parliament. The future chances of a trusting relationship between environmentalist activists and the French State coming back are dim.




At the end of the day, lots of broken glass coming from the run-over memorial lay on the street.
Earlier in the day, a peaceful event had layed hundreds of shoes as a symbolic way of undertaking the forbidden environmental march. While they were supposed to be distributed to the homeless afterwards, some are now just being thrown away.
This news round-up was done as part of a university assignment.

All photo and video credits belong to Marguerite Gallorini.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Last week's 3 top stories in the English-speaking world

US: Three Dead in Colorado Planned Parenthood Shooting

A gunman killed three people on Friday at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colo. Robert Lewis Dear, of North Carolina, was armed with a long firearm and exchanged gunfire with authorities for several hours Friday before surrendering. A police officer, 44-year-old Garrett Swasey, was among the three dead. Nine others were wounded, including five officers. Mr Dear appeared in court on Monday, and faces a minimum sentence of life in prison and a maximum death penalty sentence. A new hearing set for 9 December will hear a full set of charges.

No official motive for the attack has yet been outlined, though he reportedly muttered “no more baby parts” while he was arrested, according to an NBC report. A chiropractor, locked down in his office across the street from the clinic, witnessed it being the site of protests “probably six days a week,” sometimes drawing as many as 200 people. The shooting has intensified a raging political debate about abortion rights, drawing in opposing activists and presidential candidates.

Debate over gun control is also increasingly important. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama called once again for greater gun safety laws to tighten up on their easy access. On the other hand, Republican candidate Marco Rubio and House Speaker Paul Ryan claim mental illness is the problem, not gun control.


NZ: Ex-Cricketer Chris Cairns Cleared of Perjury

Former New Zealand cricket captain Chris Cairns was found not guilty, on Monday, of lying under oath during a 2012 libel case. Mr Cairns, 45, had been accused of falsely declaring under oath during a 2012 libel case that he had never cheated at cricket. His barrister Andrew Fitch-Holland was also cleared of perverting the course of justice. 

During the 2012 libel case, he had successfully sued Indian Premier League chairman Lalit Modi for accusing him on Twitter of match-fixing - this was the country's first Twitter libel trial. Brendon McCullum, the current New Zealand captain, also gave evidence that Mr Cairns asked him twice to fix matches, which Mr Cairns refuted

Mr Cairns is considered one of New Zealand's greatest ever all-rounders, having played 62 Tests for his country between 1989 and 2004. Speaking outside of the court, the former cricketer declared that he sticks by his decision to stay out of this sport, which he qualified of a « hard environment ».

India: Four Schoolboys Arrested for Gang-Rape

Four 15 to 16 year-old schoolboys in the western Indian city of Mumbai have been arrested on Sunday for allegedly gang-raping a classmate. Police said they also recorded a video of the crime and circulated it on WhatsApp. 

All five of them lived in the same area and used to go to each others' homes to study. The girl was first raped on 8 November, when one of the boys invited her to his home under the false pretense of studying. She was also assaulted several times since then, a senior police officer said. 

The case has been registered and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act has been invoked against the accused. The boys were produced in court after which they were sent to a juvenile reform home. Further investigation is under way. It comes at a time where public debate is increasingly condemning India's sexual assault laws, and especially those that deal with juvenile offenders.

This news round-up was done as part of a university assignment.