LA TRIBUNE SUNDAY – Today I am calling on the entire left to ” organize and build a common project “. Isn’t that utopian?
LUCIE CASTETS - We want to bring together as widely as possible civil society, associations, emerging political movements, existing parties, but also local elected officials, students, business leaders, etc. It is necessary to give New Popular Front new momentum and space. We want to create a common home for citizens and political parties. Our goal is to gather as widely as possible, without any exclusion, to return to work. Our call is a declaration of love to the NFP! We want to continue to feed our project by going into the field. By lifting this hood, we will bring in a much wider range of people than those who are already highly politicized on the left.
TONDELIER MARINE – We actively contribute to the NFP, we support it, we love it, and these are the reasons why we are very clear about its strengths, but also about its few weaknesses. People would like to be able to participate, but can not necessarily find the entrance or their place. In order the trade unionistspeople from civil society, quite simply citizens, there is sometimes a desire to actively contribute, but the NFP does not offer this possibility today. Our call is not an initiative in competition with the NFP, but aims to extend it, extend it, still. We must strengthen their ability to win the next presidential election and face all the challenges that will undoubtedly arise for us in the coming weeks and months. French political life has become so unpredictable that we have to be ready all the time. Consider that we planned our camp to be!
Pitch the idea of a ” common application ” with one condition: do not ” place such a name as a prerequisite “.
LC- The only prerequisite is not to start with a single name in mind, not to have your candidate or your team, to start working. Otherwise, we have already lost.
MT – This initiative is not anyone’s, not even ours! Since the beginning, we have been in a collective and united state of mind, respecting the diversity and the identity of others. So undoubtedly any initiative involves an element of risk, but the risk of doing nothing would be much greater. This would not suit either our temperaments or the height of the moment.
What is the risk of launching this call?
MT – There are already two of us women (Laughs.) Experience has unfortunately taught us what it causes in principle in some people. We learned to deal with it! But above all, for weeks, everyone has struggled with many questions: where should the impulse come from, who, when, how, in which base perimeter? Many discussions took place, and with Lucie we came to the conclusion that now we must take action without waiting for the ideal on which everyone will be in perfect agreement. Otherwise, history will simply be written without us, and the left and environmentalists will be condemned to watch the trains go by.
Is this also a message sent to the rebels, for whom the candidacy of Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the presidential election is still obvious?
MT – Everyone has the right to have preferences and ideas for names to put on the table, that’s normal. But this or that name cannot be established as a prerequisite. We cannot function like this when we aspire to an adventure that can only be won collectively.
Say in the call that it will be necessary to create ” a frame of reflection and common action “. Concretely, what will this be?
LC- There is a website, Gagnons-ensemble.frthat people can sign up for today. And the rest, we will write together! The idea of our call is to be able to create local and national mobilizations on major issues that affect the lives of the French, such as public health or arduousness at work.
MT – There is a real need to structure things and create lasting spaces for reflection and especially for action on earth, and emphasis on the word “action”. The cultural battle of right-wing and far-right ideas is currently being waged in a very structured and violent way. We feel this urgent need to open doors and windows to all those who want to fight with us. We deliberately do not give a specific place, day or appointment. The idea is not for Lucie and me to present a 30-page road in two years, but to give the initial impetus. Everything else will be built collectively.
On November 30, 2024, Marine Tondelier and Lucie Castets launch “Gagnons Ensemble”, and invite unity around a common project. (Credits: LTD/Raphael Lafargue/ABACAPRESS.COM)
Some socialists think that the future of the left will be written without the Insoumis. What do you tell him?
LC- The NFP won just over 28% in the legislative elections. If we want to govern, we must have more than 50%. So we don’t have the luxury of division. When we see that eight French out of ten are for a law in favor of revaluation of feminized jobswe are well beyond the usual base of the left. The same with the taxation of super profits. We need to get away from people’s logic and finally talk about substance to hear what the French want.
MT – Every dispute in our field is an offer to our opponents. We do not give them this gift. Every day, the people we meet talk about a form of despair watching the ping-pong game that is sometimes played. If you want to watch a good ping-pong game, it’s better to watch the Lebrun brothers play. It is much more interesting from a sporting point of view, and these parties cost nothing to the left and the environment.
LC- We try to be the bearers of hope to these people we meet every day.
The government can potentially be brought down within three days by a motion of no confidence. Is the NFP proposal for Matignon, i.e. your name, Lucie Castets, still current?
LC- I became available this summer when the leaders of the NFP party asked me to be their candidate. Remaining available. On the other hand, I do not make this a personal question. If a name seems more likely to embody the entire progressive movement, leftist and environmental forces, I will not be an obstacle. But, above all, I believe that we don’t want to get rid of customs president of the Republic of his responsibility. It is he and he alone who designates Matignon.
MT – The alternative names that Emmanuel Macron gave us this summer are not proposals but provocations. From the moment he decided to get his hands on it Marine Le Penwhat did he want to do? Marine Le Pen makes Michel Barnier jump the rope, it’s painful to watch… Seen by Hénin-Beaumont, I can testify to the fact that those who played the little game of making the RN “earn respectability” always end up to serve as zerpette. for them
The leader of the Socialist deputies, Boris Vallaud, raises “the question of the conditions for non-censorship” in the event of the fall of the Barnier government. What do you think?
LC- We have to look for compromises beyond the NFP. This is what we did in the context of the budget discussions, where many of our amendments were agreed upon finance committeefor example regarding the tax on financial transactions. But it seems to me impossible to have a basis for government agreement with people who do not share our values and are opposed to our political project.
If the government falls, should Emmanuel Macron resign?
MT – The reality is that, obviously, many French people seem to think so when we look at the polls.
Do you think a woman should embody the left in 2027?
MT – The thing obviously seems too serious to be worn by a woman! (laughs.)
LC- This is good news if there can be more equality in politics and especially in positions of responsibility. But don’t read any messages from us here.
Put first “also read” the column of Castets and Tondelier (“Marine Tondelier and Lucie Castets: “Let’s win together””
Find the entire call by Marine Tondelier and Lucie Castets here.