In the salons of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, 1,500 guests came on May 31 from around fifty countries – including a Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, and a minister, Sébastien Lecornu. At the helm of the Impact2 high mass “dedicated to the new economy which combines innovation, performance, social and environmental impact”, Nicolas Hazard, founder of Inco, large caliber of the solidarity economy, ex-president of the strategic council of the City from Paris. Anne Hidalgo speaks a few words then speakers follow her, including journalist-activist Hugo Clément. However, he strongly criticized the mayor of the capital for the felling of plane and hackberry trees at Porte de Montreuil and took her to task when, in May 2022, it was planned to cut 200 old trees around the Eiffel Tower ( substantiated indignation: old trees recycle CO2 better than young ones planted in their place).
Notwithstanding, Impact2 gave him speaking time and a desk with the colors of the Town Hall. And as predictable, Hugo Clément attacks the felling of trees in Paris, tackling in the same spirit the socialist president of the Occitanie region Carole Delga and her project for a section of the A69 motorway and Jean-François Copé, mayor of Meaux for its 12 cut chestnut trees. Everything could have ended there, proof that Impact2 dared to debate. Except that the next day, always anxious to feed his social networks, the journalist demands the video of his intervention. Blonde Media, the service provider responsible for filming and broadcasting, is reluctant. These images belong to him. Clément insists, the small company agrees “in view of our common commitments on issues of climate control”. She gives him the extract free of charge. And there, surprise: it is cut. Removed the sentences criticizing Anne Hidalgo, Carole Delga and Jean-François Copé, erased the logo of the Town Hall on the desk. A censorship? Battery failure foolishly defends the media.
Immediately, here is the indignant journalist, accusing mezzo vocce Anne Hidalgo of having ordered the scissors. “The city of Paris did not pass any instructions, it was limited to hosting the event. Hugo Clément wanted to make his money by throwing opprobrium on the municipal team, he used us to make his buzz”, observes, fatalistic, his entourage. More chic to be indignant at having been censured by the mayor of the capital than to flatly consider having been swept away by an overzealous private service provider. “Common commitments on climate control issues” do not prevent marketing, or even bad faith.