As the Europeans approach, this France seduced by the animal cause – L’Express

On the Internet, interest in the animal cause is only growing: on its main social networks, the L214 association alone has more than 1.3 million followers. “And you cannot imagine the number of pages, local collectives, specialized associations or brigades which are currently relaying on the networks around the animal cause”, comments Loïc Dombreval, president of the National Council for Animal Protection and former LREM deputy, general rapporteur of the law aimed at combating animal abuse adopted in 2021. A sign of an increasingly strong enthusiasm among the French, a Eurobarometer of the European Commission carried out on October 19 reveals that 96% of them believe that it is important to protect the well-being of farmed animals, and 65% say they are ready to pay more for products from farms respectful of animal welfare. Nearly a quarter of respondents would even accept a 10% increase in the price of these products.

In 2019, this interest found its way to the ballot box. During the European elections, the Animalist Party (PA) thus created a surprise by obtaining the vote of 490,000 French people, for a score reaching 2.2% – barely less than the Communist Party (2.5%). The PA, which today claims “between 4,500 and 5,000 members”, tells L’Express that it has since welcomed more and more activists with “very diverse” profiles. “We have urban and rural people, well-off people and people far from employment, very young and older people, coming from all territories,” explains Hélène Thouy, co-founder and co-president of the party created in 2016. According to This lawyer, almost all of them, however, have two things in common: a love of animals and a certain weariness with traditional political parties. “They find in the animal cause one of the last valid reasons to get involved in politics,” she says.

In his book published last October, France after (Seuil), the director of the opinion department of Ifop, Jérôme Fourquet, attempted to draw up a sociological sketch of these animal welfare activists, seduced by this cause to the point of voting for the Animalist Party in the elections European elections of 2019. By studying the vote map at the cantonal level, he draws a first conclusion: while the Animalist Party achieves its best scores in the large periphery of Ile-de-France or in the north-east of France (Moselle, Ardennes and North), the sociology of its voters differs greatly from that of traditional ecologists. “The latter are rather urban, educated, from wealthier social classes. The animalist electorate, conversely, is peri-urban, often older, from more popular social classes,” describes Jérôme Fourquet. Jérôme Michalon, sociologist specializing in human-animal relations and co-author of Sociology of the animal cause (La Découverte, 2023), specifies that the values ​​put forward by the two parties are not quite the same: “Ecologists have a more holistic approach, they will worry, for example, about a animal in danger of extinction of the issues of overproduction on the climate, when animalists are primarily concerned with animal suffering, the mistreatment of farmed animals, and the general prevalence of man over animals.”

In the great periphery, where the animalist vote mainly comes from, Jérôme Fourquet first describes a particular habitat of individual houses and suburban areas, largely adapted to the ownership of pets – sometimes considered members of the family . “In the same way that the two cars are necessary for both members of the couple to go to work, the barbecue and the garden furniture for having an aperitif or entertaining family and friends, the swing or the trampoline for the children, the animal of companionship is an integral part of the peri-urban way of life and of what we have called with Jean-Laurent Cassely ‘the majority Plaza ideal'”, he writes in his latest book.

At the same time, the map of the PA vote corresponds almost perfectly to the reverse of the map of large animal slaughterhouses in France. “In regions where livestock farming is very present, the direct weight of this sector is extremely important. The population will be disinclined to listen attentively to those who point the finger at it and criticize it,” analyzes the pollster. In these territories where hunting and breeding are practiced, a “more traditional” relationship with the animal often reinforces this economic argument. Jérôme Fourquet also observes that the animalist vote works better in territories where Catholicism is less present. “Religion has contributed to developing a very anthroponormed worldview, where the animal is thought of as a tool in the service of man: this can block the animalist vote,” he concludes. While the PA vote map is also similar to the National Rally vote map, the specialist in political ecology Daniel Boy evokes “abandoned territories in the industrial east and the north of France, marked by a certain economic depression”. “We can conclude that the animalist vote corresponds more to a protest vote, neither from the left nor from the right, but against the system,” describes the researcher.

“Intuitively, I would say that these are probably people disappointed by politics, who no longer voted and were interested in the Animalist Party. But not only that,” explains former MP Loïc Dombreval. According to this veterinarian, a real “click” regarding this cause took place from 2015 and the first videos put online by L214. “The presence of social networks and the massive dissemination of images denouncing the industrialization of animals and their terrible suffering changed everything. For many, it was a major shock,” he believes. In France, interest in the animal cause dates back to the 19th century: in 1850, the Grammont law already punished with imprisonment and a fine “those who have publicly and abusively mistreated domestic animals” . In the 1970s, criticism of animal abuse became increasingly important, and concepts such as anti-speciesism, vegetarianism or, more recently, veganism appeared. Associations from the Anglo-Saxon world are making their way in France, like Peta, while more radical fringes of the movement, like the Animal Liberation Front, are undertaking direct actions on the ground. “A more systemic criticism is taking place, with direct, media-disturbing actions, with more in-depth investigation methods,” summarizes Jérôme Michalon. In 2015, social networks made it possible to reach the French on an unprecedented scale, and a new audience has been formed.”

“According to Occurrence, the Ifop subsidiary which monitors all petitions submitted online on a daily basis, the animal cause is the most unifying in France, after charitable issues,” explains Jérôme Fourquet. “There are a sort of galaxies of pages which will deal with the same subject and which can take off at once”, summarizes Benjamin Loveluck, digital sociologist and author of an article published in 2022 on the specific case of collective mobilization following the death of a stray cat in violent circumstances in Draguignan (Var), in 2017.

On the Change.org platform, the petition created to “do justice” to this chat had at the time mobilized more than 266,000 signatures, entering the top 10 most important petitions of the year 2017. Among the most signed texts that year, a petition on stopping the bullfighting in Nîmes also comes in second position with more than 572,000 signatures – just after a text against the slavery of migrants in Libya. “Little by little, the animal cause has become an electoral issue: there is now a desire among political parties to capture the electorate sensitive to this cause,” concludes Jérôme Michalon. Hélène Thouy also clearly noticed a “before and after 2019 European elections”. “In the days following the election, animalist positions flourished in most political groups, then on municipal and presidential programs. We had a lot of requests for alliances,” she smiles. Four years after her unexpected score, the lawyer says she is confident for the European elections of June 2024: “The Animalist Party has its place there: speech has been freed, and awareness around the animal cause is not increasing. than increase.”