The Festival of Humanity is a bit like Pompeii. The vitrified vestige of a bygone past, one where the Communist Party still weighed on the French political landscape. A utopian city where Elsa Triolet Avenue tumbles into Nelson Mandela Street to head towards Salvador Allende Square amidst the sounds and smoke of fried merguez. This year again, tens of thousands of people will wiggle for three days to the sweet choruses of Angèle, the theatrical pop of Bilal Hassani or the furious rhymes of the rapper Médine. Those who want to rest their tired eardrums will delight in the planned debate between former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Fabien Roussel, the communist leader. And if they are not tired of political games, they will end their weekend at the social forum where the two new headliners of the French union landscape, Sophie Binet, the general secretary of the CGT and Philippe Martin, the president of the Medef, will put on the show. A Huma festival like any other, where we remake the world in song.
Officially, everything is fine. The political and cultural high mass of the communist newspaper is celebrating its 88th anniversary this year. But behind the glitter, the old lady is not in her best shape. Last year, the cash machine stalled: a net loss of almost 500,000 euros on a total budget of 7.3 million. Hard to take. Humanity then dipped into its treasury and appealed to the generosity of friends of the newspaper.
500,000 euros in losses
The cause of this financial turmoil? The Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the construction, on the historic site of La Courneuve, of the Media Village which will be transformed, after the competition, into a garden city of 1,400 housing units. In 2022, we had to pack up and find a new home. It’s not easy to find the 50 hectares necessary to install the three major musical stages, the campsite, the World Village, that of solidarity territories and books, the social forum and the agora of Humanity. Two years of research to land on the yellowed runways of a former air base near Brétigny-sur-Orge, around thirty kilometers from Paris. Except that the festival-goers, last year, did not follow. “Clearly, we cannot afford a second year like that,” breathes Anthony Daguet, the secretary general of Humanity.
As a snub to history, the ancestor of the Huma festival was born at the end of the 1920s out of a financial emergency. Already. “At the time, the workers’ and peasants’ bank which financed Humanity is put into liquidation. The future of the newspaper is at stake. The Communist Party then creates committees to defend Humanity, who decided, during the Bellevilloise Congress, to launch a big country festival in Bezons, north of Paris, to raise money”, says Danielle Tartakowsky, historian and professor at the University of Paris 8. Maurice Thorez, at early 1930s, brings the cultural dimension as a vector of crowd mobilization. After Bezons, it will be Vincennes, then the large park of La Courneuve… “The Festival of Humanity has survived everything, even the decline of the Communist Party in the ballot boxes,” adds Danielle Tartakowsky.
As a fine manager, Anthony Daguet goes through his accounts: ticketing represents 34% of the budget, the sale of support vouchers 27%, stand rental 19%, merchandising, a little more than 2%… That leaves advertising. and partnerships, which must be boosted. The government refuses to tax super profits, so Humanity, he will go and get the money where it is. In large companies. And in particular the public or formerly public, where the weight of the CGT is the strongest.
“A revolutionary form of tax,” annoys the communications director of one of these groups. This other boss still can’t believe it. At the end of spring, he received a very official letter from Fabien Gay, the director of Humanity, also a communist senator from Seine-Saint-Denis, asking him to study the possibilities of a partnership between the company and his newspaper. A curious mix of genres for an elected official of the Republic, who did not wish to answer our questions. The meeting between the two men turns into a farce. “You saw how you treated me and my group in your newspaper, and now you want us to be partners?” thunders the boss. “It’s true, but it’s the future of the plurality of the press that is at stake,” replies the senator, transformed into director of partnerships. A meeting that will come to nothing.
Other CEOs were convinced. And for a long time. Thus, this year, EDF has once again pulled out all the stops: advertising spot on the major music scene, “Energy and transport” space within the social forum, logo clearly visible at the entrance to the Village du monde and on the Party WiFi portal home screen. The energy company is also sponsor of the VIP area of the event.
For other companies, the partnership takes the form of advertising pages. A sponsorship skilfully orchestrated by Comédiance, an advertising agency, a 100% subsidiary of Humanity and which also manages the string of specialized letters from the CGT. Thus, in the newspaper supplement devoted to the party program – the biggest draw of the year -, we find advertisements for Veolia, Dassault Aviation, Safran, SNCF, TotalEnergies and even Suez… The interest in these companies? “Make our recruitment campaign known,” says Dalkia, a subsidiary of EDF. More direct, the communications director of a large group admits: “It allows you to buy good relationships in the company, and in particular with the CGT. And then, it is a sign of integration into the fabric political and social…”
“Business as usual”
Most of the business is done not far from the Joséphine Baker stage, in the community area. Officially, nothing to do with the Festival of Humanity. It is a professional fair where elected officials – not just communists – meet the sales teams of companies working for town halls, departments, regions or municipal unions. This year, nearly 200 companies bought a ruby stand there, from major energy companies to construction leaders like Bouygues or Eiffage, including waste treatment specialists like Paprec or Nicollin. “It is a traditional place of discussion and meetings for a company like ours which offers decarbonization services to communities,” explains an Engie spokesperson. “There is no capital link between the Huma festival and the show. Our presence is just concomitant,” assures Bruno Lafosse, director of Idelia, the company which has managed this space for thirty-eight years.
No capital link, but certainly friendly links. Twenty years ago, Idelia was at the heart of the financial scandal of the EDF-GDF Central Fund for Social Activities, controlled by the CGT and suspected of overbilling in the management of the works council’s vehicle fleet. “This past is behind us, we have stopped all this activity,” assures the director of Idelia. Bruno Lafosse, who was once chief of staff to the PC mayor of Dieppe and director of communications for this communist bastion, is also president of Boréal Communication, an agency which takes care, among other things, of the communications of the CGT du Commerce , one of the hardest.
“The community area of the Huma Festival is the ideal place to sign contracts” underlines Jean-Luc Touly, former president for France of the Association for the World Water Contract, and member of Anticor . While a few steps away, people are struggling for three days to castigate capitalism, business continues in the community area, between working lunches and informal discussions around a Power Point. Chase away reality, it comes back at a gallop…