“As soon as you raise doubts about the use of blocking as a modality of action against pension reform, you find yourself called a fascist”, “I got kicked out of an GA because of my supposed political opinions”, “threatening messages are regularly tagged in the toilets”… Since Tuesday April 4, tongues have been loosened at Sciences Po Lille. That morning, its director Pierre Mathiot published an internal note on the school’s Facebook group to denounce “unacceptable actions”. He revealed that, on the night of Sunday to Monday, the first names of eleven students were tagged on a building under construction located just opposite the IEP under the mention “Wall of shame”. Nine of them were candidates in the last student elections on the S’Engager list – which calls itself “partisan” but which many students classify on the side of the center-right. “They have in common to have issued in the recent period of public criticism, or on mailing lists, on the way in which the social movement was conducted in our school, especially against the use of blockages”, he continued. Several of the students targeted have filed a complaint against X for public insults, supported by the school management who, “if this complaint succeeds”, will initiate “disciplinary proceedings on its side”.
For many teachers and students, the “tag business” is one action too many. The actions of a small group of far-left students, united under the banner of the Lille Mobilized IEP collective, are causing trouble. This group was created a few years ago and has been particularly active since the beginning of the mobilization against the pension reform. Received by the management on April 4, the members of the collective would have denied being the authors of the facts. “Their place is very complicated to define because this collective does not really have a status. It is he who organizes general assemblies, informs us of demonstrations, meetings linked to the movement against pension reform”, advances a student who wishes to remain anonymous and for whom “only a small hard core is a problem”.
Ultra minority but ultra noisy
Pierre Mathiot confirms and insists on the fact that the excesses described only come from a very small minority of students: about twenty out of the 1,800 students enrolled at Sciences Po Lille. Ultra minority therefore but also ultra noisy and influential. “The problem is that as head of establishment, I find it very difficult to exchange with this collective which has a particular, very collective and non-embodied approach which signs all its messages with the name of “IEP de Lille Mobilisé” “, he explains. Before continuing: “It is neither a union nor a local branch emanating from a political party. I would say that it is a ‘gaseous’ movement, without official leaders or very obvious demands and which works in a self-centered manner. Some of these actors belong to the Solidaires union. “But it would be simplistic to equate them with him because not all the elected representatives of Solidaires endorse their actions. On the other hand, several of them are in no way affiliated with unions”, insists a student close to this famous collective.
A few hours after the discovery of the names tagged in front of the school, the Solidaires union – which has 4 elected members of the Board of Directors and came second in the last student elections – very quickly condemned this act. Just like the left collective Alter Eco, majority at Sciences Po Lille and which also has four elected officials. “Even if we sometimes disagree with the Engage list, it seemed obvious to us to denounce this unacceptable mode of action. We prefer to fight ideas rather than individuals”, explains a member of Alter Eco who confirms a certain rise in tension in recent weeks within the school. Main point of contention: the decision of some to block the establishment. Internally, opinions are initially very divided. “We ourselves are quite divided. This mode of action seems symbolically useful to us since it is part of a national context. On the other hand, if it lasts too long and becomes systematic, it is unbearable”, continues this representative of Alt Eco.
“We are supposed to be trained in nuance and debate”
On April 4, Alexandre Agache, founder of the S’Engager list explained the position of his organization: “During the blockages of recent weeks, we simply wanted to remind and advocate the freedom of all. freedom to demonstrate than that of accessing the premises so that everyone can have a calm and serene place, but also a good internet connection, which the most precarious students do not benefit from”.
In recent days, with the approach of the exams, the tension has risen a notch between the supporters of a more “radical” action and those who called for keeping the premises open. In online discussion groups, exchanges between students often turn sour. “The tensions are not solely attributable to IEP de Lille Mobilisé and come from different sides. Which is very sad in a school where one is supposed to be trained in nuance and debate”, advances Martin Lom, first-year student year. “After two weeks of blocking, tempers flared. The students who began to speak out against the methods or speeches of this far-left group were called fascists!”, Denounces another student enrolled in fourth year . In the toilets of the school and the library sometimes violent tags have appeared. “You’re in the right place to shit on the pension reform. Come to a demonstration otherwise”, write some activists. To those who treat them as “left caviar”, always by interposed message, they retort: ”A place awaits you in hell”.
For Pierre Mathiot, this detestable atmosphere is mainly due to far-left students taking radical measures. “On several occasions, I reminded the authors of these tags that we were a public school paid for by French taxes and that it was imperative to respect the commons, he explains. Some answered me, in essence, that the tags were part of their training as students at Sciences Po. They weren’t even provocative and seemed convinced of what they were saying!” The forms of intimidation vis-à-vis other students worry him even more. Since the display of certain first names in public places, tongues have loosened. Some students say they are victims of low noise pressure, deaf marks of hostility, what Pierre Mathiot calls in his internal memo “micro-aggressions of everyday life”.
Thomas (whose first name has been changed) evokes “a little heavy” looks or “humiliating remarks”. “Here you are very quickly pigeonholed according to your look, your group of friends or your hobbies. As a car enthusiast, I know for a fact that some see me as a right-hand man since it is considered something that pollutes, which is expensive and which is me-have-you-seen”, he laments. “This kind of return of Maoism is beyond me a little, admits Pierre Mathiot. And again, it is a Maoism that is unaware of it because I remain convinced that most of them do not have these historical references. expression “the wall of shame”: do they even know that the expression dates from the time of the Berlin wall and was used by defenders of democracy to denounce communist caciques?
A vote to exclude the “droitos”
Several students at the school recount other edifying processes noted during general assemblies at the start of the social movement, such as having a show of hands vote for the exclusion of certain students suspected of not being on the same political side as them. . Antoine (whose first name has been changed) says he paid the price, with another of his comrades, in March. “The GA, which brought together about thirty people who were very active in this IEP movement of Lille Mobilized, began then, after about twenty minutes, we were told that a vote was going to be organized to “exclude the rights” , he says. The young man, suspected of being close to far-right movements – which he disputes -, was excluded from the GA. “They based themselves on our supposed associations or political opinions when in reality they don’t know us. In short, this decision was purely arbitrary and anti-democratic”, is moved the young man, who says he is “rather center-right”, and himself opposed to the pension reform. “On the other hand, I was not conducive to blocking. I had come to keep me informed of the decisions that would be made with an exam scheduled for the next day”, continues Antoine.
A relative of the Lille Mobilized IEP group details the collective’s approach that day: “The purpose of these GAs was to discuss the terms of action to come and the meeting points for the blocking. Some comrades were afraid that there are leaks on the one hand on the police side but especially towards fairly influential far-right groups in Lille. Excluding those who risked “speaking” was a protective measure aimed at avoiding possible attacks. The argument is far from convincing internally. “I consider these practices to be forms of psychological violence”, gets carried away by Pierre Mathiot who claims to have stopped making a room available to them from that moment on. He himself was the subject of virulent criticism from IEP de Lille Mobilisé. “P. Mathiot sinks into ridicule and illegality […] In front of “his” blocked school, he vociferated this morning, accusing the demonstrators of being the cause of all evil. Then he went into exile in the BU where he wrote a short but scandalous email”, they wrote on March 8 in an “open letter to the attention of the entire IEP Lille community”.
Many students denounce the “sectarianism” and “lack of dialogue and openness” of certain far left students who try to impose their law and their ideas. Going up the thread of their Facebook account, created in 2018, we learn that IEP de Lille Mobilisé notably opposed the arrival in the school of the school of the MEP François-Xavier Bellamy (Les Républicains) qualified of “homophobic and sexist character”, as he had criticized in 2020 the invitation of Pierre Moscovici, a “figure of authoritarian neo-liberalism”. Contacted, the collective did not respond to L’Express. Since the release of his internal note on April 4, Pierre Mathiot claims to have received many testimonials of support, both from students and teachers. And the director of the school insisted: “My approach was also to remember the importance of training, of progressing in the expression of one’s ideas by confronting other opinions with which one is not necessarily phase.” Will he be heard?