Civil society has become increasingly involved in the campaign for early legislative elections in France. Its activists are now unanimous: if the left managed to come first on the evening of July 7, it is partly thanks to their work on the ground. But in the aftermath of the election, they are wondering: how can the mobilization continue?
Hundreds of action groups formed throughout the French territory, but also abroad. Nearly 267,833 calls made to convince voters to vote for the New Popular Front and 30,000 proxies carried out via the Action populaire website, specially created for the occasion. On the evening of July 7, the Victoires populaires collective, a citizens’ movement that brings together left-wing voters throughout France, particularly from the Popular Primary, takes stock of its actions and savors the victory of the left.
That evening, many activists and associations congratulated themselves on the New Popular Front (NFP) coming out on top. Since June 9 and the dissolution of the National Assemblya group of actors ranging from national NGOs to local associations, including trade union organizations and various activists, have largely mobilized around the new coalition. This is in order to counter the rise of the extreme right.
Throughout France, citizen mobilization was unprecedented. The latter multiplied territorial or digital actions: telephone canvassing, leaflets, creation of platforms allowing to exchange proxies or to meet other people near home to carry out actions. The mobilization was organized quickly with one objective: to make the left win. But in the aftermath of the legislative elections, one question persists among activists: what to do now with this collective energy?
” New activists tell us they want to engage beyond the election »
The political parties are the first to realize this. In a few days, we had 1,500 new members within Europe Ecology-The Greens (EELV), including 59 in Normandy.says Sébastien Martot, regional secretary of the party in Normandy. Usually, in our local branch, we have about ten new members every two months. I have been active in the party for 25 years and I have never seen this ” he rejoices.
Léa Villain, for her part, joined a local action group of France Insoumise in the 19th arrondissement of Paris during the campaign. During this first activist experience, the 27-year-old architect notably distributed leaflets for the first time near her home. Since the end of the legislative elections, I don’t know how to continue my commitment, she specifies. Do I want to continue in a party or try to find an associative structure? “If the Parisian still has doubts, she has one certainty: this first step into activist life was a trigger for the desire to do more.
Several hundred kilometers away, it’s the same story at Marseille activists. There ” Citizen reserve ” – a territorial collective linked in particular to the Marseille associative, union and citizen movements – is organizing a meeting on July 10 to take stock of the mobilization. Of the 1,000 people active during the campaign, half responded. “ This is unprecedented. New activists tell us that they want to engage beyond the elections and continue mobilization at the local level. “, notes Kevin Vacher, activist of the collective and sociologist by training.
On the agenda for the meeting for the organizers: taking the pulse of the mobilization, imagining future actions and continuing to train new activists. It is also by maintaining our struggles at the local level for public services or ecology for example that we will continue to impose these subjects at the national level. “, continues Kevin Vacher.
Combating far-right ideas
The night before, the Victoires populaires, a digital social movement, also brought together several hundred people during a videoconference. For an hour, the members of the office answered the various questions of the new activists. The goal is to take advantage of this summer to train, spend time together and structure ourselves for the start of the school year, because we don’t know what can happen “, explains Coline, a member of the office. ” We must continue the mobilization so that the NFP remains united. This is precisely where we have control as citizens. We must appeal to the different political parties and keep the pressure on “, want Floraine and Solenn, two other members of the collective.
Once a campaign is over, new objectives are directly established. As soon as the school year starts, activists who wish to mobilize will be able to do so on very concrete projects such as registering on electoral lists, creating links with people who no longer believe in politics or even ” thematic campaigns to be carried out to reverse the trend of many of the speeches carried by the National Rally. »
“ Share all this collective energy »
Johan Reboul created his Instagram account “Le jeune engagé” during the second lockdown in 2020, in particular to raise awareness about ecology. via short videos. During the campaign, the content creator wanted to bring together as many people as possible by giving his community the keys to becoming actors in this election. Today, I receive a lot of messages from people asking me how to continue the mobilization. I tell them that we will continue above all to defend all the causes that we talked about during this campaign. The presidential elections are in three years and the extreme right is very present. “, adds the Nîmes native.
For him, social networks are a platform for raising awareness among his 120,000 subscribers on certain subjects or for circulating petitions, for example. Via WhatsApp groups, Johan organizes with other content creators and activists on future mobilizations. We are far from being structured like a party or an organization, but I think the key is to continue to share all this collective energy around us, through values that bring us together. “, says Johan, who has never received so many death threats as during this campaign.
One goal in mind: 2027
For activists, the far right appears as a threat to be fought. I think we are going to experience a period of permanent political crisis that will go beyond parliamentary instability. The latter is only the expression of an extremely strong ideological polarization in French society. I think that this will become the driving force for commitment for many activists. “, analyses Kevin Vacher, who usually campaigns for decent housing in Marseille.
” The battle is not won (…) There is still so much to do. That’s good, we have energy, ideas and joy, three essential ingredients to change the world. ” writes feminist activist Caroline de Haas on a Telegram group bringing together more than 31,000 people. She also invites them to maintain the link.
For activists, a few days after the legislative elections, it seems that it is time to take stock. But to listen to them, the mobilization is only just beginning. And they all have one goal in mind: to do the maximum to make the left win in 2027.
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