It’s the most quoted phrase of the moment, and yet. The late Gérard Collomb therefore preached out of optimism, with his famous and disastrous prediction: “Today, we live side by side […]I fear that tomorrow, we will live face to face.” We no longer live face to face, but against each other. Worse, each violently against the other. We no longer oppose each other, we confront each other, including physically.
Demonstrate together against violence against women? You don’t think about it: depending on whether you are thinking of the victims of sexual crimes perpetrated by Hamas terrorists or whether you are defending Palestinian women in Gaza, you cannot march together, only insult each other. Last Saturday, in Paris, feminist associations were confronted with their contradictions and the joining of the causes proved impossible.
Rebelling in a common reflex of the fatal attack of an adolescent? You don’t think about it: it’s about taking revenge on yourself. And political leaders rush to choose their death, Nahel or Thomas, and to deafen with their silence the causes that they do not share, here the condemnation of a crime, there the denunciation of a punitive expedition. Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his friends from La France insoumise do not rush to denounce the murder of Crépol but react without sparing their efforts when it comes to questioning the police or rebelling against the abuses of the ultra-right.
The “risk of a shift”
It’s exactly the opposite, except that it’s exactly the same thing: Eric Ciotti, Sunday evening on BFMTV, cannot find the words to condemn the cries of “Islam outside Europe” heard the day before in Romans- sur-Isère. Meanwhile, on social networks, without filter, without blurred face, hundreds of thousands of people are following the situation, “live street Netflix” according to the expression of someone close to Emmanuel Macron. This time, everyone feels concerned, everyone is talking about it.
This Monday, government spokesperson Olivier Véran went to Crépol to warn against the “risk of a shift” in society, but can he still be heard? Several ministers and party leaders wanted to attend Thomas’ funeral, but their presence was refused by the family. Faced with the hatred that is surging, institutions are struggling to hide their exhaustion – we must not forget that Gérard Collomb had the opportunity to express his fears in 2015, and nothing has calmed them, not even his time in power – , they suffer from no longer benefiting from the trust of the country. Justice, indicted by one France, the police, singled out by another France.
Hemiplegic France, and the presidential figure, less unifying than ever. What can “the holder of the scepter” do? It would be unfair to only target the current head of state, but Emmanuel Macron and his promise of “united France” now seem so powerless.