Signatory of an open letter published by “Télérama”, the director of the National Theater of Strasbourg denounces the populist excesses of certain politicians and calls on elected Republicans to fight them, alongside artists.
Stanislas Nordey, director of the National Theater of Strasbourg, performs in “The Question” by Henri Alleg, at the Avignon Festival 2023. Photo Jean-Louis Fernandez
Published on July 19, 2023 at 5:53 p.m.
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In an open letter posted online Thursday, July 13 by Teleramatwo hundred and fifty personalities from the world of culture denounced “the trivialization of political pressure” against culture (cancellations of shows or concerts under the censorship of radical right lobbies, withdrawal of subsidies from certain communities, etc.) and pointed to the fact that “the center of political life was only drifting dangerously towards a form of authoritarian conservatism tinged with neo-populism”. The signatories aimed there, without saying so explicitly, a part of the right embodied in particular by the president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, Laurent Wauquiez. They called on the elected Democrats to a “frank opposition to the extreme right”, noting that there are today “a line of demarcation between what is republican and what is no longer so”.
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The director of the National Theater of Strasbourg, Stanislas Nordey, is one of the signatories of this open letter. Currently in Avignon where he embodies on stage, in a sober way and without pathos, the testimony of the communist Henri Alleg in The question, he explains why he signed this text and the urgency that there is now to resist any form of populist drift.
Why did you sign this forum?
There is an urgent need to react to this convergence of headwinds. The declarations of Laurent Wauquiez and his attitude towards the cultural actors of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region are only the tree that hides the forest. In many territories, clientelism is at work and transcends all political colors. As director of the National Theater of Strasbourg, I am one of the privileged and spared people because I report directly to the Ministry of Culture. This is not the case for a certain number of my colleagues, who manage smaller structures and depend on municipalities or regions which eat away at their funding and weaken them. There is also urgency because we see disaster coming in 2027. This is already the case in Italy, part of public funding for culture has literally collapsed overnight.
The panel asks the question: “Do we live in a country where far-right ideology has imposed its influence even before winning an electoral majority? » Do you actually have that impression?
In any case, this is the danger that awaits us. A little everywhere, the speeches harden and the dikes give way. Never has the Republican front seemed so fragile to me. Faced with the speech of a Laurent Wauquiez, I am appalled by the lack of response from Emmanuel Macron, the government of Elisabeth Borne or the main political leaders on the left and the right. During this time, the National Assembly skilfully played the card of immobility in the National Assembly, which only served and strengthened it.
When there are riots, let’s put money into Culture rather than the Ministry of the Interior. We will go further in the transformation.
The tribune calls for an immediate jump from all the democrats of this country, how do you imagine it?
I believe in the power of words. Before actions, there are words, and those used by a certain number of political leaders are too permeable to populist discourse, while others are too hesitant to denounce it. However, nothing is worse than laissez-faire, passivity or this fatalistic thought which already considers that we will not escape an extreme right-wing government. I am not one of those defeatists, I think that we must always fight, fight step by step and, for that, we need all the elected representatives of the Republican arc to lead this fight by our side. This is why this forum is for them.
What are the imaginaries that must be opposed to these bad winds from the extreme right?
Those of welcoming others, of openness, of tolerance. Imaginations that open up, contrary to the walls that the far right wants to erect, both literally and figuratively. I have always thought that art was the best bulwark against any form of barbarism. When we are faced with a work of art, whatever it is, our gaze shines because we see something that we had never seen, and it is our imagination that suddenly opens up. When there are riots, let’s put money into Culture rather than the Ministry of the Interior. We will go further in the transformation. We are well placed to know to what extent, in abandoned places, culture can very quickly modify and enrich people’s imagination.
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How does Henri Alleg’s text, The question, what you perform in Avignon resonate with today’s situation?
It is a text of resistance. This man faced with the worst that can happen to us – confinement and torture – was able to say no. It shows that in any circumstance and whatever the place where one is, one can resist. It’s a great lesson. When you sign a platform, you know very well that it is a drop in the bucket in the fight to be waged. But speaking up is important, it’s a way of not giving in to a form of discouragement, abandonment or resignation in relation to the convictions that one defends.
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