Seven deputies of the New People’s Ecological and Social Union (Nupes) escaped for a few hours from the National Assembly. This Thursday evening, while the debate on the pension reform ends Friday midnight, the rebellious Raquel Garrido, Clémentine Autain, François Ruffin, Alexis Corbière, Eric Coquerel, the socialist Boris Vallaud and the ecologist Sabrina Sebaihi gave an appointment you at the Bobigny Labor Exchange (Seine-Saint-Denis) for a meeting against the government’s project.
Fist clenched towards the sky, the chairman of the finance committee arrives at the desk: “They believed once again that they could take people for fools but people understand. They’re just forcing us to work two more years, Lance Coquerel. We are paying for the capital in this business.” “If we give in today, down with the 35 hours, because they will tell us that we always have to be more productive”then warns the communist senator and director of the newspaper HumanityFabien Gay.
“Let him put this reform back in his slibard”
To miss the debates in the Assembly as little as possible, the deputies take turns: those who have started leave, the others arrive and replace them. Arrived in the middle of the evening, the president of the socialist group, Boris Vallaud, denounces “a tax on people’s lives”those who came from here, in Seine-Saint-Denis, to fill the shelves of supermarkets during the Covid crisis. “The France of Seine-Saint-Denis, which takes the metro to do handling”, continues François Ruffin. The deputy of the Somme never forgets to speak also, of France at home, the one which, everywhere, has “Back ache”. “A France which accepts a lot but which said no, adds the rebellious. He does not want to hear, so the country must be stopped to stop Macron […] For him to put this reform back in his slibard, the bosses have to call him, say to him, “Can’t you see the mess you’re making in our boxes? Stop that !”
“This reform will transform the best years of retirement into two worst years of work.denounces in turn another member of Seine-Saint-Denis this evening, Clémentine Autain. All this for what ? There is no valid justification. Money and solutions, there are boxes and wagons.” Raquel Garrido, who is hosting this evening in her constituency, speaks in turn and, as always, of popular sovereignty. “There are two blocks in this battle: the whole people and a single manshe says. We all agree. This unity makes us an irrepressible power.”
“We must not introduce division”
“MPs, politicians, everything must be done to maintain unityurges her husband, also a deputy, Alexis Corbière. It’s not easy, we’re tough-headed, there are 1,000 reasons to argue, but we mustn’t introduce division. There are different strategies on the parliamentary battle but whatever happens when the gong rings at midnight, the text will not be voted on. Let’s not exacerbate strategic differences.” Raquel Garrido, seated next, nods.
Since the beginning of the debates in the Assembly, socialists and ecologists have been pleading to drop whole sections of amendments to arrive at article 7, the one which provides for the postponement of the retirement age from 62 to 64 years old. . A way of forcing the right to assume its position, that of supporting the government. A position shared by the unions. The rebels are divided. Jean-Luc Mélenchon who, from the outside, weighs heavily on the strategy of the group, defends a total blockage, like the mobilization of the French, and warns against the possibility of a victory of the majority which would demobilize the social movement. “Incomprehensible withdrawal of PCF amendmentshe tweeted Thursday afternoon from Montpellier where he participated in the demonstration of the day before a meeting in the evening. Why rush to Article 7? The rest of the law doesn’t count? Can’t wait to get beat up?”
“We had gold in our hands, and [Mélenchon] abyss”
This Thursday afternoon, during an internal vote, it was his position which was chosen by one vote by the group, 26 against 25. The rest of the debate is now in rebellious hands. “It’s a tactical debate, there’s nothing to tear about, but there are issues behind it. Mélenchon goes against the Nupes and the unions. We had gold in our hands, and it damagesregrets a rebellious. He wants to take control. That’s what he does in Montpellier.
This evening, the battle against the pension reform also hides a battle between rebellious. Organized by Raquel Garrido just after the crisis that shook rebellious France, this public meeting was renamed “the meeting of the slingers”. Corbière, Autain and Ruffin, whom little had brought together until then, have come closer together since they were ousted from the management in December. “We have a convergent vision of our responsibilities”, explains Garrido. The deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis wanted to organize a meeting in her constituency, located in a department where Corbière, Coquerel and Autain are also elected. In full rebellious turmoil, she also invited Ruffin. “It must have stretched the direction, they thought we hated each other and there, they see that we organize it together and that there can be things that are done without Mélenchon”asserted a “slinger”, not without satisfaction.
“Against media fire”
For two months, the two camps have carefully avoided each other. “The atmosphere in the corridors at the Assembly is horriblesays one of the rebels of Bobigny. Part of the group is with us, the other with Jean-Luc. The rest is not situated.” Last week, a rumor started to circulate: Mélenchon would organize an event somewhere at the same time. It was therefore finally in Montpellier, in the Hérault, where the rebellious Sylvain Carrière, Sébastien Rome and Nathalie Oziol were elected. “The one who stood next to Quatennens and applauded when he spoke”creaks a slinger.
A confrontation by interposed meetings. “Mélenchon makes a media counter-fire”, regretted a rebellious last week. The movement’s coordinator, Manuel Bompard, evacuated: “These are different geographical areas, so much the better if there are several mobilizations.”
Throughout the week, on all the movement’s press loops, reminders were sent to attend the Montpellier meeting. But for that of Bobigny, nothing. The collaborators of the deputies who take part in it had to beat the recall. On arrival, in Bobigny, the room is sparse. In Montpellier, the walls had to be pushed. “1,400 people. We had to open a second room”, welcomed Mélenchon by publishing a photo of the filled rows. In case there was any doubt about who controls the machine.
