Worried by the presence of Marine Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election, young people are mobilizing to block the far right. Blocking or occupation of university campuses, tribune in the press, student protest takes different forms.
It’s almost a cry from the heart, an instinctive impulse. “The youth fucks the National Rally”. It is with these words that a group bringing together several youth organizations calls for a blockage to the far right in a column published this Thursday, April 21 in Liberation. A punchline, direct reference to the punk slogan “The youth fucks the National Front”which has entered the militant consciousness since the 1980s.
In this between-two rounds of the presidential election, the youth of France is therefore mobilizing, worried by the presence of Marine Le Pen among the two finalists. In Dijon (Côte-d’Or), students are also active. The students of Sciences Po have decided to occupy the premises of their campus this Wednesday, April 20 on the sidelines of the debate between the candidate RN and Emmanuel Macron.
On April 14, hundreds of young people occupied the Sorbonne University and the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. The same day, the Sciences Po campuses in Paris and Nancy were blocked. Dijon students are therefore part of a generalized protest movement.
A total of 40 students from the Sciences Po campus in Dijon, or a quarter of the workforce, occupied the site until two in the morning. “There were very determined people, people who came because the fight interests them, because the situation questions them. We need to know what we are doing. There is a general anxiety among female students and students”explains Diem, a student enrolled in the Institute of Political Studies.
Among the demands of young people, the desire to fight against the trivialization of far-right ideas in France. “What about our future if the far right comes to power? The far right is never on the side of the youth and the working classes”worry the organizations in their common forum.
“We wanted to denounce the fact that the far right, qualified in the second round, can express themselves quietly for an entire evening”adds the student from Sciences Po in Dijon.
In the first round, 42% of 18-24 year olds abstained from voting. The consequence of a campaign during which the concerns of young people were not taken into account according to them. This is also why the students mobilized in Dijon.
“We got active to defend ecology and social issues. It was during the debate between the two rounds that the candidates decided to listen to the voices of young people. that they will take it into account. But it seemed important to us to take risks, to mobilize ourselves to show that there are themes that we must not forget”justifies Diem.
We want to put ecology and the social question back at the heart of the debate. We knew that it was going to be mentioned very little, or if not very badly, during the debate.
Diem, Sciences Po student in Dijon
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During the occupation of the Dijon campus, the students of Sciences Po discussed a lot about this campaign, thinking in particular about the choice to be made this Sunday, April 24. “Many of us are quite undecided. The only alternative is to vote for Emmanuel Macron, who has harmed youth and the social system. We don’t know what we are going to do. It was then a question of thinking about what vote while keeping in mind that no vote should go to the extreme right”.
From now on, the students of Sciences Po Dijon anticipate their next mobilizations. Other movements should be put in place after the second round of the presidential election. “We are going to decide on actions outside. We have planned potential towing, postering, training sessions, we don’t know yet. We have decided not to stop there, because fascism is not going to stop after Sunday”.
Among 18-24 year olds, Marine Le Pen won 18% of the votes in the first round of the presidential election. It was Jean-Luc Mélenchon who offered himself the honorary title of youth champion on the sidelines of the national ballot, attracting 34.8% of their votes.
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