It was a day of civic tradition, Saturday at the René-Proby cultural space, with the ceremony to welcome young (and future) adults and thus mark the importance of this new status of full citizen while participating in the democratic life of the country, through his personal commitment. And like last year, the afternoon hosted by the Tant’Hâtive company allowed young people to participate in workshops to discover the field of action of elected officials but also the importance of being an actor in their lives. and to know how to engage in public life.
From the municipal councilor to the mayor via deputies and delegated councillors, they were no less than nine elected officials to have mobilized to participate in this ceremony opened by David Queiros, the mayor. The elected official did not fail to recall the meaning of elections and voting because “we vote for ourselves but also for others and abstention means not choosing and leaving the field open to others to decide. » after insisting on the attention that the City pays to its public policies and especially those aimed at young people through its Youth Center and the various services such as sports, culture… A Youth Center which, as as the organizer of the ceremony, had mobilized all its forces as well as the election service to offer workshops distributed in the space so that the young people could move from one to another after the introduction which was on the screen, at the reception. We could see the young people having donned the costume of mayor without forgetting the scarf, each in their very solemn decor, to announce, without trembling, their first measures to be put in place.
A real-life exercise
While some took this exercise very seriously, others humorously proposed more outlandish measures. During the afternoon, everyone was able to practice voting around the question “For or against, the right to vote at 16” at “The citizen vote space”, a way of discovering the procedure at follow, the commitment it represents, the ballot box…
Further on, at the Café des associations, there is Sylvain, one of the creators of the Citadanse association, well known in the world of hip-hop, as well as Ousmane, also co-creator of Expression, an association that offers workshops writing, rapping, and making recordings and videos who were present to welcome and encourage young people to get involved, to get started in order to bring in their turn the experience they will have acquired.
The “Espace des elected officials” occupied the entrance hall of the cultural space with its four tables, around which the elected officials spread out to welcome the young people, who came in turn to get information and ask a number of questions. The subjects were not lacking between the possible aid in the event of financial and/or social difficulties, the composition and the role of the municipal council or the distribution of powers between the municipality and the other authorities, the activities open on the territory and the associations that are established and until obtaining French nationality and therefore the right to vote for a young foreigner who meets a mayor for the first time.
In short, it is a very strong time for these young people to be able to dialogue with elected officials and gather information and in terms of information, there was still more to come with the time devoted to national bodies by the leaders of Cie Tant ‘Hasty, from the Department to the President of the Republic without forgetting the Parliament, the Constitutional Council… followed by a “moving debate” to invite young people to get involved from a cross on the ground, depending on whether they would do or not or that they would judge effective or not, a proposal, by positioning themselves on one of the branches of the cross.
