(Paris) At the call of five trade union confederations and numerous associations, the entire left will march this weekend across France in the hope of creating a mobilization of voters to prevent the advent of a majority far-right in the National Assembly.
The National Rally has the wind in its sails for the legislative elections of June 30 and July 7, with 31% voting intentions in the first round, ahead of the left alliance at 28%, according to an Elabe poll carried out for BFMTV and La Tribune Sunday.
“Beating the extreme right at the polls, combating its racist project must be combined with the emergence of profound change, social and ecological ruptures and the effectiveness of rights,” according to the call to demonstrate.
In their first joint communication under the name “Popular Front”, the Socialist Party, the Communist Party, the Ecologists and La France insoumise called on Monday evening to “join the processions” of the demonstrations against the far right planned for this weekend .
The general secretary of the CFDT Marylise Léon declared on LCI that she wanted to mobilize “all (her) energy to do everything so that the National Rally does not come to power”.
“We cannot create society today, in 2024, by considering that we must be separated, each at home, by dividing and constructing rights in a discriminatory way,” added the leader of the first union.
Throughout the week, demonstrations took place, particularly in the regions.
“It worries me that there aren’t more of us. When we look at what happened in 2002, the streets were crowded and the momentum was more spontaneous, I would like us to find the same momentum,” hopes Math Gillio, a 21-year-old political science student met Wednesday evening in a demonstration in Lille.
“France is in a state of fascistization, but I want to go to the streets to show that this cannot be generalized to the whole country,” says Laetitia, a civil servant at a school in Seine–Saint-Denis.
“The challenge is to seek votes from those who do not vote,” declares Cédric Ghestemg, 37, a cartoonist and LFI activist who plans to demonstrate this weekend in his region, in Montpellier, to “give himself courage, to feel that we are united”.
The CGT plans one or two demonstrations per department.
In Paris, the procession will set off from 2 p.m. from Place de la République in the direction of Nation, via Bastille. 50 to 100,000 participants are expected on Saturday in Paris, according to estimates from the intelligence directorate of the police headquarters (Dr PP).
Among the unions, the mobilization against the far right is not unanimous. The call brings together the CFDT, the CGT, the Unsa, Solidaires and the FSU, but the FO, CFTC and CFE-CGC confederations stand aside.
FO specifies that “the confederation leaves everyone free to join the demonstrations or not”, but its Education and Culture Federation (FNEP FP-FO) and certain departmental unions are calling for people to join the processions.
The CFE-CGC “never calls for any movement linked to a political election,” its president François Hommeril told AFP.
According to a poll published on Saturday by the Harris/Interactive institute, on the eve of the Europeans, for the AEF agency, the RN vote is also increasing among people “close to a union”, going from 16% in 2019 to 23%. in 2024.
This percentage reaches 34% among FO supporters, and 24% and 22% respectively at the CGT and the CFDT, whose leadership nevertheless emphasizes their rejection of national preference and underlines the dangers of the extreme right for workers’ rights. .
“We are impacted by the ideas of the extreme right and by its trivialization,” recognizes Céline Verzeletti, confederal secretary of the CGT. “The current government has a great responsibility, especially Emmanuel Macron.”
“Relatives or sympathizers are not necessarily members and even less activists” of the unions, notes Stéphane Sirot, historian. “The depoliticization of the union field undoubtedly played its role” in the rise of the RN vote, as did “the disappointments of the experiences of the left in power”.
And “the seemingly social discourse of the far right, rather clever, has certainly contributed to muddying the waters for some,” according to this union specialist.
