It’s often thought that the right and the left harbor visceral hatred toward each other, aiming to sabotage one another by all means possible, with underhanded tactics and betrayals being common. Yet, on that day, a leftist politician held a press conference accompanied by… a rightist politician! And the debate turned out to be good-natured.
On one side, there was Yann Librati, a city councilor of Nice, founder of the Alpes-Maritimes federation of the Young Socialist Movement, and of the Montebourg current in the same department. On the other, Olivier Bettati, Deputy Mayor of Nice and General Councilor of the 06. One was a member of the Socialist Party, the other of the UMP. Everything seemed to separate them, yet… the two are friends and enjoy discussing controversial and polemic issues for hours.
This complicity was evident throughout the debate. Olivier Bettati mimicked Yann Librati behind his back when the latter got carried away in fiery discussions. The young socialist mocked the arguments of the Deputy Mayor.
A key commonality between the two, apart from their dark, tie-less suits, was their age. Olivier Bettati was 36 years old. Yann Librati, 32. This similarity could only bring them closer. Both had gone through the same struggles, the same rejections from the “old guard.” At the start of their political careers, both were 17 years old. Quite a young age for activism. Yet, both Olivier and Yann felt the same desire to change the world, the same will to improve life. “I felt a real anger against the system. But most of all, against racism. That’s why I wanted to get involved,” explains Yann Librati. Olivier Bettati cited more or less the same reasons: “It was necessary to try to organize so that things would get better. I had participated in protests against the Devaquet reform at the time and had noticed that it was a real organized mess.”
Critics.
But their youth posed some problems. “When we’re young, we’re not taken seriously. We’re given nothing, we take,” the socialist bitterly stated. The UMP member agreed but was more pragmatic: “The old think the young wants to take their place. But at the same time, he knows that the young are important in terms of image. And image is crucial in politics.”
The two also agreed on the conclusions of the last presidential elections. On April 21, 2002, it was not the National Front that gained significant notoriety, “it was the other parties that weakened. And the Socialist Party in particular. We were ashamed to say what we thought. Which was not at all the case with Jean-Marie Le Pen,” noted Yann Librati. And, surprisingly, both city councilors recognized the positive benefits of alternation. Good sports.
And while both are from Nice and talk a lot with their hands, true to the region’s style, their underlying views often differ substantially. Take the CPE, for instance. As soon as the topic was launched, arguments flew. If not stopped, the exchange of views could last for hours. “We are in a period of consumerism. We take and we throw away!” said Yann Librati. Olivier Bettati interrupted: “Agreed, there are people who take advantage of everything, even the RMI. People are like that. But the image we try to give of bosses annoys me. Not all of them are bastards!” Discussing the role of companies, the conversation was tense as they attempted to define what the role of a company should be. For one, it should create jobs. For the other, its task was to generate wealth that should then be redistributed. You can guess who thinks what…
We dream of press conferences like this one between the big names of French politics. Without taboo or dishonesty. Where political correctness would be abolished and where each party could simply recognize the good ideas of the other. As Yann Librati eloquently put it, “we must fight for our utopias, our dreams. Yesterday’s dreams are today’s realities.” So let’s dream of a world where politicians would live in harmony, in complete sincerity and honesty with themselves, but above all, with the French.
