Patrick Allemand had announced at the New Year’s greetings: “my regional experience is over, I will immerse myself back into politics in Nice with a voice freed by the absence of institutional responsibilities.”
In fact, the shock result of the regional elections had an unexpected effect. After the disappointment of the municipal elections in 2014, the double defeat in the cantonal and regional elections clearly shows that the Socialist Party, with or without left-wing allies, eliminated in the first round, must limit its role to being a support force for the right to prevent the National Front from winning.
A rather unflattering prospect because it raises a fundamental question: how to engage in politics if you have few or no elected representatives?
Here is Patrick Allemand on the attack (did he eat lion instead of the traditional turkey during the Christmas holidays?), carrying a project that goes beyond parties (“the left even united does not have the votes to win”), which seeks to overturn the traditional pyramid of political organization with the base at the top.
“I am a Socialist and I support Xavier Garcia in his effort to renew the party in the Alpes-Maritimes, but we must go beyond the activists and revive the people of the left.”
Yes, but how? “We need a republican and solidarity movement open to all those who recognize themselves in its values.”
“Heart of Nice,” the association that will animate this platform, will be its tool and form of associative organization.
The goal? To awaken a left-wing electorate that abstains or has moved towards the FN, to play the card of citizen democracy, to go into the field to meet and be among the people.
In short, to shake up the system by opposing the verticality of organization with the horizontality of participation.
Beautiful and interesting words that require follow-up and results.
As Virgil said in the Aeneid, addressing shipwrecked sailors after a storm: “rari nantes in gurgite vasto.”
The propositions and work axes of Patrick Allemand’s platform:
1- Create platforms for citizen initiatives, it will be the participatory democracy established by Ségolène Royal to the very end. That is to say, it is not necessarily the elected representatives who will come to meetings with an agenda.
2- Do politics differently, that is, take the time to explain public policies and political decisions. My experience as the First Vice-President of the Region allowed me to measure the difficulty of explaining and sharing public policies.
3- Develop activism on the fundamentals of the Republic: A true original project for the promotion of secularism.
Value the right to vote as a factor of equality.
Finally, promote citizenship among abstainers.
4- Create citizen preparation of municipal councils.
The days of preparations among elected representatives or with a few party officials who may or may not come while so many others would like to be involved are over. These preparations will be, of course, open to all elected officials who wish to participate and, evidently, belong to the group “another future for Nice” or other groups that do not belong to the FN or the majority of Mr. Estrosi.
ICT will also play a key role in the transmission of municipal information to involve as many people as possible.
5- Use political experimentation: thematic and territorial approaches and transversal approaches.
There will not be, as in political structures, someone in charge of a sector; it’s an outdated concept. What is sought is the operational aspect. New methods of addressing major issues will be experimented with.
6- Put creativity at the service of a global political project to be built together. Through the method, we will break down the barriers of neighborhoods. Through the transversal approach, we will turn neighborhood residents into city citizens.
7- Reinvest in the field because I believe that politics always takes place on the ground. Contact is a priority. There will be activism for everyone because there will be a new dynamic stemming from a horizontal conception of communication.
