The left radicals and the “Valoisian” radicals met for two days in Montpellier to discuss the theme of unity: as a result, it is pertinent to question whether the Republic needs this radicalism that supported its establishment in the 20th century.
For me, the answer is unequivocal: yes – says Patrick Mottard, departmental president and regional coordinator of the PRG.
While we can share our economic plan (made of a balance between structural reforms and social justice) or our federalist European project and our desire to move forward on societal issues (cannabis, euthanasia…), it is not the same for what has always been the backbone of radicalism: secularism.
Our Republic is on the path to communalism, making a Houellebecq-like future credible. A large part of the left dances an uncertain bossa nova between angelism and political correctness while dangerously flirting with cultural relativism, and the right, with its populist and bombastic rhetoric, falls short, especially in local communities where the temptation of clientelism is strong. As for President Macron, the least one can say is that he is not a warrior on these issues, and part of his entourage raises concerns in this regard.
In a political space that is vital for the future of our Republic but deserted by everyone else, the radicals have the legitimacy to powerfully intervene by opening the new perspectives the population expects. However, we must move beyond the incantation that sometimes boils down to congress tribunes shouting “secularism! secularism! secularism!” like others shouted while jumping like goats – as General De Gaulle said: “Europe! Europe! Europe!”
Indeed, we must reinvent secularism: we are no longer in the relatively peaceful society before 9/11. Among us, we have enough researchers, specialists, field actors, and activists to take on the challenge: inventing 21st-century secularism, the kind that will eradicate fundamentalism. Let’s bet that from there, the radicals will be heard and perhaps followed across Europe, especially in countries that have already fallen into the nets of communalism.
In France, bolstered by this new momentum, our movement, which I hope to unify — this is even a prerequisite — will thus be able to gather all the radicals whether they are within or beyond the Macronist border, but also part of the socialists (we think of course of Valls and his friends) and a large part of the UDI and MODEM.
All this is possible on one condition that has often been lacking: having the audacity to be ourselves.
by Patrick Mottard
