David Nakache is the president of the association “Tous citoyens” and is 8th on the VIVA list. For him, the AEI-EELV list is a deception that cannot represent his socialist and ecological ideals.
Does the VIVA list support a candidate in the second round?
No. I have already expressed my position: voters are responsible, each knows what they have to do. It is not a question of giving voting instructions as if the votes that went to Viva were votes that belonged to us.
And you?
Personally, I will vote blank. Neither the socialism I believe in nor the defense of the environment will be represented in the second round of the municipal elections in Nice.
Why not vote for the EELV list which is nevertheless left-wing?
On paper, what Jean-Christophe Picard says about citizen representation is commendable. When you look at their program, you can only agree. But you have to look at the reality of actions.
We find ourselves with a second round that is eminently problematic because, being left-wing, I should normally vote with my eyes closed for a list with the Europe Écologie logo. The problem is that the list running in Nice is a deception. These are fake representatives of ecology.
What is the problem with the EELV list?
When you look at the record of outgoing elected officials like Juliette Chesnel le Roux or Fabrice Decoupigny, it is virtually nonexistent. When you consider the political stance of Jean Marc Governatory, he claims to be neither right nor left.
But he validates economic liberalism which is at the root of environmental destruction. Furthermore, he positions himself politically in a quite unusual way. In debates, he defends vigilant neighbors, he does not say a word about Christian Estrosi’s security policy.
What about Christian Estrosi’s list?
The policy led by Christian Estrosi for two mandates is fundamentally anti-ecological. It acts against the fundamentals of ecology. When hyper-tourism is developed to this extent, it creates public health issues. There are 500 premature deaths per year in the Nice Côte d’Azur metropolis related to air pollution.
We witness an excessive concreting of the Var plain and the coastal strip. There is no anticipation of climate disruptions.
We see that at all levels this policy goes against the protection of the environment and biodiversity.
Why couldn’t a merger with the PS and EELV be achieved?
Under the ecology label, there are very different political realities. There are EELV lists in other cities for which I would have voted without hesitation. The same goes for the socialists, in other cities there are people from the socialist party on lines close to Benoit Hamon or Arnaud Montebourg who are developing real left-wing policies.
But the Nice PS has been voting for 10 years for the most liberal texts in all the motions of the socialist party and defends the most security-oriented positions. These are socialists who defended Emmanuel Macron’s policies when he was Minister of Industry. They also defended Manuel Valls’s security policies.
How can you bring together a strong and united left?
The health crisis has shown us, we need to rethink and relocalize the productive apparatus while considering environmental imperatives. We need to rethink a completely different mode of urban and human economic development. We have cities where the problem has been well anticipated. But we have cities like Nice where those who call themselves ecologists and those who call themselves socialists think that economic liberalism and productivism are compatible with ecology.
Specifically, by what means do you intend to proceed?
To rebuild a left in Nice, we have managed to bring together Viva on the one hand people who are not affiliated with any political party and on the other hand, established political forces: the Communist Party, Génération.s, La France Insoumise, and Ensemble. So we have four political forces that have come together to form Viva.
Viva will continue after the municipal elections. We have created a platform for bringing together the left and ecology. We were missing 720 votes to be in the second round, but we have laid a foundation, an act of reconstruction for the left in Nice. And we open it to all ecologists and socialists who do not recognize themselves in the parties carrying these names.
Will you make your ideas heard through the civic route?
Yes. I am the president of the association “Tous citoyens,” I have never been elected, and yet I make my voice heard. Citizens who do not have an elective mandate can participate in public debate, hold public meetings, organize gatherings, apply pressure on elected officials… We keep local democracy alive.
