We could start at the end: in conclusion of his speech for the 2019 greetings, Patrick Allemand indulges in a trendy exercise: participatory democracy.
“Is my political commitment still useful to the city and the left?
(The audience shouts Yes!)
Then, I will be here!”
Now we know the name of another future candidate for the mayor of Nice in 2020!
Invited as usual to the Black Box room, nearly 400 people attended the greetings from the president of the left-wing groups at the city and metropolitan levels, president of the citizen association Nice au Coeur.
Patrick Allemand took the opportunity to review political news, comment on it, and deliver a few messages…
Regarding his political stance…
“Socialism is my DNA, those are my values, and I didn’t become right-wing because I called for voting Macron. Bringing this accusation against me isn’t credible after my journey alongside Michel Vauzelle at the head of the regional executive, or in the way I oppose Christian Estrosi in this city.”
Regarding national news…
“The national great debate will allow us to put everything on the table. We won’t see things more clearly until it is completed and especially articulated back. But I invite you to participate massively. For once that we can make our voices heard, we must seize this opportunity. Participating in this debate is neither supporting Macron nor supporting the Yellow Vests, it’s simply loving France.”
Regarding Nice…
“It’s our foundation because we won’t transform Nice if we don’t carry hope, if we don’t outline a perspective of improving daily life and living together. This city needs to be unified, we need to continue breaking down barriers, people need to open up, discover each other, and enrich themselves with their differences.”
Regarding his personal commitment…
“Nice au Cœur, is the strength of gathering, we are the strength of gathering, and what’s new is that more than three quarters of us in this room don’t have a party membership card. This shows that our active forces are outside parties.”
Regarding the future municipal elections in 2020
In this context, yes, there is room for a project with another dimension than “neither Estrosi nor Ciotti,” but one that engages by its content
[…] “Thinking about gathering as an addition of labels will, I tell you, be without substance. That’s the old world, the one disconnected, the one our voters no longer want. They want unity, they tell us so, but not that one, not that old recipe that no longer makes sense and has caused our voters either to turn away from us or not vote at all.
The gathering of the new world will be more complex, more demanding, more ethical too. Let my statement be clear. Political parties are indispensable, we see where their weakening leads, but it’s no longer a sufficient condition.
When I say that more than 3/4 of those present here are not members of a political party, I’ve said it all. It’s that the left recognizes itself elsewhere, in collectives, in associative life, in outreach, in organizations supporting migrants, in citizen councils, in a movement like Nice au Cœur, that’s the new world of the left, and there will be room for everyone.
Because it is this junction between the active forces outside the parties and the political formations that will need to be achieved. That’s the true gathering.”
It’s a bit long, too rhetorical, but it has the merit of being clear. The Mexican-style grouping of leftist splinters with more commanders than soldiers, that’s not for him. If he has to navigate, it would be out at sea!
