Music as an antidote to people’s indifference to politics?
Perhaps it’s the right formula if we take the example of Patrock Allemand’s wishes to his supporters: on Saturday afternoon, more makeshift chairs had to be added to seat everyone in a packed hall in the auditorium of the Maison des Associations on Place Garibaldi.
Not everyone was so lucky, and some remained standing.
For the occasion, the group “Badou et le Wat” performed. Badou, the headliner of the group, is someone deeply committed, notably through his foundation “Badou Mandiang,” which aids migrants who have lost orientation on the Old Continent. His motto is to help them work in their home countries in Africa, aligning with their deep-seated desire. The group performed, accompanied by Latifa, a singer from Nice, John Lennon’s “Imagine” with a Senegalese twist, as Badou hails from there. It was a phenomenal, astonishing moment where everyone was swept up in extraordinary emotion.
A concert as a prelude to the wishes of the PS leader in Nice.
Patrick Allemand addressed an audience still captivated by the earlier musical performances. He expounded on a core idea for this new year: “Strengthen the Republic.”
In this presidential campaign period, he made some remarks that drew smiles: “Today, some are walking (editor’s note: Emmanuel Macron is running under the banner of his En Marche party), while others are waltzing (Manuel Valls will participate in the PS primaries next Sunday).”
He did not forget to aim jabs at the competition: “Strengthening the Republic means defeating Fillon and Le Pen!” He revisited values inherent to the left, such as secularism, which needs to be promoted, gender equality, which needs to be strengthened, better access to healthcare, doing more for education, and developing associative life.
The opportunity was too good not to express his confidence in public services, “where François Fillon wants to eliminate 500,000 public service positions.”
He touched on many topics, particularly cultural preservation, referencing the relocation of the Theater of Photography and Image, to install in its place a theater school founded by Francis Huster.
Thanks to the artistic and cultural population of Nice, a petition with 3,000 signatures was submitted, allowing the TPI to be relocated to a central and accessible place, at Place Gautier and not in the annex premises of the Louis Nucera Library, instead of the Forum of Architecture.
