This afternoon was the presentation of the New Year’s wishes at Cyrille Besset’s office: an opportunity to meet friends and activists again around traditional cakes and cider after the holiday break.
Introduced by Dominique, my speech this year was sober, as the gravity of the situation demanded. It will be summarized by the presentation of three wishes.
The first: that everyone finally understands what a state of war is. Especially men and women on the left. War requires great cohesion of the Nation behind the President, the government, and the republican institutions that are literally on the front lines: the army and the police. Cohesion that demands acceptance of the legal and constitutional adjustments necessary to adapt our legal framework to face new threats. When fighting the devil, there’s no time to question the sex of angels.
This wish is also an opportunity to emphasize the importance of a steadfast defense of republican values and, first and foremost, secularism. That is why we stand with Elisabeth Badinter against Bianco.
It is for this reason that we cannot accept certain communal deviations of the PS. Bartolone’s campaign (whom I otherwise respect) is an enlightening and regrettable example in this regard (the “Ramadan” meeting, the slip on “the white race,” etc.).
The second wish concerned the right and the absolute necessity for it to ban its suicidal “neither-nor” Sarkozy strategy. The old Republican Front functioned again (at a high price in our region), but everyone understood that this was probably the last time. The right must end its compromises and ambiguities (Juppé, Fillon, Estrosi, etc.). If it does not, the far-right will take its place, as happened not so long ago in Italy, and that will not be good news for the Republic or even for democracy.
The third wish concerns the absolute necessity of a cultural revolution for the left in the 06 department. It has endured several defeats over a few years, losing ground even when the left wins nationally.
Yet there is no inevitability: in 2008, we had 14 municipal councilors and 7 general councilors in Nice, today there are only 6 municipal councilors and no general councilors left. But to change the situation, everything must be shaken up: the strategy (a real opening towards civil society), the methods (long live the primaries always refused by the PS 06), and probably the individuals who have failed.
Within this framework, the PRG 06 has its role to play. With the team around me, I will strive to make it an effective instrument in the service of this necessary refoundation of the local left.
My conclusion: “Not asking the questions is to maintain the illusion that if we asked them, we would know how to answer them. Well, we, the radicals of the Alpes-Maritimes, do not want the 06 left to live in illusion. Count on us to ask the right questions.”
by Patrick Mottard
