Since August 5, the caravan of the Youth Socialist Movement has been traveling across France. Monday in Valence, Wednesday in Toulon, Thursday in Marseille, and therefore Tuesday in Nice.
Patrick Menucci, one of the campaign managers for Ségolène Royal, described the MJS as a “school of vice,” but in the Moulins district, it was more like a school of citizenship with young socialist members or sympathizers accompanied by their national president Razzye Hammadi, and supported by young socialist officials from the Azure region, Yann Librati and Anne-Julie Clary, as well as experienced members like Paul Cuturello, General and City Councilor of Nice, and Patrick Allemand, the first federal secretary of the PS.
Razzye Hammadi did not dwell too much on the MJS/Ségolène Royal incident from Sunday, where the president of the Poitou-Charentes region verbally rebuked Nolwenn, an MJS activist. He preferred to spread the positive socialist message based on a project that received “support from the associative and syndicalist left and which would come as an alternative on all points to the right.” To forgive the MJS’s missteps, especially regarding Ségolène Royal, Razzye Hammadi positions himself as a victim and questions: “Why shouldn’t we have the right to an internal democratic debate within the PS, unlike the UMP where we already know the candidate?”
In the absence of deciding on the nomination of a socialist candidate for the 2007 Presidential elections, the young socialists spent the whole day in the Moulins district west of Nice. On the agenda: distributing flyers at the market in the morning, in front of the Thierry Maulnier, Eucalyptus, and Paul Augier high schools in the afternoon, but above all, meeting with residents of the neighborhood, especially the young population. The objective is stated by Sébastien Franco, federal leader of MJS06: “We wanted to engage in dialogue with the youth. I was surprised, and it is appreciable, by their desire to vote. They are curious and asking how to register on electoral lists.” The spokesperson for the young socialists of the Azure region does not hide his strategy: securing the votes of new voters for the socialist candidate: “You know, here in these neighborhoods, they haven’t forgotten Nicolas Sarkozy’s Karcher.” A strategy deemed political by some, but throughout the day, young people talked politics with young people and convinced them of the importance of voting. “I don’t recall experiencing such interest from young people in politics except during the municipal elections in Vitrolles to counter the Mégret family.”
Nationally, the MJS refuses to take a position and will support the socialist project in the field. The candidate carrying it does not matter, even if it is Ségolène Royal. “The reason is simple: at MJS, one in two members is not a member of the Socialist Party and therefore will not designate the PS representative. It is therefore legitimate that we support no one, and it is the same at the local level,” explains Sébastien Franco.
Young socialist activists will have plenty of opportunities to express themselves throughout the year and starting on September 28 with the strike and then the student return. After the nomination of the socialist candidate, they will have a few months to convince.
