FactualSeveral tens of thousands of people marched throughout France, to try to put the climate at the heart of the presidential debate.
The scene is improbable and takes place in the climate march “Look up” – in reference to the film “Don’t look up”, a metaphor for the climate crisis, released in 2021 on the Netlix platform -, in Paris between the square of the Nation and that of the Republic, Saturday, March 12. A few meters from each other, parade a dozen pro-nuclear activists gathered behind the banner “Nuclear for the climate”, and the anti-atom activists of the Réseau Sortir du Nucléaire. Two radically opposed options and the same displayed urgency, that of the climate, to the great displeasure of almost the entire event. “We are not very well seen, but our presence is legitimate, wants to believe Florent Le Goux, 39, activist of the association “Voices of nuclear power”, and salaried geologist at Orano (ex-Areva). Nuclear has its rightful place to get out of fossil fuels. »
All around, the looks are incredulous, even suspicious. This antinomy is, however, revealing of the diversity of the demonstrators present in the Parisian procession. 32,800 people according to the organizers, 80,000 throughout France, including 8,000 in Lyon, 2,000 in Grenoble and 1,800 in Nantes. The police did not release turnout figures early Saturday evening.
A success for the organizers, while at the start, the crowd was more than modest. Analyzes to explain a lesser success – the previous processions, in March and May 2021, and during the major demonstrations of 2018 and 2019, with the “effect” Greta Thunberg, had tens of thousands of participants – mention the news of the war in Ukraine, the bad weather, a possible discouragement too. “We feel very small in the face of the great movements of history, the pandemic, the war, all of this affects us, there is weariness, explains Cyril Dion, the filmmaker engaged in the ecological struggle, present in the procession. The distributors in the cinema tell me: “people don’t want scary subjects, they want to be entertained”. »
“Only 2.7% of the media debate”
The procession, however, quickly swelled. And the colors have mixed, the green of Friends of the Earth or Greenpeace, the red of Attac, the orange of L214 or even the mauve of the Animalist Party, which proclaims “And everyone hates hunters!” ». And humor, always present in these processions, still marks the placards brandished by demonstrators of all ages. To traditional “Ecology without the class struggle is gardening” Where “Less rich, more hives”are added “Less Bayer, more beers”Where “We talk regarding it when”echoing this other sign “Only 2.7% of the media debate” who denounces the lack of echo of the climate issue in the electoral campaign.
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