Reportage“Fragments of the countryside”. It is a youth that we hear little. From Normandy to Burgundy, several young people who live and work in the countryside tell their concerns, far from the presidential election, in which they do not feel represented.
It makes them cringe, smile or shrug their shoulders, to see these urban candidates “who make style that they are interested” to their Patelins, visit agricultural high schools, nursing homes, come to campaign at the foot of their steeples, suddenly listening to “peripheral France” – as some politicians call it. If they feel taken into account and represented on a daily basis, do they? Perhaps even less than their peers in agglomerations or cities. From Briouze (Orne), to Tonnerre (Yonne) and Grésigny-Sainte-Reine (Côte-d’Or), young people who have grown up and live far from the big cities are almost surprised that people are interested in what anime. Concerned, too, with the risk of caricature.
They, unaccustomed to being highlighted, who do not really have influencers in their image on TikTok, nor a place in the statistics of the big schools – finding themselves more often in short, discreet, nearby sectors, which meet the needs of their territory and their friendships. Not unhappy or disinterested for all that, “let’s not believe”. Their furrow, they dig it “in their corner” well in their sneakers and their bearings, deserving and who have their opinion to give. “Scumbags”, inevitably, when you grew up trampling under the bus shelter, waiting for your “50 cm3 At 14, the horizon is limited by the calculation of costs and miles – for school, cart, work. But the escape in the trails within their reach, which swells the chest when we talk regarding it.
Around the zinc of Lidenbrock, in Briouze, 1,500 inhabitants and four bars – more than twenty at one time -, it is a rural youth in all its diversity which is told: its tugs between staying and leaving, to widen the field of possibilities, when she can. The barriers – material, spatial, symbolic – which nevertheless prevent some “to look further”, the need to quickly have turnkey work. The electoral deadline and its “new candidates every day” are the least of their worries. As well as voting, an act in which they place little expectation.
“We are the forgotten”
Arnaud Levallois, 27, raises his chin when he presents his pub-restaurant, fireplace and “steampunk” decor. His pride and his life. This local boy rode the Lidenbrock two years ago, “one risk taking”, following a professional metalwork baccalaureate and training as a pizza maker. The desire to offer those of his generation “stuck in the villages”, like him, a festive haunt other than PMUs and aperitifs at home. Maintaining the legacy of parties and balls of yesteryear. The young boss has seen the birth of strong friendships, even couples, at his counter. A way to commit to his corner, even if this initiative is not counted in the ballot box.
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