“When we decided to create the Marseille Spring, we started with what brings us together. What we have done here, I am sure some will succeed in doing for the country. There is no other alternative… Otherwise, it will be the wall. “ Responding to a question from World during his greetings to the press, Friday, January 7, the socialist mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan, displayed his credo for the presidential election. A union of the left or failure.
But eighteen months following having overthrown the right in a city where it had reigned for twenty-five years, does the Marseille Spring experience really hold up as an example at the national level? The municipal majority, which still brings together members of left-wing parties, environmentalists, representatives of civil society, former “rebels” and supporters of ex-Senator Samia Ghali, holds the shock of the exercise of power. It did not explode, as the right had predicted, but struggles to spread beyond the city’s borders. The departmental and regional elections of June 2021 clearly showed a takeover by political parties to the detriment of citizen movements. And both ended in defeats for the left.
Michèle Rubirola, head of the list who gave up her chair as mayor to Benoît Payan in December 2020, still dreams of a “French Spring” for the presidential election. “People are waiting for us to go beyond our egos and our labels to recreate common values”, assures the elected ecologist. The now first assistant in charge of health does not hesitate to quote a principle that she says she read from Lenin: “To win, you can walk separately, but you have to strike together. “
“Offer an alternative”
“The Marseille experience clearly shone for a few months on the French left, recalls Sébastien Barles (Europe Ecology-Les Verts). Friends came from all over France to see how we had done. “ But for the assistant for ecological transition, the resignation of Michèle Rubirola was right “The Spring effect”. « We are now more on the idea of a plural majority than of a common movement ”, explains the one who did not hesitate, with five of his running mates, to create an independent group “environmentalist and citizen” within the municipal majority in June 2021.
“I don’t like to talk regarding a model, but we have proven by the facts that the gathering works”, judge for his part the elected Communist Jean-Marc Coppola, highlighting the first successes of the Marseille Spring, such as the school renovation plan at 1.2 billion euros. The cultural assistant also hopes to see the emergence of a unique presidential candidacy … Without really believing it. “The situation seems complicated, because everyone is firmly rooted in their positions”, he regrets. For him, the problem remains the lack of a common goal. “You don’t have to show up to score in the first round, but to offer an alternative to the French, as we did with the Marseillais”, he judges.
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