VSTo laugh or to betray, you have to choose. To serve the State, to be paid by it or to benefit, in one way or another, from its salaries, amounts to rallying to legality, which implies reducing one’s share of freedom in the name of servitude. This is what is called, roughly and in France, being a republican or, in common parlance, “legalist”. The elected environmentalists present in Sainte-Soline symbolically broke their commitment to the nation by defying a prefectural ban. A minority party, although in favor of a majority ideology, compensates for its electoral frustration by turning into a political faction.
According to the historian Gabriel Martinez-Gros, we know that in the eyes of its population a state is not, or not necessarily, the bearer of the truth. He enjoys a certain credit, passes not for virtuous, but at least for effective. In other words, force is given up to him in the name of the benefits he lavishes, of the fairness he demonstrates. Until the day when failures, economic decline, military defeats, political scandals, undermine the scope of his words and mechanically remove his power of truth: we listen to him then without believing him. This same state no longer represents what could be called the “good”. Mediators of truth appear, philosophers, intellectuals, activists, etc. As they do not hold power and are therefore exempt from the vices that are attached to it, these figures become a symbolic counter-power.
quest for credibility
This is how the monarchy was, in the XVIIIe century, stripped of its legitimacy for the benefit of a generation of intellectuals. The Ve Republic, let’s say our state today, is in a comparable situation; and ecology is an illustration of this. Emmanuel Macron may multiply declarations, laws, symbols of the struggle in order to make the environment a national priority, no one listens to him. As the government is incapable of reassuring public opinion, public opinion turns to scientists, experts, activists who, in its eyes, are credible apostles. Even Europe Écologie-Les-Verts suffers from this situation and its proximity to the Republic. Proof: the party is unable to exceed 5% in the presidential election. It is natural that their elected officials try to cross the Republican Rubicon to rally the challenge. All in the name of a simple reason: the quest for credibility. The thing does not seem so scandalous, but it becomes immoral when one takes advantage of both legality and contestation. If environmental deputies, or others for that matter, believe they can better defend their cause outside the straitjacket of the state, they should not hesitate. It is about the freedom of their conviction and their freedom as citizens. On the other hand, taking advantage of both at the same time amounts to betraying both sides at the same time, and without discretion.
For some ecologists, it is infinitely more recreational to found a ZAD than to obtain a majority in the National Assembly.
This gender confusion is the source of the embarrassment of the leaders of this party. It is enough to listen to, or to read, the declarations of Yannick Jadot since the beginning of the legislature to be convinced of it. This exemplary Republican, who multiplied the concessions during the presidential campaign, is caught in a vice, let’s not say hostage, between his speech, the convictions of his militants and some of his executives who do not hesitate to flatter the CONTESTATION. This is not a case of conscience, but a strategic textbook case. To be reasonable in order to be, one day perhaps, elected by a left gathered around ecology, or to become the guru of a radical sect, or even, and why not, the hero of a new revolution whose ecology would be the first of the reasons? This ambiguity is one of the explanations for the repeated failures of the French ecologist party when the others triumph in Europe.
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Without realizing it, these elected officials join the list of politicians whose virtue is measured by the absence of power. In ten, twenty, thirty years, they will overwhelm us with books of memories where they will repeat having understood, alerted, first, without success, convinced of not having been rewarded at the height of their merit. They will forget that antics have nothing to do with convictions, and that it is infinitely more recreational to found a ZAD than to obtain a majority in the National Assembly. For the rest, the comments in this article pale in comparison to the ridiculousness of the situation. History will remember this demonstration, a woman, tricolor scarf slung over her shoulder, Lisa Belluco, walking in the direction of the gendarmes, her arms in the air, screaming: “You have no right to touch me, I am a deputy. Courage is an admirable virtue.