The organizers of the French citizen designation have followed the example of the movement, launched in the United States in 2017, which supports candidates favorable to their “Green New Deal”.
“We are here to fight for humanity, which is why we need a new green deal.” In a hallway near the office of Nancy Pelosi, just re-elected to the House of Representatives in November 2018, a man, black cap on his head, harangues a crowd of around a hundred young people. Dressed in black t-shirts with the slogan on them “we have the right to a good job and a livable future” listed in yellow, these activists of the Sunrise movement are trying to put pressure on the one who will become president of the House of Representatives a few weeks later to review her copy in terms of ecology. During their sit-in, the activists will even be joined by the elected Democrat of New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “We break down the doors”, she let go of the microphone in hand, addressing the crowd.
Even if you look carefully, it is difficult to find an equivalent to such an action or such an organization in France. Yet many, in associations and activists, claim to be inspired by Sunrise. Starting with the organizers of the popular Primary who, in a few months, managed to attract 466,895 people to vote until Sunday and designate by majority judgment “the candidacy most likely to bring together and win social justice, ecology and democracy” in the presidential election next April.
Millions of text messages and calls
“The Sunrise movement is a subject that we talked about a lot during our first exchanges between the founders of the Pop Primary”, explains Mathilde Imer, spokesperson for the citizen ballot. At that time, those concerned are still thinking about the means of action they could use to participate in a union of the left. The idea of a primary is still far from being decided.
The Sunrise movement was launched in 2017 when a dozen young people involved in various environmental defense associations decided to come together. Their objective : “making climate change the main election issue and gaining power so that change happens”, they explain on the site. In the 2018 midterm elections, activists are trying to disqualify candidates who accept funding from the fossil fuel industry and, conversely, actively support those most sensitive to the climate cause. For the 2020 elections, for example, Sunrise sent more than 2.6 million text messages and made more than 5.6 million calls in an attempt to convince voters to vote for the greenest candidates. What boast of having “sent to Congress” the elected officials supported.
“The starting point is the background”
To influence the presidential election, the organizers of the popular Primary will go about it differently, since in this case it is a question of a citizen nomination on the sidelines of the parties and candidates already launched. “The political context in France is very different from that in the United States where there is a bipartisanship and institutionalized primaries”, justifies Mathilde Imer. Above all, if the left-wing candidates had agreed on a process aimed at deciding between themselves, the “2022 or never” association would not have needed to organize its own ballot complete the door. -word of the Primary pop. In this case, the association would then have clearly supported the candidate whom they would have considered most in line with their values and campaigned for him. Like Sunrise does in the United States.
All the same, according to Imer, there are obvious commonalities between the popular Primary and Sunrise. “In both cases, we observe that the two movements are initiated by young activists already involved in associations and above all, in the United States as here, the starting point is the background, the project”, unfolds the spokesperson. In the long process that follows today on a vote, the first step of the defenders of the union of the left was indeed the construction of a “common base”. Where the Americans defend tooth and nail their “Green New Deal”. “We are often in contact with them, they advise us a lot, they are delighted to be a source of inspiration for others”, concludes Mathilde Imer.