Political friction
Until the eve of the first round of the legislative elections, “Libé” travels through places of daily life to capture and recount these moments of impromptu discussion where, suddenly, politics erupts.
A building without charm, opposite the town hall in white stones typical of the region. Inside, the brand new premises are shared between the France Services counter and the municipal police of La Tremblade (Charente-Maritime). One entry each. “Enter without knocking”, warns the France Services door which opens onto a large reception room with a few chairs, five computers and a printer. On the wall, a France Travail poster, another for “a workshop to age well” or for the open day of a shared garden. Further on, the prospectuses of all administrations – France Travail, Social Security, taxes, etc. –, for which procedures can be carried out on site.
Marie-Christine, 62 years old, short hair and pink glasses, arrives a few minutes before her meeting with Virginie. Pink folder under her arm, she wants to know when she can retire. “I am in the category that takes six more months with the reform”, she warns. At the end of her interview with the official, who helped her recalculate her rights, it is “balls”. While she thought she would be able to quit her job as a mail carrier within six months, she will have to work another year. Born in the neighboring town, “in the same house” that the one where she still lives today, she has “always voted”. Except when she had to choose between Macron and Le Pen in 2017 and she preferred abstention. In 2022, she no longer knows what she voted for but “not RN, that’s for sure”. At the Europeans at the beginning of June? She preferred “a little list that wasn’t going to do anything”. And this time, for these early legislative elections? While she says to herself “rather left-wing”she does not intend to move.
“I voted once and it didn’t displease me too much”
“Next weekend I’m looking after my grandchildren. We’ll see if I can get home on time. For the second round, I will be on vacation.» Marie-Christine has not made a proxy. Either way, she no longer knows who to vote for. Hopes dashed: “We said to ourselves that maybe it would go better with macronie.” A certitude : “I am not going to vote RN. The extremes are completely off the mark.” No worries in the event of abstention, when LREM narrowly won the legislative elections in its constituency against the RN in 2022, and the latter won 49% of the votes in its municipality three weeks ago? “I don’t care a bit. It’s ugly, isn’t it?” says with a smile and a hint of fatalism the woman who earns less than 1,500 euros per month and prefers not to know how much she will receive once she retires: “It’s good that there is something wrong.” A lady comes home with her daughter, they crossed paths with Marie-Christine not long ago. We kiss each other, their passport affair seems to have been quickly resolved. They leave a few minutes later. Marie-Christine admits that she “don’t talk politics” with his neighbors and friends. “The climate is too anxiety-provoking. As we get older, we avoid angry subjects.”
The France Services counter, “closer to the people”is used to “bringing administrations closer together and overcoming this digital divide or electronicism”, explains Virginie, who has been working in a structure of this type for seven years. That of Tremblade opened in 2019. There are today more than 2,700 in France. «The digital divideI’m part ofadds Marie-Christine. It doesn’t interest me, I don’t have Internet by choice. And when you see on TV what they say on social networks, people who are harassed because they reveal who they vote for, I tell myself that I am right not to be there.” For Léa (1), the fracture is suffered. The 23-year-old young woman, in distance learning for personal assistance professions, came to scan documents for her internship report. Because between rent, insurance and groceries every month, she doesn’t have “no means” to buy a computer. In this tourist area at the peak of summer, isolated on a peninsula with its oyster farmers’ cabins but very rural the rest of the time, faced with an aging population, “It’s complicated to find a year-round job”. Before her training, she worked in oyster farming in winter and in restaurants in season. She did not vote in the last elections, nor in the previous ones. “But once, I voted and I didn’t mind it too much.” If her companion travels this time, perhaps she will accompany him. Hoping for a change with the RN.
“We remain a public place”
“One day, I came across a post from Marine Le Pen on social media, who said that no one could live on less than 1,500 euros per month. I think she understood.”she said, reciting in her head all her monthly expenses. “At the beginning, we didn’t calculate. But now we have to count it down to the nearest cent. And on the fifth of the month, we have nothing left.” When asked about the ideas of the far-right party: «We are not racist. But when we ask for help, we have no right to anything.»
Meanwhile, Virginie makes an appointment with a lady for her CAF file. She lists the documents she must have with her, “and above all, don’t forget your identifiers”. A forty-year-old who came to print an administrative document questions his colleague, Eloïse: “My wife has been trying to contact health insurance for days and has had no one. Can she come here?” The two officials welcome the “relational” that they succeed in creating with users. “Some people need to talk. But when they start the conversation about politics, we stop them right away. They have the right to think what they want but we remain a public place. We feel people are at the end of their rope”, they explain, regretting that their services are little known. Last week, Virginie helped a woman pre-fill her power of attorney, sent to the agency by mistake. It’s not supposed to be in his missions, “but it’s important”. Another lady comes by to use the computer. “I don’t have Internet at home so I come when I can, once or twice a week.” She won’t vote either: “I’m working.”
(1) The first name has been changed.
