It is on the Sevran fairground market, one of the largest and busiest in Seine-Saint-Denis, that Clémentine Autain will launch her “needs tour” this Saturday morning. In a context of budget cuts announced for local authorities, the MP intends, over the months, to collect responses from residents of the three towns in her constituency* to “the big question of the 21st century, that of needs”.
“When I was a candidate in the municipal elections of Sevran, in 2013, we organized for months a large gathering of the fears and hopes of the population, which we then restored in a theatrical manner,” recalls the elected official, who broke last summer with France Insoumise and its leadership after his re-election to the Assembly. Here again, she announces a series of meetings – outside schools and the RER, in cities, door-to-door – which will be the subject of a report next May.
“We want to give voice to the words of residents at a time when the budgetary debate is ending and we see that the government refuses to share wealth to consolidate public services which make it possible to meet truly essential needs,” explains -She. Capitalism creates a whole series of artificial needs to satisfy profit. We must reverse the logic, starting from the essential needs of the population in order to then be able to respond to them. »
Access to decent housing, employment, healthcare, quality food: Clémentine Autain “feels a good part of the answers”. “It still has to be heard up there,” she said. The idea of this collective reflection is to act as a sounding board and to lead to a hierarchy of needs that is currently unclear. It's not just about material needs. We also need social connections, to live in a context of peace and tranquility. »
At each stage of this tour, which the MP compares to “a campaign”, activists from the New Popular Front will install banners and question passers-by about their expectations, collecting photos, writings, videos. “We want to create dialogue in the street,” she says. And I am convinced that by listening in this way, we will of course have confirmation of these unsatisfied fundamental needs but we will also have surprises. It will also be a way of nourishing my political reflection and my interventions in the Assembly and in the media. »
*The 11th constituency of Seine-Saint-Denis brings together the town of Sevran and its neighbors Villepinte and Tremblay-en-France
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