It’s no secret that in Béziers Robert Ménard uses communication as a massive propaganda weapon. But in mid-October, a handful of users of the media library (MAM) decided to counterattack. “ Stop violent displays within the MAM », they urge in an open letter published on the site Envieàbéziers.info. “ Look at CNews who wants home, but we don’t come to MAM to see the same stagings “, write the users again, before assimilating Ménard’s political displays to a “ visual pollution ”, and a drift “ unhealthy and stupid ».
In question, a series of pro-Israel posters without any subtext. But also the programming of politically oriented conferences, such as that of his friend Hervé Deguine on the massacres of October 7 perpetrated by Hamas, or that of the sulfurous collector – and friend of Jean-Marie Le Pen – Pierre-Jean Chalançon to discuss… . Napoleon. Launched on the change.org website, the petition collected nearly 400 signatures. Among them, that of the opposition community representative Nicolas Cossange (PCF), who has noted a renewed activism by the former president of Reporters Without Borders in recent weeks.
“Ménard took a slap in the elections”
« The media library and culture are the poor relation of Robert Ménard’s politics. I think there are two things that come into play : on the one hand a profound disinterest, and on the other the opportunity to use it to put forward one’s political ideas. Even if it means furnishing, you might as well furnish with events that serve it… Which is an absolute scandal », argues the elected communist. According to him, the mayor-president is in the process of repoliticizing the debate and public space in Béziers after a period of “ purr ». « He took a slap in the legislative elections, his wife was beaten by the RN. And if there is a new dissolution of the National Assembly next year, when he will be in the starting blocks for the municipal elections, that could harm him “, he continues. Seized of the subject, the Libre Pensée de l’Hérault also denounced the political exploitation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a press release, pointing to a recurring and insidious mechanism. “ The far right needs to transform social or colonial conflicts into confrontation on the ground of “races” and real or supposed ethnic origins. Yesterday it was the Jews (…) it is now a matter of hitting Muslims. However the mechanics are the same », argues the Béziers group of the association, which denounces the use of a public service “ to propagate its divisive ideology “. On the online petition, following the 400 signatures, users’ comments are more distressed than each other. “ The MAM must not be another propaganda tool for our mayor », asks one of them. “ Our city is multicultural, sensitivities must be respected, living well together requires this respect. »
Contacted, the City and the agglomeration
de Béziers did not respond.
Swiss