It's a little taboo that has been broken. The decision of the environmentalist mayor of Bordeaux to arm part of his municipal police – in the name of “pragmatism” – illustrates the left's dilemma on security issues: escaping accusations of laxity, while remaining faithful to its prevention policies .
“I have the impression that the world has gotten worse, that there are more weapons circulating,” argued this week Pierre Hurmic, who had for a time been accused by police unions of “dogmatism” on the subject.
Last month, after a murder in Marseille involving a 14-year-old hitman, it was PS boss Olivier Faure who declared that it was necessary to consider ruling out the minority excuse for acts of extreme violence. , a proposal traditionally supported by the right.
“We undoubtedly have less modesty than before in talking about these security subjects,” recognizes socialist senator Alexandre Ouizille.
“But we are also interested in the causes and reasons for the violence. For the right, this is already excusing it,” he adds, while the head of the environmentalist deputies Cyrielle Chatelain denounces a “demonstration “muscle” of the conservative camp and the government, ineffective because of a “lack of manpower”.
“The right won a semantic victory by making people believe, since Nicolas Sarkozy, that it was genetically effective on security, and that the left was not,” denounces the deputy for the North Roger Vicot, national secretary to the security of the PS, the only left-wing party to have led the country.
“When you are a left-wing activist, generally the first subjects which give you the seed of commitment are social injustices, ecological transition, questions of equality and the fight against discrimination”, explains for his part the coordinator of LFI Manuel Bompard, specifying that to hope to lead the country, rebellious executives are led to “diversify [leurs] palettes”.
– “Naive approach” –
While the fight against drug trafficking was recently made a “national cause” by the government after several shootings and settling of scores across the country, the left is increasing initiatives to show that it is not left out in the fight against drug trafficking, which for example left 49 dead, including seven minors, in the city of Marseille alone last year.
“We must ensure that we can prevent, punish and cure at the same time,” summarizes Olivier Faure, while a socialist senator, Jérôme Durain, will present a bill with an LR, Etienne Blanc, emanating from the work of a transpartisan senatorial commission of inquiry on the subject.
And on the question of the legalization of cannabis, a traditional marker of the difference between the left and the right, Olivier Faure warned those who, through “a somewhat naive approach”, would think that “legalization alone would be able to defeat powerful networks.
“It is perhaps part of the solution but there are other elements that must be put on the table,” he insisted.
– Community policing –
The Insoumis, for their part, presented a series of proposals, denouncing the “repressive escalation” advocated according to them by the government.
“We particularly want the legalization of cannabis and public control over consumption. Efforts must also be made to dry up arms trafficking,” explains MP Hadrien Clouet.
“Our solutions speak to those first affected, the people who live in working-class neighborhoods, because they rather choose our solutions in the elections,” assures the executive of the radical left movement.
In their program for the legislative elections, the forces of the New Popular Front agreed on a series of measures, such as the reestablishment of the community police, created by the government of Lionel Jospin then abolished by Nicolas Sarkozy when he was minister of Interior.
“On the left, we are not necessarily all on the same wavelength, we do not agree on everything, but on the essentials,” summarizes MP Roger Vicot.
And within the NFP, the communist Fabien Roussel is the most verbose on security issues.
“My left will not be lax”, he launched during the 2022 presidential campaign, pleading the “right to tranquility” and denouncing the “neighborhoods where the Republic has withdrawn”.
Outings that made LFI cringe.
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