At LFI, the establishment of internal democracy considered “a lost battle”

2023-12-15 19:00:15
LFI deputies Alma Dufour and Manuel Bompard, during Questions to the government, at the National Assembly, December 5. JULIEN MUGUET FOR “THE WORLD”

This will be their third “high mass” since the 2022 presidential election. Saturday, December 16, more than a hundred “rebellious” from all over France will hold a new “representative assembly”, at Espace Charenton in Paris. Orchestrated by the management of La France insoumise (LFI), this meeting must discuss the militant actions of the past year and the electoral strategy to come, outside of the New Ecological and Social Popular Union (Nupes), including the act of death was made official by Jean-Luc Mélenchon at the beginning of December.

“For a year, the activists of La France insoumise have been part of all the fights”, wrote the coordinator of the movement, Manuel Bompard, to the activists. Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s first lieutenant cites the battle for pensions, the march against police violence or the fight against megabasins. “There is undoubtedly much left to do”he adds, while the “rebels” were invited to raise their grievances.

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The meeting comes a year after a very controversial first edition which resulted in the establishment of a new leadership around Manuel Bompard, who became coordinator of the first left-wing party. In passing, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s old traveling companions, the deputies Alexis Corbière, Raquel Garrido, François Ruffin, Clémentine Autain and Danièle Simonnet, had been sidelined.

“Sterile divisions”

An assessment had to be drawn from this new leadership, composed solely of deputies close to Jean-Luc Mélenchon. “We had to introduce more “social parity”. I’m waiting to be told who is going to resign to bring in which non-MP”pretends to question the LFI deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis Raquel Garrido, who would have liked “enjoyed attending” at Saturday’s meeting. Not being a member of management, she was not invited.

The fate of the woman who was sanctioned by her own party – by being deprived of four months of intervention in the National Assembly – for having dared to criticize Mr. Mélenchon embodied the divisions between the supporters of the three-time presidential candidate and the “rebellious”, and fueled numerous conversations among activists. “The comrades have had enough of sterile divisions”, testifies Camille, an assumed name, twenty years of activism in Seine-Saint-Denis under her belt. “When we tow in the street, we are asked: “Why was Garrido fired?” »he adds.

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Camille is one of the 450 activists (or 10% of those who are active, according to their calculations) who signed the call to “a Sixth Republic for La France insoumise”demanding more internal democracy. “For now, it’s a losing battle,” deplores the MP for Seine-Saint-Denis Clémentine Autain. Camille regrets that “Bompard [les] ignores superbly ».

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