On the left, Nahel’s death reactivates divisions and stirs up the “convergence of uprisings”

2023-06-29 20:00:27
Mounia (with the torch), the mother of Nahel M., 17, killed by police fire on Tuesday June 27, in Nanterre. During the white march in Nanterre, Thursday, June 29. CAMILLE MILLERAND FOR “THE WORLD”

All shades of the left were present, Thursday, June 29, in Nanterre, at the white march organized in tribute to Nahel M., 17, killed by police fire two days earlier. A consensus of facade simply, so much this drama, as soon as known, reactivated the divisions on the left on the use of the term of police violence, on the relationship to order and to the sovereign in general, but also on the modalities of the anti-racist fight and the report to “uprisings” popular.

At the center of the tensions, the position shared by many leaders of La France insoumise (LFI), starting with its leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon. “The guard dogs order us to call for calm. We call for justice,” reacted on Twitter the triple candidate for the presidential election. His choice of words immediately exposed critics, from the far right to the Macronist majority, for whom part of the left has definitely become an arsonist. The Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, ruled that “all those who spit on the police and on justice” were ” moral accomplices of the abuses that are committed”.

Mr. Mélenchon’s speech, on the other hand, was well received by many anti-racist activists, such as Houria Bouteldja, the former spokesperson for the Indigenous Peoples of the Republic. “In 2005, only a handful of leftists showed solidarity with the rioters”she noted, welcoming eighteen years later the refusal to call for calm from a “Rebellious France worked through struggles”. LFI, in fact, assumes to want to offer an outlet for anger and targets the executive and the Minister of the Interior in their management of the maintenance of order. “There are people who suffer when what happened last night happens, estimated, from Nanterre, its coordinator, Manuel Bompard. It is the responsibility of Gérald Darmanin, it is up to him to bring down the anger. »

Read also the editorial of “Le Monde”: Death of Nahel M.: what the drama of Nanterre imposes

Rebellious people not much better treated

Despite their good electoral scores in the Parisian suburbs in the presidential and legislative elections in 2022, the rebellious have not been treated much better since Tuesday than the other political parties in the neighborhoods. Proof of this is the LFI deputy Carlos Martens Bilongo, elected from Val-d’Oise, took a blow to the head on Tuesday evening, while trying to discuss with young people from Nanterre. Elected in Seine-Saint-Denis, her colleague Aurélie oublie is trying to keep “the crest line between the anger, legitimate, understandable and the concern of the inhabitants”.

You have 63.93% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.