{"id":3303,"date":"2020-02-04T18:59:13","date_gmt":"2020-02-04T17:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commonspolis.org\/uncategorized\/la-commune-des-communes-a-commercy-recit-dune-rencontre-des-municipalismes-francais\/"},"modified":"2020-02-18T14:45:29","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T13:45:29","slug":"la-commune-des-communes-a-commercy-recit-dune-rencontre-des-municipalismes-francais","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commonspolis.org\/en\/community\/la-commune-des-communes-a-commercy-recit-dune-rencontre-des-municipalismes-francais\/","title":{"rendered":"The Commune of Communes in Commercy: French municipalist movements coming together"},"content":{"rendered":"
Didier Fradin contributes to several citizen participation experiments at #MAVOIX and La Belle D\u00e9mocratie. He was present at the Commune of Communes conference (January 18\u201319, 2020), the first gathering of free municipalities and municipal initiatives, organised by the Citizens\u2019 Assembly of Commercy, the city of madeleines, situated in eastern France. He shares with us his insider\u2019s view on what\u2019s at stake behind the democratic citizen movements active in France at the intersection of the yellow vest movement, municipalism and communalism.<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

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by Didier Fradin | February 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The event was not to be missed\u2014the chance to meet with the heroes behind the <\/span>Commercy call to action<\/a><\/span>,<\/span> whose faces were all familiar to me, as I had seen them time and time again while editing a video on democracy in which they appeared directly after another group of yellow vests, tagged #MAVOIX<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span> Originating from the yellow vests movement<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>(1)<\/span>, the term \u201clibertarian municipalism<\/span><\/a>\u201d, which appeared at the Commercy Yellow Vests\u2019 Assembly of Assemblies, comes from Murray Bookchin, a theorist in the field of social ecology and libertarian municipalism, also known as communalism. (Click here for an excellent article by Ballast on the topic in French<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

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What is most striking at first is the kindness and modesty of the \u201cscary\u201d yellow vests here, far removed fro<\/span>m the reputation constantly put forth by the media and a far cry from the image of the insignificant, destructive and environmentally irresponsible grumblers that they are portrayed as every day on the news. So much for unbiased reporting\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

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As night falls, I arrive at the home of Lucas, my host for the weekend who lives in a big house in the centre of a small village 20 km from the meeting venue. A fire is already crackling away in the wood stove: \u201cThere will be about 15 or 20 of us,\u201d he tells me, \u201cbut the anti-nuclear meetings in Bure had as many as 30.\u201d<\/span> Municipalism had already been a topic of discussion among the protestors in Bure (2)<\/span> when about 50 people, who had not previously been particularly involved in the anti-nuclear struggle, gathered around the idea of forming a yellow vest group. The anti-Bure activists lent their support, and their idea of resistance huts inspired the Commercy group to build their own \u201chut<\/span><\/a>\u201d (3)<\/span>, a symbol of grassroots fights and solidarity<\/span><\/a>, but it was destroyed in March 2019 upon the mayor\u2019s request. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Lucas, originally from Poland, runs a business that recycles ambulances for use in Africa, Asia or other areas with dire healthcare conditions. He sees to it that \u201cat least the wounded and sick can benefit from a moment of relative comfort\u201d. His words sound enigmatic, but I\u2019m instantly on board. The man knows what he\u2019s talking about. A bit later, some Parisians joined us, from Montreuil, Pantin, Paris Centre, and nobody, except the vegetarians of course, will ever forget the taste of Lucas\u2019 p\u00e2t\u00e9s lorrains<\/i>. Seriously, I was hooked from the first bite. Thank you, my friend!<\/span><\/p>\n

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What surprised me the next morning was noticing once again the difference between federation and confluence. As philosopher Edgar Morin<\/span><\/a><\/span> (4)<\/span> often points out, \u201cWe are numerous, but dispersed<\/span><\/a>\u201d. The first thing that comes to mind then is to federate, to unite everything under the same banner in order to move up the ladder and increase in numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The theme of the meeting, Commune of Communes, seemed clear to me, as would later be confirmed by Steven Mathieu, assuming the role of spokesperson for the Assembly of Commercy. It posed a question to all communes that define themselves as \u201cfree\u201d: How do we network, how can we (be a) commune? And how do we do this without the pressure to turn it into a cookie-cutter movement, even if it seems more practical. The sauce needs time to set; you can\u2019t cut corners or else you\u2019ll miss the point. That\u2019s what the Spanish call \u201cconfluence\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Groups of candidates running on a platform of participatory or direct democracy gathered in Commercy to learn about new best practices, with many activist groups and thinkers calling for mobilisation. This level of diversity should be seen as an asset: established, accepted and united, it is the melting pot that will enable a complex civil society to emerge and take form, a society that will have to learn to deliberate. And that\u2019s a reflection of exactly what sparked the yellow vest demonstrations in the first place: \u201cSomething\u2019s wrong with the norms imposed on us! We have to take things into our own hands!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Having made this observation, we still have to figure out how to create networks, how to form bonds, both physical and virtual, and, especially in group settings, how to re-inspire those who have lost the habit\u2014not to mention the courage\u2014to speak out.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Communalism or Municipalism<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

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The gap between municipalism and communalism was never really clear to me, no doubt because words ending in \u201c-ism\u201d suggest an overly ideological and determinist tinge on a movement that we would rather see as global and inclusive. But there in the assembly, the difference was noticeable. Communalists think that municipalists simply want to win elections, whereas they see communalism as reserved for small-scale action on a more grassroots level, where everyone can really make a difference. <\/span><\/p>\n

For me, these two levels are interconnected and, as we\u2019ve seen in Spain, and even more so in Italy, both are movements of local struggle, forming municipalist platforms out of collectives made up of residents. Something to think about\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

And amidst the liveliness of a traditional roundtable discussion, with everyone sharing their own points of view, the different analyses and expectations of the local groups in attendance began to emerge: <\/span><\/p>\n