{"id":3315,"date":"2020-02-10T12:53:58","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T11:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commonspolis.org\/?p=3315"},"modified":"2020-02-18T13:00:21","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T12:00:21","slug":"french-municipalisms-from-roundabouts-to-the-commune-of-communes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commonspolis.org\/en\/community\/french-municipalisms-from-roundabouts-to-the-commune-of-communes\/","title":{"rendered":"French Municipalism(s): From Roundabouts to the Commune of Communes."},"content":{"rendered":"
An Interview with Camille, spokesperson for the Citizens’ Assembly of Commercy. Didier Fradin is a contributor to several citizen and participatory experiments at #MAVOIX and La Belle D\u00e9mocratie. He took advantage of “The Commune of Communes” in Commercy in January 2020 to interview several members of the citizens’ assembly about the relationship between the yellow vests, communalism and municipalism.<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

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par Didier Fradin | F\u00e9vrier 2020<\/strong>
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After immersing myself in the discussions and workshops of the Commune of Communes, I thought it would be good to go back over the history and recent activities of the Yellow Vests of Commercy, authors of “The Commercy Call to Action<\/span><\/a>” in 2018 . The person who is referred to as Camille 1<\/a><\/sup> In order to protect the identity of individuals and to curb the phenomenon of personality cults in politics, we have used the first name “Camille”, which is both a man’s and woman’s name in French. This practice stems in particular from the Zadist movements.<\/span><\/i>in this interview took on the role of spokesperson for the occasion, on television and in meetings, all the while displaying genuine modesty: “I have a complex where I don’t like to read, so I’m totally dependent on those of my friends who do. They bring me the historical culture that I lack”.<\/p>\n

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With this, the Commercy Assembly of Assemblies shows us what true democracy can look like when it is not headed by an elite, a demonstration of how self-determined education among the people is capable of bringing about social transformation at the grassroots level, and beyond.<\/p>\n

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In their call to action, the Yellow Vests of Commercy insist on the need for an autonomous space, independent of the mayor’s \u201cgood will\u201d, dedicated to citizens’ meetings. In Commercy, as on many roundabouts, they build “huts”. In other places, as in St Nazaire, they call them the “Houses of the People<\/span><\/a>\u201d. These spaces are one of the demands made by these popular movements, calling to mind urban wastelands such as the Asilio in Naples<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Didier Fradin: What are the factors that bring the movement from the hut to the municipal elections, and are you already proposing a programme?<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

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CAMILLE<\/span><\/strong> : In the beginning, we held daily assemblies in the huts (60 meetings in 2 months), and we noticed, as with the national movement, a legitimate loss of momentum, so we came up with the idea of formalising the Assembly of Assemblies. The main goal was to horizontalise the yellow vest movement to avoid the emergence of Facebook generals and other kinds of \u201cbosses\u201d or “leaders.” Some people saw libertarian municipalism as a matter of course, an extension of the struggle at the local level, while others were fundamentally opposed to it, which we had to respect.<\/p>\n

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So we started the Citizens’ Assembly of Commercy by widening the circle, involving people working for a self-governed association (la Convive2<\/a><\/sup>ticipated in the meetings leading up to the citizens’ assembly with the Yellow Vests group and other citizens with no particular affiliation.<\/span>) as well as other citizens.We organised a meeting with Annick Stevens<\/span><\/a>, from the L\u2019Universit\u00e9 Populaire de Marseille, a specialist in Aristotle and libertarian municipalism, who came to guide and moderate the first citizens\u2019 meeting in Commercy in May. Then, in June, the first real Citizens\u2019 Assembly was launched, setting in motion the required democratic process.<\/p>\n

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In September, we asked ourselves, “Do we run a slate of candidates in the municipal elections?” After a summer of meetings on various topics (energy autonomy, waste treatment, how to make local popular assemblies), and after a vote, the idea was approved in a way that gave complete decision-making power back to the residents. This separates us from (barely) participatory slates of candidates which, ultimately, function in a conventional way. We are calling for direct democracy, to the extent that we don\u2019t even have a set programme, only proposals to be debated in assembly after the elections, and never imposed.<\/p>\n

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“What do we hope to do if we get into power? And if we fail, what can we do anyway?”<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

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So we started discussing the method, while refusing to make any specific proposals. We really want to put direct democracy into practice. From September to November, we made progress on that, and now we can focus on the framework of our programme. The only guarantee is that we will deliberate with the people on all proposals, not just apply them directly.<\/p>\n

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Here are the themes proposed for consideration, all geared towards the autonomy of the Commune :<\/p>\n