Between two rounds, during the 2017 presidential election, several cultural organizations gathered at the Cité de la Musique in Paris to defend “culture against the National Front”. The far-right party – renamed National Rally in 2018 – already had Marine Le Pen as its candidate. At the initiative of this mobilization, five years ago, we found in particular the Réunion des Opéras de France but also unions such as the CGT Spectacle. But after being considered “non-essential” during the Covid-19 crisis, the cultural world is far from unanimous, this time, in calling for Emmanuel Macron to vote.
>> Leaders of cultural institutions call to vote for Emmanuel Macron
For Denis Gravouil, the general secretary of this union branch, the 2022 election is no less worrying: “We are very worried about the second round. First of all by the presence of the far right once again.”
“The far right, beyond the fact that there is always a racist, xenophobic background, is very anti-culture, for example on public broadcasting. It’s a disaster.”
Denis Gravouil, general secretary of the CGT Spectacleat franceinfo
“Mbut at the same time, nuances the trade unionist, the face-to-face between Le Pen and Macron, which has been illustrated by attacks on social protection and public services, worries us. We don’t see each other at all in this second round.”
Laurent Decès, president of the Syndicat des Musiques Actuelles (SMA) and director of the Petit Bain concert hall in Paris, finds it difficult to mobilize when culture is almost completely absent from the debates: “What we observe is that there is a form of apathy, probably less mobilization than five years ago. Certainly also because we are emerging from a complicated period with this Covid crisis. which put the professionals in a situation of quite strong vulnerability.
“We are, it must be said, relatively pessimistic about the fact that, unfortunately, sufficient importance is given to the subject of culture and current music.”
Laurent Decès, President of the SMAat franceinfo
The director of the Avignon festival, Olivier Py, calls for him to block the National Rally with the same force as five years ago: “Perhaps people from culture sometimes have a little bit more of a mouthpiece than others. Maybe they are also sometimes very navel-gazing and very narcissistic. But we all, as citizens, have a role to play. So, let’s read Marine Le Pen’s program, go beyond the images of nice little cats and understand what the real danger is for France’s project.”
Marine Le Pen is also traveling to Avignon this Thursday. No meeting with Olivier Py has been scheduled.