Misunderstanding and shock for the Amiens yellow vests. This Sunday evening, at 8 p.m., Emmanuel Macron’s face appeared on their television screen. Yet it is this man, his policy that they fought from November 17, 2018 in the name of purchasing power and for social justice. A passage that does not pass for some.
It must be said that with the postponement of votes and the call of many losing candidates to block the far right and therefore Marine Le Pen, the possibility of seeing the outgoing president resume the costume of head of state during five years is not a possibility to be ruled out. “We are extremely frustrated because it’s really everyone we fought against who is triumphing again. It’s infuriating because life won’t get better and we urgently need it“deplores Isaac, a yellow vest from Amiens still mobilized after 4 years of struggle.
With him, there is no anger, only disappointment. But out of the question to admit defeat. “What we did was not for nothing. The yellow vests are a revolution. So yes, she failed for societystar. But it’s a revolution for us on a personal and individual level. Our lives have changed with and not because we were beaten with truncheons, not because we went to prison or that we went to court, but because we discovered new ways of living. We realized that we were not alone, that we had a lot of strength when we were united. And that we did not necessarily need traditional political organizations to weigh in political life and it will perhaps still be these things that will make us reverse the trend”assures Isaac who expects a possible restart of a fight in another form if Emmanuel Macron passes again.
He in any case will not vote for the second round, refusing this anti-far right barrage. “They are the same. Nothing should be expected from these two candidates”he laments.
I’m struggling to catch my breath
Mélanie only expects the worst. For this other yellow vest, which in spite of itself has become the symbol of police violence after having received a baton in the back in April 2019, “we are facing two extreme right in the second round”. She also defends the usefulness of a movement that has been able to show and claim its daily difficulties. But faced with this result of the first round and the possible victory of Emmanuel Macron, she confides a regret : “we should have been more involved”. She had found hope in France Insoumise and Jean-Luc Mélenchon. “We had a party strong enough to carry our demands like the RIC. After that did not go far enough and we would have continued to go to the streets to go further in its program”says Melanie. “In any case, it gave us a little breather. Today we’re not going to breathe. I’m having trouble finding breath since the results of the first round. I’m scared.”
At Whirpool, we no longer want Emmanuel Macron
No fear at Patrice Sinoquet, CFDT trade unionist at Whirpool and one of the three employees still in office out of the 286 employees. He doesn’t really want to see the president elected again either. He knows him well. At least, he rubbed shoulders with her quite a bit during this five-year term. It must be said that the Amiens factory had become, 5 years ago to the day, the symbol of the deindustrialization of France.
The first meeting with Emmanuel Macron was the day of the surprise visit of Marine Le Pen in front of the site dedicated to closure, in April 2017. “It’s not necessarily a good memory that day. Both took advantage of that to grab points before the second round. What I remember is that he didn’t make any promises to us. The only one maybe is to try to find a solution“, says the trade unionist. A commitment kept with the arrival a few months later with this Picard buyer Nicolas Decayeux.
We have the impression that there has been a relentlessness on this popular class
“But a year later, it closed. But in the end, it did more harm than good to the employees. We would have preferred it not to take us back because some employees ultimately experienced three layoffs in 3 years. “ The trade unionist is bitter for his 44 colleagues who are still unemployed. He did not expect a miracle and does not blame the candidate. It was the successive crises that ended up disappointing him and wanting to close the Macron chapter. “It’s a catastrophic five-year term. We have the impression that there has been a relentlessness on this popular class. We were penalized on our purchasing power. We have to move on.” He will therefore vote anti-Macron, even if this Lepenist claims to be also disappointed by his candidate.