On the sidelines of a militant rally, on a quay near the Seine in Paris, Irène, an animalist party activist, feels her wings growing. For the first time, the organization has a presidential candidate, Hélène Thouy: “Somewhere our little music begins to arrive, rejoices Irene. At one point, I said to myself ‘Stop! I no longer want to be just a consumer on legs, to consume anything, anyhow.
“It’s not just animal suffering, we’re also talking about human suffering. When you buy your 2 euro T-shirt at H&M, you still have to ask yourself how it was made. .”
Irène, Animalist Party activistat franceinfo
The animalist party, created six years ago, claims to defend “animal interest” and intends to rethink the relationship we have with them. For Irène, it has the merit of breaking the clichés that stick to the skin of defenders of the animal cause: “We had the impression that in animal protection, there were only poor single old girls with their cats. That has changed. Firstly because you see, there are men, there are women , there are young people, there are old people.It’s easier to say you’re crazy than to change your habits.”
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During their rallies, Animalist Party activists sometimes come with their dog, like Frédéric: “It’s a party, for once, which is without jargon, which starts from real activism. It starts from the heart. It’s a real fight. It’s a party that does not close its eyes, who does not cover his ears.”
Jean Ludvig, he says he is lucid. He knows that the goal of his party is not to govern: “It’s mainly to nibble votes from other politicians so that now we are taken seriously.” According to him, the candidates often evoke the animal cause “on the eve of the elections, make promises” and then put them in the “last priorities”. “This is our fight”, adds the activist.
Especially since to reach even the first round of the presidential election, you must first obtain 500 sponsorships. Hélène Thouy is very far from it, which denounces Jonathan, in charge of the communication of the candidate: “We are really afraid of not being able to go to the end of this campaign with the barrier of 500 sponsorships which is important. It would be extremely frustrating because we have worked a lot for that. So much so that we have rather campaigned with elected officials than with the general public on ideas. It’s a bit like having done all this for nothing.”
The race for the Élysée allows, at least, to weld the militant base. Gérard, very active in several associations, has just joined the ranks: “The associations are putting on bandages. The suffering is there. Cleaning is good, not dirtying is better. In my life, I never would have thought of getting involved in politics. never interested. But since animal suffering is unbearable to me, I didn’t think about it.”
“I feel like I’ve found my way, finally being useful. It’s great.”
Gerard, activistat franceinfo
But the more time passes, the closer March 4, the deadline for filing sponsorships, approaches. And the more the dream of these activists to create surprise, as in the Europeans where the Animalist Party had collected 2.17% of the votes, seems to be moving away.