“Sometimes, I admit that I don’t know what to answer”, at the heart of the training of La France insoumise activists

On the sidelines of the launch of the campaign for the 2024 European elections in Villepinte, Saturday, the party distilled some elements of language and advice to activists. Franceinfo attended one of these workshops.

The machine is launched: La France insoumise pressed the “campaign” button on Saturday March 16 with a large meeting in Villepinte (Seine-Saint-Denis). Between two selfies, in the middle of the crowd, the leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon himself asks his troops to multiply. “We in Saint-Étienne won the legislative election by going door to door. That’s all we did,” testifies an activist, facing him. “Obviously people are always willing to think,” responds the one who appears on the LFI list for the 2024 European elections, in an ineligible position.

After several months marked by controversies, from the Quatennes affair to the LFI’s position on the October 7 attack, this meeting is an opportunity for the movement to mobilize and train its activists, three months before the first round, on June 9. Poorly placed in the polls, the party hopes in particular to attract abstainers.

“We’re not going to lie, it’s not always easy to be from rebellious France”

“One of the central axes [de la campagne]is that we are the camp of peace.” Facing the activists, microphone in hand, the deputy for Essonne Antoine Léaument distills, in the workshop, the elements of language. “There is the question of Gaza and then that of Ukraine, on which I recall that we were the first to denounce the Russian invasion. But we do not agree with the idea that we should integrate Ukraine to the European Union and NATO”, continues the chosen one.

Activists raise their hands, rely on their experiences. “In a lot of door-to-door visits I have people who tell me: ‘For serious things, we have the impression that even on the left, there are not very many of them in the hemicycle’. Sometimes I admit that I don’t know what to answer.”, concedes one of them. Simple answer from another workshop facilitator: “We can say that in the National Assembly we have combative deputies. We do not have to be ashamed of the fact that our deputies fight every day for our rights.”

Techniques to stick to the bottom after numerous controversies which have distanced LFI from a part of the left, particularly since the party’s reaction to the attack of October 7. Enough to sometimes make their program inaudible on the ground.

“We’re not going to lie to ourselves that it’s not always easy to be from La France insoumise. We still suffer fairly frontal attacks. It’s already happened during leaflets, that when they see the leaflet, they say : ‘Oh no, not them'”, recognizes Lucile, an activist. At the very back of the audience, she listens and takes notes. “I find it interesting to have little tips, little advice to make things go as smoothly as possible. Arguments too because I’m not familiar with all the subjects we deal with.”

In the last European elections in 2019, the rebellious list, already led by Manon Aubry, collected a little more than 6% of the votes.