This Thursday at noon, under a splendid sunthe terraces of the Place de la Sorbonne they are full to overflowing. But not from students. The main building of the University of the same name, where after May 1968 other student revolts have germinated, is closed to the ground. Several metal fences have protected its entrance since last week, when dozens of students occupied it and were evicted by the police, but not before causing significant damage. “Neither Macron nor Le Pen & rdquor ;, was the motto of the blockade.
The classes are telematicss until next week, while they have resumed at the nearby Sciences Po, which was also blocked, and continue at the nearby and elite Escuela Normal Superior (ENS). Also in the more conservative Assas, where Ryan, a student of International and Economic Law, makes his diagnosis to explain a blockade, which, however, he does not share. “Young people do not feel represented, our concerns are not taken into account & rdquor ;, he says.
More than 40% abstention
An opinion that explains that in the first electoral round 42% of young people between 18 and 24 years old were not going to vote and among those who voted, 34% did so for the rebellious Jean-Luc Mélenchon. “We are tired of always having to vote for the bad guy and for the least bad guy and this explains this mobilization & rdquor ;, says Anne, at the gates of the ENS.
But for her, theneither-nor” It is not an option. In the first round he voted for the ecologist Yannick Hadot and now he will do it for Macron, “although I don’t like it & rdquor ;, he stresses. Ryan also defends the vote for president but admits that there is a “anti-macronista” movement & rdquor; very strong.
“Many of my colleagues and friends who saw how the police acted in theto the repression of the yellow vests movement they tell me that they cannot vote for Macron”, he comments, also underlining the antipathy that the president generates for this “so personalistic” way; to exercise power.
Concentration in the Plaza del Pantheon
In the middle of the afternoon of this sunny spring day, hundreds of students are concentrated in the central square of the Pantheon, summoned by the main left-wing student unions to “cut off Le Pen & rdquor ;. They are few, but the atmosphere is festive, jovial, enlivened by a rap called ‘Marine’ and whose lyrics these young people know by heart: “Marine, your name is Le Pen, don’t forget that you are the problem of a youth that bleeds & rdquor ;.
“The ‘neither-nor’ do not avoid danger”reads a banner carried by a young man on a bicycle, to the applause of those present. They are tempted not to vote on Sunday, but as Paul Mayaux, president of FAGE, one of the convening unions, says, the important thing is stop the extreme right “so that it has no place in this country & rdquor; .“Abstention and null voting favor him”, he stresses but without mentioning Macron at any time, following in the footsteps of Melénchon, who claims that “no vote goes to the extreme right”, without asking for it for the president either.
Yes, Cécile does, who confesses that she will vote for the current tenant of the Elysee this Sunday but underlines: “It is a vote of opposition more than of accession & rdquor;. And it is that there are no supporters of the president here, among the young people who complain of being the great forgotten of these elections despite the serious problems of precariousness they suffer: “Precariousness in housing, in salaries, in social aid & rdquor ;, reviews Imane, a 23-year-old student of Political Science at the University of Nanterre, another of the most politically active in the country.
Young people also feel they are the generation most affected by the covid epidemic, which in France resulted in one of the most restrictive lockdowns in Europe, with long curfew hours and the closure of restaurants and non-essential shops for a long period of time. “It was difficult, here in Paris people live in very small studios, I couldn’t go out, I couldn’t work. It was very hard to see long lines of young people like us who asked for help to eat & rdquor ;.
Emma studies Linguistics at the University of Rouen. She has come to Paris to protest and has painted Marine = hate on her arm. She also voted for Mélenchon. And now it pains her to confess that she will do it for Macron. “At least she is not a racist or a fascist & rdquor ;, she says.
Beside her, her friend admits that she still doesn’t know if she will vote. “I think I will refrain. I don’t feel represented and I think this election is delegitimized. It is necessary to mobilize on the street & rdquor ;, she affirms. Romain, a student at the ENS, admits that the “great debate & rdquor; among the group of long-haired friends of his is now whether to vote blank or for Macron.
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The political scientist Vicent Tiberi, professor at the University of Sciences Po in Bordeaux, points to the possibility that the call to block the way to the extreme right is counterproductive in a part of the young people. “The institutions of the Fifth Republic organize a confrontation between the blocks but there are three facing: that of Macron, Le Pen and Mélenchon. The youth who have voted for the latter do not find any continuity between his ideas and those of Macron. There is an ideological border and that makes the transfer of votes more complicated & rdquor ;, he affirms.
Tiberi predicts a considerable increase in white and invalid votes in this second round while this generation “neither-nor” young and urban will continue to participate in democratic life in other ways: mobilized in social networks and in the street. As always, in France.