Claude, one of the leaders of the Yellow Vests in Commercy, reports his
view. Claude is a locally known activist (Bure among others) and hecampaigns locally for libertarian communalism. We will soon produce an
interview with him on this subject because he has since become mayor of
Menil-la-Horgne (village next to Commercy) on the basis of libertarian
communalism (neither Claude nor the municipal council make decisions,
everything is decided by popular assemblies of the village). ---- The
beginning of the movement before November 17 ---- On November 10, 2018,
a meeting to prepare for the November 17 demonstrations took place in a
bar in Commercy, at KADER. That's where it all started. First surprise
that marks the spontaneous and original nature of the movement: although
very involved in local activist circles, I only get this information
indirectly, via friends who learn it themselves on Facebook. Like many
at that time, I am super suspicious. We hear everything about it: revolt
of small business owners, Poujadism, extreme right, narrow and
consumerist demands, etc. With a few friends, we nevertheless go to this
meeting. There are almost 200 people present and it overflows onto the
sidewalk in front of the bar. Incredible in our village of some 5,500
inhabitants.
Second surprise: a flurry of demands is stated and put to the vote point
by point by the organizers. Far from being limited to the sole reduction
of taxes on fuel, it is the entire prism of social and democratic
demands that is swept away: elimination of inequalities, taxation of the
rich figure prominently. As for democracy, it is presented as the real
alternative proposal by a speaker. "It's not enough to demand, we also
have to make the system progress by ourselves" he proclaims. This is how
the demands for a new constitution and RIC are mentioned.
More surprisingly, the notion of libertarian municipalism is put
forward. I can't believe my ears. Someone in the room: "What is
libertarian municipalism?". The short answer sums it all up brilliantly:
"we take power in the municipalities, we decide together, and the
elected officials obey". But who the hell is this guy? I don't even know
him. I've been talking about this for years at activist meetings, no one
cares and now, a guy who comes out of nowhere sets fire to it. Cheers
from the room: "Yes, we just have to do that!". Each demand is voted on
by a show of hands and we meet again a week later (for November 17) at 6
a.m. About ten people volunteer to organize and plan the action and meet
up after the meeting. I am one of them. I go to see the guy: "Who the
fuck are you? It's incredible what you said, I can't believe it". He
answers me "You don't remember me? I came to a meeting at your place two
years ago, on libertarian municipalism, I didn't really like it, you
operated like a cult, but you see, it served a purpose, I liked the
idea". Well, really it's great to get a slap in the face like that. I
don't hesitate: I'll be there next Saturday.
November 17
On November 17, I arrive with my truck that I put at the disposal of the
struggle, at 5:30 sharp, and we divide up all the entrances to Commercy
to organize a total blockade of the city. Among the demands included in
the leaflet written by the organizing collective following the meeting
of November 10, and which will be distributed on the 17th, we find:
abolition of indirect taxes (including the fuel tax), revaluation of
pensions, revaluation and equality of salaries, increases in public
service budgets, ecological planning, tax equality and distribution of
wealth. It also includes alternatives to the representative system:
constituent assembly, popular initiative referendum and libertarian
municipalism. This last proposal is defined as "a form of relocation of
political decisions by a democratic popular assembly". Although it
occupies a significant part of the leaflet, it must be said that it goes
relatively unnoticed by the majority of those present, who are focused
on purchasing power and "tax fed up". The members of an association
campaigning for self-management, Là Qu'On Vive, including myself,
present at the meeting were both surprised ("hit hard" in the words of
another Yellow Vest member of the association) and enthusiastic to see
the idea around which they are undertaking long-term popular education
work thus found itself carried on a leaflet written by people outside
and foreign to the association.
When you live very close to a small town of 5,000 inhabitants, when you
do your shopping there, go to the doctor or take the train there, you
feel like you know everyone. In fact, you don't know anyone. I mean, you
don't really know anyone well. You don't know their lives, their work,
their suffering. You don't know their anger. This November 17 in a
yellow vest proved it to me. The dozens of discussions I was able to
have, facilitated by the surprise of finding familiar faces there, were
so many good surprises. And bonds forged.
I was told that there would be bosses who didn't give a damn about us, I
didn't see any.
I was told that there would be racists, I didn't see any or very few. I
have seen almost only little people who are struggling, who pay a lot to
go to work, or others who receive social benefits because they are sick
or simply because they think it is completely stupid to go to work for
1000EUR with 300EUR of transport per month. So yes of course when we are
struggling, we tend to attack the "social cases" who do nothing. But we
know very well that deep down, they are not the problem. I have not
stopped repeating these two figures all day long: RSA fraud = 100
million per year. Tax fraud by the big shots = 100 BILLION per year, a
thousand times more! (not counting the 200 billion in tax and social
gifts given to them). So who are the parasites? Who gets the money that
we should share? The answer is clear and at each general meeting this
weekend, the speakers repeat it: everything goes into the pockets of the
capitalists! As for ecology: What a scam! The big polluters won't even
be affected. They really take us for fools. We've had discussions about
it! And not just a few! Around the braziers where the food was grilling
and around the few good bottles brought by friends. And it started
early. In the morning from 6:30: already 250 hot and boiling people who
share the blockades, all the supermarkets, the 2 gas stations and the
entrances to the city. For many, it's their first demonstration. Two
ladies come to see me: "say we know you; you're fighting against Bure
right? It's our first demonstration we're happy to be here but we're
still a bit scared, what happens if there's a fight?". I reassure them:
when there is a fight in a demonstration, we are never obliged to
participate, we stay back and it goes well; especially when there are
people like today. And there were people: over the day it is impossible
to estimate how many of us there were, more than 500 people that is for
sure, some say a thousand I don't know. In any case it is incredible for
a small town like ours. Workers, truckers, retirees, unemployed, young
people... And even about fifteen farmers on tractors who come to lend us
a hand amidst cheers and horns. A lot of happiness!
At my blockade point, I find myself with about thirty people. Very few
cars, in fact the whole of the Meuse is so blocked that we don't have
much work! Those we stop are most often nice, have the yellow vest on
the dashboard, and are looking to go to work. We stop them and let
ourselves be photographed so that they can prove to their boss that they
have been blocked. We offer them juice. And they leave with our leaflet.
Some decide to join us and spend an hour or two chatting. As the day
goes on, we get to know each other better and the jokes fly; we tell a
lot of bullshit! But we are serious all the same, determined, and we are
careful to calm down the excited ones by showing them distant but clear
routes. Here it is going well but we hear that there has been a death
and injuries elsewhere in France. Faces are getting tense. We can't do
anything about it, there are idiots everywhere, even in our movement;
the bastards in the government will certainly take advantage of this to
try to discredit us. We don't care, we won't give up! Everyone is super
determined. Yes, but what's next? what are we going to do if it stops,
if the bastards opposite turn it upside down for us once again? We don't
want to think about it, we have to hold on! That's what everyone says.
The blockades must continue even if there are fewer of us because it's
hard, because we can't all go on strike or because lots of things in
life prevent us from doing so. Now, we're going to have to be smart,
take turns. And already hold on until Friday (Black Friday) and Saturday
and beyond if necessary.
The rest of the movement
On the evening of November 17, people gathered at the main gas station
in Commercy (blocked of course) to decide on the next steps and a group
of 150 to 200 people votes to occupy the night and renew the blockades
for Sunday. Braziers are kept all night at the blockades, and about ten
people set up camp with a marquee at the Intermarché gas station to
continue blocking access to it. The scenario repeats itself in the days
that follow and we, the Yellow Vests (how proud I am to bear this name!)
meet again every evening to vote to renew the blockades. These take
place in a "good-natured" manner, with braziers, music, songs from a
local choir and donations of food from many neighbors.
But here in Commercy, we see even further. We tell ourselves that
whatever happens, we will have to maintain these ties that we have woven
and keep this solidarity alive. We tell ourselves that there are things
that we can do together, that they will not be able to prevent us from
doing. It's in our leaflet. We are actually proposing a meeting for the
entire population on December 7th to lay the foundations for the popular
assembly and libertarian municipalism. What do you mean? Well, the
leaflet basically said: even if we don't win on the national level,
there is one thing we will have understood, it is that in this system,
we are not allowed to decide anything! We vote and then they do their
little thing in the service of the powerful and we just have to shut our
mouths. With the local popular assembly, well it is the people who
choose what they think is good for their living environment, for their
city. It teaches us to think together, to take our affairs in hand. How
to put this in place. We will discuss it on December 7th. And there will
be a lot of people, that's for sure! But until then, courage to all! And
bravo! We have shown that we are capable of organizing without masters,
without hierarchy; and we have shown that we can scare them. And
something tells me that up there, they haven't finished trembling.
Shortly after the first days, when we were gathered again with several
dozen in the parking lot, a material element pushed us to adopt another
form of collective decision-making: Steven, my friend, recounts: "And
one evening, we had a microphone failure: no electricity, no microphone.
In fact, we got into a circle, we started to discuss like that, all
together, and say to each other 'What are we doing for tomorrow?' We
could see that people were talking to each other and weren't just
listening." This apparently insignificant event really changed the
dynamics of the group, and laid the foundations for the functioning of
the democratic assembly: no more overhanging the leader, no more
perorations, we listened to each other, respectfully, and with all
possible indulgence.
The cabin, also nicknamed "Chalet de la solidarité", quickly became a
space where reciprocal local solidarity was expressed between all the
Yellow Vests and the population. On the one hand, "solidarity soups"
(this term quickly replaced "popular" because of the latter's
connotation with "charity" towards the poor) were organized at the
cabin, prepared on site in the morning with vegetables donated by
individuals or businesses. For the GJC (Yellow Vests of Commercy), these
soups are a way of bringing in and meeting the population, sometimes
before certain events such as demonstrations or assemblies. Assemblies
which are now held every evening at 5:30 p.m. and initially gather
around 50 people, for several months. A great achievement, this cabin
built in 2 days, where everyone will have put their hand to the dough.
Located in the middle of Commercy, on the main square, it will finally
be dismantled by the tide of the road accompanied by the mayor himself,
a Macronist, who will also give us the finger. And this despite hundreds
of signatures from shopkeepers who demanded its maintenance. On this
occasion, the mayor will also declare something that will be fundamental
for the future: "it is not the shopkeepers who decide".
The first call from Commercy
Given the scale of the mobilizations on Saturdays 17 and 24 November,
the government then wanted to quickly negotiate with spokespersons for
the Yellow Vest movement, and a group of around thirty "regional
representatives" of the Yellow Vests appointed a delegation of eight
people to do this, including people who initiated the movement such as
Priscilla Ludosky and Éric Drouet. In Commercy, we do not agree. In
order to mark public opposition to any negotiation with the government
by means of spokespeople appointed by a minority in the movement, it was
decided in assembly to launch an appeal to the other Yellow Vests of
France in the form of a YouTube video published on November 30, 2018,
less than two weeks after the start of the movement.
I propose a text that is largely amended and then approved by the
assembly during a vote. The text is read at the hut by a group of eight
people wearing yellow vests, alternating each time between men and
women, who read it with their clumsiness, their difficulty in expressing
themselves but with their heart. And it shows.
This appeal, whose subtitle is "Refuse recovery! Long live direct
democracy! No need for regional 'representatives'", begins by talking
about the actions that took place in Commercy (blockades, construction
of the hut, solidarity soups) and their functioning in daily popular
assemblies, "where each person participates equally". The appeal also
calls for refusing to appoint representatives as requested by the
government. It specifies that the approach to the State has already been
initiated through the sharing of demands with the prefects and
sub-prefects. What could happen is only a risk of recovery, of
supervision, of top-down functioning, of "reproduction of the system"
and of "'representatives' who would inevitably end up speaking in our
place". On the contrary, we propose a model of delegation of power, the
only one that seems valid to us: "If there must be delegates, it is at
the level of each local popular committee of yellow vests, as close as
possible to the voice of the people. With imperative, revocable, and
rotating mandates".
We then call for taking back power "from the bottom up", to build huts
and people's houses, and to create everywhere "popular committees, which
operate in regular general assemblies. Places where speech is freed,
where we dare to express ourselves, train, help each other".
The call ends with a slogan that will become the leitmotif of the
movement: "Power to the people, by the people and for the people". This
call will have a significant militant echo. It will have more than
200,000 views on social networks, and will give rise to numerous
messages of support from other Yellow Vest groups and activist
collectives, in France but also elsewhere in the world (such as Rojava,
Chiapas or Algeria), and visits from Yellow Vests as well as activists,
from France and other European countries. Among the dozens of messages
from other groups received in our mailbox created for this occasion, we
find testimonies of adhesion to the message of direct democracy
contained in the call, requests for advice on launching an assembly,
tools for operating in direct democracy, requests for visits...
And floods of journalists from all over the world that we ended up
sending packing.
For example, we allowed ourselves the luxury of refusing Envoyé Spécial
and the New York Times. And we laughed about it for a long time.
The assembly of assemblies
It wasn't me who had the idea but a comrade who was living in Rojava at
that time. When he heard the call from the GJ of Commercy, he called me
and told me in text: "Now my friend, we have to activate the second
stage of the rocket. The assembly of assemblies". I couldn't believe the
strength of this idea. How obvious it was. We talked for an hour, and we
had a strategy. Right after I met up with my friends from Commercy and
their eyes lit up. We had something powerful, we could feel it. In
reality, it was nothing more and nothing less than the political outlet
for the movement we were setting up. The only credible and logical
outlet in reality. And we tried it!
I led the assembly of assemblies in a neutral manner from start to
finish, putting all my energy into the success of this moment, seeking
compromises, fighting against the takeover of power by small groups. My
assessment is mixed. The slightly militant people believed in it but
wanted to push their ideology. The non-politicized people were divided
into two categories: those who instinctively felt that it was the only
possible way and who decided to put energy into it, and those who felt
this structuring effort as energy-consuming compared to the need to
continue the actions and gradually turned away from what could be called
"the assemblyist fringe of the GJ".
The aftermath of the movement
This movement left a first trace in the left-wing militant movement
(union, political and associative). Because it first proved once again,
in situ, that the revolutionary spark did not necessarily spring from
the progressive intelligentsia. And then, he gave us food for thought.
The question of intimacy, which had already arisen before, has truly
emerged at the heart of the concerns of all those who sincerely want to
transform society. The issue of pyramidal democracy has also received
the slap it deserved when we know how almost all political organizations
are structured. In Commercy, we tried to provide an extension to both
the GJ movement and this democratic reflection, by presenting a list in
the 2020 municipal elections. In December 2019, a citizens' list was
built and slowly began its electoral campaign. By a large majority, the
group chose to call it "Live and Decide Together". The list decided to
have only direct democracy as its program, namely giving power to the
ACC (Commercy Citizens' Assembly) by linking the mandate of elected
officials to its decisions. This program is formulated in these words on
the "profession of faith": "Our list proposes you DIRECT DEMOCRACY: no
important decision will be taken without being approved by the Traders
and Traders" Thus, if the list obtains seats, the ACC, "open to all",
would become the place of debate and taking of major decisions by the
inhabitants, decisions that the people elected from the list would
subsequently ratify as their own at the municipal council. The list also
proposes a "charter of commitment of the elected officials which frames
and defines their mandate", "local referendums if necessary, "a proposal
for a Local Constitution", a "Citizen Constitutional Council which
guarantees this Constitution". Unfortunately, and despite the movement
of the GJ, our list will only obtain 9.97%, which is already not bad
given the innovative nature of the approach, but which will create a lot
of sadness among those who were invested in it. A documentary entitled
"We are nothing, let us be everything" and a doctoral thesis were
devoted to this adventure, the story of which is now set in stone.
For my part, living in a small village of 190 inhabitants, I became
mayor by being elected on a list that applies direct democracy and
practices the assembly of all the inhabitants. It is also a concrete
extension of the experience of the GJ. And this experience works since
for 4 years, almost all the inhabitants of the village participate in
the assemblies, debate, vote and make the decisions that I only have to
apply, in agreement or not, with my municipal council which has
committed in writing to respect the decisions of the citizens.
Apparently we are unfortunately the only ones in France to operate this
way but the spark is there. A documentary is currently being filmed on
our commune and more and more people are interested in the issue.
Conclusion
I immediately loved the popular and raw nature of this movement. I felt
like a fish in water. What a joy to finally get out of the activist
inner circle, to rub shoulders with all sorts of people, not at all
politicized and not at all in agreement with my ideas. What a joy to
finally have the impression of serving something greater than convincing
a few people who were already convinced to join a group that had already
been formed. What a breath of fresh air to finally get out of my little
eco-leftist sects where I had nevertheless flourished for so long. What
an invigorating experience to finally discuss the substance of the
problems with people who vote RN for example, in a climate of trust and
respect since we share the same fight and the same disgust for society.
That was the strength of the movement: refusing labels, not caring about
ideological purity, rubbing shoulders with each other, discovering that
we suffer from the same suffering, creating strong bonds, not having a
solution right away, seeking together, in respect, trust and kindness.
The weakness was precisely not being experienced enough to imagine a
political outcome other than "Macron resign". What would we have done
if, like in 1968, the government had taken off in a helicopter and the
country had been ours? Would we have been smarter than our elders? It is
unlikely. The instinct of self-preservation which consisted in refusing
the presence of any party or union was a very correct instinct. But then
what to do next? In many places the question remained unanswered. In
Commercy, where the alignment of the planets was perfect, we tried
something innovative: power to the assemblies. And about a third of the
national GJ movement followed us. It was not enough but a beautiful
dream was born, outside the usual political schemes. In the end, we were
not numerous enough to last. But we built and made dreams. That is the
nature of revolutionary movements. And this was one that will be a
milestone. In my opinion, the seed has been sown...
Claude, Commercy
https://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4344
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