Maintaining a protest movement takes all kinds of skills and requires all kinds of commitment. When Mediapart went to check on the preparations for the second 'assembly of assemblies' for delegates from 'Yellow Vest' protest groups from across France, it was squeegees, brushes and brooms that were being deployed. After a break for their morning pain au chocolat, coffee and in some cases a quick cigarette, KTY, Angélique, Jo and Stéphanie were all hard at work preparing an old community centre at Saint-Nazaire on the west coast of France for the gathering. The four were busily cleaning the floors after floors after some building work had been carried out.
“It puts the pressure on, hosting so many people,” says Angélique. “But I want the people who arrive here on Friday to be just as welcome as I was when I first entered the door of this place on December 3rd last year.”
Amid the bustle of the cleaning work, her fellow helper KTY, who is sporting dark glasses, readily admits that this second assembly is a step into the “unknown” as far as she is concerned. “It's moving from 75 to 300 delegates even so. And there's also the excitement of meeting some people who have the same aspirations as us. I imagine this weekend will be a fantastic occasion of direct democracy, like at Commercy!” she says, referring to the first 'assembly of assemblies' held at Commercy in the north east of France in late January.
But this gathering of “exemplary fraternity” has also caused stress and piled on the pressure ever since the 'Yellow Vest' movement using the community centre in Saint-Nazaire agreed to host the second assembly there.
Enlargement : Illustration 1
For playing host to the “little gang” as KTY puts it, requires a lot of logistical flexibility. “In concrete terms each of the delegations can be made up of two spokespersons and two observers. That is for reasons of parity,” says Jo, who is in his 30s and who moved to the area from Paris. This means there could be more than a thousand people turning up rather than the 700 to 800 yellow vests expected for the three-day gathering in this coastal town known for its shipbuilding industry.
To host so many people the organisers have gone out looking for municipal halls, private sites and even considered hiring a marquee, and have had to set up a network of local host families, and appealed to camping sites in the area.
“The budget quickly grew to around 15,000 euros,” says Ludovic, a local activist who has been involved in the movement from the start. The local yellow vests did not have this kind of money and have not managed to collect it either. This is despite the fact that it launched a solidarity appeal and has taken numerous steps to secure funding, particularly from the town council.
“Since the start of the movement the mayor [editor's note, David Samzun] has repeatedly told us: 'Get a structure. Turn yourself into an association',” says Ludovic. “Which is what we did by starting to create an association to support the organisation of the 'assembly of assemblies'. Now that we are involved in the official steps of putting the [association's] statutes online and having made four requests for a meeting, the mayor's office finally agreed to see us to tell us that irrespective of the fact that we were in the process of creating an association, the town hall was refusing to help us.”
In its written response the town hall stated: “As this event [editor's note, the assembly of assemblies] is liable to constitute a disturbance to public order, the town hall does not want to be associated with it. As a result it cannot reply favourably to your request.” The reasons behind this refusal can be traced back to the disorder linked to the regional demonstration on January 5th this year. That saw parts of the centre of Saint-Nazaire damaged following violent clashes between yellow vest protestors and the forces of law and order.
“Since that day the mayor has been angry with us,” says Ludovic. “He holds us, the yellow vests of Saint-Nazaire, responsible for this disorder and is making us pay for it.” This is despite the fact, says Jo, that in terms of security the yellow vests had prepared everything in advance including providing security barriers and “the presence of a Red Cross team at the scene”.
“We all emerged from this episode with the same feelings of suffocation and being crushed that we have been fighting against for five months now,” says Stéphanie. “With the same rage, too, against this republican desire to crush – whatever the cost - a movement which is after all democratic.”
However, Ludovic says the refusal by the town hall to help has at least brought some clarity to their situation. “It gets us out from this in-between relationship with the town hall. This refusal reinforces the initial sense we had of autonomy. The yellow vests in Saint-Nazaire became organised at the community centre. So it's down to the community centre to host this second assembly. What's more, it avoids ruining us.”
So, after lengthy discussions at the daily assemblies that dictate the rhythm of the local yellow vest group, and in agreement with the building's new property developer owners, a decision was made to remove all the internal walls of the centre to best accommodate the debates during the three-day 'assembly of assemblies'.
Enlargement : Illustration 2
“It was at our initiative that we negotiated with the developer,” say the yellow vests in a press statement. “We wanted a delay [editor's note, in the disposal of the building] in order to host the assembly of assembles and prepare the creation of a new community centre before leaving the place, calmly and without bitterness. To that end an agreement protocol was signed and lodged with the court. It allows us to remain in the current premises until April 22nd. We take this opportunity to thank the project director and the project manager for having been able to negotiate intelligently and to respond to our proposal in a very respectful way.”
This outcome has provided double relief for the local yellow vest group who are now planning to create a new community centre once the assembly of assemblies is over. “Looking after a place like that on a daily basis, building a collective group, defending ourselves against political and media attacks, that requires a lot of energy on our part,” says Jo. “But we're faced with something that's bigger than us. We must keep on meeting those requirements so we can carry on.”
On the eve of the 'assembly of assemblies' the feeling among local organisers was once again one of unity amid a “unanimous desire to want to move forward together”. One of those local organsiers, Jo, says: “One of the objectives of this second meeting is that each delegation leaves with a charter detailing the definition and the functioning of the assembly of assemblies. It will help us organise the next ones better. To be as efficient as possible we have decided to anticipate this work by asking each person to work on their demands in advance.”
In addition to this reflection on the nature of the assembly itself, six other questions will be debated during Saturday and Sunday. These include a verdict on the actions carried out so far including what has worked, what has not and why; what actions the yellow vests should be carrying out in the longer term; how to respond to repression; discussion around a communications plan both internally for yellow vest protesters and one aimed towards the wider population. They will also discuss the overall outcome of events in each area over the last five months of protest.
“This weekend we will be at a turning point in the movement,” says Jo. “While reinforcing our national network through structuring it, helping each other and exchanging ideas, we mustn't forget to work on reinforcing our local integration. We have sprung from local areas and these local areas must remain our strength. So we're going to have to find the right balance, without one approach overriding the other. Yes, that means a lot of things to think about but, in reality, do we have any other choice?”
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- The French version of this article can be found here.
English version by Michael Streeter