Macron the 'Sun President' and his parallel universe

WhereWhere are the late psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan and the late social theorist and semiologist Roland Barthes when we most need them? What savage delight they would have taken in dissecting the events of Monday 21st June and the behaviour of Emmanuel Macron in his posture not so much as the Sun King of France but as its Sun President.

The rest of us were still stuck in in the events of last Sunday evening, of that democratic farce of the first round of the regional elections that saw two out of three French people decline to vote and the president's ruling party suffering an electoral route. But closeted inside his egotistical presidency, however, there was no question of Emmanuel Macron commenting on the massacre of universal suffrage that had just taken place or the political defeat of his party. Instead, in a linguistic outrage in which he reused a phrase employed by France's Conseil National de la Résistance in the dark days of World War II in France, Macron declared on Monday: “Happy Days are here again!” (see the Élysée site here, in French).

The stage managing of Emmanuel Macron's “happy” Monday, which combined home-spun intimacy, politics and subliminal messaging, was simply gob-smacking.  Accompanied by  French billionaire Bernard Arnault there was the reopening of La Samaritaine, the Parisian department store first opened in 1869 and a symbol of the dying days of France's Second Empire under Napoleon III; then a reception at the Élysée with singer Justin Bieber and his wife Hailey Baldwin; followed by a ceremony to mark the national celebration of music known as the Fête de la Musique with guests of honour Jean-Michel Jarre, aged 72, and 69-year-old drummer Marc Cerrone.

Luxury, wealth, celebrities, ageing stars, vintage music. It all had one thing in common: money, money that oozes and sparkles, underlining an exclusive level of success and power. Indeed, Monday 21st June really did have a theme: celebrating the Second Empire and its symbols. It showed how the “trickle down” effect and the theory that the “first on the rope” - in other words the wealthy – will help the less well-off both form part of the plan for Emmanuel Macron's brave new “world to come”.

The show began on Monday morning with that presidential visit to La Samaritaine, which is owned by Bernard Arnault. This Frenchman businessman is now one of the three wealthiest people on the planet owing to the Covid health crisis which has inflated the shares of his luxury goods group LVMH. The oligarch, surrounded by his wife, his children and his son-in-law – another oligarch, the billionaire Xavier Niel - played host to the presidential couple Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron and the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.

The 700 sales staff and other employees at the newly-refurbished La Samaritaine had donned the house uniform for the occasion (yellow and grey, navy blue face masks, white trainers with golden yellow laces, according to Le Figaro Style and Fashion Week). They were obediently positioned on the five levels that overlook the entrance hall and applauded loudly in a scene worthy of the French novelist Balzac. Yes, the good people dressed in their livery still know how to thank their masters and have fun with them…

Justin Bieber fêted at the Élysée

It just remained for a delighted Emmanuel Macron to praise this “wonderful jewel of French heritage”. The building has today been transformed into a commercial bubble of all imaginable luxury items, at unimaginable prices, plus an upmarket hotel of 72 rooms and offices.

According to Macron the project is a “perfect metaphor of the times we are currently living in” after 15 months of a health crisis. “The time to prepare for renewal has now arrived. The LVMH group illustrates the French genius for marrying our way of living, our collective choices and our attractiveness,” said the president. Nearly ten years ago the same Bernard Arnault tried to become a tax exile in Brussels and was castigated for this attempt by the French prime minister at the time Jean-Marc Ayrault. That of course was back in the old world…

French genius then packed itself off to the Élysée to shows its ability to break the rules and innovate. Here no less a figure than Justin Bieber – in person! - a singer somewhat forgotten since he was about 12, and his wife Hailey Baldwin, a “model and entrepreneur” according to her biographical file, were afforded a private visit to the presidential office, which was immediately posted on Instagram.

Daring, so daring... Madame Figaro magazine was almost carried away as it asked: “Halter neck dress, sneakers … Was the Biebers' attire at the Élysée appropriate?” Maybe yes, suggested the publication, which noted that “appearance can flirt with over-the-top without embarrassment”.

After the almost-young people it was time for the elderly and some musical nostalgia. Made guests of honour and recipients of awards for the occasion, two other representatives of the exportable and bankable French genius entered the Élysée's gardens. First there was yet another sound and light extravaganza from musician Jean-Michel Jarre. Then, for reasons that remain a mystery to us, we saw the return of the drummer and composer Marc Cerrone. Back in the old, old world the late TV presenter and host Guy Lux used to invite Cerrone on his shows to play his intergalactic hit Supernature, first released in 1977:

“Long live the Fête de la Musique, together!” Tweeted the Sun President, beside himself with happiness. But the “together” was very much the president's own take on things. For across Paris regular police officers and riot squad police had started to chase young people.

Batons, gas and kettling in central Paris

Yes, hundreds and in some places thousands of young people had gathered across Paris, in Montmartre, Les Tuileries, the Champ-de-Mars and Place de la République, using improvised sound systems (though this was a celebration of music concerts were banned). In Place de la République they talked, they danced, a few even sat on the roof of a van! Then the Paris police chief, Didier Lallement, enforced his orders: to disperse any gathering of more than ten people.

And so, once again in Paris, the police dispersed gatherings, carried out baton charges and used tear-gas. There were chases in Rue de Rivoli, kettling in the streets of Montmartre, tear-gas in the Place de la République. Thousands of young people who were scattered far and wide met up and organised themselves on social media. In all, 25 people were arrested in Paris for “violence against a person in public office and insults” and for “theft and taking part in a group with a view to committing violence”.

At Nantes in west France the clashes were more violent. On June 18th at Redon, not far from the city, a 22-year-old man lost his hand after the brutal intervention of gendarmes to stop a free party. This party had also been a homage to Steve Maia Caniço who fell into the River Loire and died in 2019 during a police charge at the end of an earlier Fête de la Musique evening.

On Monday June 21st, after an initial march in memory of Steve involving around 2,000 people in the centre of Nantes had passed off without incident, a second gathering took place in the city's Place du Bouffray at around 9pm. The call-out to this free party criticised the government's “hysterical and contradictory security language” which “authorises the Fête de la Musique with neither a festival nor music”.

This time the forces of law and order quickly intervened with charges and using tear-gas to disperse the demonstration and, according to Ouest-France newspaper, push the protestors out of the city.

In the end the most violent clashes took place in Annecy in the French Alps. The local prefect described them as “scenes of disturbances” which were “as regrettable as they were unacceptable”. Yet many witnesses and video footage indicate that the police charged at young people and used a massive amount of tear-gas. Eight people were arrested.

So the president's “happy days” were not for them. After a year and a half of fundamental freedoms being put on hold and the disappearance of culture and festivals, this state of emergency has been maintained for certain categories of the population. And tough luck for young people. In any case, they do not vote. On the same Monday, June 21st, the junior interior minister Marlène Schiappa suddenly announced an awareness campaign on social media to encourage young people to go out and vote in the second round of the regional election this Sunday June 27th. Just one more provocation from the parallel universe at the Élysée.

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• The original French version of this op-ed article can be found here.

English version by Michael Streeter