2022, the energy of politics

On the sidelines of an electoral campaign stuck on the hyperpersonalization of debates, La Vie des Ides offers two files which will highlight the political technicians and the artisans of equality who, far from the media spotlight, or just behind them, are live the energy of politics.

The debates in view of the French elections of 2022 started a few months ago and, already, they are showing the increasingly frequent deviations of this political meeting. Hyper-presidentialization crushes the legislative election; the extreme personalization of debates and the focus on barometers of voting intentions overshadow the parties and their activists; polarization around questions of identity leads to considerable verbal or physical violence, heightened by the speed and permanent inconsistency of quarrels on social networks. After two years of pandemic, 2022 is already shaping up to be a new chance for democratic disenchantment, weariness and a crisis of representation.

Faced with such an observation, it seems important to us to ask a simple and fundamental question: who are the actors and actresses of politics?

Is politics condemned to be the prerogative of a class of professionals who confiscate public affairs?? Who govern in their ivory towers? Is it possible to suggest that politics can be motivated by more positive affects than fear and insecurity?? Beyond or beyond the usual media representations, there are other ways of doing politics. This is why we would like to answer these questions in the simplest and clearest way possible by showing those who bring it to life every day, the invisible actors and actresses who act far from the media spotlight, or just behind them. In order to understand the political game other than in its most spectacular form, we therefore propose to focus on two types of actors who seem to oppose each other but who constitute the driving forces of everyday politics.

Read more…

The first of our two files concerns The political technicians and brings together contributions aimed at revealing the mechanisms of influence of the political game. These are professionals who play key roles in power games, but whose actions are often unknown to the general public. We therefore offer, in partnership with the French Association of Political Science (AFSP), an overview of the submerged part of iceberg and behind the scenes of professional politics. Each of the texts published in this section offers keys to understanding how actors such as parliamentary attachés, members of ministerial cabinets, lobbyists, journalists, etc. influence the course of decisions. If some embody a disenchanting relationship with public affairs, their professional ethos sometimes forcing them to act in a more strategic and calculating quidalist manner, a certain number hope to change the rules from within. The detailed descriptions of these professional worlds allow us to understand that politics constitutes a world in itself, with its codes and routines, a universe which goes far beyond simple elected officials and candidates. These worlds are often closed and hermetic, and frequently involve secrecy and discretion.; For these reasons they are therefore the support for numerous fantasies, which are not always baseless. Revealing these mechanisms, getting the actors to speak, makes visible the way in which daily politics is often hidden, fueling conspiracy, while attributing this to the presumed ignorance of the working classes. This dossier hopes to show the ideals and disappointments of politics as a profession.

The second file concerns, the other end of the body politic, on the artisans of legality, these French people who, on a daily basis, bring the positive energy of politics to life, or have brought it to life in the past through their dedication to the idea of ​​equality. This section will show how egalitarian passions, like wandering seeds, have come to nestle in the smallest interstices of society and consciences to give rise to lives guided by the ideal of equality and the imperative to embody it through everyday actions, far from politics as a profession. To show the power of this passion, we have not chosen the most publicized activists, or the most historically known.

This is why this section offers portraits of anonymous and ordinary citizens who, every day, bring the idea of ​​equality to life as a way of doing society, even in the most simple and banal situations of our lives: in their relationship, in their workplace. , in their sports club, school or in their association. The egalitarian passion in fact drives the Yellow Vests as well as the activists LGBTQIA+, union delegates, teachers, community leaders, feminists committed to supporting all victims of patriarchal violence, nurses, doctors, librarians, food bank volunteers, marauders , families welcoming migrants or even the simple passerby revolted by the injustice that strikes the chance of his path. Countless numbers of ordinary citizens dedicate a large part of their lives and their energy to fighting for the rejection of dependence, contempt, privileges and everything that tends to produce separate worlds. The portraits that we publish in this section show the strength of these tireless defenders of equality and social justice, from the French Revolution to today.

At a time when hatred and fear seem to constitute the main affects of the upcoming political campaign, it seems particularly important to us to illustrate, through these two issues, forms of action which often escape the codes of the spectacle of politics which the media general public are fond of it.