They rented an apartment near Place de la République in Paris via Airbnb.
There, they try to make their cause heard: the hope of seeing a single candidate on the left able to qualify for the second round of the presidential election.
And to succeed a certain Emmanuel Macron, on April 24, at the head of the country.
MEP Pierre Larrouturou, but also climate activist and medical doctor Anne Hessel (daughter of Stéphane Hessel), accompanied by ten other activists, decided to attempt the last chance operation on Friday.
A hunger strike to call in particular the candidates of the left to unite within the framework of the popular primary.
“I am surrounded by young people who are very determined in their commitment to the climate cause, welcomes Anne Hessel, 75 years old.
Previously, not many of us were alerting to the consequences of climate change.
Now young people know it, they have acquired this awareness and want to act.
"
" It is not too late "
Act, but how? All call on the French to register on the site of the popular primary to vote for their candidate. But the cast is gone not to be the one expected. It's been weeks that Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Yannick Jadot launched their campaign in their corridor, far from the hopes of these twelve activists. “Maybe we are talking to people who do not agree 100% on all subjects, concedes Pierre Larrouturou, himself a candidate. But if we agree on 80% of the topics, that's already enough. It is not too late. "
If it's not too late, the game seems to be tougher than ever. A month ago to the day, the socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo launched her call for union on the TF1 20 hours set. "Let's organize a left-wing primary, which candidates who want to govern together come to participate in this primary." It has absolutely never been heard. Just she potentially obtained an additional candidacy, that of Christiane Taubira, who should announce her final decision on January 15.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Yannick Jadot have always opposed him to an end of inadmissibility.
Faced with this blockage, Anne Hidalgo ended up resigning herself this Saturday.
Traveling to Jarnac to pay tribute to François Mitterrand, the mayor of Paris seemed to have given up on her project.
She also now promises to go to the end of her campaign, without going through the primary box.
“Yannick Jadot takes a very heavy responsibility,” she explains.
An outing that would almost amuse the entourage of the environmental candidate.
“Whereas Yannick Jadot had proposed a year ago to lay down a method to build a common project, which did not come from the second meeting?
Anne Hidalgo ”, we are ironic this Saturday.
An insurmountable challenge
According to information published on Friday by Le Parisien, Yannick Jadot's candidacy has taken on a little more substance, since the environmental candidate would have succeeded in obtaining the 500 pledges of sponsorship essential to any presidential ambition.
And here are our twelve striking activists facing an almost insurmountable challenge.
“I would like politics to change,” says Anne Hessel.
We have already spent two of the ten critical years taking action on climate change.
"
If Anne Hessel, for obvious health reasons related to her age, will resume eating after 48 hours of strike, some are considering continuing the movement.
From the top of her 24 years, Juliette Blayac, a student in Lyon and also a participant in the hunger strike, refuses to give up hope.
But she admits not to feel frankly represented by the current political class.
“There are plenty of things to do to transform society, to make it fairer, more democratic and more sustainable.
This is the meaning of our approach, we don't even want to talk about political quarrels, we have to go beyond that.
Yet it is these political quarrels that could in part - the basic disagreements are real - dampen the hopes of voters on the left.