Eddy Fougier is a political scientist, lecturer at Sciences Po Aix-en-Provence. He is a specialist in anti-globalization movements.
LE FIGARO.
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What distinguishes the Extinction Rebellion movement from other anti-globalization movements?
Eddy FOUGIER. -
In substance and form, there are fewer and fewer differences with other environmentalist movements, such as Greenpeace.
The modus operandi used is what they call "civil disobedience", that is to say often illegal actions, most of the time non-violent, which aim to challenge the general public and decision-makers.
They want to be “consciousness awakeners”.
Initially, the Extinction Rebellion movement was launched to alert the general public to the climate emergency.
Its logo, an hourglass, symbolizes urgency.
Today, in view of the actions carried out, I have the feeling that this movement is becoming more and more generalist.
Recent actions target Bayer-Monsanto, the FNSEA stand at the Agricultural Show, or a grain train in Brittany.
Beyond raising awareness of global warming, Extinction Rebellion now denounces pesticides, neonicotinoids, Monsanto, GMOs... ".
Read also“Extinction Rebellion activists destroy the work of our farmers”
After actions of civil disobedience, such as the occupation of the Parisian road from April 16 to 18, can we expect more violent actions?
The French version of Extinction Rebellion is much more moderate than the British parent company.
But in the face of the climate emergency and in a context where activists may feel that leaders are not up to the challenge, some are likely to move to stronger actions, such as sabotage.
When we look at the debates organized in these circles, we notice that the question of economic sabotage is taking an increasingly important place.
The actions carried out against Bayer-Monsanto or against the oil major Total, in Lyon, suggest that Extinction Rebellion has decided to raise its voice, without going so far as ecoterrorism.
How to characterize its militants? Are they representative of the “climate generation”, rather young and educated?
The sociological profile of the average Extinction Rebellion militant is young, urban, graduate, with a fairly significant cultural capital but without necessarily economic capital.
This is also the typical profile of the Europe Écologie Les Verts activist;
an "eco-anxious", an individual who is very sensitive to collapsology.
I see an alignment of the planets between political ecology, eco-anxiety, collapsology, support for climate marches, and members of environmentalist associations.
Is this movement condemned to only communication operations or can it turn into a political movement?
Before the first round of the presidential election, various associations, including the Climate Action Network and Greenpeace, had assessed the programs of the various candidates with regard to the climate emergency.
The best marks were awarded to Yannick Jadot and Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
There is a form of continuity of vision between the associative world and some of the political actors embodied by the candidate Europe Ecology the greens, or the candidate La France insoumise.
Can a movement like Extinction Rebellion do politics?
It is in another logic, that of civil society.
Today, a young person who wants to make things happen in this area is more likely to join this type of group than a traditional political movement.
It is difficult to gauge the
If from the activist's point of view, direct action seems more effective than political action in the traditional sense, this does not mean that these activists will necessarily abstain.
Eddy Fougier
The various movements that have emerged in recent decades have always blocked this relationship to politics, from the alter-globalists to the "yellow vests".
There has always been an extreme reluctance to enter the political framework.
These movements put ideas on the table in the hope that politicians will take hold of them, but without going any further.
At the same time, there is a great distrust of these movements vis-à-vis the leaders.
Ultimately
this leads to dead ends.
On the one hand, new environmental movements can represent a valuable pool of activists for left-wing parties. On the other hand, if "civil disobedience" is perceived as more effective than voting, said movements risk diverting the activist from the voting booth...
Certain militants consider, indeed, that this type of action is more effective to change the system than the vote.
It is true that a certain number of actions carried out on the ground made it possible to block the system, this was the case with the ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes.
These results encourage activists to act on the ground, especially in areas where there is room for maneuver to be able to do so, such as airport projects, extension of rail or road transport routes.
If from the activist's point of view, direct action seems more effective than political action in the traditional sense, this does not mean that these activists will necessarily abstain.
The success of the left with environmental activists risks being at the expense of popular categories.
Eddy Fougier
Jérôme Fourquet showed that Jean-Luc Mélenchon brought together many young people from the “climate generation” in the presidential election. By wanting to seduce this fringe of the population, do left and radical left formations not risk alienating the working classes?
Indeed.
The success of the left with environmental activists risks being at the expense of popular categories.
I studied the candidates' programs on agricultural issues.
I was struck by the fact that in the programs of the right-wing candidates, inclusive writing did not appear, unlike the programs of the left-wing candidates.
Left-wing candidates surf on the trends of so-called civil society movements, such as ecology, feminism or veganism.
Ten years ago, only the green candidate Éva Jolly spoke of alternative, organic agriculture, and criticized the dominant conventional model.
François Hollande did not talk about it.
Today, all the left-wing candidates defend an agriculture that would be entirely organic, and the banning of pesticides.
There is an alternate left to left swing.
The left enters into this logic to distinguish itself from the right;
but it takes the risk of further alienating the working classes who have more material concerns such as the price of gasoline, purchasing power, and cultural insecurity.