David Desgouilles is a columnist at
Marianne
.
He has published
Dérapage
(ed. du Rocher, 2017) and
Their Lost Wars
, (ed. du Rocher, 2019).
FIGAROVOX. - On Thursday June 2, Michel Sardou announced in an interview that he wanted to leave France if Jean-Luc Mélenchon became Prime Minister. How to define the France of Sardou and that of Mélenchon?
David DESGOUILLES. -
This sentence of Michel Sardou was, I think, a joke.
Moreover, it seems to me that he pushes the joke by explaining that he could make Normandy a new duchy and put barriers everywhere around.
It has long been understood that, if he is not as caricaturally on the right as depicted by his double parody of Canal +
Michel Sardouille
, the singer is not really in phase with most of the proposals of Jean-Luc Melenchon.
So much for political opinions.
For the rest, I don't think we can really oppose a France of Sardou to a France of Mélenchon.
That of Sardou, after more than fifty years of career, is much broader than that of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The writer Nicolas Mathieu, in my opinion author of the most beautiful novel of the year,
Connemara
, has clearly shown that Sardou - and in particular this song - brings together all of France, that of business schools and that of marriages in France popular, especially peripheral.
We can add that part of those who voted for the candidate of La France insoumise last April hums Sardou in her shower, even if she does not necessarily assume it in the teachers' room or at the Monop de Montreuil.
In recent days, while the campaign really starts in the minds of most voters, we undoubtedly feel a little out of breath, especially since the news of the Stade de France serves Marine Le Pen more.
David Desgouilles
“
Mr. Michel Sardou will you grant me an interview?
I want to convince you to stay in France when we win
,” wrote Mélenchon in a tweet.
How do you analyze this strategy?
I wouldn't go so far as to call this a strategy.
In my opinion, it is more a question of a certain agility in communication.
Unlike the presidential election, where he played the role of the turtle in La Fontaine's fable, Jean-Luc Mélenchon instead took on the role of the hare for the presidential election.
He left very quickly, in particular with his slogan "elect me prime minister".
In recent days, while the campaign really starts in the minds of most voters, we undoubtedly feel a little out of breath, especially since the news of the Stade de France serves Marine Le Pen more.
Michel Sardou involuntarily put Jean-Luc Mélenchon back in the news with his provocative sentence and the latter very skillfully rebounded on this statement by offering to meet him,
making the prospect of becoming Prime Minister credible again.
Admittedly, that's pretty clever on his part.
It is not certain that Michel Sardou has measured that he would give this opportunity to the one he wanted to castigate.
Is Mélenchon trying to overcome the right-left divide and speak directly to Sardou's France?
I do not think so.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon abandoned the strategy of overcoming the right-left divide in 2018, during the preparation for the European elections the following year.
He then adopted that of taking the leadership of the left, espousing in particular all intersectional struggles.
This strategy ended up working thanks to the useful voting mechanism during the last presidential election, carrying out the recommendations of the Terra Nova Foundation in 2011. Today, he is even the candidate of the left for Matignon in the event victory in the legislative elections.
He therefore has good reason to believe that the strategy of uniting the left for his benefit has worked: he is not going to return to that of 2017 by the sole grace of a declaration by Michel Sardou.
I repeat: this is only
an intelligent rebound to return to the forefront of this electoral campaign.
And it succeeds very well, since we are talking about it.
Political scientist Jérôme Sainte-Marie explained very well that the popular bloc was now sucked in by the marinist vote and opposed an elite bloc of which Emmanuel Macron was the unifier.
David Desgouilles
I would add that we could probably see the influence of the couple formed by Alexis Corbière and Raquel Garrido, notoriously fans of the singer from the Connemara Lakes.
Can this strategy allow Mélenchon to reconnect with the “popular bloc” theorized by Jérôme Sainte-Marie?
The political scientist explained very well that the popular bloc was now sucked in by the marinist vote and opposed an elite bloc of which Emmanuel Macron was the unifier.
He explained the Mélenchon vote of April 10 by one of the last jolts of a left that does not want to die, sociologically formed by executives of the public service, a precarious youth and graduates of the metropolises and finally a community vote in the difficult districts.
But indeed, to be elected, Jean-Luc Mélenchon must take over from Marine Le Pen part of the real popular bloc.
Much more than the pragmatism of Jean-Luc Mélenchon on the interview of Michel Sardou in Paris-Match, it is necessary to observe the speech of François Ruffin, who had very strong words on “the insecurity of the daily newspaper”.
The former journalist is the only Nupes who wants to talk to this popular bloc and does not believe in the chances of the strategy of unifying the left sauce Terra Nova.
Moreover, and to return to Sardou, François Ruffin carried out a very interesting interview with Nicolas Mathieu at the time of the exit of
Connemara
.
He is really into the right-left overtaking strategy.
Deeply and not only in the com'.
But for now, he is ultra-minority in his camp.
