“A silent revolution in our lifestyles is underway” assures Sandrine Rousseau in her new book

L’élue écologiste Sandrine Rousseau. MAXPPP

L’élue écologiste publie un essai aux éditions du Seuil, Ce qui nous porte. Sous-titré “comment nous pouvons éviter la catastrophe”. Elle s’explique.

Pourquoi ce livre, pourquoi maintenant ?

We are at a crucial moment in our history, and we have a responsibility to create hope. And I think we are not quite there yet. This denial by Emmanuel Macron that we came out on top also gives us the opportunity, in a way, to get ourselves in marching order to create this hope.

For you, the right and the far right impose an erroneous vision of society. Who wouldn't lean to the right today ?

The way we tell ourselves about ourselves, and what we really are, generates a kind of incomprehension, distance, and a disconnection from politics on the part of a large part of French men and women.

All sociological surveys show that there is an extremely strong aspiration for equality, to get away from racist prejudices, for ecology. These are massive trends in society. And for me the left has not gone to the end of what we still need to change in politics.

Citizens also sometimes protest, in the face of certain ecological shifts, for example during the farmers' movement…

The farmers' movement was a cry for survival. And the way it was handled politically only pushes the problem back.

Today, farmers are among the populations that commit suicide the most. The question we have to ask ourselves is how are we doing and what do we want to protect ourselves ? What do we need ? There is something around equality to be found. There is obviously this change in the relationship to our time, to our work, to create quality, to find humanization again.

The left has something to say about the rehumanization of our society.

You want to turn the page on the nostalgia of the Trente Glorieuses. Why ?

I think we need to take stock objectively. We have a fantasy of those years. Society now is deeply feminine, deeply anti-racist, deeply yearning for equality, deeply wanting to regain control of our time, our health, our mental and ethical well-being. This is the story we need to tell. The Trente Glorieuses, we keep the growth that allows us to have a social model.

Today, we need to think of this model outside of extractivism and productivism. This requires asking the question of time. What do we do with it, don't we waste it? This question is central because we don't have much time to counter global warming, in our lives, to flourish. The day we control our time, we create hope and an enormous emancipatory force in society.

More than an evolution, you speak of a form of revolution?

A revolution is underway, a silent revolution of our lifestyles, which does not appear in the political debate, and which is nevertheless very present.

We are completely changing our relationship with animals, with the earth, with work, with male-female relationships. This revolution is already in place. There has already been progress ? Yes, fortunately it has progressed. But when I hear the President of the Republic say that Depardieu is the honor of France, it still smells musty.

What outcome do you see for the current political situation ?

Emmanuel Macron wants to continue his model, whatever the cost. Today, the question is where are we going to find this breach in which we will be able to breathe democratic hope ? While there is this kind of sclerosis of the National Assembly, and this failure to respect the balance that emerged from the ballot boxes.

The next step is undoubtedly the questioning of Emmanuel Macron's mandate in one way or another.

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