Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI) at a public meeting in Mende: “Lozère is a land of Camisards!”

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, devant un auditoire très attentif, samedi soir à Mende. MIDI LIBRE – M. P

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of La France insoumise (LFI), was in a public meeting on Saturday, September 28, 2024, at the Mende events center. He returned at length to his remarks concerning Lozère.

Mélenchon, you either like him or you don't, but in any case the tribune left no one indifferent during his public meeting, Saturday, September 28, 2024, at the Mende events center. A conclusion of his visit to the rural areas of Lozère, particularly in Florac, Friday. A room almost too small to accommodate the political beast, with half a thousand people, curious or loyal to the faithful. The leader of La France insoumise (LFI) swept aside international news, the appointment of the Barnier government and returned at length to his remarks made on Lozère, during the LFI summer universities. A long speech that he has the secret of, jumping happily from one subject to another, like a mountain goat.

A head-on response to Laurent Suau

“Lozère is a land of Camisards!”, he said to the crowd, who did not fail to applaud him at length. A Mélenchon who is sometimes a poet, sometimes a revolutionary, but always with strong, carefully chosen words. “Woe to us when we have leaders who do not know the history of their country”, he again sent as a preamble to explanations on his remarks made on Lozère. “When did this miserable quarrel come about that Mr. (Laurent) Suau (the president of the Department) sought to, to whom I will not say a word that the deputy has already pronounced about him, which has already been done. This gentleman is not very original. When there is a problem, it is Mélenchon."

A tribute to Lozère and Martinique

Returning to the genesis of his remarks, during a demonstration, where young activists asked him what to do (the mobilization of youth and working-class neighborhoods, Editor's note): "What do you want me to say to these kids ? Let them go and demonstrate in the countryside ? Their parents would call me crazy." And the LFI leader to release the wild beasts: “I spoke about Lozère and I am accused of having insulted 75,000 people at once.” Reprising Laurent Suau's statements about the illustrious Lozériens: “It is not honourable to criticise a department, he said. What did I say that insulted you, you others”?” Resuming his speech on creolization and Martinique: “There are 300,000 of them, that's more than you, and they have all cultivated a sense of intellectual elite. When you include Aimé Césaire, Édouard Glissant, the two world-famous ones, they are part of it.”

Sébastien Rome, a close friend of the rebellious leader

Sébastien Rome, former MP for Hérault (defeated in the last legislative elections by the RN) is one of the initiators of Jean-Luc Mélenchon's tour of rural areas: “He is perfectly aware that the wealth of Lozère lies in its people, the Cévenols, among others. The Camisard revolt, there was the desire to maintain freedom of conscience. All this history is not highlighted enough in Lozère. Yet it is our history of France.” Considering that rural lands are on the left, “this is the case in Lozère”. Concerning other dates in rural areas, Sébastien Rome remained evasive: “Starting with the Cévennes is a good thing. The relationship to life in Florac is different, it resonates with our program. “

Also quoting Patrick Chamoiseau or Frantz Fanon “a thinker”. “In Lozère, I said: you don't have that. Period. But I agree with others. Mr. Suau invented everything to make himself interesting and he calls me a ham. So, I said to myself: why am I talking about Lozère when I was talking about creolization, the Caribbean, etc. Well, Mr. Suau, you forgot to mention the other resistance fighters in the department, like the mayor of Florac, for example. I could name others to whom I could pay tribute. I know perhaps the history of Lozère better than he does […] And you have especially forgotten Frantz Fanon, a world-renowned sociologist who completed his training in Lozère ! That is why I spoke of Lozère when I spoke of Martinique." An angel passed by and ears must have whistled. 

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