Immersed before the legislative elections: “What a world we are leaving for young people!”, in Uzès, the fear of disillusioning tomorrows

Alexandre Gonçalves de Oliveira, patron du Provençal : “Le seul Jordan que je connaissais, c’est Michael Jordan”. Midi Libre – DORIAN CAYUELA

And you, what do you think of the political situation in the country ? For a week, Midi Libre goes to meet the inhabitants of Occitanie, far from party machines and the words of experts: on the coast of Valras, with fishermen and lovers of the sea, breeders and farmers from the villages of the Montagne Noire where Gascon sheep and cows graze, with the inhabitants of the medium-sized town of Narbonne, the metropolitan areas of Nîmes and Montpellier, with the workers of the industrial belt of Rodez, in the former mining town of La Grand Combe. In Uzès, the picture-postcard town of Uzès, the RN has just conquered the duchy, a coup that does not leave one indifferent.

Alexandre Gonçalves de Oliveira, the boss of "Provençal", doesn't get angry : "I unscrew, I don't" ;rsquo;can't take it anymore. And since he posted his opinions in a house style, the day after the European elections, the reactions have been pouring in.

"A guy came from Nîmes just to drink coffee, I'm getting calls from Paris from people I don't know. He shows an enthusiastic text message. And "I was also told that I cultivated hatred with this type of remark". He takes the reactions of a few regulars: "Who is the idiot who wrote that ?", "What's your problem ?". "A gentleman bought the newspaper every day, I don't see more", he said again. The first place of the RN, on June 9, created a mini-earthquake in the ducal city known for its Place aux Herbes market, its alleys with the air of a Tuscan town, a something refined without pretension, the second homes which bring well-off Parisians in the summer, the "people" who settled there, the emblematic Trintignant family.

The Uzès-Pont-du Gard destination accumulated 2.8 million overnight stays in 2023, and was ranked the seventh warmest and most welcoming city in the world, according to the booking platform Booking, in January last, which reminds us that 60% of tourists are foreigners.

"We couldn't feel happy ?"

Alexandre Gonçalves de Oliveira "does not understand this vote" : "We're not comfortable here ? What's the problem ? There are only foreigners ? But we are delighted to resell them for 500,000 dollars the house that we had bought for 50,000! From July 15, Parisians will start teleworking here and keep the economy going, that's the "game"… Today, a fellow real estate agent told me that with the political situation, people are canceling visits. We also made noise with our mopeds when we were young, except that today we can't stand anything. We couldn't feel happy being in this fucking country? They talk to us about purchasing power, it seems that people have no money , but try to rent an apartment this summer in Grau-du-Roi, it’s full! Me, the only Jordan I know is the Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls who made me dream when I was a teenager, balances, energetically posing tomato, pressure, parrot and mint in water on the tray of the waiter incessantly coming and going to the terrace, the merchant established for seventeen years on Boulevard Victor-Hugo.

The bar "welcomes everyone and judges no one", adds the boss, who "cut CNews", and tackles the owner Vincent Bolloré : "I'm told that Mbappé has no business being involved in politics, but Bolloré is good at it! "

"Here we love France, its flag and the Marseillaise. But not the RN", therefore wrote Alexandre Gonçalves de Oliveira on a slate placed near the entrance.

"People are fed up with everything"

"I didn’vote, but with what is happening at the moment, the idea crossed my mind to vote RN, although I have always voted on the left. The RN is because people are fed up with it. It’s the political landscape that raises the question", confides Dorian Zannelli, 28 years old, a landscaper in reconversion who returned to his parents while waiting for better days, no more fixed on the future than his "buddy" Théo Bellonte, also 28 years old, "very happy to live in France".

Visually impaired, he receives a disabled adult allowance: "Thanks to state aid, I have an apartment, an income& ;hellip;"

Dorian Zannelli and Théo Bellonte, 28 years old: “Native French, that doesn’t mean anything.” Midi Free – DORIAN CAYUELA

"People are fed up with everything", confides Françoise again (Editor's note: alone, first names are kept when witnesses request it), who "would like that to change", she votes in this direction and will hold her legislative line: "I'm not racist, but all these foreigners who come here while our kids are struggling, that's not normal". She predicts "a difficult end to the year".

"Fingers in the socket, we haven't tried"

Like many Uzétiens, Cathy doesn't really want to express herself a few minutes before entering her evening dance class. She, who "loves France" and believes that we are "so lucky to be French", for Social Security, hospitals, these two years of unemployment which allowed him to make the transition between two jobs, the children's studies… She finally has a lot to say: "I'm disappointed, I'm voting out of spite. I no longer recognize myself in anything. I think we are heading towards chaos, it’s worrying for young people. Between pollution and politics, what a world we leave them… I live in a small village near Uzès where out of 300 voters, 280 voted RN. I know everyone, they're not extremists, they want things to change.

"I can't stand hearing that we haven't tried, fingers in the socket, neither, we didn't try!", ton Alexandre Gonçalves de Oliveira. He was asked a lot if I wasn't afraid of what I had done. He checked "to be well insured". "You have balls !" greet the friend who has his "second home" at the bar.

"No, the one with the balls is the firefighter who goes into the fire and saves people. I'm not an activist, I don't want to create a buzz, it's common sense. This year, we are celebrating the end of fascism in Portugal, that’s why my father and mother left. You know why tonight, I'm going to play Euromillion? So that it stops. Right now, I'm thinking about making the reverse trip.

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