"The observation is clear: while it is now known for several years, the problem of ecological urgency is not taken seriously by our elected officials, it must change." At the height of his 25 years, Yannis is not the type to take gloves. This activist of Extinction Rebellion met by France 24 participates since Monday blocking the place du Chatelet. And as all the demonstrators claiming this movement born in the United Kingdom in autumn 2018, he believes that representative democracy has not allowed to take the necessary measures to save the planet.
"Politicians are in a career logic and are therefore more easily corruptible, Judge Yannis." In order to face the urgency that concerns us, we need something else, such as the creation of a citizens' assembly.
If this claim is to be found in all the countries where the Extinction Rebellion movement is present, it is particularly significant in France, where the mobilization of the Yellow Vests since the autumn of 2018 has shown the immense mistrust of the citizens vis-à-vis representative democracy.
Born of the opposition of the citizens to the increase of the carbon tax, the movement of the Yellow vests quickly evolved in contestation of the power in place, but also, more broadly, of our democratic system. On the roundabouts, protesters chanted "Macron, resignation!", But also "RIC! RIC! RIC!" for "citizens' initiative referendum".
"There is a general crisis of representative democracy that has been well known for a number of years and has been brought to the fore by the yellow vests." Today, citizens no longer recognize themselves in their elected, there is a problem of legitimacy, "says Jean-Michel Fourniau, researcher at the CNRS and director of the scientific interest grouping" Participation of the public, decision, participatory democracy ", contacted by France 24.
"Representative democracy has a hard time thinking in the long run"
The Yellow Vest crisis had itself been preceded by the wave of "disengagement" of the presidential election in 2017, which ended the political careers of two presidents (François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy) and three prime ministers. (François Fillon, Manuel Valls, Alain Juppe).
A year earlier, in the spring of 2016, it was the social movement Nuit debout, resulting from demonstrations against the Labor law validated without a vote in the National Assembly, which challenged the institutions of the Fifth Republic and operated according to the principles of democracy. direct and participatory.
"We know that the temporality of the election, which is at the heart of our system, makes representative democracy have a hard time thinking in the long term," explains Jean-Michel Fourniau. climate today expressed by Extinction Rebellion requires rapid decision-making that takes more into account the general interest rather than the sum of particular interests.This need, added to the crisis of legitimacy of the elected, forces us to go towards participatory democracy. "
Proposed for a long time but never seriously considered as a real solution, the draw is now on the rise. In France, an unprecedented experience of participative democracy has been conducted since the beginning of October. One hundred and fifty citizens were drawn to make proposals to fight against global warming. Together and for six weekends from three days until the end of January, they will have to show collective intelligence to answer the question: how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030 , compared to 1990 and in a spirit of social justice?
The initiative is one of Emmanuel Macron's responses to the Yellow Vests movement and the great national debate. The President of the Republic has committed to submit "without filter" the proposals of this citizen Convention for the climate either by referendum, or the Parliament.
Jean-Michel Fourniau is part of the governance committee of the Citizen's Convention for the Climate, as an expert in participatory democracy. According to him, "Yellow Vests have shown that the solutions taken from above are not accepted and practicable" and that we must now "involve all citizens".
"We are at a turning point"
"The draw, coupled with a mandate on a specific issue and temporality, allows you to focus on the objective to be achieved regardless of future elections and private interests," says Yannis. to start from the grassroots, to be representative of the population and to obtain more justice by taking into consideration the cases of people who are usually never invited to the negotiating table. "
Yannis and the activists of Extinction Rebellion remain however on their guard with regard to the Citizen Convention for the climate. "We will decide on its relevance when we know what happens to the proposals," he says, "it must be concrete, measurable."
However, the link between this exercise of participatory democracy and the existing institutions has not been thought of in advance. What irritate some deputies and senators: "The draw is a frontal collision with the legitimacy of representative democracy," said the deputy Republicans of the Channel, Philippe Gosselin, interviewed by Mediapart.
In fact, will the elected representatives of the Republic be able to amend or even reject the proposals made by the 150 citizens drawn randomly without provoking an outcry? And if the experience is a success and it will be renewed in the future on other topics, as was mentioned by Prime Minister Philippe Philippe, on October 4, at the launch of the Climate Convention, that will he stay with parliamentarians?
These questions remain for the moment in suspense, but already, according to Jean-Michel Fourniau, France is living a historic moment. "We are at a turning point," he says, "between the Yellow Vest movement, which has demonstrated the extent of mistrust of politics, and this Citizens' Convention for the climate, which gives strong legitimacy to Fate, the year 2019 turned things around from the point of view of participatory democracy. "