Aubin (France) (AFP)

"These meetings are moments of joy and sharing where we rekindle": surrounded by hundreds of rebellious activists who sing and dance in the rain, Elvire welcomes the arrival of Jean-Luc Mélenchon in Aubin (Aveyron).

And the joy of this former graphic designer of 67 years from Avignon, like that of other activists present Sunday at this meeting of the rebellious candidate for the presidential election is even stronger "after a year of imprisonment" because of the health constraints due at Covid-19.

Rémy is participating for the first time in a meeting of this type.

For this 28-year-old logistics operator from neighboring Cantal "the most important is the program: ecology, social, democracy. And Mélenchon is the candidate who speaks best about this program", he adds. .

An hour later, starting his speech, the tribune thanked the stoic militants who, despite the pouring rain, brought him "a scorching sun".

It also pays homage to this "workers' basin" in the heart of a largely rural department, this "abandoned France to which everything is made to endure".

- 'Relentless resistance' -

A stele located a few meters away recalls one of the reasons which brought the rebellious leader here: on October 8, 1869, the army fired on striking miners, leaving 17 dead.

Then this drama inspired the poem "Ode to misery" to Victor Hugo.

Linking this event with the current situation, the rebellious candidate adds that, like many French people today, these dead miners wanted "less heavy work during the day and better wages in order to be able to live".

Hailing their "relentless resistance", he then draws a parallel with the struggle of the slaves to obtain their freedom.

"We celebrated the abolished slavery as we celebrate the mobilization of mine workers, not to speak of the suffering endured but of the relentless and permanent resistance," he said to applause.

"The slaves were never submitted. The workers, your fathers, your mothers, never accepted the fate that was done to them," he continues.

Then he warns against the division: "Racism, the hatred of Muslims that we would like to spread everywhere, is what undermines the possibility for the French people, whatever their religion, whatever their gender, to bring together".

- "Abandoned basin" -

The rain finally stops, but his speech is already over.

In the middle of the mud, in front of the stage that is being dismantled, a few dozen participants still surround the accordionist and the saxophonist who, tireless, continue to play.

"For this abandoned basin, the arrival of Mélenchon is a bowl of oxygen," explains enthusiastic Michel Baert, still present with other activists who dismantle the installations.

This 63-year-old former soldier from the North discovered with "happiness" ten years ago this other "southern" mining country "full of greenery" and "amazing people".

"The social issue and employment which are the axis of this meeting echo what has been happening in the territory for several months," explains Guilhem Serieys, LFI regional councilor outgoing in Occitanie.

He refers in particular to the strike by employees of the automotive supplier SAM whose jobs are threatened, supported for weeks by demonstrations bringing together thousands of inhabitants of the basin, or to the project of 750 job cuts at Bosch, a another Aveyron company for which Renault is the prime contractor.

© 2021 AFP