"Macron or Le Pen, in any case we are screwed. For my first elections, I had hoped for better."
Hand in pocket, leaning against a Vélib terminal in front of the faculty of Paris 8 - Saint-Denis, Esteban, 18, blames the blow.
On April 10, he voted for Mélenchon in the first round of the French presidential election.
"It was the vote closest to my beliefs. I'm not going to lie to you, it makes me lose hope for a better world, or at least more social progress."
The film license student is waiting for a teacher who has made an appointment with his students despite the strike.
A few meters away, the entrance to the university is blocked by bins connected to each other.
It is 2 p.m., and the strikers have abandoned the morning picket.
Anyway, the university preferred to close its doors for the day.
A few posters and leaflets left in the trash recall the demands: "The presidency [of the university] refuses to register students fleeing the war in Ukraine. There are still 23 undocumented students whose university refuses to support the case!"
On her mobile phone, a teacher shows the leaflets distributed by students on the morning of April 11, 2022 in front of the faculty of Paris 8. © France 24
"I hesitate between voting white or Le Pen in the second round"
Alongside Esteban, Bruno* wants to talk.
The Parisian student bounces back on his friend's words and finishes his sentences.
He is also 18 years old and his family is very political.
"My grandfather was a communist resistant, my father was immersed in this culture", he likes to point out.
All voted Jean-Luc Mélenchon this time, like him.
"Macron, above all I don't want to see him back in power, so I'm hesitating between voting white or Le Pen in the second round. Marine Le Pen is better than Macron on social issues. And Macron, after all, he put people in power. ministers who have carried out far-right policies", he says, specifying that he accuses Gerald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, of applying an ultra-repressive policy.
Esteban nods.
He says he is angry with the outgoing president for not having respected his promises in terms of ecology.
"There is still a report [from the IPCC] which said recently that we had three years to act against global warming."
The two friends say they do not recognize themselves in any second-round candidate on environmental issues.
"On the other hand, the protectionism proposed by Marine Le Pen, I find that more interesting than Macron's ultraliberalism", adds Bruno.
A National Rally president at the head of the country does not scare him.
"The zero immigration policy does not work, it is inapplicable. We can see it, even Macron cannot apply the expulsions from the territory. It will be like Donald Trump, you knew he had expelled fewer migrants than Barack Obama?
Go through Marine Le Pen's program in detail
"I don't like Macron and his secret services to friends, like with his friends at McKinsey [consulting firm to which the government has appealed, editor's note]", repeats Esteban, adding a line to his long list of grievances.
A preliminary investigation for aggravated laundering of tax evasion targeting McKinsey was opened by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office on March 31.
But neither of the two students doubts.
"He does nothing at random, he is someone who seeks to make a profit on everything", asserts Esteban.
If he is sure not to vote for Macron, over the course of the conversation, he begins to doubt his vote for the National Rally.
"I have to get Marine Le Pen's program anyway to know what I'm going to slip into the ballot box."
His political choice, the young man says he talks about it easily with his mother, who combines small jobs in the south of France.
"My mother is an actress. She is in her fifties but she is a waitress, a home helper. She serves lunches in school canteens to earn a salary because she had problems with the employment center to have her status recognized. intermittently in the show", he said with a preoccupied air.
"She voted Mélenchon and will vote blank in the second round."
Go to the polls to vote blank
Not everyone shares their parents' opinion.
A little further on, Lilou is also waiting for her cinema teacher.
She is 19 years old and she chose the leader of La France insoumise in the first round, first for his proposals on ecology.
"In my family, the vote has always been kept secret. But I think my parents voted Macron," she slips, before doubting it.
“Who is the candidate who is proposing an increase in the minimum pension?” she asks.
A central subject in his family, where everything rests on his father's retirement.
"My mother stopped working at 25 to raise my sister, my brother and me," she explains.
Lilou, a film license student, already knows that she will slip a blank ballot into the ballot box in the second round.
© France 24
For the young student, money is a source of concern.
"Macron wants to make universities pay, to increase registration fees. It will not be possible," she says.
However, this proposal does not appear clearly in the candidate's programme.
But it has been attributed to him since comments made in mid-January.
Emmanuel Macron had then advanced to the presidents of universities gathered in congress that "we will not be able to remain permanently in a system where higher education has no price for almost all students", suggesting that he was open to a tuition increase.
After triggering strong reactions from student unions, the president returned to his ambiguous statement.
"When you want to fight against student precariousness, you don't increase registration fees," he said.
One thing is certain, says Lilou, it is that she is certain not to vote for him.
"I will still go to the polls, it's important. But since neither of the two candidates pleases me, I prefer not to be an actress in this vote. I will vote blank."
"I cling to the legislative"
In front of the closed doors of the university, other students arrive.
They will attend a presentation of political science on the prevention of inequalities.
The course will take place outdoors, in a square in Saint-Denis.
The entrance to Paris 8 University blocked by trash cans, April 11, 2022. © France 24
Before joining the troupe, one of the students expresses her disappointment.
She claims to have voted for Jean-Luc Mélenchon and refuses to slip a ballot for Emmanuel Macron on April 24: "It would legitimize him, when he was unable to block the rise of the far right. contrary. I blame him for his increasingly repressive policy, the police violence that he was unable to prevent, his contemptuous speech towards the most deprived".
The 21-year-old prefers to skip her turn.
Worried, she says she is waiting impatiently for Sunday June 12, the date on which the French are called upon to elect their deputies.
"I am clinging to the legislative elections to obtain a majority on the left. I will not be relieved until I am sure that we can counter the power of the future or the future president", she says before joining her group. of comrades.
*Name has been changed.
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