France: Claude Alphandéry, former resistance fighter and figure of the social and solidarity economy, has died
Claude Alphandéry, former resistance fighter during the Second World War and major figure in the social and solidarity economy, died at the age of 101 following “
multiple illnesses
”, AFP learned this Tuesday March 26 from his family and friends. two institutions that he had founded. He remained committed until the end of his life to promoting a more social and sustainable economy.
Claude Alphandéry, then president of the National Council for Integration through Economic Activity, on September 14, 2007 in Grenoble. © AFP / JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT
By: RFI with AFP
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“
Mr. Alphandéry passed away peacefully yesterday evening, surrounded by his family
,” said France Active, an association helping to create committed businesses that he had created. The Social and Solidarity
Economy
Lab
, which he also founded and of which he was honorary president, “
unfortunately
” confirmed this information.
Suffering from “
multiple illnesses
” and “
very physically weakened
” at the end of his life, Claude Alphandéry remained “
still very active intellectually
” until a week ago. He “
even thought about how we could still mobilize against the rise of extremism in
France
and barbarism in the world
”.
Joining the Resistance at age 20
Born in
Paris
on November 27, 1922, to a father who was a general treasurer and paymaster and a mother who was president of a real estate company, Claude Alphandéry was barely 20 years old when he joined the Lyon resistance, abandoning the comfortable benches of his khâgne for the maquis. He distinguished himself there, then in 1944 became president of the Committee for the Liberation of Drôme. Once the war was over, he first flew to the French embassy in Moscow (1945-1946), before resuming his studies and joining the ENA in 1947.
Upon leaving the National School of Administration, he was appointed civil administrator at the Ministry of Finance, then head of the economic budget office (1948-1958), before moving on to a consultant position with the UN. Supporter of
François Mitterrand
in 1974 and benefactor of the Socialist Party, he brought his convictions to public policies and invested in what would become the social and solidarity economy (ESS), convinced that it constitutes the solution to liberalism and unbridled capitalism.
A deep economic and social commitment
In 1988, he founded France Active, then the ESS Lab in 2010, to promote this social and solidarity economy at national and European level. “
The fights he led during the
Second World War
in the maquis of Drôme and then his professional commitment to the ESS show continuity in his personal commitment
,” believes his son Marc Alphandéry. He wanted to salute his “
taste for life, his enthusiasm, his inveterate optimism in transforming things, his curiosity, his humanism
”, which according to him was evidenced by his father’s last call “
to fight against barbarism
», published on March 4 in
L’Obs
.
“
Today, the resistance has moved to the economic front
,” declared Claude Alphandéry at the dawn of his 100th birthday in this forum, calling on civil society to commit to a “
more social, more inclusive and more sustainable
”, through the creation of local clubs. “
We must repair the deleterious effects of a global economy engaged in unbridled competition for unlimited financial profits, whatever the cost to humanity and nature
,” he added. His funeral, open to the public, will take place on Wednesday April 3 at 2 p.m. at the Parisian cemetery of Montparnasse, his family said.
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