A France under tension? "We have the most beautiful country in the world, damn!"

It’s a peaceable island that runs alongside the Charente, with a view of the ramparts of the historic metropolis of Angoulême, its rue Hergé or its fresco to the glory of the Dalton. This morning, we meet a duo of fishermen with a magnet who hopes to make a fortune by going up from the scrap steel.

It’s also right here, in what is known as Bourgines Park, that on Friday December 21, 2018, yellow vests had gathered to make the fictional trial of President Macron. A macabre staging that ended with the beheading of the puppet with the effigy of the head of state. These photographs of uncommon violence, seen by thousands and thousands of residents, shocked, on the time, a great a part of public opinion, turning into symbols of a total breakdown in dialogue which might result in all excesses.

We left, Tuesday, February four, the place of this mock trial to query, for a complete day, residents of the world capital of comics on the present local weather of tensions and take heed to their options to renew constructive exchanges.

"We forgot one factor in France: the human"

Jean-William, 49, rubbish collector

In entrance of the Parc de Bourgines, forty rubbish collectors give voice. On strike since Friday, these staff, lots of whom put on a crimson FO chasuble, demand wage will increase in entrance of the headquarters of their employer, the Larger Angoulême city group. “We’re advised that we’ll be acquired after the elections. We are able to not talk in our nation. We forgot one factor in France: the human ”, indignant Jean-William, 49, driver-ripper. "We’ve essentially the most lovely nation on the earth, rattling it!" We’re all diehard shouts, it's in our blood. However in issue, we now have to handle to transcend, to come back collectively, ”he encourages.

This ex-soldier acknowledges that the mission is troublesome. “The hole is widening between the bottom and the frames. And even on the grassroots degree, there are fractures, ”he concedes. The important thing to reconciling the 2 camps? "Put a bit extra human on the high, let the technocrats neglect what they realized in school and do extra pedagogy under. As quickly as we’re within the unknown, we reject. However when , you might be not afraid, ”he notes. In his eyes, "what additionally kills dialogue are social networks". “We don't use it. Opinions are determined. However there isn’t a one facet, the unhealthy guys, the opposite facet, the nice guys. All the pieces is nuanced on this world… ”

"The rebellious reflex has by no means been stronger"

Daniel, 28, 3D animator

On the bridge crossing the river, Daniel, 28, 3D animator, is worried in regards to the fragmentation of the nation. “Dwelling collectively is threatened. Individuals speak to one another however in a vacuum. Social courses will not essentially combine. We not have this impression of unity. There’s a revolt that’s beginning to scent unhealthy. The rebellious reflex has by no means been stronger, ”worries this intermittent performer. This era "which we reside and which we by no means knew", stricken by "issues" as various as "pensions or climatic upheavals", is, in keeping with him, "agonizing".

“The ambiance is creepy. If I’ve prospects of recruiting overseas, I can’t deprive myself, ”blows this bac + 2. He additionally protests towards“ pointless clashes ”on Twitter or Fb. “The debates on social networks are: I’m proper; I'm proper… We’re witnessing a dialogue of the deaf, ”he reproaches. However it’s also to platforms on the Internet that he turns to get data, contemplating "the press too shut to 1 occasion or one other". "My information is YouTube! "

"We’d like debate classes"

Noémie, 18, highschool scholar

It’s time for lunch break on the Marguerite-de-Valois public highschool. On the finish of the teachings, a scene worthy of a collection for youngsters: posted in entrance of his customized cross-country bike, Jarod, 18, in a hooded sweater and "in search of a job", awaits his pals, Noémie, in literary terminal and Natacha, in technological first. "We don't hear sufficient to the inhabitants," tackles the boy. “As quickly as folks have completely different opinions, they get offended. However everybody has the precise to have their perspective, ”advocate the ladies. “I see this particularly with my household. After we speak about politics, the alternate turns into troublesome ”, slips Natacha, who desires to“ turn out to be a psychologist ”, as a result of she“ likes listening to others ”. For Noémie, it will be essential to arrange "programs of debate and eloquence" in highschool to study the foundations of dialogue. “At school, we now have to attend for silence to talk, it could possibly reduce our want to alternate. "She was" shocked "by degradations committed on the Arc de Triomphe in December 2018 on the sidelines of Act III of the Yellow Vests. “I puzzled what shallowness you can have after tagging a monument like that. It’s important to be fed as much as get there… ”

"It's a little bit of a breeding floor for warfare"

Maryse, 75, retired

Within the in style district of La Grand Font, the HLM bars that emerged from the bottom six many years in the past have aged badly. The last word “spot” right here for bonding, sticking collectively and preventing all of the folds is the social heart. Karine, 46, beneficiary of the RSA, is welcomed there with open arms. A breath of contemporary air. "As a result of in our society at this time, it's everybody at house, every for himself," she describes. “If I wasn't with my 72-year-old mother, there wouldn't be anybody to deal with it. A neighbor fell, nobody has moved, ”she says. Social networks do, in his eyes, "hurt" to dwelling collectively. “There may be lots of bashing, you could be known as a giant cow. Fortuitously my 14 12 months outdated daughter isn’t going there, ”she applauds. "It goes into outrage. Hatred, nevertheless, results in nothing, ”recollects Maryse, 75, retired and a volunteer on the social heart. "It's within the air, we don't actually know why. Individuals lack confidence in one another, in those that run them, of their neighbors … ”, continues the ex-trader. She dreads the worst. "It's a little bit of a breeding floor for warfare," warns the septuagenarian. For her, “anger is commonly legit. However not the degradations, which discredit their authors ”.

"They govern themselves between bourgeois"

Sébastien, 43, trucker Yellow vest

A couple of strides from the station, we discover Sébastien, David and Louane, three yellow vests with out their fluorescent tunic. The primary two, organizers in December 2018 of President Macron's false trial which led to a loss of life sentence, had been charged with contempt and incitement to crime. Earlier than the analyzing Justice of the Peace pronounced, a month in the past, a complete dismissal, contemplating that the sham introduced within the type of a play was not an offense. "We’ve to make use of stunning photographs to problem", militates David, 25, a cook dinner. "We wished to indicate our struggling by means of this occasion," continues Louane, 18. "There, not less than, the message was heard. If it needed to be accomplished once more, I’d do it once more, "says Sébastien, 43, who pleads the sling" humorous ". For a return to appeasement, he proposed a radical answer focusing on the Head of State. "It emerges, the issue will likely be solved," he asserts. He doesn’t consider in a dialogue with the forces in energy: "They neglect the folks, they govern themselves between the bourgeoisie".

"On the break, the scholars speak to one another much less"

Anne, 44, instructor of philosophy

On the terrace of the bistro Le François Ier, within the heart, Anne, 44, professor of philosophy, shares a espresso together with her pals Samia, 50, actual property agent, and Thierry, 56, upholsterer-decorator. The problem in conversing, she noticed very intently, throughout the partitions of her institution, as quickly because the bell rang. "On the break, the scholars speak to one another much less, they’re on their telephones," sighs the one who has been educating for 22 years. The high school reform, who desires future graduates to juggle between a number of courses in keeping with their specialties, harms, she stated, the camaraderie. "There are lots of remoted college students," she warns. At school, she makes positive to "work on the argument and take heed to the opposite". “Fairly the other of political broadcasts on TV. An alternate isn’t for oneself, it’s to replicate collectively, to be higher, ”she recollects. There are certainly, in our nation, conversations on the "horizontal degree", for instance by means of "the demonstrations of the widespread folks" however extra "on the vertical scale" with the authorities. "The truth that there’s much less dialogue with the authorities is a door open to extremes," she warns. "We’ve additionally turn out to be individualists," admits Samia.

Thierry, him, is exhausted by "the politically appropriate speeches" and the sterile polemics which divide fed by "the media in the hunt for viewers". "There isn’t any longer a proper to second diploma," regrets this nostalgic Coluche. Patrice, 47, sounds the alarm within the sq.. "When it’s troublesome to speak to one another, it’s troublesome to suppose and when it’s troublesome to suppose, it’s troublesome to reside after which survive," deduced this craftsman, who additionally addressed a warning to the federal government. "Cease squeezing us like lemons, in any other case we’ll turn out to be yellow vests. "

"We should present that the Republic is robust"

Thomas Mesnier, 33, LREM deputy

100 m away, the premises of LREM deputy from Angoulême, Thomas Mesnier, 33, catches the attention. The parliamentarian is fairly properly crunched, comedian guide model, on the glass, the identical one which was smashed a 12 months in the past. In January, at this similar handle, the elected official, who got here to politics in 2016 by way of the En Marche! initiated by future President Macron, additionally acquired a chilling missive. "It’s prompt that you simply stroll alongside the partitions, sir, and take heed to the steps that would now spin you," intimidates the creator of the nameless letter against the pension reform. "After we assault the Republic, to its representatives, when one is threatened with loss of life, one is confronted with extremist, fascist acts, "repeats the emergency physician, then evoking" a France that forgets itself, which will get misplaced a bit, which freezes in a world on the transfer. "However we shouldn’t be afraid. We should present that the Republic is robust, ”he stated.

He himself acknowledges that "we will not hear to one another, when we now have by no means been so related" and on the similar time "by no means been so alone". How did we get such "anger"? “It’s a lengthy technique of round twenty, round thirty years. The Republic has lowered its head a bit in its guarantees of equality, to provide hope to everybody. After we not have that, we will fall again, "he deciphers, earlier than praising the reforms of the second" in order that it will get higher ".