Shrouded in mystery, Freemasonry still arouses the curiosity of the population today, as our colleague Jacques Molénat explains. Whether male, female or mixed, most persuasions have found breeding ground in the department, as evidenced by the rather high number of Gard personalities who are members of lodges. Lodges that sometimes play with their influence, especially in politics, even if many brothers and sisters deny it
The brothers of the Grand Orient experienced a golden age in the general council of Gard until the 2000s. It was the time when Georges Benedetti punctuated his interventions in assembly by “I said”, formula concluding each of the speeches in the temples. The socialist chaired the Department for a few months.
Three other left-wing elected officials, insiders, also led the community: Gilbert Baumet, Alain Journet and Jean Denat. More recently, Alexandre Pissas, who served as interim president for a month, surrounded himself with two other brothers, Lionel Beretti and Nicolas Nadal. “That the president of Sdis dubs the boss of the South firefighters union, it is not neutral“, commented a member of a Nîmes lodge.
During this time of abundance, young directors of cabinet passed under the blindfold, Sébastien Arnaux and Christophe Galle are today at the head of the public establishment of the Pont du Gard. Town hall, chamber of commerce, Cobaty… All places of power continue to have their brothers. But there seem to be fewer of them. Freemasons are much more reluctant to welcome elected officials in their workshops.
Freemasonry lodges in the Gard.
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Relational field
“Some imagine that it will optimize their career and extend their relational field. When they understand that it requires a long journey of humility and introspection, they give up”says a Nîmes member of the GLF.
With patience and construction in the Lodge, Freemasonry can prove to be a useful network. “I know people who wouldn’t have had the same career if they hadn’t gone through the temple.“, says the layman Fabrice Verdier.
I noticed that on the issues of power it was Freemasons who clashed with each other
The former senator (PS) Simon Sutour, also uninitiated, does not believe at all in the influence of an occult power which would decide everything on everything. “I noticed that on the stakes of power it was Freemasons who clashed with each other.”
In politics as well as in business. The enemy brothers Henry Douais and Éric Giraudier fought a memorable war during consular elections. conversely, Freemasonry is deliberately ecumenical.
“The political weight of masons is on the margins”
Franck Proust, then an opposition municipal councilor, cohabited in good harmony with Christian Lacour, deputy mayor PC Alain Clary. Having become in turn deputy UMP, he did the same with PS general counsel Bernard Casaurang.
“The political weight of the masons is at the margin“, estimates the boss of Nîmes Métropole who no longer frequents his lodge of the GLF. “When I am approached with a brotherly sign, I tend to take two steps back.” The elected LR Richard Tibérino, who is no longer at all assiduous at the GLNF, recognizes that“I’ve been asked in the past to blow up some VPs, but that’s it.”
Those who enter Masonry do so for humanistic and sincere reasons.
No human society is just and perfect. “There may be merchants in the Temple, but they are quickly driven off the court”declares the Protestant brother of the GLNF and elected representative of Nîmes Daniel Valade. “The vast majority of those who enter Masonry, all denominations combined, do so for humanistic and sincere reasons”says another GLNF member.
The fantasized influence is also fueled by the secret of belonging behind which the rare black sheep sometimes hide.
Victims of fraternal solidarity
“I was approached twice and I declined each time, because of my political activity. I do not wish to mix genres”admits Fabrice Verdier, president of the community of communes Pays d’Uzès who, in the past as the first federal government of the PS, confides “having been the victim several times of these solidarities. to each congress, I had against me a candidate validated by certain freemasons who were at the maneuver”.
Mayor of Marguerittes and departmental councilor, Rémy Nicolas describes a similar situation. “In 2015, during the departmental elections, it was a question of me being a candidate at the time for the PS. But Jean Denat made the choice to support William Portal. The power of Masonry was more powerful than the will of the militants .”
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