Ile-Saint-Denis, citizen laboratory against abstention

A new abstention record seems to be looming for the presidential election on 10 and 24 April. Exit of Covid-19, school holidays, war in Ukraine… nothing seems favorable to citizen mobilization. False reasons for observers of French political life who have been pointing, for several elections, to a much deeper evil: a democratic crisis in which citizens no longer have confidence in the institutions or in their representatives. This observation is even more striking in Seine-Saint-Denis, where the inhabitants desert the voting booths, for lack of having been heard by the elected officials of the Republic. As proof, the participation rate of the department was around 26% in the last municipal elections.

Elected “new generation”

The “93” would therefore be lost to any citizen awakening. The whole department? No ! A city in the south of it – or rather an island – still believes in the collective, even when it is institutionalized. Because in L’Ile-Saint-Denis, the participation rates in the elections are not weakening: 60% in the last municipal election and 70% for the previous presidential elections. “We are proud of the participation in the polls of our fellow citizens because it reflects their state of mind”, comments with a broad smile Mohamed Gnabaly, the mayor (SE).

Could this success be the work of one man? It must be recognized that Mohamed Gnabaly is one of these “new generation” elected officials. Elected at 30, he confesses that before donning the tricolor scarf, he knew nothing about institutions or even politics. “I come from a citizen list, I am an entrepreneur and I do not want to pursue a career in politics”, specifies the one who attaches importance to the non-disconnection of elected officials with the professional world. “All the elected representatives of my majority have a professional activity or are retired. No affiliation to a political party either, for the now vice-president of the Association of Mayors of France.

Ongoing participatory projects

This posture is not new in the political history of Ile-Saint-Denis. Before the victory, in 2020, of the list of Mohamed Gnabaly, the municipal team had already come from a citizen list, itself born from a popular education association. A continuity which also led to the presence of two citizen lists in the last municipal election and to an electoral dispute won by the current team. “It divided the population,” notes Marie Anquez, deputy mayor, in charge of participatory democracy.

It also wants to make a clean sweep of the past in terms of citizen participation. So the classic instances of participatory democracy where “the same people monopolize the floor” are over. The city wants to take democracy down a notch. “Twenty years ago, we were the precursor of this model, now we want to get out of it because it no longer allows the expression of the greatest number,” explains the assistant.

To develop its new kind of participatory approaches, the local authority has seen the arrival in its workforce of a project officer, Hakima Khelfa, who now devotes her days to translating this political will “to reach out” to the population. First step, the citizen tables: “At each party organized by the city, a table with the inhabitants will be opened in order to debate and co-construct the municipal policies of tomorrow”, relates the project manager.

Other participatory projects are underway, such as the rehabilitation of the schoolyard of the Jean-Lurçat school group. Stuck in the southern districts of the island plagued by drug trafficking and the subject of a major urban renewal project, the school will welcome a new, partly vegetated courtyard in the coming months. Present at a discussion meeting on this project which was also attended by the city, residents and associations, a teacher welcomes the approach of the municipality. “In this neighborhood, we need projects like this,” she testifies, still upset by the weapon found in this same courtyard last month.

In the north of the island, the atmosphere is different. The building towers have given way to plush pavilions where there is more of a village atmosphere. Resident of the neighborhood, Sylvie Dufournaud did not want dealers to take possession of the surrounding streets or for her town to become a dormitory town. She rolled up her sleeves with other residents to create an associative café that has now become a café-restaurant. “Our city is a village, everyone knows each other and I wanted to keep a place to express this appetite for living together”, describes the one who left Paris ten years ago for L’Ile-Saint-Denis.

Very active associations

The Ilodionysian collective impetus is also found in associations. Another record beaten in this city of “93”, the number of associations. No less than 40 are active. “The culture here is to be a member of an association, even the mayor comes from the association,” explains Carla, who works at Phares. Under this acronym, which means “hospitality center for activities with ecological and solidarity influence”, associations and companies are grouped around a common project of integration through professional activity of remote populations.

The building, decorated with a fresco made by the inhabitants of the district, has a refectory, a shared garden, several common rooms open to all. “We benefit from an ideal democratic soil, recognizes the mayor, but it must be maintained, nourished. However, the question of “us” also depends on the financial means because if we have nothing to bring to the inhabitants, the mobilization can very quickly die out. »

The city is counting on the next Olympic Games, vector of its future opening up, thanks to the new bridge connection planned for the summer of 2023 and its public transport offers, as well as the acceleration of its eco-district project.

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