It is not so easy to meet them. They have more to do, talk to journalists, and this campaign for the Council of State has been added to their agendas in recent weeks. They have their studies, their life, their youth, and above all a kind of activism almost daily which already takes them so many hours. “Sometimes my parents tell me it’s a great hobby, this cause of the climate, asking me not to forget one,” said one of them. “They don’t realize that, to us, this word hobby has nothing to do with it. It has become central. “
You will not be given their names after the quotes. They came and expressed themselves in “collective”. This Thursday afternoon, there are four of them. Juliette Vernier, the ballot candidate for February 9, drawn, then Mathilde, Gary, Steven. Katia will join them for the photo. Long hair, look like urban postgrunge. Juliette was in the hat with six other names. “You had to be at least 18, be Swiss, want to be deeply involved, and not be registered in any political party, that pretty much limited the possibilities.”
They estimate that there are around 100 very active activists, around 500 the circle of sympathizers, those who help them case by case. Some are also Young Greens, or came from the far left, or the Socialist Party, or even the Green Liberals. But most of them have mostly gone through the “assoces”, as they constantly say. Groups of all kinds interested in the cause of global warming and the environment. “The median age should be around 16-17 years old.” Those at this table in a Lausanne cafe are between 19 and 26 years old. “Hey, it’s 2 pm. The gymnasians, the apprentices, they are in class, at work. ”
How did they come together under the banner of the Climate Strike? “In December 2018, there were the first demonstrations in Switzerland. By communicating with friends, for example through WhatsApp groups, we wanted to join in, then organize our own event in Lausanne, from January 2019. ”
Does the surprise that they quickly encountered, in just twelve months, surprise them? “Let’s say that if people like us, without experience, manage to have such an effect on Swiss politics, it is because they were really wankers.” They burst out laughing. “Everyone looks shaken, there is a lot of debate. The parties in place begin to search the backs of drawers to find a green line. “But that does not prevent the bitter awareness of the limits of the phenomenon. “The other day, during the demonstration in Lausanne with Greta Thunberg, we were very sad, at the end, on the steps of the Palais de Rumine. We couldn’t talk to each other anymore, looking at this crowd. It was like realizing that in one year nothing had changed in substance. “
Empathy and decline
They are careful not to cut themselves off too much. How does the energy of their “collective” work? There, the boys speak a little more. They’re more in theories or organization, too. It’s a cliché, sorry, but the girls will use words like “empathy”, “kindness” and even “love” more readily in our conversation while the boys quote you to the line of thinkers of decay, Dennis Meadows, Ivan Illich, André Gorz. “We don’t all agree on this, but I think there is a link between our activism and that of the 1970s,” slips one. “There has been a generation jump. Those who are between 35 and 55 have used to define themselves by what they produce and by what they consume. ”Hence the frictions that activists sometimes live with family, friends, profs. “There is condescension all the time around us. But it’s also a strength, ultimately, to be underestimated by others. ”
The idea of the candidacy for the government of Vaud, whose vacant seat seems promised to the PLR Christelle Luisier, came almost joking, as often the good ideas. “We had been considered as an advisory voice for the canton’s climate plan. We believed it, we wrote a 37-page document (editor’s note: available online at planclimat.org) which the Council of State has taken absolutely no account of. I remember a minister’s punchline: “1.5 degrees warming is nice to have, but 2 degrees, that would be fine too. “When you hear huge things like that, you want to overturn the table.”
So they winked, a joke between them, in the months that followed. “If Jacqueline de Quattro is elected to Bern …” She was, they decided to go into battle. “There are two levels to everything you do. The first concerns information, the sharing of scientific knowledge, we send links, we signal events or conferences. The other is the type of action to take: demonstration, punching event, general strike like the one we are calling for May 15, or going through politics. “
They live this new experience, without worrying too much. “We hardly believe in semi-direct democracy in Switzerland, because it is in reality a kind of elective aristocracy, an oligarchy. The whole system is made to move as little as possible, favor those who are already in place. ”Hence their taste for solutions with drawing lots of elected representatives, on a representative basis, according to age, gender, profession . “There is a rhetoric that comes up a lot in all official parties: the general statement of what is as being what should be. It is an ode to stillness. We are more into how it could be. ”
Ecological transition income
Do they fear that they will be gradually “recovered” by the party system? “We are not a party. We have a lot of perspective, it seems to me. We rather have the feeling that it is we who are instrumentalizing the system to gain visibility, impact, and media access too: we can’t take it any longer, debates like Philippe Nantermod against Mathias Reynard. “
When Juliette’s mother learned that she would be the candidate for the Council of State, she said: “Oh shit!” Aware that the 19-year-old woman was embarking on a complicated adventure. They must both mark their difference, their distrust “in the face of general inaction”, but also cite measures they would take in the event, admittedly rather theoretical, of an election victory. “We would like to put scientists back at the center of decisions. And institute an ecological transition income, intended for employees who would lose their jobs, for example in fossil fuels, or the aviation sector, and to finance their transition into a sustainable economy. We would also like us to be able to vote from the age of 16. “If nothing works, they will not hang on:” In any case, we only want a mandate for elected officials: this prevents them from being obsessed with their re-election. And if it is demonstrated that classical politics cannot work in the face of an emergency, we will look for other ways. “
Will they make 3%, 10%? Downright 20%? “If we make a good score (note: they are supported by the Greens), others will have a problem. Not us. ”The climate strikers are serious enough to be taken seriously. They are more involved than most “classic” politicians. They will not let go. They are terribly determined.
Created: 26.01.2020, 09h15
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