National collective of initiative for a gathering antilibéral of left and common candidatures

The National collective of initiative for a gathering antilibéral of left and common candidatures (shortened Collective CIUN for of unit initiative national ) is a French political structure, created in May 2006, having for goal to coordinate and animate the debate in the associated local collectives. It is resulting from the call of the May 11th 2006 (“For a gathering antilibéral of left and common candidatures: there is urgency”) which is in relation to the Collectifs of May 29th (not of left to the French Référendum on the treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe).

Foundation

After the victory in France of not with the referendum of May 29th, 2005 over the European Constitutional treaty, several people and political organizations wished to continue the unit experiment of “not of left pro-European and antilibéral” (incarnated in particular by the Collectifs of May 29th and by the movement against the Directive Bolkestein).

This will, expressed in the call of the November 22nd 2005 (“Call for unique candidacies in 2007 and 2008”) was consolidated by the Mouvement anti-CPE, in which were implied the organizations signatories of the first call. A second call was thus signed the May 11th 2006, creating the National collective of initiative for a gathering anti-liberal of left and candidatures common, charged coordinating the local collectives existing and creating the new ones with it.

Approximately 800 local collectives were constituted, which are given for goal to organize broad mobilizations citizens, a project based on the “anti-liberal charter” and of the candidatures for the next legislative elections presidential and French of 2007.

The charter

The anti-liberal Charte, which is accompanied by a declaration, is composed of reports, proposals and values to make following the " Not of left to the European Constitutional treaty " and to propose alternatives to the Neoliberalism.
It was adopted by the Collectifs of May 29th, and was an event during the time. The lack of proposals was a reproach made to the partisans of the " non". Moreover, the unit lack of work too a long time divided associations, parties, citizens and trade unions, which thus met to conceive a common base.

This charter was designed to be modified and evolve/move during time, by all those which wished it on the site. The draft amendments and the amendments were integrated during national bases made up members of the Local collectives of May 29th, to give a final version.

Composition

These collectives are formed citizens independent and members of various parties and associations. Among these organizations, one finds in particular those which signed the call of May 11th.

The 14 and October 15th 2006 were held a national meeting of work on the program “what we want”.

The candidate of the movement with the presidential election was to be selected during the national meeting of the 9 and December 10th with Saint-Ouen. In preparation of this meeting, debates took place in the local collectives. To note that Jose Bove having withdrawn her candidature during this process, this one was not discussed in all the collectives. In the absence of common procedure, each collective proceeded to its manner: some have chosen vote simple (247 collectives out of 625), others vote by list preferential (235), complete or partial, others by consensus (97), others finally, considering that any vote would carry out to oppose a majority to a minority (what would be contrary with the principle of the Consensus), preferred to send a qualitative report of the debates, without data " comptables" (46 collectives).

Under these conditions, it is difficult to summarize all these debates, several syntheses were established. All these syntheses at the head put Marie-George Buffet, followed by Yves Salesse and Clémentine Autain, although the proportions strongly differ according to the analyzes, and especially according to the methods chosen by the collectives. Thus, if Marie-George Buffet is at the head in 76% of the collectives having chosen the vote proportional (12% for Autain and 8 for Salesse) and 69% of those which chose the consensus (resp. 17% and 14), it is placed in first choice only by 48% of those which chose a preferential vote (resp. 23% and 26).

A meeting of the national collective took place the December 12th to try to leave the dead end, but it did not make it possible to reach a consensus according to the methods selected (double consensus, in the collectives and the organizations). Following this meeting, it was decided to give again the word with the local collectives to think of a solution and a method of designation of the common candidature.

The December 19th, at a new meeting of the national collective, a candidature of Francis Wurtz was advanced by several organizations: if two organizations (the Republican left and the MARCH) gave their agreement, three others (Alter Ekolo, Objectors of growth and PRS) refused it while the others did not express a clear opinion. Francis Wurtz refused this candidature to him, estimating that it was not relevant since it did not make it possible to obtain an agreement and that it was presented to be opposed to the candidature of Marie-George Buffet, that it supports.

The December 20th, the communist members again confirm (to 81,05%) the candidature of Marie-George Buffet. The 22, it officializes this candidature, putting forward an urgency to enter to shift and absence of consensus on a candidature within the Collective, and invites the other components to join it, resting on the majority obtained during the consultations of the collectives.

The majority of the other components considered that Marie-George Buffet was candidate of the only Communist party and that, in fact, the PCF had chosen to leave the unit step. They convened a national meeting January 20th and 21st.

At this meeting, delegates of 300 collectives applauded the declaration of candidature of Jose Bove, which announced it officially on February 1st.

The partisans of Jose Bove consider that its candidature is the last chance of the unit. This one explains thus that its objective is, late even at this time, to set up a collective campaign. It calls Buffet and Besancenot to join it there. The candidature was supported by a petition of sponsorship citizen of more than 40.000 signatures and launches out from now on in the research of the 500 signatures of necessary elected officials to arise.

Yves Salesse, Claude Debons and Clémentine Autain expressed their reserve vis-a-vis an additional division, while PCF denounced this designation by a minority of collectives (during the meeting of the December 9th and 10th, nearly 800 collectives were represented). PCF also recalled that a great number of collectives had adopted the candidature of Marie-George Buffet.

The national united collective moreover recalled than Jose Bove was not the candidate of the collectives and the gathering antilibéral, not more than Marie-George Buffet.

Two candidates resulting from the antilibéraux collectives (and signatories of the call of May 10th) are thus represented: Jose Bove and Marie-George Buffet. However, none of both was invested by the collectives.

Candidature of the left antilibérale for the presidential election of 2007

A debate crosses the Gauche antilibérale (PCF, LCR, Alternate the, MARCH, CNGR/AGR, PRS, part of the Verts, militants without label resulting from the trade unionism or the altermondialism, etc) on the possibility of antilibérales unique candidacies, as well with presidential as with legislative which will follow.

A call in this direction was launched in May 2006 by personalities, members or not of political parties and often close to the Collectifs of May 29th (old Committees for not of left to the referendum). This call, entitled “For a gathering anti-liberal of left and common candidatures, there is urgency! ” collected more than 7.000 signatories as well as the signatures of the French Communist party, of the MARCH, the Republican left or the Alternatifs).

Following this call, many collectives are created, for a part resulting from the collectives of May 29th, at the local level, as well as a National collective of initiative for a gathering anti-liberal of left and common candidatures.

The PCF, favorable to the principle of an unique candidacy. It launched, by the voice of its national secretary a call in this direction entitled For a gathering antilibéral , on May 1st, 2006. Its congress decided to engage fully in the unit process, by proposing Marie-George Buffet like potential candidate for this gathering, decision reiterated at the time of its national conference, October 21st and 22nd 2006 and approved at the time of an internal vote (to 96,43%). The direction of the party proposed that it is surrounded by an united collective of spokesperson, and itself offered to be put on leave of PCF temporarily, in order to avoid any incompatibility between its function and its capacity to represent all the forces of the gathering.

LCR, more reserved, chose at the time of its national conference of the 24 June 25th to announce the candidature of Olivier Besancenot. However, this last had then indicated that the LCR was opened with the prospect for an unique candidacy and that it would withdraw its candidature in this possibility. This possibility however was distant with the autumn, the LCR proposing its political dissensions with the texts adopted by the collectives.

Others, within the LCR (Christian Picquet), of the PCF (certain refondateurs of which Patrick Braouezec or Roger Martelli) and particularly in the other organizations, would rather wish the candidature of other personalities, not attached to a party or an organization, in particular those of Jose Bove, Clémentine Autain, or Yves Salesse which was declared ready to be candidates.

Among them, Alternate the, Alter Ekolo (tendency interns Greens), a large part of the network Convergence citizen and others gave an opinion for the candidature of Jose Bove.

Among the points of disagreement, in addition to the question of the candidate, one finds the relations with the Socialist party: where PCF wishes to gather all the left “on a antilibérale basis”, by not excluding the PS, the LCR poses like precondition nonnegotiable the refusal of any alliance, electoral, governmental or parliamentary with this last, considering that the PS is a party necessarily social-liberal and who could not thus follow a policy antilibérale. Thus, the LCR speaks about one “unique candidacy to the left of the PS” while PCF speaks about “gathering antilibéral”. In the same way, the majority of the LCR judges that the fact of inviting to vote for the socialist candidate, if it reaches the second turn, is not “not principle”, although the question divides it.

The text Ambition, strategy, candidature adopted by the collectives the September 10th for Saint-Denis stipulates that the members of the collective “will not be government dominated by the social-liberalism which, in its composition as in its project, would not give itself the means of breaking finally with the liberalism” and which: “The Socialist party, in particular, adopted a program which turns the back on a frank rupture with liberalism. It is out of the question, for us, to negotiate on this basis a government contract whose action, disappointing once again, would lead ineluctably to the harder line return still. In the same way, it is out of the question to accept the idea suggested by the PS of a “federation of the left” around such an orientation. ” This text is not considered to be satisfactory, in particular by the LCR, because he refuses to analyze and note the deviance of the PS towards the acceptance of liberalism.

During the national meeting of the united collectives for an alternative antilibérale, on September 10th, 2006, the delegates of the collectives had decided on a calendar, envisaging the choice of the candidate by consensus mid-November (the expiry was then pushed back at the December 9th and 10th).

The 14 and October 15th, with Nanterre, a new national meeting of the collectives adopted a document programming science entitled “what we want”.

Last nine candidates proposed for the nomination by the collectives:

The November 24th, Jose Bove announced the “provisional” withdrawal of its candidature, estimating that “the Communist party and the LCR took the responsability to break unit dynamics and, consequently, to give up answering waitings of the popular layers most struck by the damage of the liberal internationalization”.

The meeting of the 9 and December 10th with the Island-Saint-Denis was surging and did not succeed in establishing a consensus. The direction of PCF estimated that the candidature of Marie-George Buffet (majority in the preliminary votes of the collectives) was the best and invited to respect the choice of these collectives. The main part of the other organizations wanted a candidature which can more largely gather, without however having agreement on a name. The decision was to again consult the collectives in the weeks to come, on the names already suggested (Marie-George Buffet, Clémentine Autain, Yves Salesse) and on other evoked names the 9 and 10 (Claude Debons, Jean-Luc Mélenchon…). PCF, decided to him, to consult its members again the December 20th to confirm or cancel the proposal for a candidature of Marie-George Buffet.

The Communist militants chose to 81,05% (41 533 votes) to confirm this candidature. The choice of the withdrawal obtained only 18,90% (9 683 votes), with 2,02% of blank votes (1058 votes). The participation was of 56,4%, that is to say 52.302 voters. The other candidates and organizations denounced this vote like the signature of the end of unit dynamics. The meeting envisaged on December 21st between the various organizations of the gathering concluded that there will be no candidature of the gathering antilibéral for presidential of 2007. Nevertheless, Claude Debons, organizer of the national collective, invited the militants to continue the movement, in particular at a programmed national meeting the 20 and January 21st, in spite of the opposition of PCF to this meeting.

In reaction to this meeting, Olivier Besancenot, candidate of the LCR, invited the left antilibérale to gather around his candidature following the candidature of Marie-George Buffet.

During the meeting of the collectives of the January 20th and 21st, delegates of 300 of them applauded the declaration of candidature of Jose Bove, which envisaged to announce it officially on February 1st. Yves Salesse, Claude Debons and Clémentine Autain expressed their reserve vis-a-vis an additional division, while PCF denounced this designation by a minority of collectives (during the meeting of the December 9th and 10th, nearly 800 collectives were represented). PCF also recalled that a great number of collectives had adopted the candidature of Marie-George Buffet. The national united collective estimated that the legitimacy of the meeting of Montreuil was “that of the present”, showing that some deputy were it sometimes without to be validated by their collective, or only validated by a minority.

The 2007, at the time of a press conference with Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), Jose Bove confirmed her candidature officially. He thus sought to position above the other antilibéraux candidates, since he belongs to the many personalities without political party but seeking to weigh on the poll. The national united collective however recalled that Jose Bove was not the candidate of the collectives and the gathering antilibéral, not more than Marie-George Buffet

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