Mes Dossiers---Anne Hidalgo Objectif 15éme PS

Et aussi sur...

RSS 2.0

Mon portrait publié dans le quotidien israélien Haaretz sous le titre "A Parisienne for the masses"

Le quotidien israélien Haaretz a réalisé mon portrait, publié dans son édition en date du mardi 25 mai 2010. Je vous propose de retrouver (en anglais) cet article écrit par la journaliste Avirama Golan :

It is clear Anne Hidalgo will be the next mayor of Paris, but until that happens the political arena in France will be stormy.

Times have changed. Anyone who wants to know anything about Anne Hidalgo, the charismatic deputy mayor of Paris, is invited to log onto her Web site, to watch television interviews, to surf the municipal sites and to talk to her on Facebook and Twitter. However, a private conversation with the still fresh and surprising politician is fascinating.

Hidalgo, 51, is a veteran Socialist activist and an expert on labor law, thanks to the universities of Paris X-Nanterre and Lyon and rich practical experience in the justice and labor ministries. In the 2001 municipal elections she defeated her rivals on the right in the bourgeois, conservative 15th Arrondissement, where she has lived for 26 years. She speaks passionately about the projects in Paris, about her future plans and about the urban-social principles that guide her in her work.

It is clear she will be the next mayor of Paris, but until that happens the political arena in France will be stormy. In municipal elections a few months ago the left handed the right an impressive defeat, and the presidential elections in 2012 look to be tense and lively.

Hidalgo’s career took off when she was working with Martine Aubry, the labor minister under Lionel Jospin. After the victory of Nicolas Sarkozy, Aubry gathered the remnants of her shattered party, rife with internal conflicts, and put it back together with tremendous effort. If the Socialists win the presidential elections, Hidalgo will become even more powerful.

This week, Hidalgo will participate in the convention of the French Forum and will talk about "The Global City and the Melting Pot," an issue close to her heart. The forum is hosted by the French Embassy in Tel Aviv, in cooperation with Haaretz.

"Paris," Hidalgo says, "will always preserve its major architectural works and the landscape features typical of it - the Seine, the division into quarters, et al - and yet, in the past 10 years we’ve been trying to turn it more and more into a city of residents. The city has undergone a tremendous change. It has a heterogeneity it didn’t have before , and I see this new cultural-social mix as a challenge."

A practical result of this outlook is the massive construction of accessible housing all over the city. "Since the beginning of our term, we have built 30,000 such housing units ; by the end of the term, in 2014, there will be 70,000," says Hidalgo. These apartments are designated for hundreds of thousands of new or returning Parisians. "This is our most important project. It is bringing about a profound change in the city," she says.

Breathing spaces

It isn’t easy to change Paris, a historical, national and universal capital, which is almost collapsing under its somber and pretentious architectural monuments, while its needs are quickly changing.

Mayor Bertrand Delanoe and Hidalgo are navigating among the conservatives horrified by any attempt to touch the glorious heritage and greens vigorously opposed to high-rise construction. Hidalgo tells them all they have to get used to urban density.

"The contemporary metropolis is crowded," she says, "but it has large breathing spaces, like the park promenade we are creating in the 7th Arrondissement. In any case, we are not building towers in the historical heart of the city, but rather on the outer ring, in badly designed areas such as Clichy-Batignolles. High-rise construction there enables us to plan a large new park with a huge underground parking area. The residential buildings in the city will have no more than 15 stories. The tall buildings are designated for business and public institutions."

Her planning approach has given rise to the term "GeneroCite" - the generous city. It was coined by a group of young French architects. "Their idea is to plan a beautiful but ecological city, one that will not pollute but will be generous to its residents. The plan is to build houses that are comfortable and pleasant to live in and also to think about the public space, which will be friendly, rather than overcrowded. A space that will invite people of various origins not to pass one another hurriedly, but to linger for a moment, to get to know each other, to talk."

Hidalgo’s worldview combines leftist ideology with expertise in economics and society.

Her roots go back to Spain ; "My grandfather, a Republican, fled to France with my father, who was a little boy, but my grandfather couldn’t tolerate exile and returned despite a death sentence hanging over his head. The family lived in difficult circumstances, but didn’t leave until Franco expelled masses of citizens because he couldn’t feed them. I was two and a half when we arrived in Lyon. The uprooting and hard times made things difficult, racism was open, and I’m dark, but I was lucky. I loved school and had very ambitious parents and excellent teachers. Ultimately, I’m left with good memories of my childhood in the immigrant neighborhood - it definitely shaped me."

Perhaps only a daughter of immigrants like Hidalgo can rejoice at the change in Paris and be plain enthusiastic about the ambitious project that might have deterred others : renewal of the beating heart of the capital, Les Halles, once the wholesale market, afterward a bustling modern center and in recent years a neglected complex, turning ugly.

"In 2001, it was clear that the 1960s architecture had quickly became obsolete, and we had to take into account the multiple functions of the place," she says. "After all, Les Halles is not only a commercial and cultural center, it is also the entry gate to Paris from all of Europe. We decided not to make do with cosmetics and to go for a profound change, including an improvement of the transportation system. That required complex cooperation among many groups, governmental and others." As in many other places, in France, too, the government limped behind the energetic initiative of the municipality, and still owes the city a considerable sum.

Hidalgo is particularly proud of the plan to renew the large park in Les Halles. Within a few years, it seems, Paris has become a greener and more accessible city, full of bicycle routes and activities for pedestrians and is friendly to the environment.

Critical of Sarkozy

Hidalgo does not hide behind political generalities. She has outspoken social views and is sharply critical of President Nicolas Sarkozy and despises the Hollywood style that has become part of French politics since the last elections and hopes Aubry will win not only win the public’s confidence but restore a lost sense of proper proportions.

"I don’t like the overexposure, nor turning feminism from a social struggle to trying to be ingratiating by saying, ’Elect us because we’re women," says Hidalgo. When asked to be photographed with her young son, she insists that her family members have the right to a private life and a normal growing up.

It is important to her to emphasize the difference - which many have tried to blur - between left and right. "There are two political families in France, the conservative right wing and the progressive solidarity-oriented. This tension is important for social stability. I hope the coming elections will restore the sense there’s an alternative. It’s important for the French not to fantasize about some third way.

"We see it in the field," she adds. "In the municipal election campaign we clearly felt the public was tired of Sarkozy, and that same public is also interested in not seeing the Socialists torn apart again. They want the party to have the power to change things. I’m convinced" - she hints of subversives in the party who might hope to oust Aubry after she completes the job of rehabilitation - "the voters will not forgive anyone who tries to fight using the old methods."

Hidalgo is writing a book about work, a subject that "has changed beyond recognition." In it she debates with Sarkozy, who has spoken a great deal about meritocracy and did nothing, shes says, so people work more and earn less. Capitalism has become the only way of thinking and Sarkozy dictates one type of politics to all nations, without taking their different characters into account.

"Everyone aligned themselves with the market, and what happened ? Europe has failed dismally and is trying to save itself by the very method that failed. But reduction, slowing down and blocking consumption do not suit modern democracy. We propose a revival of the social-democratic model." In Paris, it seems to be working.

L’interview publiée sur le site de Haaretz...
La présentation d’Avirama Golan...

Réagir à cet article