[Peace-discuss] Fw: France's Rising Political Star

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From: <moderator at PORTSIDE.ORG>
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Sent: Saturday, April 10, 2010 9:48 AM
Subject: France's Rising Political Star


> France's Rising Political Star
>
>    Just An 'Average Brunette' from the Banlieue
>
> By Stefan Simons in Paris
> Spiegal (Germany)
> April 9, 2010
>
> http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,687950,00.html#ref=nlint
>
> Cecile Duflot, the head of France's Green Party, has
> become a rising star in Paris power politics. Following
> her party's success in the European Parliament and last
> month's regional elections, Duflot could become the
> kingmaker in France's next presidential election -- a
> campaign in which a trio of women might unseat Nicolas
> Sarkozy.
>
> "We have been lucky to have won twice," a beaming
> Cécile Duflot begins. "First in the European elections
> last June and now in the regional elections." She still
> has the figures at hand: "2.7 million French people
> voted for us," and landed "265 delegates in 22
> parliaments." But then the microphone fails.
>
> "Some things never change," the young woman on the
> stage says, laughing, joking about the organizational
> chaos one usually expects from the Green Party. But
> then, to confirm the movement's unity, she adds: "We
> are together and we will stay together." The 200
> delegates in the Paris hall belonging to the French
> Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), a major
> umbrella group of trade unions in the country, cheer
> loudly.
>
> She's sharp as a knife, she's quick on the uptake and,
> on top of that, she's the graduate of a well-respected
> business school in Paris with the face of a Madonna.
> Duflot has all the qualities for a career in politics.
> Nonetheless, even when she was elected chairperson of
> Europe Ecologie, the French Green Party, three years
> ago, nobody really trusted her to do the job. "Young,
> photogenic, likeable -- but totally unknown," the
> French leftist newspaper Libération wrote.
>
> Greens Could Be Kingmakers of French Politics
>
> But recently -- and particularly since the French
> regional elections that delivered President Nicolas
> Sarkozy a bitter defeat over three weeks ago -- Duflot
> has become a political star. Under her leadership,
> Europe Ecologie garnered 12.5 percent of the vote. With
> this result, the Greens finally became the third-most
> powerful political party in France, after the
> Socialists -- no small feat in a nation where the
> handing out of Michelin stars to high-class restaurants
> often gets more attention than environmental policy.
>
> With this, the Greens have also become the kingmakers.
> The fact that Duflot held a press conference together
> with her colleagues, Socialist Party leader Martine
> Aubry and Communist head Marie-George Buffet, in the
> Café de L'Industrie in Paris' chic Bastille district
> was symbolic. This trio of women at the head of the
> Green, Socialist and Communist parties could end
> Sarkozy's rule. Socialist leader Aubry and her fellow
> party member Ségolène Royal will now be forced to take
> the Greens seriously -- especially if Duflot follows
> through with her plan to put forward a Green candidate
> in the 2012 presidential election. Duflot's party isn't
> likely to state which major party it plans to support
> until shortly before the second round of voting. This
> could see Duflot making important decisions about the
> careers of Aubry and Royal, who want to make another
> run for the presidency.
>
> A 'Small Totally Average Brunette from the Banlieue'
>
> More than one-third of all French find Duflot, a 34-
> year-old mother of four, likeable. At the same time
> though, more than 60 percent of them didn't even know
> her name a few short months ago -- and that despite the
> fact that the Greens collectively got 16.3 percent of
> the vote in the European parliamentary elections,
> almost overtaking the Socialists. But at the time of
> the elections last June, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a long-
> time Green Party member, was the main person in the
> campaign limelight. Because of his role in the 1968
> student protest movement in France, Cohn-Bendit has
> remained popular with voters. Duflot was pottering
> around in the background and she described herself as a
> "small, totally average brunette from the banlieue,"
> (the French term used to describe suburbs of major
> cities with low-income and social housing). She wasn't
> kidding, either: Born in a Parisian suburb, Duflot now
> lives in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges on the southeastern
> outskirts of the city. When she's in the city, she also
> uses public transport.
>
> The daughter of a railway worker and a teacher, Duflot
> learned early on how to get by on limited resources.
> Her mother Marie-Paule conserved water, recycled
> clothes and even separated her trash in France in a
> time when that kind of behavior was considered to be
> some sort of German joke. Barbie dolls and toys that
> ran on batteries were taboo, and young Duflot played
> the cello and participated in theater. When the family
> went on camping holidays, they traveled by train. And
> while her parents were active in the CFDT union, Duflot
> involved herself in nature conservation with the Bird
> Protection League and the Young Christian Workers, a
> Catholic youth organization. Later, she graduated from
> ESSEC, one of France's top business schools, and
> started her career at a firm that builds social housing
> projects.
>
> The Youngest Ever French Green Party Leader
>
> When Duflot first joined the Greens in 2001, the party
> was shaken by personal disputes and factionalism. The
> young mother impressed the activists with her
> organizational skills and her commitment. She was
> hardworking and assertive but never aggressive. In
> January 2005, she was appointed to the position of the
> Greens' spokesperson; and in December 2006, the party
> chose her as their leader. She was 31 years old at the
> time.
>
> It is true that she still lacked experience. She gave
> speeches in a rattling staccato and her voice got
> higher as she did. Duflot herself even said at the time
> that she had the "the charisma of an oyster." But she
> learned quickly and she managed to unite the motley
> crew of individuals that make up the Green Party. The
> sectarian mob became more structured and the Greens'
> small field of environmental expertise was supplemented
> with educational, economic and social policies. In 2008
> she was re-elected to the top job by 71 percent of the
> party, she gained supporters from the left and,
> together with Cohn-Bendit, she founded the Europe
> Ecologie, which brought together the German Greens and
> other, smaller political parties in order to run in the
> European Parliament elections.
>
> Voters recognition of Europe Ecologie continued with
> last month's French regional elections. As the Greens'
> successful top candidate in the Ile-de-France region,
> Duflot became the vice-president of the regional
> council of the economically important district, which
> includes Paris. Although Duflot will be vice president
> alongside a Socialist politician, this new job sees her
> finally emerging from behind the shadows of her mentor,
> Cohn-Bendit.
>
> A number of Duflot's fans would love to see her launch
> her own campaign for the French presidency, but for now
> she doesn't want to have anything to do with that.
>
> "For me it is about my ideas, not about me personally,"
> she explains. And this may also have something to do
> with some wise words Duflot's father used to tell her,
> wisdom along the lines of: "I don't care what people
> are saying about me behind me back."
>
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