“We want a France without billionaires”: all about Marine Tondelier, the patron saint of environmentalists
Marine Tondelier, Secretary General of Europe Écologie-Les Verts, rose up against “the billionaires” on Tuesday 17 January, going so far as to wish for a France without their presence, against pension reform at the Nupes meeting organized in Paris .
A remarkable departure. The intervention of Marine Tondelier, Secretary General of Europe Ecology-The Greens (EELV), on Tuesday 17th January, during the meeting of the Nupes against pension reform in Paris, triggered a reaction.
In particular, the patron saint of ecologists expressed a strong dislike of “billionaires,” going so far as to question their usefulness and presence in society. “We claim that we don’t want any more billionaires in France. We want a France without billionaires,” she said.
The general secretary of the EELV since December 10, the successor to Julien Bayou, who resigned from the party after allegations of psychological violence at the hands of an ex-companion passed on by his opponent Sandrine Rousseau, had shown his desire to form a party to rebuild, which “has suffered too much from individualism”.
This new onslaught, known for its frontal opposition to the “ultra-rich,” comes as no surprise to its base. To some extent, the chorus could nevertheless stoke some, broader controversy in public opinion.
You are 1%, we are 99%!
Did you see the last report? @oxfamfrance on inequality? It’s a shame. And here I tell you, on Thursday we will also say that we want a France without billionaires, that our society does not need billionaires! pic.twitter.com/1SUr0k9YHb
— Marine Tondelier (@marinetondelier) January 17, 2023
“What good is a billionaire? Seriously, what’s the use of a billionaire? We answer: “Ruiselement”, that’s wrong. We are told: “You create jobs”, no. The ones that make it, that’s us, that’s you, that’s the world of work,” she said.
A speech that, by the way, did not please the Minister for Economic Affairs, Bruno Le Maire. The next day, therefore, the boss of Bercy replied in the press that “some very wealthy people have created companies, tens of thousands of jobs … And are more useful than the stage effects of Madame Tondelier”.
“do the ZAD” throughout France on Thursday
Meanwhile, while a strike day has been announced for this Thursday, January 19, the leader of the ecologists insisted on the need not to “let go of anything”: “We will not only do the zad in the assembly, but throughout France” , she said, causing the government to flinch again.
“We assume that this word ZAD (zone to be defended) is the symbol of the battles won in the past,” she added.
For those wondering, yes we adopt the word “ZAD”.
We assume the convergence of struggles between environmental and social! We start from the determination of the resistance fight that we start against this unjust pension reform!#Meeting pic.twitter.com/3O44HGtWo6
— Marine Tondelier (@marinetondelier) January 17, 2023
Marine Tondelier, 36, and opposition municipal councilor in Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais), was previously known as a regular at verbal and political squabbles in an area dominated by the National Assembly. In the last parliamentary elections, she also met Marine Le Pen there, unsuccessfully.
Marine Tondelier, who has been involved with EELV since 2009, after studying political science in Lille at the time of the Bayou affair, had insisted that ecologists had to be “collective”.
Without ever naming her, Marine Tondelier did not hesitate to address the figure of “ecofeminism” represented at the congress by Mélissa Camara.
At the time of her election, Marine Tondelier had supported the idea of a referendum proposing the simplification of party statutes. Despite opposition to the latter by activists in September, she said she wanted to “refound the movement and put it in battle formation for the deadlines to come.”
On the strategic side, she placed her party above any other alliance, especially given that Nupes had only “relative” success in the general election. In her opinion, EELV must embrace its “ambition of making political ecology the engine of unity.”
