Translation of the French article by Jacques Rouchaud
Six months before the vote, one thing is striking: there is a lot of talk about the candidates, and very little about the French people. The first round will take place on 18 April 2027, the second on 2 May. Candidacies are piling up, on the left, on the right, in the centre, among the « small » ones as among the « big » ones. As early as the spring, journalists themselves noted it: the multiplication of candidacies pushes the substance of the programmes into the background.
They all preach the same thing. La France insoumise, the Rassemblement national, Les Républicains, the Macronists, and even the Socialists: each promises to « put France back on its feet », each accuses the other of having damaged it. Even a journalist, Natacha Polony, declared herself a candidate on 14 October on France Inter, and joins the procession. The faces change, the speech stays the same.
Permanent demagogy. They all promise everything to everyone, without ever saying how or with what money. And when they are not promising, they fight among themselves like dogs — between parties, and even within their own camp, to decide who will be the candidate.
Six of one, half a dozen of the other. Look at their rallies. Everything is polished for the photo: in the front row they place faces chosen to show that they speak to all origins, to all communities. It is window dressing. Once the cameras are gone, those French people face the same problems as everyone else. Each one cuts France into pieces and promises each piece what it wants to hear. That is not a project for the country, it is a sum of client groups. And as soon as a subject makes noise, they all pounce on it: a shock phrase in the morning, and by evening all the others repeat the same thing, a little louder. They are not looking for the solution, they are looking for the microphone.
The misery they do not want to see
The young. Studying in France has become a struggle. According to the association Cop1, 51% of students say they cannot make ends meet, and 44% say they could slip into poverty. In 2024, more than a third of students said they skipped meals for lack of money. A collective of more than 200 young people aged 18 to 29, brought together at the initiative of Aix-Marseille University, describes a strong feeling of downgrading. A youth that doubts its future does not ask for slogans: it asks for security in its future.
The workers. Since 1 June 2026, the net minimum wage (SMIC) is about €1,478 per month for full-time work. With that, you have to house yourself, feed yourself, get around, raise your children. And the French are told that they must « make efforts ».
Purchasing power, chipped away once again. To get by, many families order small parcels online, from China or elsewhere. Since 1 July 2026, Europe has been taxing these parcels worth less than €150: €3 per item category. And from 1 November, €2 in handling fees are added: €5 more on a small parcel. Officially, the aim is to protect French, German and European shops from competition. In reality, it is the people who pay the bill. We are told that this will not weigh on purchasing power. But it is always the most modest who pay.
The retirees. At the end of 2024, the average pension was €1,752 gross, i.e. €1,626 net per month — barely more than the SMIC. For women it is worse: their average pension is 37% lower than that of men. In 2026, basic pensions were raised by only 0.9%, while inflation reached 2.4% in May. Pensions earned the hard way, over a whole life, and which are melting away.
And them? On average, a former member of parliament receives a pension of €3,052, almost double that of the French retiree. As for a deputy’s allowance, it is €7,493.30 per month. Those who ask the French to live on €1,500 or €2,000 do not live like them.
Fifty-two years. The last balanced State budget dates from 1974. Since then, governments come and go, the debts remain, the same promises return at every election. The problem is not only the people: it is a system where power is played out every five years, from the top, among a few.
France is not alone: all of Europe is rumbling
What France is living through, all of Europe is living through. From France to Belgium by way of Italy, social anger is spreading across the continent, carried above all by a youth exasperated by the high cost of living, the housing crisis and the collapse of public services. In Italy, in Rome, Milan, Florence or Genoa, young people took to the streets on 16 October against the lack of resources for schools. In Madrid, teachers and pupils demonstrated the same day, in the middle of an unlimited strike in public education. In Portugal, on 17 October, from Porto to Lisbon and down to Faro, demonstrators pitched their tents in the middle of the cities against rents that are too high and the loss of purchasing power: housing prices there have more than doubled since 2017, and many young people are forced to stay with their parents. In Belgium, secondary school pupils joined the protest against austerity measures. As far as Albania, thousands of people gathered in Tirana.
The most striking thing: many of these young Europeans were inspired by the movement of French secondary school pupils. Everywhere, the same cry: they are angry with a political class that does not listen to them, and a large part of the population no longer feels represented at all.
But beware: anger alone builds nothing. In Paris and Marseille, demonstrations degenerated, with looting and more than 2,400 arrests. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned this violence, while also expressing concern about the excessive use of force by the authorities. Breaking a shop window does not change a system. Organising does.
That is the whole lesson of Serbia.
The proof comes from Serbia
On Sunday 25 October, Serbian youth did what nobody believed possible. Without media support, without a headliner, with mostly candidates from civil society, the Student List won the parliamentary elections by a wide margin, ending Aleksandar Vučić’s fourteen years of rule. Just before the vote, the polls still gave 44.5% to the students against 42.7% for Vučić’s list. Result: about 140 seats out of 250, with a turnout unseen since the fall of Yugoslavia. Vučić conceded defeat that same evening.
How? Not with a party, nor with a leader. The students organised themselves into assemblies in each faculty, where everyone could come, propose, debate and vote. Then they called on citizens to do the same: more than a hundred neighbourhood assemblies were born across the country. What Serbian youth has done, French youth can do.
Demosciocracy: giving power back to everyone
Demosciocracy starts from the same idea: power comes from below. No parties, no career politicians. France is organised into 352 territories of 20 districts, that is 7,040 districts. In each district, one representative of the people and one representative of the trades and activities are drawn by lot. They form the Territorial Council, 40 members, half people, half corporations. From the two national Chambers, the Chamber of the People and the Chamber of Corporations, come the laws. The governing team executes, and can be dismissed.
The representatives keep their jobs. They sit for two years, cannot return before forty years, and receive only the allowance corresponding to the time devoted. Each declares their assets before and after their mission. No princes of the Republic: whoever serves the community draws no privilege from it.
And it is not just a French affair: demosciocracy adapts to each country, to its population and its geography, while keeping the same principles. What is rumbling across Europe can find its answer there.
The young student, the worker on the minimum wage, the farmer, the craftsman, the retired woman counting her euros: each can one day sit and decide. No one is courted, because everyone decides. No one is forgotten, because everyone has their place.
I have no party. I am not campaigning for any candidate. I work only for the youth, the farmers, the elderly, the craftsmen, the workers, the students — for all those who are forgotten between two elections.
Before voting for a name, let us ask ourselves who will really decide. Join demosciocracy: the debate is open to all.
LIBERTY — EQUALITY — TRUTH
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