UN RENOUVEAU DE LA PARTICIPATION ASSOCIATIVE ? L'engagement et le militantisme au sein du comité Attac Isère

1.2.2.2 The committee isérois

The creation of the committee Attac Isere was carried out in November 1998, a few months after the creation of Attac national. It was on the initiative of the Raison association To act (which belongs to the founder members of Attac) that the local committee was created. A hundred people were contacted. They were primarily members of associations and trade unions. However the majority did not know themselves. The first meeting took place with the labor market, in the room of the FSU, which belongs to the founder members. During its creation, the founders chose to give to the Isere committee an associative form of law 1901. Volunteers presented themselves to be member of the A.C. Among those, only one person had adhered on a purely individual basis and did not represent an association. It was about a reader of the Diplomatic World which had adhered as of the creation of the association and which had been contacted for the launching of the committee. Among the current members of the turnover of Attac Isere, only Thomas took part in the creation of the local committee whose it summarizes creation. The committee counted little time after its creation 200 members^134(*) ; this figure then progressed systematically : 380 members in January 2000^135(*), 590 members in June 2000 and 820 in January 2001^136(*).

Thomas: And then I had been informed of the meeting of the weekend against the precariousness organized by Raison To act, I thought that it is interesting because I was always in a medium of trade-union militants and persons employed and not of intellectuals [...] I thought of being able to be used as bond. I had taken part in two conferences, I had found that well but a little intellectual, there were many students and not much of proletarians, it was on the campus. And six months after, in February, Reason To act had contacted all people who had left their co-ordinates, Raison To act being founder member of Attac, to create a local committee of Attac. There were 110 people who were brought together. It was at the beginning of November 1998. There were Bernard Floris and Philippe Decamp who was Attac correspondents for three four months. During this evening one had decided the establishment of this committee, one held a meeting one week after with the labor market. There were already Attac members on a purely individual basis, me I were adherent Attac already since October 1998 I had already been in Ciotat for the first national meeting [...] One met here [in FSU], one had decided to name provisional persons in charge to set up the statutes and to convene the general assembly. It was necessary that there are people who want to be members of the board of directors well. Good. There are things which started to take shape, of people who made a leaflet, a press release. The Board of directors car indicated and autoproclamé... He was provisional, it was only to convene the General meeting, it was something of very abstract because it could this day very well there have had fachos among us and that they seize the power. One did not know oneself at all, I knew two or three people in the assembly but in the Board of directors, there were people of South, but the majority one did not know themselves. The majority of people of the Board of directors came from trade unions or associations. There was not that Thomas I believe who had never put the feet of the whole and which was reader of the Diplomatic World and which knew very about full with things. One decided office and of the president, secretary, treasurer... Always provisional. Me, I agreed to take the presidency for the 3 or 4 months to come to the Parliament March 1999. For the General meeting one made the statutes and one re-elected the office, I represented oneself, they re-elected me and it left... There always was a strong participation, weakest it was during the holidays when there were 25 to 30 people if not there is on average between 50 and 60 people with each meeting.

The local committee Attac Isere is made up in association law 1901. However, it adopted statutes distinct from those from « standard statutes » proposed by the national^137(*). Operation is not much affected. The decision-makings take place at the time of the Board of directors which meets every fifteen days, it is opened with each member. The turnover is composed of 19 elected members each year at the time of the general assembly. It is also at the time of the turnover, that the president is elected. The committee isérois known for the moment two presidents : Thomas was appointed president during the creation of the group in November 1998. He was renewed in his function at the time of the general assembly of March 1999. He decided at the time of the last assembly, in February 2001, not to represent themselves in order not to cumulate the mandates and to leave the place to another. Luc agreed to occupy the vacancy after many hesitations. One can note that quorums were fixed so that the meetings of the turnover and the General meeting are valid^138(*). It is about a specificity of the committee Attac Isere.

A very precise allocation of the functions was established in the committee. A group was made up for each activity : interpellation of the elected officials, the information and the constitution of the leaflets, diffusion of the national documents of Attac, the management of local Internet site, the recording of the vocal box of the committee and finally, the management of permanences which are carried out every Wednesday evenings with the coffee « Our-injury » in Grenoble so that the interested people can contact association. Moreover, ' think tanks ' set of themes were set up to which can take to share the members. These groups are organized according to topics' launched by the national : the debt of the Third World countries, banks and tax havens, the World Organization of Trade (OMC) and International Financial Institutions (IFI), energy, the question of the environment and the Genetically Modified Organizations (GMO), media, the condition of the women, and finally the General Agreement on the Trade and Services (AGCS) and the defense of the public utility. The meetings of these groups proceed, generally, in a monthly way. They take place at 6 p.m., either with the Stock Exchange work, or at the house of associations of Grenoble. Each one of them gathers between 10 and 15 people.

A public meeting also takes place each month. The public meeting, opened nonto the members, gathers between 60 and 70 people each time. The topics approached are entered on the agenda which is prepared beforehand during the Board of directors. Reflections and debates take place on the topics which Attac is carrying (such as the Tobin tax). Other debates have course on the organization of the actions (congress of the PS, manifestation of May 1, against-top in Nice or Genoa) and on the diffusion of information. No vote takes place during these meetings; the course of the meeting and the speeches is ensured by one (E) president (E) who is renewed (E) with each meeting. Lastly, one can note that sub-groups buildings, within Isere, were set up, thus allowing a better geographical distribution. A group entitled «Grésivaudan» was constituted to gather all the communes of the valley of Grésivaudan; the meetings are semi-monthly there. A group in the commune of Voiron also was born, a permanence being ensured in a weekly way. A group « Campus » was created in 2001 in order to be able to gather the members who are students. For each one of these groups, a person in charge was designated, in order to be used as referent. One can note that there was a group in Vienna before ; that was constituted recently in association.

The local committees constitute the establishment of association at the local level, they allowed its fast and continuous development in each part of the hexagon. Besides its founders recognize frequently that one of the principal assets of the movement resides in this dense territorial grid which allows a more homogeneous representation of the interests, and thus avoids the monopolization of the movement by some restricted circles of militants and Parisian intellectuals. The direction of Attac consequently always posted its preoccupation with a decentralization. However, these declarations present a contradiction with the statutes of the association in which the local committees are not recognized juridically. This absence will give place to internal conflicts for the recognition of the committees.

* ¹³⁴ Bazri (Nadia), «  In Grenoble Attac organizes itself...  », art.cit.

* ¹³⁵ Cf, Attac Isere, moral Report/ratio, 01/2000.

* ¹³⁶ Attac Isere, Letter with the members, 05/2001.

* ¹³⁷ Cf, «  Statutes of association  », appendix n°14, p. 31.

* ¹³⁸«  The participation of half at least the members of the Board of directors is necessary for the validity of the deliberations  ». Appendix n°14, article n°9. «  The General meeting is composed of all the up to date members of their contribution. She meets each year. To be valid it must join together a third at least its members.  » Ibid, article 10.