It’s been a few months since a blog has been making a name for itself on the Nice web scene.
Its name: https://nissa2008.canalblog.com.
That’s about all we know since the author of this new site, which aims to be “an engaged chronicle of the upcoming municipal elections in Nice,” has chosen to remain anonymous under the pseudonym with a local ring to it: Garibaldo.
Like Catherine de Medici, the mysterious candidate for the upcoming French presidential elections, Garibaldo, who is one of the regular contributors on Nice Première, remains a secret for many people who ask the same question: But who is behind this identity?
It was virtually that Nice Première interviewed Garibaldo – whom we would like to thank for his spontaneity and his contributions to our news portal – who agreed to answer a few questions about his initiative, even giving some hints about his real identity.
Who do you think is behind Garibaldo?
Nice Première: Garibaldo, what is the Nissa 2008 blog?
Garibaldo: It was, at the start, both a burst of anger and an inconsiderate gesture because I had not measured the time it would take to uphold the commitments I had set for myself.
It is also the reason why I welcomed Ménica with open arms when he agreed to join me.
Democracy and its corollary, freedom of information, only wear out if they are not used. I thus tried to open a space for debate, clearly leaning to the left, escaping the notables and leaders, press releases, and platitudes. That said, it’s far from a winning battle and if the blog’s frequentation is constantly increasing, Ménica and I measure the distance that remains to be covered to approach this objective. The risk being to serve as a platform for a few demagogues or for “stuffed-shirt” squabbles among seasoned activists.
We believe that there is no inevitability that politics must be dull, tense, “official,” and, to speak frankly, boring. We try to tackle both serious themes and lighter subjects, with a tone sometimes serious, sometimes more cheerful. Within our subjectivities, we limit ourselves to trying to gather what is scattered to spark some flames, carefully avoiding, as Nicolas Sarkozy did not, that they start fires.
NP: Why do you keep your anonymity?
G: Not to be recognized. More seriously, our anonymity – Ménica and I – allows that our friends and acquaintances of all stripes (of whom very few are informed and hence speak candidly to us) to talk to us frankly. This allows us a cross-section and distance from which we can then propose syntheses to our visitors. Put like this, it might sound frankly hypocritical, even cynical, and that’s a risk. We bypass it by avoiding talking about what could harm them or what they give us under the seal of discretion or silence.
Anonymity also frees us from our philosophical, political, union, and professional affiliations, without fear of a backlash, especially professional ones.
Finally we believe, and this seems shared by most of the blog’s participants who use pseudonyms, that anonymity facilitates debates, at least on a virtual space, …with all the possible excesses of transgressions, which we then guard against.
NP: In your opinion, who will be the left-wing candidate at the next municipal elections in Nice?
G: If you are talking about the leader of the left list in the next municipal elections, the local result of the PS motions voting seems to reinforce Patrick Allemand and disqualify Jean-François Knecht.
However, Patrick Mottard, very discreet these days, has probably not had his last word. The left needs, at the same time, a man (in the generic sense) of contact, a dossier man, and a unifier to lead it to the Municipals. Each of the two Patricks has his qualities and flaws, the socialists will decide.
NP: What are your comments on the election night results from Wednesday?
G: They were on my blog from five past midnight. The evening, which I attended for a short while, went without major issues, a bit tense but without any particular tension.
It is, as far as local issues are concerned, only a first step. The second, as decisive for the continuation of the Municipal soap opera, is in fifteen days, and will designate the socialist “boss” of the department. An alliance between NPS and the supporters of the Fabius motion might sideline Patrick Allemand who only has a relative majority.
This seems improbable because of the strong animosities that exist between certain leaders of these two currents.
NP: What local websites do you regularly consult and what do you think of them?
G: All those that I have linked to, with a higher frequency for those dealing with local news, including Nice Première. That said, I visit many others less regularly because they are seldom updated (notably most of the local political sites) or are more distant from the aim of this blog.
Without flattery, I have been visiting Nice Première since the days of Info-Nice, and I am glad that, even in not always easy financial conditions, you continue to offer us quality general online information.
NP: Your opinion on www.nice.fr?
G: Alas, it reflects our Mayor: cold and haughty. That said, if you search well (but it’s not always easy), sometimes you find interesting information.
I dream of what such a site could be if it were driven by the concern for information and citizen participation, within the framework of an ambitious digital policy.
I understand that people from the opposition are working on it. Finally, maybe in a few years…
NP: And if you had to give a clue about your identity?
G: Okay, I’ll tell you: I am a man, heterosexual, with no declared religion but with multiple affiliations.
Ménica, for his part, matches three of these four qualifiers.
Actually, I aspire to be just an ordinary citizen, among a crowd of others who care about public affairs. Isn’t that true democracy?
Franck Viano
