Balance your bullying. “People knew there was violence against female politicians, but not to this extent.”

“A cock strike where I think it would calm you down”, “You will never be a dirty French whore”, “Kill yourself”… hate messages directed at Green MPs on the @BalanceTonIntimidation Instagram page are displayed on a colorful background. . Behind these shocking posts, which reveal the extent of violence in the messages received by Sandrine Rousseau, Sandra Regol, Sabrina Sebayhi, Cyrille Chatelain, Lisa Bellucco, Marie-Charlotte Garin and Julie Laernoes, is Marion Nadaud, the Left’s communications director. . He contacted by phone, he tells Madame Figaro the origins of this initiative, its ambitions and the perception of activism.

“I had no right to remain silent”

Marion Nadeau, who has been close to Sandrine Russo for several years, already knew the topic of violence in social networks, which the former presidential candidate had publicly mentioned several times. However, in recent months, she has seen that this reality has become an affliction for a female politician. During the discussions, she realized that all the women in her party (the only one with a majority of women in the Assembly) were subjected to the same daily violence. Basically, online ruthlessness that occurs as soon as they speak. “Sabrina Sebayhi was elected deputy. The next day he received a letter of racist insults,” he says.

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The idea of ​​creating an account came as an impulse. “We had to come out”, “we had to do it”, “we had to break the silence”, repeats Marion Nadaud. An initiative motivated by a certain sense of duty. “I told myself that I, as a communicator and a feminist, have no right to remain silent,” she explains. “Not to be silent”, “to get out of silence”, these words come back like a leitmotif. “Those people who send these messages are counting on our silence and our inaction,” adds the account’s founder, for whom “using social media is a way to turn their tool against them.”

In fact, this violence is not only expressed in social networks. Letters, e-mails emails, tweets… all the channels of the seven deputies whose messages are published by Marion Nadaud are filled with homophobic, racist and grossophobic insults. “Put words like ‘dirty stain’ or ‘buzz’, it makes people react. People knew that there was violence, but not to this extent,” says the presenter.

The cultural battle of anonymity

If we must condemn violence, we must also condemn the perpetrators. That’s why Sandrine Russo’s co-op chose to reveal the identity of the senders in the story. “I consider that these people do not have to remain anonymous,” he explains before asking the fateful question. “would they allow themselves such violence if they were not so anonymous and protected?” The founder of the account responds by linking to the documentary The Factory of Lies. The Johnny Depp/Amber Heard Affair which shows, according to him, that “there is a burning word in social networks that opens up and it’s scary.”

“Systemic concern”.

If the 7 MPs contributing to this Instagram account, according to its creator, “immediately accepted”, they never thought about the idea of ​​making those messages public. According to the activist, this is a form of resignation to violence by women politicians. Moreover, before the creation of this account, in order to protect themselves from it, the latter avoided reading the comments written on their social networks. Resignation reinforced by the lack of tools to deal with it. “Justice is not adapted, complaints are not successful,” which leads to “accepting the worst,” he details. This account is then a way to say “this is not normal” and “you are not alone”.

It is obvious for the former communications director of Yannick Jadot’s pre-election campaign. “It’s a systemic issue. All female politicians, if they started watching the comments, they would find horrors. Therefore, this platform, which she describes as a space of solidarity and sisterhood, can very well welcome the testimonies of female politicians from other sides. “This word should be heard, understood, and I think that violence has no limits.”

“We must accept that we will always be in a struggle”

In the political field, the initiative was well received even by supporters of other parties. Marion Nadaud relates these endorsement results to the impact of the political #MeToo movement. According to him, this movement made it possible to point the finger at gender violence, which especially affects the political field, “very patriarchal in its way of working”. But for the communicator, even if the mindset seems to be moving in the right direction, the feminist struggle should never stop. “We need to stop thinking ‘it’s over, it’s done’ and accept that we will always be in a fight.”

In the video, “The Factory of Lies. Johnny Depp / Amber Heard Affair”, trailer