France industrial renewal debate at Fête de l’Huma 68 in Wittenheim, Digi Mart USA News (Wittenheim, France): Industrial renewal was at the center of discussions held Sunday, November 8, at the Fête de l’Huma 68 in Wittenheim, in the presence of economist Tibor Sarcey and sociologist Matthieu Guinebert. Photo by Zohra Bourahli.
About one hundred people attended the event at the Léo-Lagrange space in Wittenheim, including Communist Party militants and sympathizers, ecologists, trade unionists, and representatives of the France Palestine Solidarity Association (AFPS). The gathering is a convivial and political meeting organized each autumn by the Haut-Rhin section of the French Communist Party (PCF).
The highlight of the meeting was a debate moderated early in the afternoon by Patrick Bihr, treasurer of the PCF 68, which gave the floor to two party members discussing France’s new industrial challenges. The first speaker, Matthieu Guinebert, a labor sociologist, communist mayor of Bethoncourt (Doubs) and regional councillor of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, discussed the tools available to local authorities to regain control over industry.
He said the goal is to ensure that activities, jobs and production, particularly in technological innovation, remain anchored in local areas. He cited support for financing production tools or patents, rather than buildings, as an example.
The second speaker, Tibor Sarcey, an economist who advises actors in the social and union movement and co-author of the book Le Progrès se fabrique: Repenser l’industrie comme un outil d’émancipation, outlined ideas for rebuilding and relocating French industry while respecting the imperatives of job creation, growth and ecological transition.
The meeting concluded late in the afternoon with a musical interlude.
