To attract the attention of the cameras, nothing better than sticking close to the leader of La France Insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon. That's what a 17-year-old young man known as Elwan B. did on Tuesday, a student at the Jacques-Decour high school, joining the chants of "president, president!" that accompanied Mélenchon in the march through the east of Paris.
"He is the man who will save France, I am convinced," proclaimed Elwan B., with his Palestinian kufiya around his neck, a middle parting, and an air of a rebel with a cause straight out of a François Truffaut movie. "Or at least he will save the youth... We are the future of this country, and we will make sure he wins."
It seems that the rebellious leader hit it off with Elwan. They were talking and taking selfies along the way. "Getting to know the tribunes of the people," Mélenchon wrote on his Instagram account with a photo shared with the lad that went viral, where they were dubbed The Avengers.
Elwan B. has become one of the most recognizable faces of a self-organized movement that boasted of not having leaders until now. "We keep recycling the same system over and over with the results we are seeing," was one of the student's first proclamations as he rose to fame. "We no longer want Macron, nor do we want Lecornu. We do not want these successive governments with no utility."
The Parisian student, with a white armband as a sign of "non-violence" (the clashes with riot police and tear gas would come later), advocated, however, for "a left of rupture" and for drastic measures such as the abolition of Parcoursup, the platform for access to higher education, criticized for its lack of transparency, the pressure it puts on students, and its contribution to social inequality.
Before Elwan B. burst onto the scene, almost all the spotlight was on Ryad Rani, President of the Union of High School Unions (USL), who called for blockades in secondary schools at the end of September. At 19, with his impeccable beard, Rani has already left behind his student days at the Émile Zola high school in Wattrelos, on the border with Belgium, although his intention is to dedicate a year to union action before entering higher education.
"We want to avoid personalizing the movement too much," warns Rani, known for his calm demeanor, often supported by his predecessor Sofia Tizaoui in front of the media. "They say our list of demands is too long, but we cannot prioritize between a collapsing roof, a class that cannot accommodate all students, or a teacher absent throughout the course," he explains.
Ryad Rani was a fellow of the La France Insoumise (LFI) deputy David Guiraud and attended Jean-Luc Mélenchon's summer university last summer. A report from the Paris prefecture links his union with LFI and other far-left groups, but he insists they are simply "partners," just like other socialist or environmental parties.
"I cannot stand idly by when my city, my department, and my country could fall into the hands of the far right," he declared this week to RTL, ready to reveal his political motivation for the presidential elections. Considered essentially as Mélenchon's "protégé," he does not hesitate to denounce "police violence, decaying institutions, and social and racial discrimination" perpetuated in public education.
The movement of blockades in high schools also includes "a fake high school student" (in Mélenchon's words), very critical of the radical positions of LFI and with links to the macronist party Renaissance. Nathanaël Combary is the President of Renouveau Lycéen and made headlines by participating in a recent meeting of union representatives with the Minister of Education, Édouard Geffray.
Combary does not hide his antipathy towards Mélenchon, whom he accuses of instigating a campaign of intimidation and harassment against him. At 18, he emphasizes that he has nothing to hide and has acknowledged his ties to former Prime Minister and presidential candidate Gabriel Attal, through the communication agency Minerva, where he worked as an intern.
"It is true that I am no longer a high school student, but I still represent them," Combary warns, a fan of dance and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where he was born and raised. "We support all the demands on the table, but what we will not do is show solidarity with violence."