Opinion piece by Jean-Baptiste Voisin, Founding President of the association «Les Chiraquiens»

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Dear Erwan Davoux,

Dear Geopolitics readers,

In 2015, whilst my career options were predisposing me to invest more in wine tourism, it naturally occurred to me that political parties, and France perhaps because society had changed, were too individualistic and were not caring enough about the person who had done so much for her, Jacques Chirac. 

With the values of this great man deeply rooted in me and an unwavering determination to perpetuate them, I decided to create a social media group called «Les Chiraquiens» solely to support him who had been so active and who, due to the ravages of life at its twilight, had to endure solitude, illness and old age. It had become obvious to me that I should also be by his side, surrounded as I now would be by people from all walks of life.

My aim with this idea was to tell him that we love him, that we loved him, and that we will always love him, for who he was, and for all that he did for each and every one of us and for the country.

The man who said no to the Americans in Iraq in 2003, a courageous and premonitory decision, yes it was him, Chirac.

The visionary man who sensed long before others the ecological urgency for our country with the environmental charter that he insisted on having inscribed in the French constitution, who thought about the future of the planet with his famous Johannesburg speech in 2002 «Our house is burning and we look the other way...», yes, that was Chirac.

The man who introduced two major «Disability» laws in 1975 and in 2005 was Chirac again.

The man who enacted the cancer plan in 2003 and who gave the green light for the smoking ban in public places was still Chirac.

I could thus list a multitude of initiatives that have changed France.

Well, that man didn't deserve oblivion or indifference... Those were my only motivations.

Very quickly, as if it were obvious, my initiative took on a significant scale with today more than 6,000 registered supporters within our group «Les Chiraquiens».

It was to this group, «Les Chiraquiens», that I announced in 2016 my initiative for Jacques Chirac to be a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize the following year. This initiative was supported by more than 280 French parliamentarians and foreign heads of state.

Upon the passing of our President, we could have kept only memories, however wonderful they might be, and closed the pages of our very fine book. It could not be thus; I was profoundly convinced of it.

Alongside the creation of the «Les Chiraquiens» group, I therefore had the idea of gathering our most loyal members at «La Rhumerie» to seek their advice. This meeting took place on 28th November 2019. 

Everyone was unanimous in wanting to perpetuate the memory of Jacques Chirac’s actions, politics, and humanism. Everyone was unanimous in wanting to transform the «Les Chiraquiens» group on social media into a major national association designed to raise awareness, to follow in Jacques Chirac’s footsteps, and to bear witness—through the man who was undoubtedly the last great President of the Fifth Republic—to the need to persevere in kindness, simplicity, and listening. Such would be the vocation of our association.

Following in the footsteps of General de Gaulle, for Jacques Chirac, remember: I quote, «there is no battle worth fighting other than the battle for Man».

Dear readers of Geopolitics, we are not here to be war veterans – even though the title and commitment of the latter to France are very honourable – nor are we here to be inveterate flatterers, nor a political party for those seeking a political future… We are here to teach a way of behaving, to pass on a way of being, and to speak of and bring to light the great moments of humanism of Jacques CHIRAC, perpetuating them and following in the footsteps of this great man. 

This is the great adventure and the struggle that I invite you to wage alongside me by joining our association «Les Chiraquiens». 

Malraux believed that «Man is the sum of his actions». 

Of course, we are well aware that not everything was without doubt perfect, but human behaviour is first and foremost diverse, and therein lies its profound richness. And the result, as you know, was magnificent. 

As his friend Denis Tillinac recently said to me, «Politically we sometimes disagreed, but humanly he was a gentleman.» What matters above all is that a politician loves their compatriots first and foremost, and acts in their best interests.

My fraternal thanks go here to my friend Erwan Davoux, whom I have known and appreciated for a long time and to whom I wish deserved success for Geopolitics !