Politics is often a matter of people of a certain age. This is fairly blamed on political personnel, whose average age is much higher than the rest of the population – just as they remain mostly much more bourgeois, white and masculine. Nevertheless, this refers above all to politicians who started their career young, for many having also gone through training courses designated for it, such as Sciences Po or the ENA – people who, in short, have designated politics as their career. But what about people who, once retired and have enough free time, decide to use it to get involved in politics?
Investing can come in many forms. The most common is the commitment to associations and volunteers. Find out about the associations present in your municipality, visit the forums organized by them... Why not even create your own association, if none suits you or responds to the demands you have identified yourself?
Some municipalities also set up Councils of Elders, reserved for elderly people wishing to get involved by giving their time. These are in contact with the municipal council, and while they have no executive or legislative power and are officially apolitical, they are an advisory body, therefore advising the municipal council in its decisions.
Finally, if we want to talk about "politician" politics, it is open to all citizens. The parties are indeed accessible to all, without age limit or any other hindrance. You can also be a simple sympathizer and only occasionally attend their rallies or local meetings, or conversely be an activist, by taking your card and paying your subscription, and taking part in the activities of your section, to decide and carry out the project. and the claims made thereunder. This ranges from participation in the debates of local meetings, to leafleting and engagement with fellow citizens.
There are also national structures representing the interests of pensioners and the elderly. For example, the venerable UNRPA (National Union of Retired and Elderly Persons) stems from the principles advocated by the National Council of Resistance at the end of the Second World War and defends the interests of pensioners and the elderly, the main principles of solidarity and social justice, by also organizing and supporting all cultural and leisure activities intended to put an end to the isolation sometimes caused by retirement. In addition to the confederal unions of retirees affiliated with the main unions (CGT, CFDT, FO, etc.), many national associations represent these rights, with political tendencies specific to each, or defending the interests of retirees from various schemes:it's up to you to see with which you share the most affinities.
We can finally act politically outside of any structure, or in any case without allying with it. This is the case of participating in a demonstration, signing petitions, practicing boycotts, or quite simply… voting. We know on this subject that it is the seniors who participate the most in the elections, who abstain the least.
Of course, when we hear politics, we immediately think of the Élysée Palace or the Bourbon Palace, the Council of Ministers and state secrets... So of course, it is a little too late once you have already retired from another career to hope reach the highest levels of the state apparatus. Yet politics is largely a local affair for most of its actors. After all, the term "politics" comes etymologically from the Greek polis , the "city" — in the sense then of city-state, that is to say of independent entity. Taking care of the affairs of your neighborhood or your municipality is already doing politics, and it is having a direct impact!
We can also draw lessons from post-Marxist theory, and more specifically from radical feminism, on this subject, from which we retain the idea that "everything is political", that the private is political ¬— which may at first seem like an oxymoron. It was indeed one of the fights of this feminism to make accept the observation that the forms of domination are not limited to the struggle that is commonly described as "political", but that it does indeed apply in the private context, in which women contribute free of charge to the reproduction of the productive apparatus, in particular through household chores and the education of children. It is by following this logic that we realize that politics is not only manifested in the decisions of state bodies, but that it is indeed a matter of permanent balance of power, that each word and each action can have a political, consciously or not.
We could therefore finally extend the saying:if everything is political, then everyone is too! And if we must encourage young people to get involved publicly, because it is their future that is at stake, this does not mean that the elderly do not have a say in these decisions. After all, nothing is more enriching than intergenerational exchange, where the passion and vigor of some can be balanced by the wisdom and experience of others.
In addition, seniors have to deal with their own problems, particularly in terms of health, autonomy, precariousness... Between sometimes derisory pensions or poorly managed EHPADs, they too have their claims. There is therefore no reason for them to find themselves excluded from political discourse. And with demographic ageing, their demands are set to multiply and become even more pressing. It is therefore imperative to take into account the opinion of the elderly — particularly in the development of policies concerning them, which are often done at the departmental and therefore local level — and for this to let them take part in the policy.
Seniors also have the time necessary for commitment. They are also “freer” than young people from the potential repercussions of political engagement. The sociologist Anne Muxel thus speaks of an "additional free time, and [a] feeling of impunity in relation to their previous situation as employees" as decisive factors in explaining collective mobilization among the elderly - while noting that there are also obstacles to this commitment, starting with the state of health of some, political commitment requiring flawless intellectual and physical faculties. Between towing and door-to-door or participation in parades, a minimum physical condition is necessary to assume its commitment.
That being said, for these same reasons, commitment guarantees the maintenance of a certain physical well-being. It is one of the essential points of aging well. On the one hand, it breaks the isolation that overwhelms some elderly people once they have retired and are cut off from their professional environment - to which is added the gradual loss of friends and relatives due to death and disease — but also to add a feeling of usefulness, good for morale and self-confidence. Indeed, many seniors are victims of depression, and lose part of their identity when they retire. Committing to others also means committing to oneself by reclaiming a role within the public community.
But as mentioned above, you still need power. In addition to physical and mental capacities, it is the social resources accumulated during one's working life (cultural and symbolic capital, network, etc.) that are mobilized by political engagement in retirement. "Active ageing" is therefore beneficial for the first concerned and for the community, but necessarily implies a certain exclusion, that of those who are not or no longer in a position to take part in it. Commitment must therefore above all remain voluntary, and not become the result of a certain injunction, as if retirement were to be synonymous with solidarity and social commitment. While this is of course a good thing, those who are absent, by choice or necessity, must not experience it as an additional exclusion.
