Death of Bernard Pignerol, man in the shadow of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and co-founder of SOS Racism

He was a character from the shadows whose departure is welcomed by many political figures. Bernard Pignerol died this Sunday morning from cancer, announced on Twitter Jean-Luc Melenchon. “He was a leader and an essential militant of the insubordinate movement, of which he was one of the most brilliant and active founders and the disinterested companion of our long march”, greeted the former leader of insubordinate France.

Founding member of SOS Racism in 1984, Bernard Pinerol has been an important cog in the left in France in recent decades. From 1988 to 2002, within the Socialist Party, he was a member of the leadership of the Socialist Left, a current then led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon. He was also an international adviser to the mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë between 2007 and 2014, after having been that of Jean-Luc Mélenchon at the Ministry of Vocational Education. He was also his adviser during the 2017 presidential campaign.

Bernard Pignerol was also the founder of the La Boétie institute, timidly launched within rebellious France in view of the last presidential election to support Jean-Luc Mélenchon. This project has the ambition to “participate in the ideological battle essential to the construction of a popular majority”, it is indicated on its website. It’s today Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Clémence Guetté who chair it.

“Unfailing loyalty” to Jean-Luc Mélenchon

“With unfailing loyalty and loyalty, he was entirely dedicated to collective success”, admitted on Twitter Jean-Luc Mélenchon who said, in private, “very affected”. Bernard Pignerol had notably been seen by the general public alongside the leader La France insoumise when Jean-Luc Mélenchon had tried in 2019 to oppose a search within the headquarters of his party with words that have become cult (“La République, c’est moi”).

Councilor of State, Bernard Pignerol had also, on the occasion of this sequence, been sentenced for “rebellion in a meeting” to a fine of 2,000 euros. The financing ociation of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s campaign in 2017 “The era of the people”, which Bernard Pignerol chaired, had was indicted for “forgery, use of forgery, fraud and attempted aggravated fraud”.

Cascading tributes

“His family, his couple is suffering and all of us are also his extended family, that of the activists”, continues on Twitter Jean-Luc Melenchon, in a rare message signed with his name. He was an essential companion and friend for me and for many of us. His pure affection for us has been a wonderful gift of life. And he helped us to feel like giving it to others. »

“He had a pion to transmit, to train generations of activists, to serve social justice and the State”, also greeted on Twitter the socialist Harlem Désir, also co-founder of SOS Racisme. “Bernard Pignerol man of conviction and culture, brilliant and generous”, posted Bertrand Delanoë on the same social network. “He will have been a craftsman of the union of the left and environmentalists, greeted Olivier Faure. He was fighting the disease calmly and we didn’t want to believe that death would have the last word. »

The tribute to Bernard Pinerol goes well beyond the left. The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, said he was “very saddened” by the death of a “clmate (they both come from the “Valmy” promotion within the ENA that Bernard Pignerol had joined in 1996 via the so-called third voice competition) with whom I had kept a friendly relationship. And the minister to write on Twitter “Our political positions opposed us. Our old ties brought us closer. »