Sylvain Garel

French Green Party politician (b.1956)

Sylvain Garel (born 1956) is a French Green politician.

## Early life

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Garel was born in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. He has a master's degree in Contemporary History and specializes in Film History.[1]

He entered politics at age 17, in the Ecologist movement,[2] after campaigning for René Dumont[3] who was the first French ecologist to run for president. He joined the Green Party in 1989.

He trained as a teacher and works as a historian and film critic.[4]

## Career

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Garel founded a festival for Cinema of Quebec in France in 1991,[5][6] over which he presided for six years.[7] As a member of Critic's week, he attends the Cannes Festival. He was the vice-president of the French Trade Union for Cinema Critics.[8]

An ardent anti-fascist, Garel in the early 1990s cofounded "Ras l'Front", a French network fighting racialism and white supremacy.[9]

Garel is a Paris city councillor. He ran for Europe Écologie–The Greens in 2001. He is a former president of the Greens group, who deployed a banner in support of Chinese and Tibetan political prisoners while the 2008 Olympic torch was at the Eiffel Tower. On 29 January 2009, at a reception for the Chinese New Year at the Paris city hall, he submitted a memorandum requesting the release of Chinese and Tibetan political prisoners.[10]

One of his political goals is to have the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X evicted from the Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet church in Paris. In 2002, he led the Paris municipal council to pass a resolution against what he claims to be an illegal occupation,.[11][12] On 8 December 2003, he supported 200 illegal migrants to occupy this church for several hours. They had to leave the building after the intervention of a parishioners.[13][14] As President of the district council of Montmartre, he turned the spot into the first green district of the capital.

In 2004, Garel opposed municipal subsidies for Jewish Loubavitch, claiming that they discriminate against non-Jewish children.[15]

In 2006, Garel opposed giving John Paul II's name to a public place in front of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Garel quoted the late Pope's opposition to abortion as a reason for not honouring him,[16] along with his opposition to safe sex practices and opposition to contraception.

In 2010 he called for a National Day without a military parade.[17] In September Garel opposed a settlement between the City of Paris and its former mayor Jacques Chirac in a corruption scandal.[18] In October 2010, Garel promoted the opening of an experimental drug consumption room in Paris.[19]

In 2011, he protested against the erection of a marble stele in the Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet church, in memory of those who suffered for their fidelity to French Algeria.[20][21]

In June 2011, Garel appeared on the "shame list" of French politicians published by Europe-Israel, a lobby fighting antisemitism, bigotry and anti-Zionism.[22]

Garel was appointed in 2014 as a project manager for the International relationships of the City of Paris.[23] In 2016 he joined the Association Internationale des Maires Francophones (AIMF) for promoting French-language cinema.[24]

## References

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1. ^ GRECO, Bertrand. "Sylvain Garel, tout feu, tout flammes - leJDD.fr". Le Journal du Dimanche (in French). Retrieved 12 March 2017.
2. ^ "Les Verts Paris 18 - Sylvain Garel". lesvertsparis18.free.fr. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
3. ^ GRECO, Bertrand. "Sylvain Garel, tout feu, tout flammes - leJDD.fr". Le Journal du Dimanche (in French). Retrieved 12 March 2017.
4. ^ "Sylvain Garel - Le passager clandestin". lepassagerclandestin.fr. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
5. ^ "Sylvain Garel, spécialiste du cinéma canadien". Le Parisien. 15 March 2017. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
6. ^ "Vous m'en direz des nouvelles ! - Philippe Lioret et Gabriel Arcand, au nom du fils" (in French). Radio France Internationale. 30 August 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
7. ^ grandpixels.com. "Sylvain Garel - Festival 48 images seconde". Festival 48 images seconde (in French). Retrieved 15 March 2017.
8. ^ ABK, Atelier. "SFCC : fonctionnement". jcbidard.pagesperso-orange.fr. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
9. ^ "Sylvain Garel, spécialiste du cinéma canadien". Le Parisien. 15 March 2017. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
10. ^ Tibetans disrupt Chinese New year reception in Paris
11. ^ Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet : avec foi mais sans loi
12. ^ Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet divise la majorité municipale
13. ^ L'église Saint Nicolas du Chardonnet
14. ^ Les sans-papiers chez les intégristes
15. ^ "L'affaire des crèches loubavitch à Paris". L'Humanité (in French). 30 September 2008. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
16. ^ "Non à une une place Jean-Paul 2 à Paris sur le grand parvis de la cathédrale Notre-Dame". gauchemip.org (in French). Retrieved 7 September 2017.
17. ^ "Les Verts de Paris proposent un 14 juillet sans défilé militaire". RTL.fr (in French). Retrieved 10 April 2017.
18. ^ Verrier, Matthieu. ""Comme si on condamnait toute une bande, sauf son chef" - leJDD.fr". Le Journal du Dimanche (in French). Retrieved 10 April 2017.
19. ^ "Sylvain Garel, sur les salles de shoot : " La société a changé, l'idéologie anti-drogue vieille de 40 ans n'est plus d'actualité "". streetpress.com. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
20. ^ Les victimes de l'OAS auront leur stèle au Père-Lachaise
21. ^ Apposition d’une stèle en hommage aux victimes de l’OAS dans le cimetière du Père Lachaise
22. ^ "France: La liste des élus de la honte ! Tous soutiennent les terroristes du Hamas | Europe Israël news". Europe Israel - analyses, informations sur Israel, l'Europe et le Moyen-Orient (in French). 13 June 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
23. ^ Maupoil, Tristan Quinault (4 June 2014). "Des ex-élus recasés par Anne Hidalgo à la Ville de Paris". Le Figaro (in French). ISSN 0182-5852. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
24. ^ "L'importance du nombre – Entretien avec Sylvain Garel | Culturopoing". culturopoing.com (in French). Retrieved 7 September 2017.

## External links

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* Paris18.Paris-EELV.fr information (in French)