Faced with a rural France that is too often marginalized, the MFRs are committed to promoting the voice of young people, restoring territorial dialogue and building active citizenship.
The France Culture program "Rural France: The Dangers of Resentment" brings a powerful reality to the forefront: nearly a third of French people live in rural areas, yet their daily lives are largely invisible in dominant narratives. Behind the bucolic landscapes and the image of "authenticity," these are territories marked by the closure of public services, dwindling transportation, a shortage of medical professionals, and digital exclusion. It's a tense daily life where residents feel largely forgotten by national decision-making.
This feeling of abandonment fuels a composite resentment:
- Economic, faced with glaring inequalities in access to services or employment,
- Cultural:, by a persistent stigmatization of rurality (perceived as “backward” or “chav”),
- Privacy, due to a representation perceived as weak, even non-existent.
📉 According to the "Words of the Countryside" survey, only 10% of rural residents feel they are represented by the government, and 21% by the national press.
Resentment isn't just emotional: it becomes political. Withdrawal sometimes turns into a protest vote. Not necessarily out of ideological conviction, but out of a desire to be heard at all costs. In many cases, the extreme vote becomes a cry, a form of demand for recognition. It's not a systematic adherence to radical ideas, but an alarm signal sent by forgotten territories.
The urgency: recreating dialogue, everywhere and for everyone
What this fractured rural landscape reveals, above all, is a huge lack of listening. There is a lack of real spaces for dialogue to allow residents—especially young people—to express their needs, ideas, and visions. And these dialogues cannot be parachuted in from Paris. They must be locally rooted, embodied, vibrant, and sincere.
Working with local authorities, institutions, and European networks, the MFRs work daily to train, but also to transform. They support young people in developing their professional and civic skills, giving them the means to take action in their local area.
A striking example of this commitment is the rural youth advocacy for lasting peace , presented in Brussels in 2024. In this document, young people formulated nine ambitious recommendations, focusing on major issues such as peace education, social and environmental justice, dialogue between generations and territories, and access to reliable and inclusive information. This advocacy is more than just a document: it constitutes a genuine act of political expression, powerfully delivered by a generation whose voices are still too often ignored.
It is not enough to simply observe the rural malaise. We must listen to it , understand it , and above all, respond to it. This begins with spaces where everyone can express themselves . It continues with institutions—like the MFRs—that train young people capable of making their voices heard, both in local government and in the European Parliament.
