“At the UDH, we are not going to sell you a character”

French towns look alike. All of them. More or less.

An emptying town centre. Outer neighbourhoods where nothing works anymore. A town hall doing what it can, between inaugurations and speeches on heritage. Residents who look down, and make do.

Hyères escaped this downward slope for a long time. Protected by its sunny appeal. The palm trees, the sea, the pink flamingos, the light, the Saturday market...

Then came boredom, creeping, sneaky. Nothing dramatic, just languor. One day the town woke up tired, with the kind of fatigue you do not notice straight away.

Most of the streets are still clean, the shutters of businesses that have not thrown in the towel continue to open, tourists return in summer. But behind this, as everywhere in France, the town is turning inward. It is quietly falling asleep.

C’est dans ce silence-là qu’est née l’Union des Hyérois (UDH). Pas un parti. Pas une énième plateforme d’opinion. Juste des citoyens. Des gens qui vivent ici. Qui refusent que le mal qui ronge notre pays ne vienne accabler notre belle cité. Des gens qui ont vu les choses glisser, année après année. Et qui refusent de faire semblant. Des gens qui pensent qu’il ne faut pas avoir peur de la réalité : que de la lucidité du diagnostic viendront les vrais remèdes. À l’UDH, on ne va pas vous vendre un personnage. Il ne sourit pas tout le temps. Il n’a pas de storytelling familial à mettre sur une affiche. Il a surtout passé les dernières années à écouter, à prendre des notes, à comprendre, à s’énerver parfois, et surtout à connaître les attentes et les préoccupations de celles et ceux qui comme lui se lèvent tôt chaque matin pour gagner leur vie. Il ne vous dira pas que tout ira mieux. Il vous dira simplement ce qu’il compte faire, et ce qu’il ne fera pas. Ça paraît peu. Mais dans une époque où tout est exagéré, monté en épingle par la force vénéneuse des réseaux sociaux, ce peu devient une force. Il y a, à Hyères comme partout dans le pays, des rues qui ne sont plus réparées, des écoles qui ferment ou qui risquent de fermer, des zones commerciales tristes, des vitrines abandonnées. Il y a des gens qui ont peur d’être dehors après 20h et d’autres qui ne savent même plus à quoi sert la mairie ou qui pensent qu’elle ne sert à rien car elle ne les écoutera pas. Ce n’est pas un effondrement. C’est une lente désagrégation du pays au quotidien. Nous ne proposons pas une révolution. Nous proposons de remettre de l’ordre dans le réel.

NOT BEING AFRAID OF REALITY It is in this silence that the Union des Hyérois (UDH) was born. Not a party. Not yet another opinion platform.

Just citizens. People who live here. Who refuse to let the evil eating away at our country overwhelm our beautiful city.

People who have watched things slip away, year after year. And who refuse to pretend. People who believe we must not fear reality: that the real remedies will come from a lucid diagnosis.

At the UDH, we are not going to sell you a character. He does not smile all the time. He has no family storytelling to put on a poster.

Above all, he has spent the last few years listening, taking notes, understanding, and getting worked up over the concerns of those who, like him, wake up early every morning to earn a living. He will not tell you that everything will get better. He will simply tell you what he intends to do, and what he will not do.

It seems like little. But in an era where everything is exaggerated, blown out of proportion by the venomous force of social media, this little becomes a strength.

There are, in Hyères as everywhere else in the country, streets that are no longer repaired, schools that are closing or risk closing, depressing commercial zones, abandoned shop windows. There are people who are afraid to be outside after 8 p.m. and others who no longer even know what the town hall is for or who think it is useless because it will not listen to them. This is not a collapse.

It is a slow, daily disintegration of the country.

We are not proposing a revolution. We are proposing to restore order to reality. A CAMPAIGN WITHOUT A SHOW But how do we make what needs to work, work again?

By reaffirming a simple idea: the town is not a showcase. It is a space where people live, grow old, work, and raise children. And that is more important than attracting influencers and other national political leaders.

By treating residents as adults. Not as electoral segments or, worse, obstacles to bypass. By saying no when we must say no.

To certain absurd real estate developments, to grotesque communication expenses, to projects that make no sense. By being truly present. Physically.

In the streets, the neighbourhoods, the associations. Not just for photos. Not on TV sets.

Not in salons.

Basically, the philosophy of the UDH fits in quite a few lines. Without high-sounding titles. Doing what we say.

Not spending more than we have. Not promising what we will not do. Listening to people.

Even when it is unpleasant. Treating all neighbourhoods with the same seriousness. Keeping quiet when we have nothing to say.

Never forgetting that we are here to serve, not to exist.

What we propose is perhaps against the grain: a campaign without a show, without manufactured anger, without fake empathy. We believe we can still speak truth. That it is possible to govern a town without blowing smoke at its residents. And that local democracy is, above all, a matter of decency.

The Union des Hyérois is you. It is not a slogan. It is a fact. No one here will tell you they have all the answers. But we at least know how to ask the right questions. We do not ask these questions to shine. We ask them in order to act.