Juan Branco presents an activist-political platform built around direct democracy, anti-bureaucracy reform, and a presidential push to force institutional change, while the host presses him on feasibility, violence, and the grassroots base behind the movement.
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This transcript is a long-form studio conversation on Tocsin with Juan Branco about his political project ahead of 2027. Branco says the project is deliberately not built like a conventional party platform: it is a highly detailed, collective program, developed through online communities he calls the “ruches,” with thousands of participants and hundreds of proposals. He frames the political goal as restoring sovereignty to citizens through referendums, including citizen-initiated referendums, and he repeatedly argues for dismantling what he sees as parasitic layers of the French state and economy: too many taxes, agencies, middlemen, and regulatory burdens. A major thread is method. …
Near term, this is mainly a political-organizing story: watch for mayoral signatures, local network growth, and whether the movement can convert online energy into visible electoral traction. Tactical risk is that the project remains too abstract or controversial to broaden quickly.
Over the next several months, the key question is whether the ruches become a durable campaign infrastructure and whether a broader social backdrop helps the project gain legitimacy. If signatures, local anchoring, and debate access arrive, the movement can evolve from protest language into an electoral vehicle; if not, it stays niche.
Structurally, Branco is arguing that French politics is entering a regime where direct citizen sovereignty and anti-bureaucratic backlash can challenge traditional party systems. The long-run implication is a deeper contest over whether legitimacy comes from institutions and expertise or from mass participatory mobilization.
The project is intentionally detailed and collective, unlike standard political programs that are mostly declarations of intent.
Branco contrasts his work with past presidential programs and says his team aimed for precision and collective construction.
The movement has built a large online and territorial community, including around 27,000 people on Discord and 70 departmental ruches.
He gives concrete community size and organizational breadth as evidence of traction.
The program proposes eliminating more than 300 taxes and more than 200 administrative bodies to reduce parasitic structures.
He explicitly states a large-scale cleanup of taxes and agencies.
What is the purpose of your political project?
He says the project is meant to be precise, collective, and practical rather than a list of vague intentions. Its aim is to clear out corruption and predation, create a basic social floor, and then let people build their own lives freely.
How do you use the Ruches and online communities to identify French priorities?
He explains that the Ruches are a Discord community of about 27,000 people, supplemented by WhatsApp and Telegram groups, which helped feed their reflection on what tomorrow's society should be. He says the project has grown from roughly 400 proposals in his 2021 book to more than 600 now.
What changes do you want on sovereignty and direct democracy?
He says that direct popular control is the starting point of the whole project: citizens should be able to seize power through referendums at any time. He frames this as restoring sovereignty and mentions a chapter built around referendums based on Article 11 of the Constitution.
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