Julie Martinez, the socialist who needs to reconcile the left with algorithms | EUROtoday
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Lhe bistro is nearly empty that morning close to the Roger-Salengro park in Clichy. Julie Martinez arrives in silence, darkish glasses on her nostril. She sits down, greets us with discreet politeness, orders a protracted espresso. When she speaks, her fist typically hits the desk, a lightweight thump to offer rhythm to her sentences. At 32, she is popping out of a month that she describes solely half-heartedly: assaults, insinuations, caricatures… and threats geared toward even her 11-month-old daughter. She does not add any extra. But all the pieces, in his gestures and his restraint, suggests the shock.
The new spokesperson for the Socialist Party, now head of the listing in Clichy for the 2026 municipal elections, was propelled in a number of weeks into the guts of a digital storm. This educated lawyer, GDPR skilled, nonetheless has a easy ambition – and as we speak virtually uncommon: to reconcile the left with know-how, and to reconcile herself with public debate.
“Another world”
If we return the thread, Julie Martinez has by no means outlined herself by storms. She grew up in Sarcelles, in a cocoon that she describes as one describes a spot of inside studying: “Smells, dishes, music…” A easy wealth, by no means forgotten. Her mother and father didn’t examine, however she did: a very good pupil, with superb marks within the baccalaureate, inspired to goal excessive. She selected the preparatory class at Louis-le-Grand. She then discovers “another world”: the overpriced summer time books, the inaccessible boarding college, the everlasting social comparability. “I realized that I was poor. »
She works at Pimkie to finance her studies, crosses the ring road from Sarcelles towards the Sainte-Geneviève mountain in the heart of Paris every day, like crossing an invisible border. She succeeded, but without blossoming: “My passion gradually became a constraint. » She then branched off into law, followed a triple course, went to Berlin then to King’s College London on scholarships. Back in France, she passed the bar, joined an Anglo-Saxon firm and specialized in data protection. “I loved it, but I didn’t read anymore. I didn’t go out anymore. It was all about work. »
Meeting with Jacques Attali
In 2020, one dinner changes everything. A mutual friend – her companion at the time, Clément Tonon, now a strategist for Édouard Philippe – introduced her to Jacques Attali. The current is flowing. She joined the think tank he launched: France Positive, of which she became general director. She interviews 400 people, from trade unionists to CAC 40 bosses, to try to project the country 20 or 30 years forward. A way of thinking about the future that has a lasting impact.
ALSO READ Presidential – Attali’s measures to save FranceA few years later, she joined Palantir, an American company specializing in massive data processing, renowned for its links with American intelligence services and widely perceived as controversial. She is responsible for compliance with European law, internal controls and the GDPR. “I was the lookout. The beauty of the GDPR is that it imposes our rules on American companies. » She stayed there for three years, until this fall.
Put yourself forward
His appointment as spokesperson for the PS this summer immediately attracted attention. Julie Martinez has been an activist in the party since 2017. She worked there internally, contributed to programmatic discussions, and, at the beginning of the year, she volunteered to take on national responsibilities. The spokesperson was a possibility – an alternative to a local inauguration that she was already considering. She is not close to any movement, but her technical skills and her mastery of digital issues please management, which is seeking to renew its faces.
The first press portraits are released. They are scathing. Many focus on one thing: Palantir. Its real role – ensuring compliance with European law, dialoguing with data protection authorities – disappears behind the word that has become a repellent. “From the outside, it was a difficult position. I understand that this resonated. But the way it was taken up…” She leaves her sentence hanging.
Then the digital whirlwind picks up. The former socialist mayor of Clichy Gilles Catoire assaults him each day on X, to the purpose of being focused by disciplinary proceedings for cyberharassment. Then come up fantasies, conspiracy theories, and these chilling messages: threats evoking the rape of his daughter. She does not inform them intimately. She merely names them, to see their absurdity.
She considered stopping all the pieces. “I asked myself: Is this my place? Are they right? » She cried, a lot. Then women – in the party, in her life – supported her: “They told me: “It’s unacceptable, but you must not give up.” » She leaves Palantir on October 13. And continues on his means.
“We must get the French out of the domination of the algorithm”
This November 19, Julie Martinez was nominated by the main activists of the Socialist Party in Clichy for the 2026 municipal elections. Clichy, the place she lives along with her associate and their daughter. She talks about social variety, public early childhood providers, the struggle in opposition to gentrification, and greening. And above all know-how. “On the left, if we don’t take up the subject, it will always be the same people who talk about the future. » She continues: “We took the French out of the factories; now, we must take them out of the domination of the algorithm. »
For her, technology can hold promise – but only if it is regulated. She mentions the regulation on digital services (the DSA), the Finnish media education programs, the need to break the “economy of virality” of the platforms. “Democracy cannot do without the truth, just as it cannot do without the people. »
Her obsession, she says, is time: that which AI could free up, but above all that which we could give back. “Why do we free up work time? For time for yourself, for children, for elders, for culture. Not to work more. » She talks about the 28-hour week, universal income aligned with aspirations, putting municipal agents back in contact with residents rather than behind screens. “We are tired. We don’t talk to each other anymore. »
When asked who inspired her, she answers: her mother, her grandmother, her philosophy teacher, and all those women who held on when she faltered. She knows that politics has become “permanent brutality”. But she needs to proceed. “Because I would like my daughter to dwell in a rustic the place nuance nonetheless exists. »
“I talked rather a lot, didn’t I? » She hints at a smile, as if the storm was lastly transferring away. His phrases, lengthy held again, now draw a transparent line: begin once more, however otherwise.
Tomorrow seen by Julie Martinez
Ten years in the past, the place did you think about your self?
Lawyer. I needed it, however I used to be afraid to take it on.
And in 10 years?
In Clichy… or elsewhere, however nonetheless eager about the way forward for the nation.
How do you see politics in 10 years?
Still polarized. It will take greater than ten years to realize our objectives.
What makes you optimistic?
My daughter. Children are optimistic by nature.
To Discover
Kangaroo of the day
Answer
The sentence that sums up your dedication?
I owe it to Mitterrand: “Thinking in regards to the future is already being a part of it. »
https://www.lepoint.fr/politique/julie-martinez-la-socialiste-qui-veut-reconcilier-la-gauche-avec-les-algorithmes-23-11-2025-2603760_20.php