François Ruffin

François Marcel Joseph Bernard Ruffin (; born 18 October 1975) is a French journalist, filmmaker, author and politician. The editor-in-chief of the satirical quarterly Fakir, which he founded, he is best known for directing the 2016 film Merci patron! as well as for playing an instrumental role in the formation of the Nuit debout movement in France.

Ruffin has held the seat for Somme's 1st constituency in the National Assembly since 2017. Ahead of the 2017 legislative election, he created the regional political party Picardie Debout ("Arise Picardy") and ran as its sole candidate, with the initial support of La France Insoumise, Europe Ecology – The Greens and the French Communist Party in the first round, before that of the Socialist Party's candidate in the second round. Upon his election, he joined the La France Insoumise group; becoming de facto associated with that political party, although often dissenting from its mainstream.

Ruffin was a central organizer of the New Popular Front alliance formed for the 2024 legislative election. During the campaign, he broke ties with La France Insoumise and Jean-Luc Mélenchon amidst a "purge" of key party members, and, after being narrowly re-elected, joined the Ecologist Group in the National Assembly.

Life and career Ruffin was born in Calais on 18 October 1975, and grew up in Amiens. His father worked for the French vegetable processing company Bonduelle and his mother was a housewife.

In 1999, Ruffin founded an ultra-leftist newspaper called Fakir, and the following year entered journalism school at the in Paris. In 2003 he published a book, Les Petits Soldats du journalisme, in which he drew on his experiences at journalism school. Before making the film, Ruffin had been investigating Arnault's business affairs for several years, Ruffin has said he was inspired by the American filmmaker Michael Moore and subsequently nicknamed as such. The film received positive reviews in the French press He has said that the aim of the meeting was to bring together a number of disparate protest groups, including people protesting against a proposed airport at Notre-Dame-des-Landes, factory workers protesting against the Goodyear tire company, and teachers protesting against education reforms. As a result of the meeting, an occupation was arranged for Paris's Place de la République, to take place on the evening of 31 March 2016, under the name Nuit debout, following scheduled street protests earlier in the day against the government's proposed labour reforms. In the days following this event, protests continued, spreading to other cities throughout France and into neighbouring countries in Europe.

2017 legislative elections In November 2016, Ruffin announced that he would run for the National Assembly in the departement of Somme's 1st constituency, an area where the far-right National Front had gained in traction and popularity. His political platform was one inspired by those of La France Insoumise, the French Communist Party, and Europe Ecology – The Greens. He pledges to adhere to the principles of a "revocable mandate" and to only keep a minimum wage of his salary. He officially launched his campaign on 17 February 2017, at Flixecourt, France. Employees of the Whirlpool plant in Amiens are present, to bring attention to the situation of their factory, whose management has announced the closure and relocation in Poland.

His campaign slogan is "They have the money, we have the people" and he symbolizes his campaign the Lafleur puppet, ingrained in Picardy's culture, and names his micro-political party Picardie Debout, which can be translated as Arise Picardy. For the first electoral round, his campaign receives the support of La France Insoumise, the French Communist Party and Europe Ecology—The Greens. On 11 June, he qualified for the second round of the legislative elections with 24.32% of the votes cast, coming second behind En Marche! candidate Nicolas Dumont, credited with 34.13% of the vote. In the second round, the incumbent and disqualified Socialist Party candidate Pascal Boistard also endorses Ruffin's candidacy. He received 55.97% of the votes cast in the runoff against Dumont and was elected.

2027 presidential election François Ruffin is a candidate of the 2026 United Left primary for the 2027 French presidential election.

Political positions Ideologically, Ruffin has described himself as being a social democrat. He has justified this position by repeatedly calling out those in French politics and saying that those that describes themselves as social democrats, primarily directed towards the Socialist Party, the tenure of Francois Hollande, and more generally the policies that the party has applied since 1983, are "no longer social nor democratic".

In February 2023, Ruffin said that he would describe himself with the oxymoron "revolutionary-reformist". He explained this position by saying that through reformism, the working class can make step by step progress until it is confident enough to look out to "the horizon", with the horizon in this case being socialism. He further explains that within the oxymoron, reformism is the first step, and revolution is the horizon. Ruffin supports the need for economic protectionism and details this point of view in his 2011 book Their Big Scare: Diary of my Protectionist Impulses. He is in favor of the doctrine of degrowth, as opposed to productivism.

Ruffin regularly insists on the need to establish the junction between the two electorate hearts of the left, namely the working class, associated with the workers and trade unions on one side, and the intellectuals and professionals of the education on the other, because according to him, only the "convergence of struggles" can lead to a social movement of sufficient magnitude to achieve change. To do this, he seeks in particular to fight against the class scorn he identifies against the lower classes. He wants to politically join the red left of the social struggle and the green left of the environmentalists, a junction he qualifies as "a necessity". This junction is also associated in his thinking that the popular class ("more attached to the social question") and the petty bourgeoisie ("more attached to the ecological question") must be brought together. He defined himself as partial to the Left Front before "taking note of their suicide".

In May 2023, Ruffin publicly called for signing a citizens' initiative petition on the National Assembly website, advocating for the establishment of the Citizens' Initiative Referendum in the Constitution, one of the flagship measures of the Yellow Vest movement.

Political engagements and actions as deputy

"Minimum wage deputy" In 2017, Ruffin announced that he will be a "minimum wage deputy", who will donate part of his income to Charity word, then specifies that he receives from the Assembly on an account a little more than 7 000 euros gross of allowances, including 1,200 transferred to his personal account, The payment of a major part of the parliamentary allowance was an old tradition within the PCF (French communist party), which had supported Ruffin from the first round. His colleague from LFI Alexis Corbière, however, believes that his books and films bring him enough incomes.

Healthcare Based on an investigation initiated by Florence Aubenas, published on 18 July 2017, in headline of Le Monde on a "100 day strike" by nursing assistants at the retirement home Les Opalines located in Foucherans, Ruffin challenged the Minister of Health on working conditions within the EHPAD, pointing out the silence of the government. He went there on 25 July 2017. Echoing the national mobilization of nursing home staff, he took out a check book during a speech at the French National Assembly on 31 January 2018 and invited Agnès Buzyn, the then Minister of Health, "to make a gesture".

Debout !

In 2017, Ruffin launched Picardie Debout! as a political movement to support his election to the French National Assembly. Ruffin won the constituency, and became the first elected official of the movement.

The movement changed its name to Debout ! in June 2025.