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Biography
Sylvain Garel was born in 1957, in the 18th district of Paris. He has two PhD's, one in Contemporary History and one In Film History.
He entered politics at the age of 17, in the Green Party, campaigning for René Dumont who was the first French ecologist to run for Presidency.
He was trained as a teacher, he is a historian and film critic. Garel founded the festival for Cinema of Quebec in France, which he presided six years long. He also attends the Cannes Festival every year in his capacity as the vice-president of the French Trade Union for Cinema Critics.
An ardent anti-fascist, Garel cofounded "Ras l'Front", a French network fighting racialism and white supremacism.
Sylvain Garel is a Paris city councillor of Europe Écologie–The Greens, former co-President of the Greens, who tried unsuccessfully to snatch the 2008 Olympic torch from African-European athlete Stephane Diagana's hands. On 29 January 2009, at a reception for the Chinese New Year at the Paris city hall, he submitted a memorandum requesting the release of Tibetan political prisoners.
One of his political goal is to have the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X evicted from the Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet church in Paris. In 2002, he made the Paris municipal council pass a resolution against what he pretends to be an illegal occupation,. On the 8th december 2003, with the activist Romain Binazon, he invites 200 illegal migrants to occupy this church during several hours. They had to leave the building after the intervention of the parishioners,.
In 2004, Garel opposes municipal subsidies for Jewish cribs, claiming that they discriminates against non-Jewish children.
In 2010, Sylvain Garel, a passionate anti-militarist, calls for a National Day without military parade.
In septembre 2010, Garel opposes an settlement between the City of Paris and its former mayor Jack Chirac, in a corruption scandal. In october 2010, Garel promotes the opening of an experimental drug consumption room in Paris.
In 2011, he publicly expresses a protest against a marble stele, erected in the Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet church to the memory of all victims for their fidelity to French Algeria,.
Garel was appointed in 2014 as a project manager for the International relationships of the City of Paris.