When the Radical Left is born again

Our columnist Matthew Bock-Cote is currently in France, observing French news from a Quebec perspective.

I often believe that politics is the only domain of existence that proves the possibility of the resurrection of bodies and tends to affirm me with this belief last year in France.

I will explain: over the years, many analysts and commentators have agreed to bury the rotten corpse of the French left. She will not be reborn, history will condemn her.

Its various parties seemed to have worn off: Jean-Luc Melenchon was too big and his party too insane, environmentalists suffered too much, the Communist Party belonged to the Ice Age and the Socialist Party was no more than an old shop. It has a culture of government, but it is no more than a shadow of its “glorious” history.

Melenchon

And hop, the story took a turn.

Jean-Luc Melenchon scored a respectable score in the presidential election, convincing left-wing voters that he was the only one who could prevent Marine Le Pen from reaching the second round. He came very close to achieving this.

And from the evening of the first round, he embarked on a left-wing reconstruction seeking to bring his remains and his stumps into a new political alliance.

We can think of what we want from his ideas, but by turning the June legislative elections back into a contest he has a genuinely strategic sense, to the point where he can claim to be presenting himself there as prime minister, a matter that is theoretically and practically impossible. French political system.

Created a dynamic that would continue after that.

For about two weeks, Jean-Luc Melenchon tried to rally the left around him and he succeeded.

He first got the rally of ecologists – to say that they have an ultraviolet component in their ranks, which naturally goes well with the radical left.

He won the support of the Communist Party, which had severely criticized him in the presidential election campaign, but was very happy to have forgotten his grievances for a small position in the new coalition.

The final step: Swallow the Socialists. It’s more complicated. The historic party of the French left is finding it difficult to become a minor partner in this new coalition.

He supported the company, despite the refusal of some of his key figures to believe that an alliance with Jean-Luc Melenchon meant an alliance with the Devil.

Or at least, the Communist Party pretends to believe that the Communist Party did not hesitate to ally with it, even in the worst years, under the dictates of the USSR.

Nudes

The result is credible: the “moderate” left has rallied to the radical left.

This new alliance has a name: Nupes. The New Popular Ecological and Social Union.

Her chances of winning the legislative elections are slim.

But it will also allow the Left to regenerate and regain a significant position in the National Assembly.

Meanwhile, the dominant right is in danger of disappearing politically.

I’ll be back there next week.

Investment Of Emmanuel Macron

France is a republic, but it retains a certain institutional glory from its monarchical past. We do not talk about the palaces of the republic for no reason, and it is enough to stroll through Paris to see how much the regime formed as a result of the revolution borrowed the clothes of those who fought. We saw it again yesterday with the swearing in of Emmanuel Macron. Mentally, France is still monarchical.

No command For The President?

Emmanuel Macron led his campaign in the middle right in the first round, then clearly on the left in the second round. Many are wondering, they have been asking for five years: what is macronism in the end? Pragmatism? Opportunism? A theory that can adapt to all conditions and say one thing and vice versa? We will have to wait for the results of the legislative elections to see what direction Emmanuel Macron will give to his second five-year term.

Ukraine, Again

There is a paradox: although the Ukraine question no longer occupies the first place in the news, it seems to be becoming more serious. This week Vladimir Putin is conducting a nuclear missile launch exercise. And as the Russians are arming the Ukrainians, they will sooner or later repeat that they regard the Westerners as their own enemies. We hope the situation ends with a misunderstanding and leads Europe to hell.