The figurehead of the far left and the man who dreams of becoming Prime Minister of France declared this week: ‘Macron is finished, and his supporters and the right are going to have to choose between us and the National Rally.’
Jean-Luc Melenchon’s boast is borne out by the latest polls. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally is currently top, followed by the left-wing Popular Front coalition, with Macron’s centrists a distant third. Le Pen could even win enough seats to form an absolute majority in the 577-seat National Assembly given the radicalism of many within the left-wing coalition.
Strange as it may seem for a far-left figure like Melenchon, but the Frenchman has learned much from Donald Trump
The centrist ‘Republican Front’, which has kept the Le Pen family at bay for half a century, is crumbling. In recent days respected political and intellectual figures in France have warned that if it comes down to a choice between Le Pen and Melenchon, the latter presents a greater danger to the Republic.
Sandrine Rousseau, a leading figure within the left-wing coalition, was asked this week what would be their response if the National Rally won an absolute majority and formed a government. ‘Resistance,’ she replied. ‘On the streets?’ asked the interviewer. ‘We’ll see,’ she replied.
That could be interpreted as insurrection, not unlike that which erupted last month in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, costing the lives of several people and resulting in over a €1 billion worth of damage.
Melenchon expressed his support for the insurgents, as he did 12 months ago when youths ran riot for nearly a week across France. ‘The watchdogs order us to call for calm. We call for justice’, he declared at the time. As thugs set fire to public buildings across France, Mélenchon asked only of the rioters that they spared schools, sports halls and libraries from destruction.
Rousseau’s talk of ‘resistance’ echoes remarks made by a member of the cultural left earlier this year. During a debate titled ‘How to fight the far right’, a radio personality called Mahaut Drama said: ‘Do we have armed factions too?…Should we start a revolution?’ If there were people ready to rise up against Le Pen, concluded Drama, ‘I can only encourage them’.
Is this revolt underway? On Thursday Hervé Breuil, a 68-year-old candidate for Le Pen’s party, was assaulted as he canvassed in the Loire. Witnesses reported that he and some fellow activists were attacked by a group of individuals who were masked and wearing black.
Breuil suffered a minor stroke during the attack and spent Thursday evening in hospital. He received a get-well message from Le Pen – who was assaulted during the 2017 presidential campaign – along with a promise that ‘Our commitment will not waver in the face of any violence’. She blamed the violence on an ‘extreme left that will do anything to sow chaos’.
There was more disorder on Thursday evening when an anti-National Rally protest in the Brittany city of Rennes turned violent. Youths threw objects at the police, who responded with tear gas. The previous eveningin Lyon there was also a similar confrontation between police and left-wing demonstrators.
This is likely to be a small foretaste of what will unfold across France next month if the National Rally become the dominant force in the National Assembly. The left will not accept it, and to, quote Sandrine Rousseau, they will ‘resist’. One act of resistance would probably be widespread industrial action, timed, of course, to coincide with the Paris Olympics, which opens on July 26. The far-left have been encouraging this tactic for months in order to disrupt the Games.
Strange as it may seem for a far-left figure like Melenchon, but the Frenchman has learned much from Donald Trump. This point was first made by Le Monde in 2018, which said in an editorial that Trump and Melenchon sought to cultivate an image of themselves among their supporters as victims of Establishment.
In the lead up to the recent European elections, Melenchon was accused of ‘Trumpism’ when he questioned the organisation of the vote. On the day of the election, June 9, several of his La France Insoumise MPs complained of ‘irregularities’ at some voting stations and called on their supporters to be vigilant.
The Socialist mayor of Montpellier, Michaël Delafosse, responded by accusing one LFI politician of ‘taking his cue from Trump’s methods to discredit democracy in France’.
Perhaps similar tactics will be deployed during the two rounds of the parliamentary elections. And what might happen in the event that Le Pen’s party emerge triumphant? We are told there would be ‘resistance’.
On 6 January, 2021 Trump told his supporters in Washington that ‘you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.’
We know what happened next.
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