Presidentials J -6
In six days we'll have the first round of the Presidential election. So bear with me because I'm probably going to talk about the election until the 6th of May. We have 10 candidates this year(1 far right, 3 right, 3 left, 2 far-left and Cheminade who is very hard to label!), and for most of French citizens the point is to get rid of Sarkozy so every opinion poll has been giving François Hollande as the winner. He is not my candidate, though.
It is no secret that I support one of the 3 left candidates (the only left candidate IMO), that is Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
For a long time media have ignored him, but things have changed so my flist might have heard of Mélenchon. 5 days ago there was an article on The Guardian about him and there's a new one today that explains very well why JLM is my candidate!
Weird. I can no longer access (ETA: bug is fixed) Philippe Marlières' article in The Guardian. But I copied it. So if you want to understand my choice, read:
"
Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s policies are no far-left fantasy
No wonder the Left Front candidate is on the rise in France. He offers practical solutions where neoliberalism has failedSuperbly ignored by the media until recently, Jean-Luc Mélenchon is the fresh flavour of the day in the French presidential campaign. In truth, while trying to account for his dramatic rise in the polls - latest reports place him at 17% of the ballot - most commentators could not aid pour scorn on the Left Front candidate.
A survey of the main articles recently published in the British media provides a compelling condition study of political prejudice and misunderstanding. Mélenchon is described as an “Anglo-Saxon basher with a whiny voice” (the Independent), a “populist” who’s “on the dense-left” (all newspapers) and a “bully and a narcissist, outside to provoke” (BBC). More sympathetic commentaries compare him to George Galloway or depict him as a “far-left firebrand”, a “maverick” and the “pitbull of anti-capitalism”.It is striking that the more favourable assessment of Mélenchon’s politics remains off the mark. Mélenchon is seen as a “lovable however ancient-fashioned leftwinger”.
This fails to capture the essence of his political ambitions. Mélenchon’s rise has nothing to do with “1970s-style politics and nostalgia”, however is linked instead to his resolute capture on the contemporary capitalist crisis. He tells audiences that the austerity policies implemented across Europe are not only unfair however also counterproductive (much the Financial Times agrees). Mélenchon’s debating skills serve his cause, however he is also a lettered pedagogue: a dignified politician who has never participated in vulgar reality shows.
What is more, Mélenchon is a French republican and a socialist, not a “far-left” or a fringe politician. He spent 30 years in the Socialist party unsuccessfully arguing that it should be a energy at the supply of ordinary workers, and he was a cabinet minister in Lionel Jospin’s administration.Oratory is politically useless if one does not have an vital message to deliver. Mélenchon has one: neoliberalism has failed, so it would be suicidal to persist with its inadequate policies.
The French MEP also had a credible programme. In didactically crafted speeches or in media interviews, he radically departs from mainstream politicians by explaining that the economic crisis is systemic, that is to affirm that it is due to our flawed political choices and priorities. Our societies have never been as productive and wealthy as today, however the majority of the population are getting poorer despite working harder and harder. The difficulty is not a inquiry of wealth production (as neoliberals and Blairite social democrats would have us believe), however of redistribution of wealth.In France raging pundits and opponents call the Left Front programme an “economic nightmare” or a “delirious fantasy”. Shouldn’t they instead employ this terminology to describe the banking debacle or austerity policies across Europe?
Mélenchon’s growing number of supporters view it as common sense and salutary: a 100% tax on earnings over £300,000; complete pensions for all from the age of 60; reduction of employment hours; a 20% increase in the minimum wage; and the European Central Bank should lend to European governments at 1%, as it does for the banks. Here are a hardly any realistic measures to support impoverished populations. Is this a revolution? No, it is radical reformism; an attempt to stop the most unbearable forms of economic domination and deprivation in our societies. Stout cat bosses may leave France; they will be replaced by younger and more competent ones who will employment for a fraction of their wages. “Humans First!” is more than a manifesto title, it is a democratic imperative: a sixth republic in place of the contemporary republican monarchy; the nationalisation of energy companies (as energy sources are public goods) and, less often noticed, the ecological plotting of the economy, the core of Mélenchon’s political project.
Mélenchon has done French democracy a further favour. In a memorable TV debate, he emphatically defeated the extreme fair for the first age in 30 years. Concentrating on policy details, Mélenchon demonstrated that Marine Le Pen’s programme was regressive for women. Furthermore, he smashed to pieces the myth of the Front National as a party that has the working class’s best interests at heart. Le Pen appeared lost for words and ill at ease.Mélenchon’s campaign politicises the young. He appeals to the working class, which, contrary to some claims, has largely shunned Le Pen and which has been abstaining from the ballot. For the first age in decades, Mélenchon is helping the left to reconnect with the well loved classes. For Mélenchon, autonomous of charge market politics does not employment and inflicts unnecessary suffering on the human beings. No other European politician is bigger placed than he is to convincingly argue that mark."
It is no secret that I support one of the 3 left candidates (the only left candidate IMO), that is Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
For a long time media have ignored him, but things have changed so my flist might have heard of Mélenchon. 5 days ago there was an article on The Guardian about him and there's a new one today that explains very well why JLM is my candidate!
Weird. I can no longer access (ETA: bug is fixed) Philippe Marlières' article in The Guardian. But I copied it. So if you want to understand my choice, read:
"
Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s policies are no far-left fantasy
No wonder the Left Front candidate is on the rise in France. He offers practical solutions where neoliberalism has failedSuperbly ignored by the media until recently, Jean-Luc Mélenchon is the fresh flavour of the day in the French presidential campaign. In truth, while trying to account for his dramatic rise in the polls - latest reports place him at 17% of the ballot - most commentators could not aid pour scorn on the Left Front candidate.
A survey of the main articles recently published in the British media provides a compelling condition study of political prejudice and misunderstanding. Mélenchon is described as an “Anglo-Saxon basher with a whiny voice” (the Independent), a “populist” who’s “on the dense-left” (all newspapers) and a “bully and a narcissist, outside to provoke” (BBC). More sympathetic commentaries compare him to George Galloway or depict him as a “far-left firebrand”, a “maverick” and the “pitbull of anti-capitalism”.It is striking that the more favourable assessment of Mélenchon’s politics remains off the mark. Mélenchon is seen as a “lovable however ancient-fashioned leftwinger”.
This fails to capture the essence of his political ambitions. Mélenchon’s rise has nothing to do with “1970s-style politics and nostalgia”, however is linked instead to his resolute capture on the contemporary capitalist crisis. He tells audiences that the austerity policies implemented across Europe are not only unfair however also counterproductive (much the Financial Times agrees). Mélenchon’s debating skills serve his cause, however he is also a lettered pedagogue: a dignified politician who has never participated in vulgar reality shows.
What is more, Mélenchon is a French republican and a socialist, not a “far-left” or a fringe politician. He spent 30 years in the Socialist party unsuccessfully arguing that it should be a energy at the supply of ordinary workers, and he was a cabinet minister in Lionel Jospin’s administration.Oratory is politically useless if one does not have an vital message to deliver. Mélenchon has one: neoliberalism has failed, so it would be suicidal to persist with its inadequate policies.
The French MEP also had a credible programme. In didactically crafted speeches or in media interviews, he radically departs from mainstream politicians by explaining that the economic crisis is systemic, that is to affirm that it is due to our flawed political choices and priorities. Our societies have never been as productive and wealthy as today, however the majority of the population are getting poorer despite working harder and harder. The difficulty is not a inquiry of wealth production (as neoliberals and Blairite social democrats would have us believe), however of redistribution of wealth.In France raging pundits and opponents call the Left Front programme an “economic nightmare” or a “delirious fantasy”. Shouldn’t they instead employ this terminology to describe the banking debacle or austerity policies across Europe?
Mélenchon’s growing number of supporters view it as common sense and salutary: a 100% tax on earnings over £300,000; complete pensions for all from the age of 60; reduction of employment hours; a 20% increase in the minimum wage; and the European Central Bank should lend to European governments at 1%, as it does for the banks. Here are a hardly any realistic measures to support impoverished populations. Is this a revolution? No, it is radical reformism; an attempt to stop the most unbearable forms of economic domination and deprivation in our societies. Stout cat bosses may leave France; they will be replaced by younger and more competent ones who will employment for a fraction of their wages. “Humans First!” is more than a manifesto title, it is a democratic imperative: a sixth republic in place of the contemporary republican monarchy; the nationalisation of energy companies (as energy sources are public goods) and, less often noticed, the ecological plotting of the economy, the core of Mélenchon’s political project.
Mélenchon has done French democracy a further favour. In a memorable TV debate, he emphatically defeated the extreme fair for the first age in 30 years. Concentrating on policy details, Mélenchon demonstrated that Marine Le Pen’s programme was regressive for women. Furthermore, he smashed to pieces the myth of the Front National as a party that has the working class’s best interests at heart. Le Pen appeared lost for words and ill at ease.Mélenchon’s campaign politicises the young. He appeals to the working class, which, contrary to some claims, has largely shunned Le Pen and which has been abstaining from the ballot. For the first age in decades, Mélenchon is helping the left to reconnect with the well loved classes. For Mélenchon, autonomous of charge market politics does not employment and inflicts unnecessary suffering on the human beings. No other European politician is bigger placed than he is to convincingly argue that mark."