Archive for the ‘Emmanuel Macron (President)’ Category
French parliamentary elections : Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party might form a government – Undocumented Immigrants “risk being massively expelled”
The French magazine Mediapart listens to undocumented immigrants :
Link :
Snap legislative elections: Those who fear their future under a far-right French government
The decision by President Emmanuel Macron to hold snap legislative elections in four weeks’ time, a move taken on Sunday immediately after the landslide victory of the French far-right in European Parliament elections, has had the effect of a political bombshell. Not least because it now appears possible that the far-right Rassemblement National party, riding high on the results of Sunday’s poll, may gain enough seats in parliament to form a government. For some in France, that prospect has made them fearful over their future. Mediapart has been listening to their concerns.
Since the victory of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party in Sunday’s European Parliament elections in France, and the subsequent decision by Emmanuel Macron to call snap general elections, in which the RN is hoping to gain an absolute majority, Oumar fears the worst.
“We’ll no longer have the possibility of getting our papers sorted out,” he said. “We risk being massively expelled.” The “we” he refers to are the ‘undocumented’ immigrants who hope to one day receive legal residency and working status. Oumar arrived in France from Mali in 2017. In his thirties, living in the Paris region, he finds work on a temporary basis, most often in logistics. “We come home late in the evening, we pay contributions, but we have no right to anything if we have an accident,” he said. “But the far-right, through populism, presents us as people who want to profit from [social] aid.”
As the father of a child who has French nationality, Oumar officially applied for residence and work permits in February, but has not yet been given a response. Since Sunday evening, his concerns have heightened.
Many potential targets of a far-right government are unsure of their future. Smail, a 36-year-old Algerian, said that on Sunday evening he told himself “it was perhaps the moment to request French nationality, because afterwards the doors will be closed”. He has a renewable ten-year residency permit, has a full-time, open-ended working contract in the fibre-optic cable business, and owns a property.
Read the rest of this entry »New French popular front (uniting trade unions and entire significant left) – against Marine Le Pen and Putin’s fascism : ‘unconditional support for Ukraine against Putin’s aggression’.
Everyone on the left in Ireland and across the globe should warmly welcome this French initiative.
The New Popular Front in France, which unites trade unions, ATTAC, the Socialist Party, the Greens, the Communist Party, France Unbowed (Melenchon) and the NPA [NOUVEAU PARTI ANTICAPITALISTE] (the entire significant left) against the fascist National Rally, includes in it’s platform ‘unconditional support for Ukraine against Putin’s aggression’.
Links :
New French Popular Front – Wikipedia
New French Popular Front website
General Mobilisation Against the far right and Macron, the Popular Front! (NPA)
To defeat Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression, and that he answers for his crimes before international justice: unfailingly defend the sovereignty and freedom of the Ukrainian people as well as the integrity of its borders, by the delivery of necessary weapons, the cancellation of its foreign debt, the seizure of the assets of the oligarchs who contribute to the Russian war effort in the framework allowed by international law, the dispatch of peacekeepers to secure nuclear power plants, in an international context of tension and war on the European continent, and work towards the return of peace.
A June 14 poll shows Marine Le Pen’s far-right, Putin-friendly National Rally at 29.5%, the left-wing New Popular Front at 28.5%, and Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renew at 18%. The winner-take-all district elections for the 577 seats in the French National Assembly will be held on June 30. Run-offs between the top two if no one wins a majority in the first round will be held on July 7.
Learning to Swim – “an argument against a retreat from broad parties and electoral work” – Paul Murphy TD
Paul Murphy TD (People Before Profit, Dublin South-West) has written an interesting article :
Learning to Swim,;Paul Murphy; December 31 2023
It is published on the ISJ site, a British website :
“International Socialism is associated with the [British] Socialist Workers Party, but articles express the opinions of individual authors unless otherwise stated. We welcome proposals for articles and reviews for International Socialism..”
Paul Murphy is replying to a Joseph Choonara article; link here Revolutionaries and Elections
Here is Paul Murphy’s core argument :
Read the rest of this entry »“Hate campaign over asylum seekers’ hostel drives French mayor out of town”. – Irish Parallels? – Grim Weekend in Dublin.
Contributors to the Cedar Lounge Blog are discussing a grim weekend in Dublin and other parts of Ireland. Racists are active :
That was a grim weekend in Dublin.
There have been confrontations between anti-immigration protestors and gardaí after protester marched to the International Protection Office on Mount Street in Dublin city centre.
Since March a growing number of tents have been pitched outside the office and in surrounding streets.
The protestors shouted at asylum seekers, telling them they were not welcome and there were also confrontations with gar
https://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2023/05/15/a-different-strategy-from-the-protestors/#comment-828054
Contributors are asking if similar events are occurring elsewhere – this report from France concerns Yannick Morez, mayor of a small town in north-west France. Arsonist Racists have forced Morez to leave his elected office and town while the central government fails to confront the far-right criminals. There are disturbing parallels with current events in Ireland.
Hate campaign over asylum seekers’ hostel drives French mayor out of town
The mayor of a small town in north-west France announced his resignation this week following a vicious, months-long hate campaign whipped up by the far-right over the creation of a hostel for asylum seekers in a residential area close to a school. Yannick Morez, who is to move out of the town he has lived in for 32 years, said his decision was prompted by an arson attack on his home and the disinterest of the authorities to the successive threats made against him. The resignation caused a political storm this week, over both the apparent lack of support and protection given to the mayor, and the rising tensions and climate of violence in French political life.
Read the rest of this entry »French Lessons for Irish Forelock-Tuggers : “We are a republican country. Why should I pay tribute to a foreign monarch?”
The Irish élite and its satellites 🛰 are tugging the forelock to the British Monarchy after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. French left-wing politicians are having none of it. The message must spread in Ireland, and other parts of the world. “We are a republican country. Why should I pay tribute to a foreign monarch?”
Several left-wing mayors are defying government orders to fly flags at half-mast for the Queen’s funeral, earning support from French people who say President Macron and the media are lavishing excessive attention on the British monarchy.
Report Source : The Times (England, September 12 2022) Charles Bremmer, Paris.
The row was opened when Yann Galut, mayor of the central city of Bourges, and Patrick Proisy, mayor of Faches-Thumesnil, on the Belgian border, announced that they would disobey the instruction from Élisabeth Borne, the prime minister, that town halls and other public buildings must lower the Tricolour to half-mast next Monday, the day of the funeral.
Read the rest of this entry »“The biggest and most destructive war in Europe since the Second World War. A war waged for more than four months against Ukraine, the second largest country in Europe, by Putin’s Russia, the largest country in Europe!” – Demands that the left should put forward
The author of this report is Stefan Bekier, a former left opposition activist in Poland against the dictatorship of the “Communist” Party and an activist of Ensemble! in France https://fourth.international/fr/europe/88.
Source : https://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article63883
The majority of the left in France – we’ll leave aside the sectors that openly support Putin – condemns this war of aggression by Russian imperialism, demands the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. But at the same time, it remains paralysed and voiceless, abandoning the field of defence of Ukraine to Macron, to the bourgeoisie.
A deafening, shocking silence
Presidential and parliamentary elections are traditionally the moment when strategic priorities are debated and compared, including those concerning the international situation. But, for most of the left in France, it is clear that Putin’s Russian war against Ukraine was not part of its strategic priorities during these elections. Probably, to avoid the very important divergences on this issue between the different components of the left-wing coalition Nupes from coming to light during the election campaign and weakening the very promising new alliance. In particular, in relation to the very controversial positions of part of the left on Ukraine and Russia since the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Donbass in 2014. So much so that during the elections the subject practically disappeared within the left
Read the rest of this entry »“Macron’s Régime in Disarray” – French Parliamentary Elections Destabilise the government run by President Emmanuel Macron
The June 19 2022 French parliamentary election has destabilised the government of president Emmanuel Macron. Dave Kellaway offers an initial assessment. We also recommend other assesments available at the Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières website http://www.europe-solidaire.org/
http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article62985
http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article62984
| Coalitions and parties | 2017 seats | 2022 seats |
|---|---|---|
| Macron coalition* | 345 | 246 |
| NUPES** | 60 | 142 |
| Rassemblement Nationale (National Rally) Le Pen | 8 | 89 |
| Les Republicans (LR)-UDI | 100 | 64 |
| Left (non-Nupes | . | 13 |
| Others | . | 23 |
2022 Abstentions: 53.77 of registered voters
* The presidential coalition includes LREM-Renaissance (160 MPs), François Bayrou’s Modem (48 MPs) and Edouard Philippe’s Horizon (28 MPs).
** New Popular, Social and Ecological Union (NUPES) : La France Insoumise (LFI, France Unbowed ) 72, Socialist Party (PS) 24, EELV (Greens) 23 Communist Party (PC) 12 plus independent lefts (mostly overseas).
Figures updated by ESSF taking into account the labeling done by Le Monde.
There are 13 independent deputies from the left and 9 from the right who may join a parliamentary group in the next few days.
Please join Anti*Capitalist Resistance on Thursday, June 23 2022 at 19:30 BST for a discussion with Penny Duggan of the New AntiCapitalist Party on France After the Elections. Please register here.
All elections reflect political and social reality. Normally this is distorted and does not immediately reveal the relationship of class forces in society due to the power and ideological systems of the ruling class. Undemocratic electoral systems can under-represent or over-represent different political forces. Sometimes elections reveal a lot more of a political crisis or of the conflicts in society. Often the election does not have a very direct impact on the class struggles of society. Yesterday in France the parliamentary elections both exposed the political crisis of the Macron regime and made a difference in the ability of working people to defend their interests.
Read the rest of this entry »“The priority is to win against Macron’s candidate, but also against the PS candidate, who broke the agreement here“ – Interview about Danielle Simonnet, NUPES Candidate, 20th arrondissement of Paris
This is a fascinating story from the current French parliament election campaign. Danielle Simonnet is a NUPES candidate in a constituency where Jean Luc Melenchon won 45 percent of the vote in the recent Presidential Election. NUPES brings together many forces based on the left – including the Parti Socialiste (PS), a party like Keir Starmer’s British Labour Party and the Irish Labour Party.
Despite the NUPES agreement, the PS is running against Danielle Simonnet.
Jeremy Corbyn, the former left-wing leader of the British Labour Party, is actively backing the campaign of Danielle Simonnet.
A correspondent observes : “Comrade Jeremy Corbyn, with Danièle Obono, came to support @TAG’s candidacy in the 15th district of Paris. International support from a true socialist, shamefully attacked in England for his positions for Palestine!!!! #DanielleSimonnet #JeremyCorbyn #DanieleObono”
The Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste (NPA), once the agreement with NUPES failed [1] decided to support candidates of different types depending on the local situation. [2] International Viewpoint has already published an article on a broad non-aligned candidacy “Raphaël Arnault, the antifa who wants to be an MP”. This interview with Penelope Duggan, member of the NPA leadership and activist in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, gives a view of NPA involvement in a NUPES campaign.
Can you give us a quick introduction to the candidacy?
Read the rest of this entry »
Tomás Ó Flatharta 