“Democracy is not just the art of accepting that you’ve won, it’s also the humility of accepting that you’ve lost,” insists Jean-Luc Mélenchon. He was speaking on Saturday at the first demonstration since President Emmanuel Macron nominated right-winger Michel Barnier as France’s prime minister.
One hundred sixty thousand people, according to France Insoumise — twenty-six thousand according to the authorities — came to voice their anger at a denial of democracy. When student organizations and France Insoumise called the rally the previous week, it had been meant to pressure the president to name a left-wing premier from the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) alliance. This was the coalition that elected the biggest number of MPs after Macron called a snap election in June.
Holding a cardboard sign with the septuagenarian Barnier’s picture next to one of Joe Biden — “It’s the oldest Prime Minister the Fifth Republic ever had” — and a few headlines from the day of his appointment, teacher David Brunet said the choice was “a whole bunch of bullshit.”
“For now, [Marine Le Pen’s] Rassemblement National is going to be the referee, if they don’t issue a ‘no-confidence’ vote against Barnier’s government. The Left alone won’t be enough to overthrow it,” the protester explains.
In this situation, he said it was hard to see a strategy emerge from parliament. “There won’t be new elections at least a year from now, they’ll be able to conduct a right-wing and far-right policy using 49.3 [passing bills by decree] so the street is where we have to be to express our dissatisfaction.”
The election result in July left France uncertain as to what would come next. The NFP gathering the main left-wing parties…
La suite est à lire sur: jacobin.com
Auteur: Juliette Gache
