This is the paradox of the current neofascist sequence: a surge of the far right everywhere in rural areas but in large cities which keep the scores of the far right at their lowest.
This is the case in Nantes, with a Popular Front candidate elected in the first round and the others almost certain to win in a week, while the Assembly risks falling into the hands of the RN. This territorial divide, so deep, shows that two countries coexist and face each other.
In Nantes as elsewhere, the mobilization is being organized. This Sunday, June 30, a thousand people gathered at Place Talensac at the call of unions and different organizations, to witness the electoral results. A way to not suffer the situation in isolation. The verdict of the ballot boxes, projected on a screen, was unfortunately feared. It was confirmed: Bolloré’s intensive propaganda, the application of far-right measures by the government and the demonization of the left worked: 13 million votes for the Pétainists.
After the shock, followed by a speech, came anger. A demonstration, started prematurely and without real objectives, brought hundreds of people into the streets of the city center. The long parade continued until 11 p.m., concluded with salvos of tear gas grenades as they approached a luxury hotel.
Electorally, the fate of metropolises like Nantes is already written: these territories will remain on the left and massively reject the RN. However, the neo-fascist regime will concentrate its repressive forces in the cities and unleash its violence in its peripheries. We must prepare to resist.
And to face the nightmare that is coming, ritualized demonstrations will not be enough.
Images : @olimouazan, CA
