Jean-Marie Le Pen is dead. The leader of the French far right for decades made his mark on political life by notably succeeding in being qualified for the second round of a presidential election won by Jacques Chirac with 82%. But no, Jean-Marie Le Pen is not a figure in French political life! It is only a construction, a tool, whose avowed objective was, initially, to make the right ineligible.
But constantly playing the Le Pen card led to his establishment in the political landscape, transforming the latter from an extra into a recurring character adept at provocation and then into a real supporting role. This emphasis coupled with a slow trivialization took place at a historical moment when capitalism was carrying out a profound transformation further accelerated by the fall of the Soviet Union. Neoliberalism and capitalist globalization are shaping a world that is trying to close the chapter opened with the end of the Second World War, which consecrated the triumph of the State, political sovereignty, redistribution…
In France, at the same time, it was the erasure of the program of the National Council of the Resistance which was the objective. Le Pen will also be used for this. The racism and hatred of immigrants and Muslims that he professes will be the first building blocks of continuous propaganda against a so-called “foreign invasion” that generates insecurity and causes the disappearance of a fantasized identity.
This speech is a wedge driven into the principle of equal rights. A corner on which the bourgeoisie and the right have been methodically tapping for the last thirty years. Immigration has become the key to attacking the rights of the unemployed, national solidarity, and dismantling public services accused of being overly generous systems creating “air gaps” for immigration.
Le Pen senior was a formidable tool in the hands of the bourgeoisie to undermine the French social model and break solidarity. Le Pen daughter has climbed several levels. It has become the favorite card of a system that only relies on division, hatred and fear.
Faced with the extreme right, don’t give up!
It is step by step, argument against argument that we must fight the extreme right. This is what we try to do every day in Humanity.
Faced with incessant attacks from racists and hate mongers: support us! Together, let’s bring another voice to this increasingly nauseating public debate.
I want to know more.
Swiss
