like holy fuck it's SO fucking fascist, like more than any other european country. wtf happened?
Variety of reasons, historical, etc..
The current government blew away the old two main parties (""socialists"" and republicans) thanks to Macron being a very connected person who knows all the billionaires (who own basically ALL the media) and his campaign was propped up entirely on the media's constant barrage of garbage, and they've been going mask off ultra-neoliberalism for 5 years now, and his strategy also involves normalizing and propping up the far-right as an electoral adversary to kill the left and make the center the only "barrier" so people vote for it. The far-right has never been more normalized and "respectable" as seen in the media, which has dramatically shifted the general discourse and opinions. Paradoxically, the trust in the gov and trust in the media is at an all time, never-before-seen level.
I wouldn't say it's more fascist than other European countries like Germany, or the UK, but the changes have been rapid in such a short span of time. It's definitely barreling towards fascism but it's still very much into neoliberalism currently.
The electoral game is rigged and almost entirely blocked because of the media's complete stranglehold on the country. There were no coherent, efficient and trusted alternatives for a long time (the collapse of the ""socialist party"" was honestly a good one, fuck em, they stopped being socialists a long time ago). There is one now in LFI but the movement is very young, started in 2016 (although others might disagree with me here, if you do: please look at it materially and tell me LFI isn't by FAR the most consistent, correct and better placed party, compare their program to others and the way that program was built and is updated, realize you are not immune to propaganda, look at their international friends and inspirations, look at the specific fear they create in the bourgeois bloc, also stop being whiny babies and use them to agitate, organize and build upon, doesn't even matter if they fucking lose. I don't care if you don't like Mélenchon). LFI is still slowly building a base and is doing as well as they can but they are under a constant barrage of filth from the mainstream media and it's extremely difficult for them to break through it and the negative opinion it generates.
Don't confuse france's current gov and media (which has a huge influence on the discourse and opinions, that's true) with "France" as like... a people. While things definitely are going to shit (collapsing capitalism and neoliberalism is fooling no one, france unwilling to recognize and address it colonial past, using islamophobia as a scape-goat, SUPER normalizing the far-right constantly in the media, etc..), the anger and unrest has reached insane levels. Stuff is just boiling under the surface. The yellow-vest were a confused and altogether way too "nice" (naive, unorganized, etc..) spontaneous explosion, and that experience radicalized large chunks of the population at lightning speed, but it's fucking NOTHING compared to the pressure-cooker that's currently being heated.
Who knows how long it'll last, could be months, a few years, more than that... france might have its trump years (le pen) or even during a new Macron term, and precipitate into an explosion of anger and a potential for left revival like in other places, or stuff might move/blow-up before that. In any case like everywhere else in the "west", things will get way worse before they get better.
Sorry this is a bit of a rambling post.
like everywhere else in the “west”, things will get way worse before they get better.
oh boy, I still have years (maybe decades) of this horse shit ahead of me...
people used to go left when they were angry, now they go right (the "socialists" fucked up)
rassemblement national does seem to be more popular than the afd and the bnp
Considering African history, France seemed to have toppled just as many third world countries as the US.
That's certainly an overstatement, but I haven't heard of Spain or Poland doing anything similar abroad in the 20th century.
The Spanish got most of their colonies seized and had to give up the remaining colonies to the other European powers and even America long before the post-colonial period which starts in the 60s. By WW2 they were largely picked over.
Spain did try to hold onto Morocco in the Rif War during the 20s and that was really their last hurrah as an empire .
And Poland wasn't even independent when the century began, and was part of the Soviet bloc after WW2.
Poland does try though within months of becoming a nation again, annexing the Western Ukrainian People's Republic and laying claim to any land they once held or felt they should hold including chunks of Belarus, Ukraine, most of the Lithuanian-Beylarussian SSR (only a bit of Lithuania taken but should count as part of the annexation attempt and success of much of Belarus being occupied), and parts of Galacia, Carpathia, and Ruthenia claimed by Ukraine, local slavic ethnicities. though handed over by Romania and Hungary. Lithuania again when that was an independent state and the Soviet war was over. Annexing two territories and not being on official speaking terms till 1938 over the matter.
Czechoslovakia invaded them over border conflicts and was pretty clearly in the wrong, however then Poland did a non-aggression pact with Germany in '38 to take back all of Zaolzie and assist in the destruction of Czechoslovakia.
The socialist there are basically Democrats and have totally failed to offer any political project and have joined in the neoliberal project. The workers left and right (white French) have been bought of by labor peace and are more interested in keeping their piece of the pie (from immigrants). The center right and center left have consolidated in Macron and are only interested in further pursuing neoliberalism with a woke veneer. The radical left are ostricized politically while the right is coddled. Not looking good...
