It has been a partial victory for the left because the its shows the unpopularity of the government, has increased it, and forced the Republicains to not vote with the gov on it.
Macron personally doesn't give a fuck what most of the population thinks, honestly. He's coasted both elections on the basis that the left was divided, too soc-dem and in the end just not strong enough, and the the broad liberal majority will still vote for him as default, and above all that perhaps most people voted for him just to keep a fascist out of the Elysée.
France is a land of contrasts, both a country of radicalism and reaction. There's an intense, dialectical relationship between the two in French history. Like check the 30s here? Shit was crazy. Obvs there's the Revolution and the Commune.
Honestly the areas in Europe where I think there's the most radical potential are France, Ireland, and perhaps Italy (alot of young italians are radicalized).
Yeah there has also been a massive swing to the far right, and depressingly in the last elections this was very noticeable in the South.
They have also been strengthened into the North.
Itaky is more fully developed along fascisation, but the elements are very present in France as well. I’d actually be more worried about it in France tbh, despite also thinking that prospects for the left are probably better here than in Italy.
I mean it more in the sense that the youth of Italy have definitely been very radicalized, and there are still quite a very hard leftists. In any case I find the Italian left more radical and dynamic than other lefts in Europe save France, but I could be wrong on current prospects and the difficulties under Meloni’s (still toeing the neoliberal line) gov
I don't think it's so much that Macron doesn't care because the opposition is weak. As long as they don't assassinate him pissing off literally every French person will lead to a better life for him than pissing off the banks would.
Sure. The pressure of his actual financial and corporate backers is essential. But I think they also overplayed their hand a bit with this.
Also tbh I don’t even think Macron would care that much about handing over government tot he RN, who will likely continue the basic economic policies of his backers but crack down on the left, Muslims and immigrants. He can’t run again so either he has to pass it on to someone else in financier party Renaissance or accept the harder right taking the reigns.
The worst case scenario is that the authoritarian neoliberal establishment sides more fully with, and so swings to supporting the RN in response to a growing left political power but before the latter can properly organize and provide a political alternative.
Obvs this is all still in the ultimately limited game of electoralism.
I suspect that it’s going to come to a head this decade where the liberals will have really exhausted any remaining goodwill from the electorate due to their economic policies and the election will eventually come down to the left vs the far right. Unfortunately even if the left wing bloc wins it will probably be very Sox dem, rather than revolutionary.
France is a land of contrasts, both a country of radicalism and reaction. There’s an intense, dialectical relationship between the two in French history. Like check the 30s here? Shit was crazy. Obvs there’s the Revolution and the Commune.
It's been a long time since I read The Eighteenth Brumaire but I feel Marx also made this exact same observation over 150 years ago. The reaction runs as strong as the radicalism.
It has been a partial victory for the left because the its shows the unpopularity of the government, has increased it, and forced the Republicains to not vote with the gov on it.
Macron personally doesn't give a fuck what most of the population thinks, honestly. He's coasted both elections on the basis that the left was divided, too soc-dem and in the end just not strong enough, and the the broad liberal majority will still vote for him as default, and above all that perhaps most people voted for him just to keep a fascist out of the Elysée.
France is a land of contrasts, both a country of radicalism and reaction. There's an intense, dialectical relationship between the two in French history. Like check the 30s here? Shit was crazy. Obvs there's the Revolution and the Commune.
Honestly the areas in Europe where I think there's the most radical potential are France, Ireland, and perhaps Italy (alot of young italians are radicalized).
When I left Italy in 2015 the winds were strongly changing towards fascism and Lega Nord support tbh.
Yeah there has also been a massive swing to the far right, and depressingly in the last elections this was very noticeable in the South.
They have also been strengthened into the North.
Itaky is more fully developed along fascisation, but the elements are very present in France as well. I’d actually be more worried about it in France tbh, despite also thinking that prospects for the left are probably better here than in Italy.
I mean it more in the sense that the youth of Italy have definitely been very radicalized, and there are still quite a very hard leftists. In any case I find the Italian left more radical and dynamic than other lefts in Europe save France, but I could be wrong on current prospects and the difficulties under Meloni’s (still toeing the neoliberal line) gov
I don't think it's so much that Macron doesn't care because the opposition is weak. As long as they don't assassinate him pissing off literally every French person will lead to a better life for him than pissing off the banks would.
Sure. The pressure of his actual financial and corporate backers is essential. But I think they also overplayed their hand a bit with this.
Also tbh I don’t even think Macron would care that much about handing over government tot he RN, who will likely continue the basic economic policies of his backers but crack down on the left, Muslims and immigrants. He can’t run again so either he has to pass it on to someone else in financier party Renaissance or accept the harder right taking the reigns. The worst case scenario is that the authoritarian neoliberal establishment sides more fully with, and so swings to supporting the RN in response to a growing left political power but before the latter can properly organize and provide a political alternative. Obvs this is all still in the ultimately limited game of electoralism.
I suspect that it’s going to come to a head this decade where the liberals will have really exhausted any remaining goodwill from the electorate due to their economic policies and the election will eventually come down to the left vs the far right. Unfortunately even if the left wing bloc wins it will probably be very Sox dem, rather than revolutionary.
It's been a long time since I read The Eighteenth Brumaire but I feel Marx also made this exact same observation over 150 years ago. The reaction runs as strong as the radicalism.