The final
round of presidential elections in France took place on 7 May. Emmanuel Macron
won by a two-to-one margin against the fascist candidate Marine Le Pen. A World
To Win News Service will be reporting on this. For the moment the main points
to note are:
1) Macron was the imperialist “consensus” candidate, around which the great bulk of the French capitalist ruling class and its political representatives rallied. His victory is in no way a victory for progress or enlightenment.
2) Millions of people voted against Le Pen even while rejecting Macron's avowedly pro-capitalist politics. But this has not removed the danger of fascism. The election process has normalized the fascist right-wing in France (once considered "fringe" extremists) and further legitimized its efforts to reach political power.
3) The election of Macron will mean the continuation and acceleration of right-wing politics in France and internationally. He has pledged, among many other things, to rapidly remove rejected asylum seekers, throw many more petty law-breakers into prison, and slash civil service jobs, social benefits and social protection.
4) The people in France, as elsewhere, need a completely different, revolutionary communist solution to the choice between the continuation of the capitalist-imperialist status quo and a fascist alternative that would actually intensify the ugliness of the same capitalist-imperialist system.
1) Macron was the imperialist “consensus” candidate, around which the great bulk of the French capitalist ruling class and its political representatives rallied. His victory is in no way a victory for progress or enlightenment.
2) Millions of people voted against Le Pen even while rejecting Macron's avowedly pro-capitalist politics. But this has not removed the danger of fascism. The election process has normalized the fascist right-wing in France (once considered "fringe" extremists) and further legitimized its efforts to reach political power.
3) The election of Macron will mean the continuation and acceleration of right-wing politics in France and internationally. He has pledged, among many other things, to rapidly remove rejected asylum seekers, throw many more petty law-breakers into prison, and slash civil service jobs, social benefits and social protection.
4) The people in France, as elsewhere, need a completely different, revolutionary communist solution to the choice between the continuation of the capitalist-imperialist status quo and a fascist alternative that would actually intensify the ugliness of the same capitalist-imperialist system.
Pix
by Al Jazeera, gettyimages.com.
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