French Politics/Elections and the pro-russian National Front

Scratch a Liberal: European Elite Swings Right to Crush the Left, by Ian DeMartino for Sputnikglobe.com. 09.21.2024.

For years the neoliberal ruling class in Europe has warned about what they describe as the far-right parties in their countries. They cautioned that parties like the Alternative for Germany (AfD), and the National Rally (RN) in France represent a dangerous and potentially violent swing toward fascism.

Despite years of hand-wringing about the populist right in Europe, the elite in many European nations have proven their preference for those groups over any momentum by leftists who will implement policies that will match the EU’s liberal marketing materials.

The EU presents itself as a beacon of democracy, with free speech and a vehement commitment to human rights. But their actions have never matched that propaganda.
“What we're witnessing is the failure of the European dream, if you like. The idea of this community of nations, which at its heart was always a neoliberal financial cabal. And, it's failing. It's falling apart,” explained Phil Kelly, a Belfast-based political commentator and socialist activist told Sputnik’s Political Misfits. “It hasn't delivered in its kind of mythical promises. And the reality of what it's producing is increasingly stark economic failure and decline and declining living standards.”

In France, President Emmanuel Macron appointed centrist-right Michel Barnier as prime minister. Barnier’s party came in fifth during the national elections. The New Popular Front, the leftist party that came in first place, offered several prime minister candidates to Macron, but they were refused. While the French left have drawn up impeachment documents against Macron, the leader of the RN, Marine Le Pen, gave her tacit approval for the Barnier appointment. The sign is clear: Macron will negotiate with the RN, but not the left.

“This guy is an EU stooge, the blandest of the bland, you know, somebody that was probably spawned in a laboratory in Brussels, whose veins pump with blue EU blood. Not someone chosen by the people,” Kelly said of Barnier.

“If France is going down a route with Macron…where he desperately clings to power, clings to preserve his own position for a little longer, the legacy of that is to sow a bitter harvest that one day he will have to deal with, and that is that you're making an enemy of the French people by denying democracy,” Kelly concluded, dubbing Macron “Marie Macronette” as an “isolated political establishment with no connection to the people.”

In Germany, after three people were fatally stabbed at a street festival by a Syrian man who said he was inspired by ISIS* German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party all but adopted the AfD’s immigration policy, closing its borders and ending, at least temporarily, the Schengen-Visiting Zone, which since 1985 has allowed visa-free travel between most EU countries.

“While the kind of conservative center parties and the liberal elites within Europe won't use the extreme rhetoric that you hear from the AfD or Le Pen and France or other far-right groups, their actions really demonstrate that they are the same,” argued Kelly. “And any serious student of history will tell you and understand fully that at times of crisis, liberals will always align with fascists, and that's exactly what we're seeing.”

As the adage goes, scratch a liberal and a fascist bleeds.

Kelly pointed to the ruling parties in Europe allowing migrants to drown in the Mediterranean, supporting terrorist groups in Syria in an attempt to overthrow a sovereign state, supporting and arming neo-fascists in the Ukrainian military, and the support of genocide against the Palestinian people as evidence that the center-left and center-right parties are, at best, no better than the populist right that they say they fear.

“Certainly, the blood soaking their hands is as thick and probably more splattered across their faces than anyone else,” Kelly said.

"This political establishment are every bit as racist, every bit as despicable as the brown-shirted, goose-stepping thugs that they tell you to be scared of. They're one and the same, they rely on each other," he added.

As Europe was falling, Germany, previously the industrial heart of Europe, made no real protest when the Nord Stream pipeline was sabotaged. Many, including Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, pointed their fingers at the United States. Yet Germany –like many EU nations– continues to function as an extension of the United States.

“At that moment, Germany really revealed itself to be a vassal state to the US,” argued Kelly. “You only have to think about the Nord Stream bombing, which devastated the German economy. And yet, the German government, as it pains, said it doesn’t really want to know who is behind that.”

Faced with a failing economy and ineffectual leaders, it is not uncommon for people to turn to populism. The question is what brand of populism they will gravitate towards, right-wing or leftist. Unfortunately, the right wing has gotten a head start in Europe.

[i“My worry here is that Germans who’ve seen their economy collapse, who’ve seen industrial giants like Volkswagen start to struggle, all as a result of the boomerang effect of sanctions and following blindly the US military and economic policy, that’s creating the problem, but you have a narrative where migrants are the scapegoat in Germany,” argued Kelly. "[Germany's] history proves it's a great fan of the scapegoat."[/I]

“The left [in Europe] must find itself in the dark,” Kelly continued. “It needs to stop the circus because a left opposition to this wave of reaction is neither a rainbow postmodernist, clown twerking, to quote from Judith Butler, nor is it a kind of brown-shirted, goose-stepping clown juggling hammer and sickle, where you have a left that kind of masquerades itself as some kind of left-wing fascism.”

Instead, the left needs to focus on economic issues if it wants to stand against the momentum of the right. “This is where we need class-based politics… to be connected to the people, but that connection is not strong enough in Germany. And I hope the [Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, a new leftist party recently launched in Germany] gains ground. I hope it gains momentum because that’s where hope would arise,” concluded Kelly, noting earlier that he did not agree with their migration policies that somewhat mirror the AfD’s.

"But at the moment, the clouds on the horizon are the AfD, and a political establishment who are opening the doors, as I said, and rolling out the red carpet for them to either march into power or have such an influence on the government that it’s indistinguishable,” Kelly warned.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240921/scratch-a-liberal-european-elite-swings-right-to-crush-the-left-1120232539.html

The French have begun to apply to the Russian embassy for residence permits, by Olga Ivanova for VZGLYAD. 10.08.2024.

The French began to contact the Russian embassy after the decree on traditional values.

The Russian Embassy in Paris received about 50 requests from the French for temporary residence permits after the adoption of the decree on support for spiritual and moral values.

The press service of the Russian diplomatic mission stated that the consular department has received about 50 requests so far. Residents of France are requesting additional information on the procedure for issuing temporary residence permits in Russia. In particular, this concerns those who share traditional Russian spiritual and moral values, TASS reports .

The Main Directorate for Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia has begun to record  an increase in the number of applications for temporary residence permits from citizens of countries unfriendly to Russia.

https://vz.ru/news/2024/10/8/1291410.html

Food prices have begun to destroy France, by Valeria Verbinina for VZGLYAD. 10.12.2024.

Mass unrest has broken out in yet another territory left over from France's former imperial past - the Caribbean island of Martinique. The population of this tropical paradise lives in poverty precisely because of the specifics of French laws. What is this all about and why is what is happening a symptom of an extremely dangerous crisis for France?

As Macron and his government struggle to make ends meet and pass next year's budget, the frayed fabric of the French state continues to fray. Unrest is once again flaring up in France's overseas departments. Last time it was New Caledonia, where there is a strong independence movement. Now it is the paradise of Martinique that is ablaze, with protesters attempting to seize the airport.

The reason why it is the overseas territories that are shaking and feverish is simple: the central authorities do not have enough time to purposefully deal with the problems on the very distant outskirts of the former empire. Life in Paris is not the same as life on an island in the Caribbean. And although Martinique is formally French territory, not all the laws of the metropolis apply to it. Or rather, additional ones apply.

For example, for the delivery of goods there from continental France, customs requires a separate tax , and it was created back in the days of King Louis XIV, in 1670. The kings were overthrown, a republic was established, then an empire, then again royal power, then again a republic, again an empire and again a republic, but no one even thought of canceling the tax. As a result, it is still collected not only in Martinique, but also in Guadeloupe, in Guyana, on the islands of Mayotte and Réunion.

In 2022, the tax revenues amounted to 1.64 billion euros, and, as economist Pierre Moscovici explained, they cover as much as a third of local expenses. It would seem that this fact can only be welcomed, but there is one problem: due to the tax on imported goods, prices are rising, and noticeably.

This is especially noticeable, apparently, in Martinique, where local production can only provide exotic fruits, bananas, sugar and rum. The French, famous for their meticulousness, have ensured that different categories of goods are subject to different taxes, and, for example, the tax on imported biscuits is 15%, and on cigarettes – 50%.

On average, food prices in Martinique are 40% higher than in continental France, and there are, of course, fewer opportunities to earn money on the island: only agriculture and tourism. It is not surprising that 27% of the local population lives below the poverty line.

It would seem that the solution is obvious. Since the metropolis is located 8 thousand kilometers away, and Mexico and the USA are nearby, food and everything else can be brought from there, and it will definitely be cheaper. No, the French authorities answer, this cannot be done. Because the EU has one set of standards, and the USA and Mexico have different ones. And the rice there is probably not rice at all, and the potatoes are not potatoes at all, and if the French authorities did not watch vigilantly, the inhabitants of Martinique would eat God knows what, and their whole life would go down the drain.

Worse still, French bureaucrats have managed to extend the overseas tax even to some local produce, including bananas, which have become more expensive than in continental France. So unlike New Caledonia, where many protesters are talking about independence, the unrest in Martinique is primarily economic. As economist Frederic Fara has noted : “Inflation is less carefully controlled here than in the metropolis, and it is much higher. It is an old problem that is not getting the attention it deserves.”

Another part of the problem is that the so-called beke (descendants of the first European colonists) have concentrated all the wealth of the island in their hands, they own plantations, supermarkets and markets. Officially, such privileged citizens account for 1% of the population, about 3 thousand people, but, judging by the words of a local resident, everything is even simpler.


"There is a monopoly of three families that control everything," said Jean-Yves, who preferred not to give his last name. "No matter what kind of business you want to open, you will fail."


The abscess burst in September, and it all started with demonstrations that, of course, led to nothing. Then truck drivers moved their cars to the island's capital, Fort-de-France, to protest the high cost of living.

But the protests were not the only ones. Nighttime clashes began, as in New Caledonia – with barricades, burning cars, looting shops. Prefect Jean-Christophe Bouvier imposed a curfew and roused the entire gendarmerie, but if this helped, it was short-lived. Protesters began shooting at law enforcement officers, and several were wounded.

At the same time, what could be called the movement’s political wing, the Rally for the Defense of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources (RPPRAC), came to the fore. It was led by 42-year-old Rodrigue Petitot, a colourful character who had had run-ins with the law in the past, including for drug trafficking. The main demand was that food in Martinique cost the same as in mainland France, and the authorities promised to begin talks in early October on abolishing the controversial tax on thousands of products. The key word here is “begin”, which, when applied to the French, does not necessarily mean any result.

As a result, the Martinique authorities announced that they needed to study the issue in more detail, and information leaked to the press that even if the tax on essential goods was reduced, it would be raised on everything else. And the central authorities want to cancel the controversial tax altogether and introduce a 20% VAT instead (the current VAT in Martinique is calculated at a very low rate of 2.1% or 5.5%). In other words, residents will still be fleeced, albeit under other pretexts.

As a result, unrest flared up again, and as rumours spread that reinforcements were to arrive on the island to restore order – 300 or 350 people – crowds of protesters flooded the airport. As a result, three civilian planes with 1,117 passengers on board were diverted to Guadeloupe airport, the prefect reimposed a curfew and issued a decree prohibiting any gatherings or demonstrations.

Overseas Territories Minister François-Noël Buffet, as usual, "very strongly" condemned the unrest and called on his fellow citizens to "solve problems through dialogue." However, dialogue implies a desire to reach an agreement, which is not the case. Yes, the problem is discussed, but then they shrug their shoulders and sweep it under the carpet.

Meanwhile, France's overseas departments are experiencing a series of crises related both to a lower standard of living and to the specifics of local conditions.


Since May, clashes have continued in New Caledonia, sometimes escalating, sometimes subsiding. In September, there was an outbreak of unrest in Guadeloupe, and now they are talking about organizing a movement against high prices. In Mayotte, it was only announced on October 7 that the cholera epidemic on the island had ended – a disease that had been completely forgotten in the European part of France.

In Réunion, protests are limited to demonstrations organized by trade unions, but the cause of discontent is the same as in Martinique: food is 37% more expensive here than in France. In addition, in the spring, a wave of clashes between rival gangs swept across the island. And since the French state is sort of present but does nothing, one problem will pile up on another until citizens ask themselves whether such a state is necessary at all.

So far, Martinique is only demanding lower prices, but this is only the beginning. The crisis of the French economy means that the overseas departments, as the most vulnerable links in the system, will experience it to the fullest extent. And then it will not be only New Caledonia that will be tempted to leave, slamming the door.

https://vz.ru/world/2024/10/12/1292030.html