The victory of Donald Trump and the defeat of Kamala Harris in the United States presidential elections have brought to the surface the divisions on the left on international, but also national, issues. Obviously eager to maintain control of history, La Francia insoumise (LFI) was the first to react, on Wednesday, November 6, seeing in the failure of the moderate positioning of the Democratic candidate a validation of its line. “radical” looking left “gentle”in the words of Antoine Léaument, LFI deputy for Essonne.
For the Melenchonist troops, the return of the Republican candidate to the White House is implacable proof that “Only a radical and popular left” could “win against the extreme right”LFI stated in a press release. “We cannot mobilize the people following a neoliberal line and without social and geopolitical ruptures”detailed the coordinator of the movement Manuel Bompard in X. A reference to Kamala Harris, while during the campaign the center-left candidate was treated as a “communist”and “pure Marxist” by Donald Trump, two disqualifying mandates on the other side of the Atlantic.
“You can’t win an American election further to the left: this was Bernie Sanders’s limit”corrects the political scientist Philippe Marlière, in reference to this figure of the American radical left, who tried unsuccessfully to win the Democratic nomination for the 2016 presidential elections against Hillary Clinton.
Driven by a visceral anti-Atlanticism, the leader of the “rebels,” Jean-Luc Mélenchon, wielded power “confusionism”continues the political scientist, putting the Democrat and the Republican on the same level. “The United States could not choose the left: there was none”reacted the three-time presidential candidate, after Trump’s victory on Wednesday morning. Two days earlier, he had estimated that the two candidates for the White House were “similar but not identical”evoking their positions on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict or their support for “capitalism”. “The lesser evil is always evil”he concluded, admitting that he would have voted “Harris” If I had lived in a “Oscillating state” (“Pivot States”).
Question of aid to Ukraine
LFI is therefore trying to take the initiative, while the question of aid to Ukraine or strengthening European defense should return to public debate. On these two issues, the movement runs the risk of going against the current. “It could be very difficult for Mélenchon”considers political scientist Rémi Lefebvre. Eurosceptic, LFI has always leaned towards war with Russia, defending “peace” and asking for a “Conference on borders”, a way to question those of Ukraine.
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