The French showed up in large numbers (67% turnout) on Sunday to deliver a resounding defeat to fascism and the far-right National Rally (RN) party, which was projected to win a majority of seats in the Parliament. Instead they finished a distant 3rd behind the left-wing alliance New Popular Front (NFP) and Macron’s Ensemble alliance.
International reaction was a huge sigh of relief — except in Moscow and in republican circles.
A few front pages and headlines in French Newspapers — loosely translated as —
- France holds its breath
- Phew
- Hope is reborn
- The Slap
- France says no to RN
- And now what do we do?
It remains to be seen how quickly the NFP and Macron’s ensemble party can settle their deep differences and form a government. Not that they have a choice after all this hard work.
Headlines in American newspapers are dull, boring and not very enthusiastic.
Are there lessons from the French experience that can be applied here? From Anat Shenker-Osorio, Researcher, message maker, campaign advisor -
"In a nutshell - it's better to fight among friends than confront fascism alone. Not making believe everyone gets along on the left (HA!!!) but keeping people's eyes on the actual danger."
Vive La France!
Fascism and the far-right have been defeated for now in France and the UK but it is still alive. We have to keep working to preserve Democracy against the powerful forces behind fascism.
Let’s draw some lessons and inspiration from the French and work to “slap” trump this November and throw the republican bums out. The French have showed us that when we stay united, when we spread the truth and when we GOTV, we win.