Latest news with #Mélenchon
Ya Biladi
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Ya Biladi
Mélenchon backtracks on Western Sahara, distances himself from Macron
The leader of La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, has reiterated his stance on the Western Sahara issue. «The position of the Insoumise movement, and mine, has always been this: that of the United Nations, no more, no less. No French interference! End of story», he wrote on X on Friday, July 4. This statement marks a step back from a more nuanced position Mélenchon had adopted during a visit to areas affected by the Al Haouz earthquake on October 4, 2023. At the time, he acknowledged the existence of «new parameters [regarding the Sahara issue] that the French should perhaps consider more carefully. The positions of the United States, Israel, and Spain have shifted global perceptions of this issue. I hope my country understands this and avoids turning it into a point of tension with Morocco». His comments came nine months before French President Emmanuel Macron officially recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara in a message sent to King Mohammed VI on July 30, 2024. Amid backlash over Delogu's visit to Algeria Mélenchon's renewed position comes amid controversy surrounding remarks made by his party colleague Sébastien Delogu during a recent trip to Algeria. In an interview with an official French-language outlet, Delogu expressed being «extremely disappointed» by Senate President Gérard Larcher's visit to Laayoune on February 26. «On the highly sensitive issue of Western Sahara, I stand behind the United Nations, which is already leading a process to call for a referendum so the people on the ground can express their right to self-determination. I support these institutions», he said. Delogu also argued that France's recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara contradicts «international legality», while omitting the fact that recent UN resolutions no longer refer to a referendum. On Friday, Delogu responded on X to «the controversies launched by the right and far right» over his trip to Algeria. On Western Sahara, he clarified: «I have always stood by international law and its competent bodies to resolve border disputes peacefully», this time without mentioning a referendum or self-determination. Even before Delogu's trip, another LFI lawmaker accused the French government last January of «multiplying provocations and threats against Algeria, particularly concerning Western Sahara, in contradiction with international law», a statement that was met with applause from members of Mélenchon's parliamentary group. It was a rare public stance from La France Insoumise, which had remained largely silent for months following President Macron's recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, a decision swiftly condemned by the Socialist Party, the Communist Party, and the Greens on July 30, 2024.
Local France
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Local France
OPINION: Far-left Mélenchon could yet prove decisive (and disastrous) for France
Jean-Luc Mélenchon does not like journalists, especially British or American journalists. Interviews with him have a habit of exploding into insults after a few minutes. All credit then to Leila Abboud, the Paris bureau chief of the FT, who lasted more than three hours with the bad-tempered old fox in an interview published last weekend. She even managed to make the hard-left veteran appear likeable. Mélenchon, one of the most detested men in French politics, can be likeable, or at least compelling, when he wants to be. In several ways, Mélenchon , 73, resembles the late, unlamented Jean-Marie Le Pen. He is a great orator; he is funny; he is passionate. He is brilliant, populist politician fighting for a destructive cause. Here lies a paradox which could decide the fate of France at the Presidential election two years' from now. Mélenchon is, in two senses, going nowhere. He is unelectable but he will remain, at least until 2027, one of the most decisive figures in French politics. He has more charisma than most of the other likely contenders of the Left and the Centre. He all but reached the second-round run-off last time. It is not very likely that he will do so in 2027 – but it is not impossible. The consequences for France if he did so would be catastrophic. His presence in Round Two would ensure that France elected a far-right, anti-European head of state. Two years from now we will be between the rounds of the French Presidential election. We can be pretty sure (unfortunately) who will occupy one of the two places in Round Two. It will be Marine Le Pen or, if she is still banned from seeking office, it will be her smooth and shallow understudy, Jordan Bardella. READ MORE: Appeals and rallies: What next for Marine Le Pen and the French far right? A deep dive opinion poll by Ipsos this week suggested that a run-off between Le Pen/Bardella and a centrist candidate, either Edouard Philippe or Gabriel Attal, would be too close to call. A run-off between Mélenchon and the Far Right would be a massacre. Almost two thirds of the vote would go to the Rassemblement National. Advertisement In his lunch interview with the FT, Mélenchon gloried in the possibilities of such a confrontation. 'Life requires us to make stark choices,' he said. 'The bourgeoisie will have their backs to the wall – a fascist or Mélenchon.' Polls two years before the event may be of limited value but much of the French 'bourgeoisie' appears to have made up its mind about this 'stark choice'. They would rather risk a President Le Pen/Bardella than a President Mélenchon. In the Paris Match monthly league table of political popularity last month, Mélenchon came 47th out of the 50 best-known politicians in France with an approval rating of 28 percent. And yet Mélenchon continues to bestride the Left. If he runs in 2027 (and he will), it will be difficult for left-wing voters to coalesce behind a more consensual candidate. He remains immensely popular with left-leaning young people and in the multi-racial inner suburbs – two of the last remaining bastions of the much-splintered Gauche . Mélenchon was on his best behaviour in the FT interview partly because he is promoting the English-language version of his book: Now, the People!: Revolution in the 21st Century . The book bombed in France in 2023. Small wonder. It is an odd blend of dense, academic argument on the nature of revolution through the ages and a one-sided retelling of recent, French political history. 'The people' of the title exist mostly in Mélenchon's imagination. He is eloquent on the hypocrisies and contradictions of Centrism. He has nothing much to say about the greatest challenge facing the Left in the democratic West - the defection of a large part of the working classes to the Right and Far Right. Advertisement This is one of the main criticisms of Mélenchon within his movement, La France Insoumise (LFI), or it would be the criticism if criticism was allowed. Another book published this week – 'La Meute' (the pack) by Charlotte Belaïch and Olivier Pérou - describes the sect-like nature of LFI, which has no members in the normal sense and no internal elections. The book details the purges over the last three years of several senior figures who challenged the Mélenchonist disdain for the white, working classes and rural France. One of Mélenchon's main rivals for the Left vote in 2027, the journalist and film-maker François Ruffin, cut his loose ties with the LFI last year for this reason. Any future for the Left must include 'church towers as well as tower blocks', he said. Concentrating on the middle-class, youth vote and the inner-suburbs, leaving the white, blue-collar vote to Le Pen, is a guarantee of moral and political failure. Ruffin, witty and warm, may be one of Mélenchon's main challengers on the Left in 2027. The Socialist Party, marginalised by Macron and Mélenchon since 2017, also hopes its party congress next month will produce a leader capable of restoring its past glories. None of the contenders – the present first secretary Olivier Faure, the Socialist leader in the National Assembly, Boris Vallaud and the mayor of Rouen, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol – are likely to set the campaign alight. A much better candidate for a revived Centre-left would be Raphael Glucksmann, who performed so well in the European elections a year ago but he has the handicap of being a Socialist ally and not a Socialist. Unless some kind of primary can be organised on the Left (very doubtful), it will be the public opinion polls which decide once again where the bulk of the remaining left-wing votes assemble in the final days of the first- round campaign. Advertisement There is a strong chance that the winner of this 'opinion poll primary' will, once again, be Mélenchon. Can he reach Round Two? I doubt it but the choices facing floating or undecided voters will be nightmarish next time. The Far Right appears to be guaranteed to top the poll in Round One. The Left will therefore dispute the other place in the run-off with the Centre or Centre-right. By preventing a more electable Leftie from emerging, Mélenchon could help the Macronist centre that he detests so much. To avoid a Hard Left v Far Right populist final many moderate Left votes may emigrate in Round One to the best-placed Centrist – possibly the former PM, Edouard Philippe. Advertisement But what if they don't? And what if a crowd of centre and centre-right candidates split the anti-populist vote and Mélenchon reaches the run-off by a few thousand votes? It is my opinion that, whatever the polls may say, a majority of French people do not want a Far Right, anti-European, pro-Russian President of the Republic. But one certain way that they would elect one is if the 'stark' alternative two years from now is Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What's behind the poster causing an antisemitism scandal in French politics
'Enough is enough!' Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of far-left political party La France Insoumise (LFI), recently lost his temper during an appearance on the TV show Dimanche en politique on France 3, responding with outrage to the following question: "Was the Hanouna poster a mistake or not?" 'Why are you asking me this question?' shouted the former presidential candidate, with all his trademark tact. 'What right do you have? Who are you? Are you accusing me? Are you accusing me? Then shut up!' Further raising his voice, he added: 'You're continuing a campaign against us that started on the far right.' And just like that, journalist Francis Letellier ended the interview. The clip of the interview has gone viral, and La France Insoumise has been forced to withdraw the poster depicting French radio and TV presenter Cyril Hanouna on grounds that it is reminiscent of Nazi anti-Semitic imagery. Check it out for yourself: The poster, showing Hanouna with furrowed eyebrows, a protruding nose, and pulling an aggressive grimace, was intended to drum up support for those wishing to take part in an anti-racism rally on 22 March. It massively backfired, with many being quick to recognise the hateful iconography of anti-Semitic caricatures from the 1930s and Nazi Germany. The image has caused a major political controversy, especially since LFI – like Britain's Labour party – has routinely struggled with accusations of anti-Semitism. For historian Robert Hirsch, author of the book "La Gauche et les Juifs" (published by Le Bord de l'Eau, 2022), 'this is probably the clearest anti-Semitic provocation from La France Insoumise.' Only last Sunday, French outlet Libération reported that one of Mélenchon's former lieutenants expressed surprise that his former mentor had described the extermination of Jews during the Second World War as a 'mass massacre' rather than a 'genocide' - a word Mélenchon frequently uses when referring to Palestine. Instead of addressing the situation head on, Mélenchon has relied on a tactic of systemic denial. In this case, he feigned ignorance of Hanouna's Jewish origin and denounced 'propaganda from far-right networks' instead of taking any form of accountability. However, this poster scandal has led to dissension in the ranks. Certain LFI party members are expressing embarrassment when faced with numerous calls to action following the publication of the visual. 'Indifference towards anti-Semitism is not an option,' wrote Clémentine Autain, MP and former member of lFI. 'When you are on the left and you want to fight the far right, you are beyond reproach in the fight against anti-Semitism.' According to the publication L'Opinion, one party member who wished to remain anonymous stated: 'Either the guy at LFI headquarters who designed the visuals is an uneducated asshole, or he's an anti-Semitic scumbag.' Neither very appealing options. To make matters worse, the Ligue des droits de l'Homme issued a rare statement on Monday condemning the publication of the visual and criticising La France Insoumise. 'Any organisation or political party can make communication errors,' the organisation said in a statement. 'When LFI does not seem to recognise the fact and the nature of these errors, we question its understanding and its willingness to remedy the situation.' The latest development has been placing the blame at AI's doorstep. Indeed, the image was reportedly generated by artificial intelligence via the Grok software developed by the xAI company owned by no one's favourite American billionaire Elon Musk. Fair enough, but if you're designing posters for a march against the rise of the far-right, would you place your trust in the tools of a man whose right arm action has drawn comparisons to the Nazi party, and whose Tesla cars are rarely seen without swastika tags these days? And even if that doesn't raise any red flags, wouldn't it be judicious to... you know... double-check or run it by a few interested parties before sending the image to the printers? It remains to be seen how LFI reacts if Hanouna takes any legal action against the party. What is clear is that the offending poster has fuelled LFI's political opponents, benefitted the far-right party Rassemblement National (National Rally) - who are now portraying themselves as the defenders of the French Jewish community - and above all, completely undermined the original purpose of the campaign: marching against racism and the rise of the far-right. It goes to show that condemning things in direct terms and a clear admission of clumsiness is best policy. Or as Clémentine Autain added in her statement on social media: 'If we fail, through ignorance or misunderstanding, we acknowledge it, and then we do better.'
Euronews
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Behind the political poster causing an antisemitism row in France
'Enough is enough!' Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of far-left political party La France Insoumise (LFI), recently lost his temper during an appearance on the TV show Dimanche en politique on France 3, responding with outrage to the following question: "Was the Hanouna poster a mistake or not?" 'Why are you asking me this question?' shouted the former presidential candidate, with all his trademark tact. 'What right do you have? Who are you? Are you accusing me? Are you accusing me? Then shut up!' Further raising his voice, he added: 'You're continuing a campaign against us that started on the far right.' And just like that, journalist Francis Letellier ended the interview. The clip of the interview has gone viral, and La France Insoumise has been forced to withdraw the poster depicting French radio and TV presenter Cyril Hanouna on grounds that it is reminiscent of Nazi anti-Semitic imagery. Check it out for yourself: The poster, showing Hanouna with furrowed eyebrows, a protruding nose, and pulling an aggressive grimace, was intended to drum up support for those wishing to take part in an anti-racism rally on 22 March. It massively backfired, with many being quick to recognise the hateful iconography of anti-Semitic caricatures from the 1930s and Nazi Germany. The image has caused a major political controversy, especially since LFI – like Britain's Labour party – has routinely struggled with accusations of anti-Semitism. For historian Robert Hirsch, author of the book "La Gauche et les Juifs" (published by Le Bord de l'Eau, 2022), 'this is probably the clearest anti-Semitic provocation from La France Insoumise.' Only last Sunday, French outlet Libération reported that one of Mélenchon's former lieutenants expressed surprise that his former mentor had described the extermination of Jews during the Second World War as a 'mass massacre' rather than a 'genocide' - a word Mélenchon frequently uses when referring to Palestine. Instead of addressing the situation head on, Mélenchon has relied on a tactic of systemic denial. In this case, he feigned ignorance of Hanouna's Jewish origin and denounced 'propaganda from far-right networks' instead of taking any form of accountability. However, this poster scandal has led to dissension in the ranks. Certain LFI party members are expressing embarrassment when faced with numerous calls to action following the publication of the visual. 'Indifference towards anti-Semitism is not an option,' wrote Clémentine Autain, MP and former member of lFI. 'When you are on the left and you want to fight the far right, you are beyond reproach in the fight against anti-Semitism.' According to the publication L'Opinion, one party member who wished to remain anonymous stated: 'Either the guy at LFI headquarters who designed the visuals is an uneducated asshole, or he's an anti-Semitic scumbag.' Neither very appealing options. To make matters worse, the Ligue des droits de l'Homme issued a rare statement on Monday condemning the publication of the visual and criticising La France Insoumise. 'Any organisation or political party can make communication errors,' the organisation said in a statement. 'When LFI does not seem to recognise the fact and the nature of these errors, we question its understanding and its willingness to remedy the situation.' The latest development has been placing the blame at AI's doorstep. Indeed, the image was reportedly generated by artificial intelligence via the Grok software developed by the xAI company owned by no one's favourite American billionaire Elon Musk. Fair enough, but if you're designing posters for a march against the rise of the far-right, would you place your trust in the tools of a man whose right arm action has drawn comparisons to the Nazi party, and whose Tesla cars are rarely seen without swastika tags these days? And even if that doesn't raise any red flags, wouldn't it be judicious to... you know... double-check or run it by a few interested parties before sending the image to the printers? It remains to be seen how LFI reacts if Hanouna takes any legal action against the party. What is clear is that the offending poster has fuelled LFI's political opponents, benefitted the far-right party Rassemblement National (National Rally) - who are now portraying themselves as the defenders of the French Jewish community - and above all, completely undermined the original purpose of the campaign: marching against racism and the rise of the far-right. It goes to show that condemning things in direct terms and a clear admission of clumsiness is best policy. Or as Clémentine Autain added in her statement on social media: 'If we fail, through ignorance or misunderstanding, we acknowledge it, and then we do better.' The winners of the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2025 have been revealed, celebrating the breathtaking beauty and diversity of the UK's natural world. This year's top prize was awarded to a striking image of a red fox prowling through Bristol's city centre. Selected from over 13,000 entries, the winning photograph was taken by Simon Withyman, who had spent three years documenting the animal. 'This streetwise fox was a successful mother and had a family of young mouths to feed. I was instantly drawn to the interesting perspective effect of these railings and wanted to showcase some beauty in this everyday urban scene" explains Withyman. The competition, which invites both amateur and professional photographers to compete for the £3,500 grand prize, features a stunning range of winning images - from a group of pigeons framed inside a bag of chips, to a hauntingly beautiful shot of a blue shark, taken just 10 to 15 miles southwest of Penzance, Cornwall. 'This year's competition not only celebrates the artistry and dedication of our photographers but also serves as a powerful reminder of our responsibility to protect these wild spaces. We hope this collection inspires others to appreciate, respect, and safeguard the wildlife that makes Britain so unique," says Will Nicholls, Director of BWPA. Below are all the winning images from each category:
Telegraph
16-02-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
France's Left-wing bloc in jeopardy as allies fall out
The leader of the far-Left party in France called his former political partners, the Socialists, 'toxic allies' as he severed ties with the party and put the Leftist bloc in jeopardy. Jean-Luc Mélenchon's France Unbowed party was one of several Left-wing groups that united under the banner the New Popular Front to contest France's 2024 legislative election and stop the far-Right winning. Though they succeeded, the results led to a hung parliament, with no party obtaining an absolute majority. 'The Socialists are no longer our allies,' Mr Mélenchon said in an interview with the weekly news magazine La Tribune Dimanche. The coalition between France Unbowed, the Socialists, the Greens and the Communists was fragile from the start, with the parties divided over who should be their prime ministerial candidate and disagreements over party lines. After eight months of working together, Mr Mélenchon attacked his former ally for refusing to support the party's efforts to topple the government in several votes of no confidence, and for being receptive to the idea of a public discussion on national identity. 'I was seriously mistaken on one point. The Socialists never intended to be partners. They just wanted to take advantage of us,' Mr Mélenchon said. He also lashed out at Olivier Faure, leader of the Socialist party, for being receptive to the government's proposal of opening up a national debate on French identity. Many on the Left criticised it as the discourse of the far-Right and of trying to pander to them. Mr Mélenchon called the proposal odious, and Mr Faure's position outdated and inappropriate. Mr Melenchon enjoyed a 32-year association with the Socialist Party before breaking with them in 2008. When asked if he plans to run for president in 2027, Mr Mélenchon, who has made three failed presidential bids, gave a vague reply. 'I said I want to be replaced, and I still do,' he said.
