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REDFLAG | 14 JUNE 2021 PUBLICATION OF SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE REDFLAG.ORG.AU

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FRANCE

Not a barricade

but a bridge

MACRON, LE PEN AND THE ‘REPUBLICAN FRONT’ TRAP

Chris di Pasquale Macron vs. Le Pen in opinion polls

s French politicians and parties swing 58
into campaign mode a year out from
the 2022 presidential elections, polls 56
strongly suggest that the final round
A run-off will be between current Pres- 54
ident Emmanuel Macron and the far-right leader
of Rassemblement National (National Rally, RN), 52
Marine Le Pen. Compared to the last time these
candidates faced each other, the margin between 50
them has narrowed significantly: in 2017, Macron
defeated Le Pen 66-34; one recent poll has him 48
winning by just six percentage points.
With the growing threat that France might 46
elect a fascist president, the so-called republican
front strategy has been dusted off once again 44
and broadcast by a range of political and media
figures. A March editorial in the daily newspaper 42
Le Monde declared: “The republican front must be
revived”. Current MP and former interior minis- 40
ter Christophe Castaner said in an interview that
his party’s job “is to show what the National Front
[the former name of Le Pen’s party] really is and
that, in view of the presidential elections, their be as sturdy as in 2002, when Chirac defeated Le was murdered by a teenager for showing racist
‘fresh coat of paint’ is a facade that doesn’t match Pen senior in a landslide 82 percent to 18 percent. caricatures of the prophet Mohammed in a class-
their reality”. Castaner addressed this hesitancy, criticising room in 2020, Macron weaponised the killing to
The republican front is a standing agreement those considering not voting for either Macron accelerate a campaign against Islam he had been
among French political parties that aims to or Le Pen: “Those who plead ... neither-nor [nei- running since at least the year before, when he
prevent the far right from taking office. In the ther Macron nor Le Pen] have neither courage called for French society to unite against the
French two-round electoral system—in which nor honesty”. “Hydra of Islamism”. Macron has long recognised
the two most popular candidates from a first Honesty is an interesting virtue for Castaner to that his main competitor is Le Pen: instead of
round of voting compete in a second-round run- preach. As interior minister, he lied to the media choosing to battle the far right by opposing its
off—if the far right makes the second round, the about anti-government “yellow vest” protesters vi- bigoted positions on Islam and immigration,
republican front demands that all candidates and olently attacking a hospital in 2019. (Fact check: the Macron and his team have championed the far
parties, regardless of political colouring, support yellow vests were seeking refuge in the hospital right’s talking points and normalised its ideas.
the non-far-right candidate. The republican front from the rubber bullets and tear gas that Castaner Indeed, in a televised debate with Le Pen in
helped defeat the fascist Jean-Marie Le Pen, had ordered police to unleash on their protest.) March, Macron’s Interior Minister Gérald Darm-
Marine’s father, when he ascended to the final More than Castaner’s hypocrisy, his implication anin attacked Le Pen for being too “soft”—softer,
presidential round in 2002 against conservative that Macron presents not just an alternative but Darmanin said, “than we could ever be” on the
Jacques Chirac. The republican front swept Ma- a bulwark against the far-right threat belies the question of Islam. In November, Macron and
cron to victory against Le Pen junior in 2017. And president’s record in welcoming far-right ideas Darmanin dissolved the Collective Against Islam-
Macron and his party La République En Marche! into the mainstream. ophobia in France. Described by Darmanin as an
(Republic on the move, LREM) will count on that Macron and his administration have spent “Islamist office against the republic”, the collective
same commitment to keep Le Pen out and clinch the last eighteen months running a vicious Is- was actually a liberal civil liberties organisation
victory next year. lamophobic campaign against France’s Muslim that defended the rights of Muslims in France and
Yet the tightening of the margin between population, under the guise of fighting “political noted that they routinely are targets of police and
Macron and Le Pen shows that the front may not Islam” and “separatism”. When a school teacher state repression.