Posted on 10/14/2013 7:15:39 AM PDT by don-o
AFP - France's mainstream political parties were Monday scratching their heads over what to do about a surge by the Front National (FN) after a breakthrough by-election win for the far-right party.
The ruling Socialist party and the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), the party of former president Nicolas Sarkozy, face humiliating reverses in municipal and European elections next year if the FN can sustain its current standing in the eyes of an electorate thoroughly fed-up with record unemployment, rising taxes and a perceived increase in crime and insecurity.
A poll published last week suggested the FN could emerge as the best-supported party in the European elections with 24 percent of those asked declaring themselves ready to back the party led by Marine Le Pen, the daughter of FN founder Jean-Marie Le Pen.
That shock survey was followed on Sunday by a spectacular victory for the FN in a local by-election in Brignoles, where FN candidate Laurent Lopez claimed 53.9 percent of the vote in a run-off against the UMP candidate.
"The left and the mainstream right are blaming each other for what is happening, but the reality is they've both been knocked sideways," said Nonna Mayer, the Research Director at the National Research Centre CNRS. "Neither of them know what to do."
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
Likely too late.
France has been watching the U.S. and didn’t like what they saw?
The “Far Right” is simply the end state of the Far Left.
I am just guessing, but I assume that “Far Right” in France is somewhere around, Oh say Lindsey Graham?. Harry Reid? nancy Pelosi? One of these three.
The French people are now aware of the facts that their media already knew this was coming but, like their media kept that news from them, much like ours protects us from the facts.. This Change has Hope.. :)
What’s next... a Great Awakening?
In Europe, anybody opposed to Muslim immigration is “Far Right”.
You’re stuck in the 20th century in your analysis of the use of “far right” by the left. Back then you were right: “far right” meant fascist — statists opposed to the internationalist statists.
Now, especially in Europe, any party, politician, or movement that wants to uphold traditional national culture against multiculturalist policies of unrestricted immigration (in Europe mostly meaning Muslim immigration) is called “far right”. The rest of the party’s program could be classically liberal, social democratic, or monarchist rather than fascist and they’ll still be labeled “far right”.
Great breakdown, thank you David.
Essentially, European “far right” is anti-immigrant nationalist regardless of socioeconomic ties.
If this is just a worldly political party it’s going to end up the same old same old. You can have port or starboard seats on your cruise to hell and your destination is still hell.
I’m curious about its spiritual ideas. This party is spoken of on Wikipedia to be anti French revolutionary, and one of the things that went by the boards in that revolution was the idea of God. The monarchy may have been rather ungodly in its conduct, but the troubles they wrought were blamed on God which is not fair either. Does it believe in faith revival? It would be great for the dear people of France if it does.
I’ve heard rumblings over there that the PS (socialists) have been quietly happy that the FN (far right) have been beating the UMP (mainstream right). Basically, a variation of the Perot scenario. Not sure if that’s truly the case.
If only by accident and not intentionally, this would mitigate a spiritual challenge that France is manifestly not up to meeting, that bids fair to easily overwhelm it. The national faith of France is agnosticism, if it had to have a national faith. That’s a pushover in the end for any intense faith system, whether good or bad. The spiritual vacuum will get filled, the only question being with what.
FN has been first and foremost about anti-immigration, anti-muslim and anti-semitic but since the torch has been passed from the father LePen to the daughter LePen it has become a bit “kinder and gentler”. A toning down of the rhetoric. Here lately, they have also made the squeezing of the little people financially part of their message.
At the end of the day France is still a Catholic country. Sure there are a lot of people who have stopped going to church but I think there is still a foundation there that is Catholic that won’t die out in a generation or two or three. For example the protests against gay marriage (that have received almost zero coverage here) I *think* are informed by a underlying Catholic belief (my theory).
The anti-Jewish (if that’s what you mean) part is going to spell a big curse for France if they are earnest about it. God isn’t mocked, of course.
Only Le Pen has a chance to save France. And it is just a chance, since the demographics are ugly to say the least.
Immigration and nationalism are the factors that are leading France and most of the countries in Europe towards the right.
The last decent Frog was Charles Martel.
Le Pen’s party is the only French party that is willing to do something about immigration: therefore they are getting votes.
Their success is an excellent example of what happens when big-state political blocs rules certain topics out of court.
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