De l’économie à l’existence

Posted by Guessedworker on Monday, 25 April 2022 12:14.

Marianne at the barricades

To the surprise of no one, Marine Le Pen has failed for the second time to make even a close-run thing of the second round of a French presidential election. She won 41.4% of votes to her opponent’s 58.6%, on a turnout of 72% (against 74.6% in 2017). The popular vote was 13,297,760 to 18,779,641. The result does represent a long step forward from 2017, when Le Pen won only a third of the second-round ballot.

On that calculation she cut the deficit very nearly in half (the easier half to persuade, of course). The reality is a little worse than that. Billed as an election for those one least dislikes, we now have definite proof that, allowing for a share of those who voted in 2017 but not this time, no more than four in ten French voters can be persuaded to support Le Pen. Only 13% of non-nationalists (“nationalist” in this context meaning those who had voted a fortnight ago for Le Pen + Zemmour) felt able to switch to her. And this after all the enormous efforts she has made to explain herself as something other than the Establishment media’s hate-object. Even as the EU-neutral, Islam-accepting cat-lady of French politics she could not threaten a totally unloved sitting president. It is another reminder for nationalists, were any reminder needed, how very difficult it is to break through in any systemically liberal polity.

One should also note that Le Pen did not always help herself during her campaign. In the presidential debate last week she took the bad decision to focus on policy detail, which is Macron’s managerialist strength, not hers, and let him off the hook of his own unpopularity. Obviously, she wanted to project competence. But she projected his competence. She also confused the voters by suddenly declaring that the lovable and by no means toxic cat-lady would ban the Muslim veil in public. It didn’t need saying. Mixed-messaging is never a good thing. Then, too, she had bad luck in her timing with the war in Ukraine and her past approval of Vladimir Putin (basically tended for consenting to provide RN with banking facilities when no French bank would do so). Finally, there was the very odd timing from Brussels of the launch of an investigation into fraud dating back before the last presidential election. I don’t know how damaging that really was. As an attempt to manipulate the election it could hardly have been more blatant. Perhaps Brussels was more damaged by it than Le Pen. Perhaps she actually gained votes just on the basis of the general disgust. But all that said, these issues are petty and narrowly political. It is difficult to believe that any of them could have made the difference for Macron. His advantage was always secure.

Rather, the constant electoral problem for nationalism is that its grand cause is national and existential but the concerns of the majority of voters are stubbornly personal and economic; and here Le Pen really tried to break the mould. She alighted on the rapidly rising cost of living at the beginning of her campaign, and pushed it throughout. Many commentators praised her political shrewdness, acknowledging that any treasure trove of votes was going to be found on the left. They obviously expected to see a pay-off for her at the polling station. She obviously expected to see it. But nothing very much was forthcoming. One wonders whether something more than a me-too expression of solidarité with the policy-goals of the left and some communitarian empathie with those left behind by Macron is required. In the absence of a complete economic vision will such offerings always be seen as opportunistic? In the end, do voters look to nationalism for a bit of tax relief?

All this raises the vexing question of where French nationalism goes from here. There will very likely need to be a self-critical assessment of the performance of Rassemblement National in the legislative elections scheduled for 12th and 19th June. OK, Zemmour’s alternative Reconquête!, even with Marion Maréchal on board, may be unlikely to achieve much of an impact itself seat-wise. But it could make the always problematic task of election difficult for RN candidates, and not just this June. How can nationalism cut through if it is outflanked on the issue of Islam on the right by an essentially conservative party and out-flanked on economic issues on the left by an essentially Corbynist party?
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Personally, I suspect that, after his creditable performance in the first round of the presidential election, the old-left ideological warrior Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his party La France Insoumise (“France Unbowed”) will harvest much of the anti-Macron sentiment in June. There is a strong possibility that the French, having elected the little man because they thought they had to, will delight in denying him the capacity to form a government in the legislature. La France Insoumise is not a formal party, and is a classic vessel for temporary political protest. It is a broad church of the narrow left consisting of supporters’ groups and small committees campaigning for “ecosocialism”. One assumes that this oddity is for unhinged CO2 obsessives whose interest in the environment very oddly and abruptly curtails itself when the subject of population growth due to immigration pops up. The égalité of Africans and Arabs is obviously much too pressing to allow ideological consistency to get in the way.

Accordingly, Mélenchon greeted Le Pen’s defeat (rather than Macron’s victory) with the words, “It’s very good news for the unity of our people,” which, naturally, demonstrates the customary pig-headed refusal to acknowledge who the French are and who they are not. Over 7 million people - a fifth of the total vote - actually put a cross against Mélenchon’s name in the first round of the presidentials. La France Incurable might have been more accurate.

As for Le Pen, she seems set on fighting on. But what can she do that she has not already done to untie the gossamer bindings of her supposed toxicity? Five years ago she was able to respond to other presidential candidate’s tough election-talk on immigration by saying, “Why vote for a fake when you can vote for the real thing.” Now she has come to the point where her opponents can invert that and say the same of her centrism. Of course, it’s true that ordinarily the centre is the ground an election winner must occupy. It is where the most votes are. It is where the most floating votes are. In addition, in France the traditional parties of power - the Gaullists and the Socialists - are dying. The latter is effectively dead already. The centre is eminently contestable. But the gods of political change do not seem to be with Le Pen. She sacrificed her authenticity to be their beneficiary. It is difficult to see any real identity now, or much creative energy, in RN. Perhaps Le Pen and her party have simply been around too long. Perhaps RN will now fall victim to the same malaise as the Gaullists and the Socialists, and Marion will inherit the tricolour of Delacroix’ revolutionary Marianne.

Tags: European Nationalism, Political analysis

Comments:

Posted by Guessedworker on Tue, 26 Apr 2022 10:09 | #

Very good ZH piece here:

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/french-election-exposes-conflict-running-through-all-western-societies

... quoting a great deal from Yves Mamou’s revealing Gatestone piece here:

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18470/france-macron-reelected

... but adding this (unsourced):

From now on, three new political formations share the electoral terrain, all three around a central figure:

La République en Marche is Macron’s party (the largest number of voters: 9.8 million voters, 27.8% of the votes in the first round). It was created in 2016 and its electorate is composed of the beneficiaries of globalization, some of the French Muslims and retirees who usually vote for the party in power.

The second largest party in France is the National Rally, centered around Le Pen (8.1 million votes, 23.15% of the vote in the first round of the presidential election). The RN is the party of the non-Muslim working class, the party of the poor people and the middle classes who are attached to the croissant-baguettes “French way of life”. The RN represents the “somewheres” fighting against the “anywheres”. If we add to the RN, the votes collected by Éric Zemmour (2.4 million votes, 7%), the RN equals the party of Macron.

The third party in France is La France Insoumise, built around the thundering personality of Jean-Luc Mélenchon (7.7 million votes; 21.95% of the vote on the first round). Mélenchon is a former socialist who wanted to ban the Islamic veil and who, in 2015, in the aftermath of the deadly terrorist attack that year on the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, denounced Islamic fanaticism as his main enemy. Less than five years later, however, in 2019, Mélenchon made an about-face and demonstrated on the side of Islamic organizations. Since then, he has multiplied his attacks against police officers accused of “racist behavior”, against secularism which “must not be a state atheism”—ether against the “persecution of Muslims” or for “the freedom to wear the veil”. Today, the main collaborators of Mélenchon are Islamists, leftists and Woke personalities. A recent IFOP poll confirmed that 70% of French Muslims voted for Mélenchon.

Posted by Thorn on Tue, 26 Apr 2022 14:40 | #

The pattern of the script is clear ... make some minor adjustments and swap Marine Le Pen with Donald Trump and that Zero Hedge piece could just as well apply here in the U.S.

Posted by Leon Haller on Thu, 11 Aug 2022 04:40 | #

Didn’t I say here more than a decade ago that after Father Le Pen’s horrible 2002 Presidential performance we could no longer blame anyone but whites themselves for their own dispossession and self-destruction? Secondarily, it might seem to be the fault of corporate greed, or Jewish media control, or even Christianity to those who don’t really understand church doctrines (which includes many clerics). But what is behind these trends and behaviors? Why does Big Business think it can betray whites with impunity? How were the Jews allowed to take over Western media? Why is PC/wokeness pervasive? It is the racial weakness of whites themselves, our inherent weakness. We are destined for extinction - unless the strong and intelligent can somehow separate themselves from our morally confused and racially weak brethren.

Posted by Thorn on Thu, 11 Aug 2022 11:36 | #

Good to see you’re still alive and kickin’, Leon.

If white ppl put a premium on preserving their own race candidates like Le Pen could-would easily win elections; however, and obviously, whites simply do not place such a premium on their own preservation. Moreover, and as journalist Pedro Gonzalez so aptly recognizes, the white ruling-class seems to get sexual pleasure from selling out its own race. Mr. Gonzalez termed that behavior as “psycho-sexual ethno-masochism.” Whites have sick perverse leadership who’re leading the - at best - ambivalent yet willfully compliant white masses. One of the rare exceptions to the rule is Viktor Orban. His philosophy for governing Hungary - which is at present - preserving/protecting and motivating the propagation its people’s heritage/gene-pool is centered around “illiberal Christianity” (Orban’s term) combined with strict border and immigration control - in a word, segregation. Of course, he’s being viciously attacked from every direction for doing so - but particularly by the psycho-sexual ethno-masochistic white ruling-class. And I’m not overlooking the fact there is plenty of greed and lust for power that motivates our traitorous ruling-class too.

Posted by Thorn on Thu, 11 Aug 2022 13:44 | #

And speaking of Christianity, at present much of what operates under the banner of Christianity is actually quasi-Satan worship aka “Wokism”. There are an estimated forty-thousand Christian denominations in the world today and IMHO at least 39,995 of them are illegitimate to one extent or another.

This is one of the more egregious examples of an illegitimate denomination:

The Episcopal Church passed a resolution in support of sex change attempts “at all ages,” calling it a matter of “religious liberty.”

Resolution D066…calls for the Episcopal Church to “advocate for access to gender affirming care in all forms (social, medical, or any other) and at all ages.” It goes on to say that advocating for sex change operations is “part of our Baptismal call to respect the dignity of every human being.”

https://www.breitbart.com/social-justice/2022/08/10/episcopal-church-comes-support-sex-changes-all-ages/

(Thorn note: That is some sick evil sh-t right there.)

Posted by Leon Haller on Fri, 12 Aug 2022 13:49 | #

Thorn,

Yeah, I’m still around. Not too far from retirement these days, so have been trying to max out my earnings over the past decade. Haven’t had much time for online commentary. Also, I fear some of my old passion is gone. A decade ago, I would have thought by now that some progress would have been made. Has there been any?

I do thank GW for his search engine, as well as free speech commitment, though I think even that should have some limits (his tolerance for DanielS’s recent invective is inexplicable). I’ve been having some fun reviewing some of my old comments here. Frankly, I find that they’ve aged rather well.

Once I retire, I will get back into This Thing of Ours. Perhaps GW’s tenacity can be my model: here he is still writing boundary-pushing stuff, even if only to the tiniest of audiences. It’s almost a private conversation. It seems like the comments recently are all attributable to him, you, Al Ross, James Bowery (I see these latter two at The Occidental Observer sometimes), and the endlessly irritating DanielS. The latter, per my prediction 8-9 years ago, really wrecked this site. But now that he no longer has editorial control, perhaps its commentariat can be rebuilt.

Posted by Thorn on Fri, 12 Aug 2022 18:00 | #

“A decade ago, I would have thought by now that some progress would have been made. Has there been any?”

From my perspective I don’t see any progress; at best “der movement” has stalled. But to be perfectly frank about it, I think WN is losing ground.

“Perhaps GW’s tenacity can be my model: here he is still writing boundary-pushing stuff, even if only to the tiniest of audiences.”

I agree. At times GW can hit it out of the park. MR is one of the very few WN oriented sites I visit. I lost interest in websites such as Amren, The Occidental Observer etc. years ago. The subject matter has become way too tedious to me - groundhog-dayesque.

In any event, Leon, stay safe and be well.

Posted by Al Ross on Mon, 15 Aug 2022 22:40 | #

Thorn has just discovered , 100 years post - Spengler , that the West is in terminal decline .

China , the world’s longest continuous civilisation , has had its historical fluctuations but will doubtless , to borrow a phrase from the old mythical Jew - book , ” inherit the earth”.

Posted by Al Ross on Wed, 17 Aug 2022 02:47 | #

The US Army has made progress , in the Cultural Marxist sense of “Progressive” .

Compare and Contrast :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfe6d6MzeLM

Posted by Thorn on Wed, 17 Aug 2022 16:32 | #

“Thorn has just discovered , 100 years post - Spengler , that the West is in terminal decline .”

Yeah, I just “discovered” that two weeks ago. /s

BTW, China is experiencing a population collapse. Some projections indicate China will lose two-thirds of its population - maybe even more - by the turn of the century. IOWs, they may very well shrink into irrelevancy.

Posted by Thorn on Wed, 17 Aug 2022 21:52 | #

Not surprising you’re ignoring (ignoring is what ignoramuses do) the USA is not the only country whose military recruitment has been undermined and weakened from within. Britain has its own diversicrats and cultural Marxists in charge of its military recruitment.

RAF ‘pauses job offers for white men’ to meet ‘impossible’ diversity targets
Deborah Haynes
Security and Defence Editor @haynesdeborah

Tuesday 16 August 2022 20:57, UK

The alleged move has prompted the head of recruitment for the Royal Air Force (RAF) - herself a senior female officer - to resign in recent days in protest.

The senior female officer apparently handed in her notice in recent days amid concerns that any such restrictions on hiring, however temporary and limited, could undermine the fighting strength of the Royal Air Force (RAF), the sources said.
They said the service was attempting to hit “impossible” diversity targets.
The senior female officer apparently handed in her notice in recent days amid concerns that any such restrictions on hiring … could undermine the fighting strength of the Royal Air Force (RAF), the sources said. …

The defence sources accused Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, the head of the RAF, of appearing willing to compromise UK security at a time of growing threats from Russia and China in pursuit of albeit important goals such as improving diversity and inclusion.

Successive governments have been challenging all three armed services – the RAF, the army and the Royal Navy – for years to improve their diversity statistics in what has traditionally been a predominantly white, male profession.

Senior leaders appear to be prioritising diversity over operational needs, according to defence sources.

RTWT

https://news.sky.com/story/raf-pauses-job-offers-for-white-men-to-meet-impossible-diversity-targets-12674409

Posted by Thorn on Fri, 19 Aug 2022 18:25 | #

Oliver’s Twist, Policymakers Legislating Against the People – It’s Not About Going Green, It’s About Going Without
August 18, 2022 | Sundance | 369 Comments

Last Saturday’s weekly monologue by Neil Oliver was a tremendous hit, helping to awaken millions of people from multiple nations about the true intent of this new governing system as promoted by policymakers on behalf of corporate interests [SEE HERE].

Earlier today (UK time) GBNews host Mark Steyn had Mr Oliver appear in studio to expand the conversation. What results from Steyn and Oliver is a brilliant segment outlining the nature of this new governing system. A system structured on the standard that disconnected policymakers are legislating to the needs of corporations.

When you remove the old “representative democracy” scales from your outlook and replace the lens with an understanding that representation now means representing the needs of multinational interests, almost all of the contradictions reconcile.

From that perspective, the Build Back Better or Green New Deal (climate change) agenda is not about replacing the system of energy production with a green system that duplicates the output. The intent of the new program is to produce less energy and then modify the uses of the now limited resource. In one of the examples given, 30 million gasoline powered cars are not expected to be replaced by electric vehicles, a personal transportation system of far fewer vehicles is the goal. WATCH (prompted):

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/08/18/olivers-twist-policymakers-legislating-against-the-people-its-not-about-going-green-its-about-going-without/

Posted by Guessedworker on Fri, 19 Aug 2022 22:27 | #

Neil Oliver is fast becoming a bit of a cult figure. Not that it takes a great deal for a right-of-centre truth-speaker to make an impact in this age of harm and lies - there is a displacement effect because the “respectable” right-wing consumer of political comment must strive desperately to block out the truth spoken from the nationalist direction. Any nourishing crumbs from nearer home are received with delirious gratitude. Hence Nigel Farage’s enduring popularity.

Another one is the Conservative junior minister Kemi Badenoch, née Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke, formerly of Lagos, Nigeria. Kemi was a surprising success in the earlier stages of the Conservative leadership process, where she did well on a diet of “anti-woke” statements and an apparently conviction-based simulacrum of conservative thinking - a true rarity among Conservative MPs today, naturally. Again, she had journos and readers alike gagging for more.

Of course, all of these people are stealing our clothes, and none of them will ever say all that needs saying. But until nationalists can step across the bounds of the chalk circle ...

Posted by Thorn on Sat, 20 Aug 2022 12:53 | #

@13

I agree.

What those types all have in common is they approach the racial issue from the “race is a social construct” rather than the fact race is a biological construct - a product of evolution. Coming from the social construct position is a safe way to express oneself but it, IMHO, is mainly rooted in cowardice. If the topic of race is brought up in a conversation, nearly all white conservatives insist upon focusing on the commonality between races rather than the obvious differences. I focus in on the differences; moreover, I focus on preserving those differences. My POV, of course, gets me into trouble at mainstream “conservative” websites.

It all adds up to 98% of whites - to one degree or another - are “anti-racists.” Trying to convince them to be white preservationists - to embrace a white identity - is a vexing task indeed.

Posted by Thorn on Sun, 21 Aug 2022 23:29 | #

I’m almost entirely convinced this Jew bastard leading Ukraine (Zelensky) aided and abetted by the Jewish dominated Biden Administration, is going to lead us into an all-out nuclear war.

Zelensky warns of “nasty phase of war” as Russia claims Dugin car bombing “contract killing”…

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/daughter-putin-ally-reportedly-killed-assassination-attempt

Posted by Thorn on Mon, 22 Aug 2022 16:27 | #

Russia releases video of suspected Moscow car bomber

Footage shows the Ukrainian citizen entering the country and leaving it after assassinating Darya Dugina

https://www.rt.com/russia/561318-dugina-suspect-vovk-video/

(Unsurprisingly she has a Jewish surname: Shaban)

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