#les macrons

[booasaur]

Something really amazing happened in France, and I think it'd help us in the US to learn about it. Forgive the long read, but I think this is genuinely great both because of what happened and how.

So as some of you might have seen, in a decision historians will debate for years (mostly to figure out just WTF he was thinking, even though he is alive right now and can be asked), the French president, Emmanuel Macron, currently in power and THREE YEARS before the scheduled election, seeing the far right rise in popularity decided to dissolve the assembly and hold snap elections.

577 seats were up for grabs. Remember that number. Since half of that is 288.5, 289 seats are needed for a majority.

The first round happened last week and boy, was it bad. The far right made HUGE gains. It won or was in first place in so many races. And Macron's party ended up third!

Overall, this is how things ended up after the first round:

Far right bloc: 33%

Left bloc: 28%

Macron's centrist party: 20%

Conservatives: 7%

The way the French system works is that if a candidate gets over 50% of the vote, they win outright, and some of the far right did manage that. But, many races went to a runoff.

Immediate projections after were that the far right bloc might win anywhere from 240 to 310 seats, a catastrophe.

A shameful swing to the far right leading to the first time they'll be in power since the 1940s? Yes, but maybe not??

This is where things get interesting.

Unusually, a lot of these runoffs are 3-way, instead of a simpler 2-way choice. And in pretty much every case, that helps the far right.

So on June 30th, the night of the first round, this is how things went down:

Immediately, the left parties put out the call: anywhere they were third, they withdrew and their voters would go over to whoever was running against the far right candidate. Their goal: form a "republican front" to block the far right. The far right cannot get 289 seats.

Macron's bloc was not so...motivated. Different people put out different instructions: in some places, if they were third, they should drop out, but only to help the center left, not far left, in other places, see how far you are, only then drop out, that kind of thing.

The conservative party simply said they won't drop out and won't give their voters instruction either way in races they're not involved in.

Late night developments:

More people in Macron's party are now beginning to realize the situation and starting to coalesce around whichever candidate can beat the far right one. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, from Macron's party, says clearly the priority is to block the far right. BUT, some Macron spokespeople on TV say they'll form a coalition only with the center left and conservatives, splitting the left bloc if needed. Some individual Macronists still saying they won't drop out, even if there's no hope of winning.

Lol.

So, now July 1st:

Only half so far. In one race, where the sister of Marine Le Pen (the far right leader and the face of their movement) was leading, the third place Macronist refused to bow out.

Excellent quote from another Macronist:

Perhaps realizing the same thing, that Macronist in the race against the Le Pen sister now drops out.

In some places, third place Macronists are dropping out DESPITE Macron bewilderingly telling them NOT to?

Halfway through the day:

Of the 311 3-way or 4-way runoffs, the number is down to 135 because of these candidates dropping out: 121 Left, 56 Macronists, 1 conservative.

Oh, there was this, in case people had any doubts about how terrible the far right are:

And to show the selflessness of the left:

July 2:

The deadline to decide if they want to stay in a runoff is today.

A dozen new third place Macronists who said they'd stay in have now dropped out. One got a call from both the PM Attal AND Macron to drop out, signalling the dawning understanding of the importance of this moment.

Even some conservative party members are now backing the left candidate who faces the far right.

A Macronist who had 30.55% of the vote in the first round and came in third to the far right's 33.11% and left's 32.73% and who would have been tempted to stay has dropped out.

The deadline to stay in or not has now passed.

Look at these far right shenanigans!

Macron still being a freaking loser:

July 3rd:

In the end, of the 311 3- or 4-way run offs, only 91 left. Some polls come out that have the far right getting between 190 to 220 seats.

July 4th:

New polls say the balance of the voting itself isn't transferring between the left and center and predictions have risen for the far right, now predicted to get between 210 and 250 seats.

July 5th:

New polls again, left voters now predicted to do better transferring vote to the centrists, decreasing the far right projections again.

However, scandalous reporting emerges: while Attal was trying to fend off the far right, Macron was not only NOT taking the far right seriously, he was undermining efforts to defeat them. His team shrugged off the first round results and celebrated a BIRTHDAY as the results were still coming in?

July 6th:

A few runoffs happened yesterday, nothing much unexpected, some left and center wins.

July 7th:

The day of reckoning. At this point, the expectations are that the far right won't come close to that 289 number but could still easily have the most seats.

GUYS.

It's over and the left are in the lead!

A LOT of cases where a leftist or centrist was 2nd in the first round and now won.

Amazing:

SO many lessons to take from this.

First, you have to vote! You have to. You can't do anything without voting. The freaking French, who'll protest for anything, are showing up to vote. If you're trying to achieve any kind of result and it's not going to happen by January 2025, you have to vote now.

But just as importantly, the left and center (and even conservative) parties made very key decisions. They were all lucky that Attal, who Macron chose, saw the big picture, bigger than indeed Macron could. A stupid selfish centrist leader could have still ruined everything if it were up to him.

TL;DR: After a disastrous first round in the national French elections where the far right was on the cusp of taking power, the left and center formed a strong coalition and through the power of voting and unity, overcame the far right AND their selfish centrist president to win.

[destiel-news-channel]

[Image ID: The Destiel confession meme edited so that Dean answers 'France's left wing parties are projected to win the election while the far-right is projected to only come in third.' to Cas' 'I love you'. /End ID]

source

This is a huge surprise considering the results of the first round!

[kropotkindersurprise]

September 7, 2024 - Over 100.000 people took to the streets in demonstrations in more than 130 cities and towns across France to protest liberal president Macron, with support from fascist Le Pen, handing the position of Prime Minister to the leader of the right-wing party that came in fourth place in the recent elections. He did this to make sure that the nominal winners of that election, left-wing party NFP (Nouveau Front Populaire) are kept out of France's government. Macron said that the NFP's crazy ideas, such as raising taxes for the rich, are a threat to the national stability of France. As always, liberals will choose to join forces with fascists before ever considering working with socialists. [video]

[hedgehog-moss]

I really love it when you make entirely French posts that I Cannot Read (not sarcasm). There's just something so lovely about "Oh look!! People with entirely different cultures than me so vastly different I can't even read it!! But also so closely like mine that we're both here on tumblr!! People do the people things in so many ways and I'm privileged to see it even when I can't understand it!"

And I just think it's neat

Oh I know what you mean, I love finding posts in other languages on my dash and discovering that my mutuals are from more varied countries than I initially suspected! Especially a language that's completely inscrutable to me, I like trying to guess what the post is about and being wrong. I'm like, there's a heart emoji, this person is talking about her crush, and then I run the post through google translate and it's about a dog.

I'm afraid I'm not unpredictable in this way though... If you guessed that 100% of my French posts are me hating my government and wondering if burning down Paris again would help, you'd be right.

[asofterepilogue]

macron qui d'un côté dissout l'assemblée avec une victoire du RN pratiquement garantie, et qui de l'autre nous assure depuis des années qu'il faut absolument voter pour lui pour faire barrage au RN 😂 guillotine poison écartèlement astéroïde death note etc.

[chaiu]

with the anniversary of 9/11 let’s not forget about the muslim girls in france currently being kicked out of school for wearing the abaya (a long-sleeved dress)!! these kids are being humiliated and punished by the state just for the clothes they wear… how is this fair!

[thebusylilbee]

on devrait attaquer Macron pour trahison franchement. à un moment c'est plus juste de la bêtise politique c'est du sabotage

[spoonietimelordy]

Les plus de 70ans sont peut être influençable par les média et vote macron, mais en attendant c'est la génération qui a le moins voté facho, et y'a une raison, c'est la seule génération qui a vécu le fascime. C'est la génération né pendant la guerre. C'est la génération faite orpheline car leur parents sont mort au main du fascisme.

Fin tout ce pour dire, aller voir vos grands-parents/parents parceque la peur qu'on récent en ce moment, ils la récente probablement encore plus.

[elmaxlys]

Me, coming back home after an honestly pretty good day at work: :)

Macron: 😌👍

Me:

[sous-le-saule]

Au moins ça apprend à conjuguer le verbe dissolure dissolver dissoudre.

[mailmiocuoredipietratremaancora]

France will be anti-fascist or it won’t be at all

[meisphuong]

Just the boys taking a stroll through the Port Of Montreal 🥺💕

[hedgehog-moss]

French TV journalist having a hard time trying to get woman in the street to comment on Macron's latest speech yesterday

Protesters organised casserolades (aka banging on pots and pans) in front of city halls across the country at 8pm, when Macron was speaking, to symbolically drown out his voice. Later that evening, Macron was filmed singing a song with some 'random people' in a street in Paris, trying to show he can go out and meet people and have fun because protesters don't exist. The people he was singing with (members of a choir, some of whom are 'alt-right-leaning') were using a folk song app created by far-right activists that was criticised a few months ago for hosting a Spanish fascist anthem & Third Reich military marches.

The government's response was that the President "couldn't know the background of the people he met that night." Maybe if he wants to avoid being associated with the far-right (that's a big if, I know), Macron should keep in mind that with the kinds of strategies and positioning his government has adopted lately, people in the street who welcome him with open arms and are proud to be filmed with him have a higher than average likelihood of supporting fascism.

[a-typical]

Why is right-wing populism outmatching left-wing populism across the Globe?

It’s so much easier to make people feel afraid than it is to make them feel hopeful or safe or supported. Right wing populism preys on people’s fears and stokes pre-existing anxieties, while also providing an individual “strongman” that people can look to for resolution. Simple and effective.

If we look at left-wing policies or general ideological talking points, they require both:

an inherent empathy/sympathy for strangers and community alike

a strong persistence to work against pre-existing institutions/structures to achieve that which isn’t often simple

It requires more effort, more funding, and occasionally can’t be simplified into layman’s terms, which ostracizes those who can’t reach higher education. This, above all else, is what makes right-wing populist rhetoric so effective - it’s approachable. It doesn’t ask you to care for others (quite the opposite) outside of your own interests. It’s comforting to have a powerful leader who “isn’t afraid to speak the truth” or “tell it like it is”, when the preceding leaders have all spoken outside your comprehension and made you feel isolated from your country in their education, class, and/or status.

Really, right-wing populism is in vogue because it’s so much easier to understand and so much easier to exercise. It doesn’t ask for much - it certainly doesn’t ask for us to follow rules or facts. It’s chameleon, and its rhetoric shapes to what would reach the most people regardless of how plausible, reasonable, or respectable it is.

[fidjiefidjie]

"Emmanuel Macron s’attendait à une défaite, c’est une humiliation." 📰

Le Figaro

[thebusylilbee]

Macron se baignera dans la Seine de gré ou de force...