France, I Year of François Hollande, 150,000 March for Alternative Left Policies.

In Paris on Sunday up to 150,000 demonstrators marched for a  VIth Republic», and against “l’austérité et la finance”.

This was their way of marking one year of Socialist Party led-government and the election of President Hollande.

At the appeal of the Front de Gauche leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon many came to bring a “new broom” to French policies with real brooms, of all kinds.

This morning on French Radio stations supporters of the governing Parti Socialiste expressed their disdain for the sometimes colourful language used by their left critics.

But it was noted that François Holllande,elected with 51,6% of the vote Holland today gets only 25% backing in Opinion Polls.

Below are some reasons for this:

France: Unemployment Up.

Hollande stands accused of failing to offer a serious alternative to financial austerity that would change these figures.

Is there another way out?

At the Paris March  Pierre Laurent Communist Party), Eva Joly (left Wing Greens) and  Jean-Luc Mélenchon (Parti de gauche) argued for new radical left policies (Here).

As the first speaker said,

Nous sommes tous Grecs, Espagnols, Italiens, Irlandais, Portugais, Chypriotes et notre ennemi c’est la finance. La finance dehors, l’humain d’abord !

We are all Greeks. Spaniards, Italians, Irish, Portuguese and Cypriots. Our enemy is finance. Out with Finance! Put Humanity first!“

March for the 6th Republic in France, Against Austerity

Thousands of people are expected to support the firebrand leftist presidential candidate Melenchon, who has shaken up France’s election campaign with a surprise jump in the polls. Melenchon, represents a coalition of leftist parties including the Communists. Supporters of French Front de Gauche candidate for the 2012 French presidential election Jean-Luc Melenchon gathered on the Bastille square in Paris, wave flags as they listen to the candidate’s speech after a march from Nation.Paris,… (from Here)

This demonstration has attracted support from the Front de gauche (le Front de gauche est une coalition de partis de la gauche antilibérale et anticapitaliste réunissant le Parti communiste français (PCF), le Parti de gauche (PG), la Gauche unitaire (GU), République et socialisme (R&S), Convergences et alternative(C&A), le Parti communiste des ouvriers de France (PCOF), la Fédération pour une alternative sociale et écologique (FASE), laGauche anticapitaliste (GA) et Les Alternatifs , left-wing Greens (Eva Joly), the Nouveau Paru anti-capitaliste (NPA) and many trade unions.

• L’appel de Jean-Luc Mélenchon
• L’appel de Pierre Laurent
• L’appel d’Eva Joly
• L’appel de La vie est à nous / Le Sarkophage
• L’appel de Christian Salmon
• L’appel du NPA
• Appel de Fabienne Brugel
• Appel de Zinn-Dinn Boukhenaïssi
• L’appel du PPLD
• L’appel de Gabriel Amard
• L’appel d’Aurélien Bernier
• L’appel de l’association l’Ange Bleu
• Appel de l’AGAUREPS-Prométhée
• L’appel du Front de Gauche

Song,

Le Roi Des Cons de Georges Brassens:
Non certes elle n’est pas bâtie
Sur du sable l’oligarchie

Il y a peu de chances qu’on
Détrône le Roi des cons.

Peuple affamé par l’austérité
Pour engraisser une bande de rentiers

Il y a peu de chances qu’on
Détrône le Roi des cons.

Il est possible au demeurant
De convoquer une constituante

Il y aurait une chance qu’on
Se passe d’un Roi des cons.

Qu’un jour on dise c’est fini
la domination des nantis

Il y a bien une chances qu’on
Se passe d’un Roi des cons.

Peuple debout et prend la Bastille
Pour la 6eme République

Il y a bien une chance qu’on
Se passe d’un Roi des cons.

You can hear this  here.

Mali, Mélenchon, “Thinking During the War”.

The leader of the Front de Gauche(FdG)  Jean-Luc  Mélenchon on ‘Thinking During the War”  (January the 19th).

On his Blog Mélenchon deals with a number of issues, including gay marriage and adoption. But it is the War in Mali, its legitimacy and the truth about what’s happening, which is the heart of his latest post.

He writes that there can be no blind patriotic support for the French intervention in Mali.

The FdG leader’s thoughts range from the geography and the history of the rebellion and break-away of Northern Mali, which predated the Islamist presence. Referring to the long-standing Tourag revolt he observes that this problem is not so simple that it can be settled by force (se régler par la force). There are many countries of the Sahal involved in the Tourag movement. What would the reconquest of the North of the country mean?  Does this entail  defeating the Islamists or/and the Tourags?

He then looks at the aims of this drive. Who will ‘have’ the territory once they have been beaten?  Giving the territory over to the putchists who govern Mail at the moment? Will indeed this military rule be ended? When will elections be organised?

Mélenchon concludes that a war can only be waged, and supported for it established, when there is clarity on these and other aims (‘La définition des buts de guerre est un commencement indispensable’).

The former Parti Socialiste MP is not convinced by arguments that portray the French intervention in terms of human rights. He recognises the threat that the Islamists offer:  their use of the  Sharia, its cruel punishment, its oppression of women. But he is not persuaded by the pious refrain   « dans-le-monde-qui-change-et-où-il-faut-defendre-les-frontières-de-la-démocratie-et-des-droits-de-l’homme-et-surtout-ceux-des-femmes »  As if behind each  pick-up, filled with military toughs we should shout, “fight for human rights, and above all those women” followed by ” Amen !”

So, that said, the international legitimacy of the intervention is also far from proven. The UN Resolution, which is held to justify it, contains clauses that would cast doubt on this. In paragraphs 10 and 11 (Resolution 2085) demanded the participation of a number of partners, neighbouring countries and other African allies, as well as international bodies, and for their plans to be resubmitted to the UN before  any action was taken.

This  had not taken place before the French armed units arrived.  The French UN ambassador to the UN, Gérard Arnaud, in effect conceding the point, had admitted that this was an « opération française d’urgence » and not the implementation of Resolution 2085.

France has seen, he notes,  patriotic and human rights media spin designed to obscure this central issue.

To hide the issue of legitimacy some have evoked the right to “défense légitime en cas d’attaque armée d’un pays membre” (legitimate defence in the event of an armed attack). But the present Mali government rests on shaky legal foundations itself. It is the result of the March  2012 putsch led by captain  Sanogo. who has imposed his will on the provisional President Dioncounda Traoré. No date has been fixed for elections. It would seem therefore that there are doubts about the legitimacy of the political entity calling for its own ‘defence’.

This does not mean that there are no reasons to defend Bamako and the rest of the country against an Islamist attack.  But the problem is that the basis for doing this  is not established. The difficulty that results is that the intervention contains within itself a “logic” that will substitute for Malian authority.

In these conditions the French action will be an “aventure”. 

The French President says that it is not acting only out of its own interests but for the rights of the Malian people (des droits d’une population). Is this now French military doctrine? If it is then France will be called on to intervene everywhere.  When put to such a test François Hollande’s phrase has no real meaning.

Finally Mélenchon notes that the intervention was decided without consulting parliament nor the PM’s Cabinet.  This goes against the Socialists’ own past demands for authorisation before previous military operations. Having made this a plank of their international policy, the Parti Socialiste has now dropped the principle. 

Mélenchon  states “Le PS a peut-être changé d’avis, moi pas” – the Socialists have perhaps changed their minds, but I have not.

Important Update: le Monde today reports on the growing fear that the Malian army will exert vicious revenge on Arab and Tourags civilians in the reconquest of the North. There is already evidence that the same army has begun to abuse the populations it has encountered.

Mali: Risks of French Intervention Say Mélenchon and French Communists.

 

French Mali Intervention Criticised by Left.

The French military intervention in Mali has been questioned by a number of figures on the French left, to begin with by the leader of the Front de Gauche, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

These are some reports.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon a critiqué la position du président. “L’intérêt d’une intervention militaire extérieure pour régler le problème posé au nord du Mali est discutable. En décider alors que les intérêts fondamentaux de la France ne sont pas en cause, selon le chef de l’Etat lui-même, et alors que les troupes africaines sont engagées, est discutable”, écrit le leader du Front de gauche dans un communiqué. Il regrette que le Parlement et le gouvernement n’aient pas été consultés.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon has criticised the President’s position, “The advantages to be gained from an external military intervention to resolve the problems that have developed  in the North of Mali are questionable. To decide the fundamental interests of France, according to the head of state himself, and those of the African troops now committed, on something which does not touch fundamental French stakes, opens up a debate.” the leader of the Front de gauche has written in a communiqué. He also regrets that neither Parliament nor the Government have been consulted.”

Communiqué here.

L’Humanité notes the danger that the Islamists represent. It carries this statement by the  Parti Communiste Français (PCF)

Le PCF partage l’inquiétude des maliens devant l’offensive armée des groupes djihadistes vers le sud de leur pays. Ces groupes islamistes radicaux, avec leurs pratiques violentes, ont montré le danger qu’ils représentent pour la dignité humaine, pour les libertés, la justice et la stabilité du Mali et de toute la région.

The(PCF) shares the fears of Malians confronted with the armed offensive of the Jihadists  towards the south of their country. These radical Islamist groups, have shown by their violence, the danger that they represent for human dignity, for freedom, for justice and for the stability of Mali and all the region.

The PCF continues,

Le PCF rappelle que la réponse à la demande d’aide du Président du Mali aurait du s’inscrire dans le cadre d’une mission de l’ONU et de l’Union africaine, réalisée sous drapeau de l’ONU, par des forces maliennes et africaines, dans le strict respect de la Charte des Nations-Unies, dans les limites imposées par l’exigence de la souveraineté malienne. La France, ancienne puissance coloniale, ne peut apparaître comme voulant poursuivre les pratiques dominatrices de la “françafrique’.

The PCF reiterates that the response to the request for help from the President of Mail should have been within the structure of a UN and African Union mission, under the UN flag, by Malian and African forces, within the structures firmly set out the UN Charter, within the limits imposed by the demands of Malian sovereignty. France, the former colonial power, should not be seen to be acting within the neo-colonial practices of ‘Franco-Africa’ (“françafrique’, France’s sphere of influence)

They demand a serious search for a political solution to the problems of Mali and that the President fortwith opens a serious debate on this in the French Parliament, (‘engagée sans débat préalable au Parlement.’)

It is worth noting this report from Al-Jazeera,

The operation by French forces to stop a rebel advance towards the capital has won their hearts. Before the French intervened residents of Bamako were living in fear of the rebels overrunning their country’s weak army and reaching the capital in a short time.

“I salute the French for coming to our aid,” Mariam Coulibally, said balancing a heavy basket of grocery on her head. “God knows where we would have been if they had not arrived in time,” she added.

On one of Bamako’s main streets the French and Malian flags hang side by side. Traders are also doing a brisk business selling the French flag to motorists.

And there has been a huge response to a request from Mali’s interim President Dioncounda Traore and religious leaders for people to support the country’s weak forces whichever way they can. At a medical facility in one Bamako’s suburbs people have gathered to donate blood.

Thirty-year old Fatoumatta Diallou told me “we are ready to respond to any request from our government. If it calls us to fight we will respond. We are ready to die.”

Others donated money and food to the military.

More in Al-Jazeera site.

Will the Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste Continue its Lonely Path?

Left Alternative to French Socialist Government.

French politics are in turmoil. Opinion Polls show both the Socialist President, François  Hollande and his Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on a slide. They have dropped to backing levels of  35 and 37%.

Thier handling of the Mittal group’s  plans for the Florange steel plant, which many believe will not save jobs or the furnace, has been widely criticised on the left and by trade unions. 

Left-wing sections of the Front de Gauche have issued a joint declaration on the wider aspects of the present situation.

They note that the strategy of the Ayrault government is far from their electoral promises of “« changement maintenant », change now.

The Minister of the Interior, Manuel Valls has not hesitated to crack down on Roms,  has decided to fight by police repression, protests against the construction of the airport at Notre-Dame-des-Landes, and the Cabinet is wobbling about the promise to give immigrants the vote in local elections.

St the root of this, they states, is a failure to confront the austerity measures incarnated in the European Treaty drawn up principally by Sarkozy and Angela Merkel.

The European Union agreement on increased ‘compeition’, a mainstay of “ultralibéralisme”, remains unchallenged. Austerity policies, based on this outlook, are being implemented by the Ayrault government, with President Hollande’s approval.

Against this they call for a campaign in 2013 for an alternative to austerity, based on concrete measures, to help resolve the crisis. They propose that the Front de Gauche takes every possible means to mobilise protest, to show that there is an alternative on the left,a nd that cuts and austerity are not in inevitable . In this way they propose to broaden their campaign to include all those who share this strategy.

Pierre Laporte (FASE), Stéphanie Treillet (Convergences et alternative), Alain Faradji (Gauche unitaire), Ingrid Hayes (Gauche anticapitaliste)

How is the Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste (from which both the Gauche Unitaire and the Gauche anticapitaliste broke away) reacting?

On the Gauche anticapitaliste site this has just been posted.

Le NPA va t-il choisir un isolement supplémentaire ? Samy Johsua.

Johsua notes that the former NPA Presidential Candidate Olivier Besancenot does envisage some kind of general cooperation between different left forces opposed to the present Socialist-led government’s policies. But that in the documents for the NPA’s next year Conference there is no mention of any real « front social et politique » that could give this shape. The  NPA remains fixated by hard-line opposition to ’social liberalism’, which in its view is incarnated in the Socialist Party (PS).

If the NPA now stands for ‘left opposition’ to the Ayrault government, that is not sufficient for real unity.

Instead we see a repeat of the old – antique – opposition between  « les réformistes » (Front de Gauche) et « les révolutionnaires » (the NPA). The FdG which stands for change “through the ballot box”, is not, in this view, really ‘anti-capitalist’. It does not stand for real united struggle, nor their self-organisation.

To Joshua the NPA remains stuck in the past. Its appeal for a party in which one could see “cohabiter des traditions différentes” draws narrow limits. Only the traditional far left is welcome to join.

By contrast for the Gauche anticapitaliste, a “front social et politique ” of the left of the left remains essential.

But, as yet, the NPA appears not to want to be a full part of such a united response to the crisis.