[Fdu] Public Talk, August 22: The France of Macron and the Left

[Cynthia Wright]

    The France of Macron, the ‘New’ Neoliberal Reforms and the Left:
    Analyses and Reportbacks from the 2017 Election

    Stefan Kipfer
    Nathan Rao

    7:00-9:00
    Tuesday, August 22
    A Different Booklist Cultural Centre
    777 Bathurst St., Toronto (Bathurst subway stop)


    The 2017 Presidential and Parliamentary elections produced a
    paradoxical result:
    the victory of a youngish Emmanuel Macron who is a pure product of the
    discredited social democratic François Hollande presidency (as well
    as the
    typical institutions of the French ruling class) and a leader of a
    brand-new
    political formation (La République en Marche) that managed to
    marginalize the
    parties (the Républicains and the Parti Socialiste) that have, under
    different
    names, governed France since 1958. Macron's victory blocked the
    advances of the
    neo-fascist Front National, the President of which, Marine Le Pen,
    garnered a
    record 10.5 million votes in the Presidential election. In turn, Macron
    threatens to deepen the very conditions that have led to the
    recurrent surge of
    neo-fascist politics in France. He wants to radicalize the policies
    of the
    Hollande government by making the state of emergency a permanent
    feature of
    French law, implementing a new set of neoliberal labour reforms,
    entrenching
    austerity to shrink public sector employment and deconstructing the
    French
    welfare state all the while defending a central and aggressive role
    for the
    French military sector Euro-American imperialism. A force of
    ‘continuity-in-discontinuity’, Macron's En Marche thus expresses the
    ongoing
    crisis of rule in France as well as the wider systemic uncertainties
    about
    French capitalism and the future of the European Union. What are the
    political
    implications of the French elections for the future of left and
    popular forces
    in France?

    Stefan Kipfer just returned from a sabbatical year in France doing
    research on
    fascism and anti-fascism. He teaches politics and urban questions at
    York
    University.

    Nathan Rao is a writer and political activist living in France.

    Sponsored by: Centre for Social Justice, Socialist Project.



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