done (correction) ... and thanks ever so much, Cynthia ... that was indeed an gross errata you discovered! it has been a series of long & difficult days.
On the NFP, yes they are Socialists but it does seen to be driven by Melenchon and his Insoumise who I don't think you could consider anything but pretty extreme ...n'est-ce pas??
btw, I got 900+ new subs from 'Letter' !! I'd love to have her notice me, but she does not answer emails or any other communications ;-((
As for France, yes, do have a look at my detailed bio (i'll email it to you!) ... my history with France dates to 1980 when I began as Paris correspondent for CBS News, very close to that Socialist president François MItterrand....and am a chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur !!
Oh my lots to process! I too arrived in Paris in 1981 just as Mitterrand Was being sworn in as the 1st postwar Socialist president. I had left New York Times for CBS News to become Paris correspondent. Mitterrand and I became close friends and my apartment in Paris was and is on the rue de Solferino, then across the street from the headquarters of the French socialist party!!
By the way, I was the network pool correspondent for Reagan‘s first inaugural and earlier I covered his first campaign for elective office when he beat Pat Brown, Jerry, Brown’s father, for governor of California!! Meanwhile, you should have a look at my CNN column from May 1 that may now already be coming sadly, out of date!!!
Actually, I think the NFP came together mostly under the ecologists and socialists, who seemed pretty reluctant to let Mélanchon open his mouth (he IS extreme). Anyway, let's hope for a big democratic surge on Sunday. I've been here some 1981, having sworn I'd leave the US if Reagan got elected. Now where to go if Le Pen gets in?
You are so VERY right on every level, Mira … my only hope is that indeed it’s a lovely hot day next Sunday & many young voters will prefer to hit the beaches !!
Well I can't disagree. I can still smell the booze on the breath of Lepenist thugs who poured out of bars to start race riots. Remember when Serge Gainsbourg tried to croon the Marseillaise his way?
But that's it-- race-nationalism + dictator, above all.
I fear this is far less true now than people our age can imagine: “But the DNA remains deeply embedded in the French psyche. At least, we hope.” I am disturbed by how many young voters think the AI-enhanced looking young Jordan (his given name a generational giveaway) is just super, and by how many people of all ages in France’s rural and rust-belt social-service deserts (no doctors, no dentists, no maternity wards, hours to a hospital, closed schools) with scarce, low-paying jobs see the RN as an untried party that gives them hope. All of what terrifies me — a dual-national member of the international urban elite — about the RN is invisible to them or, worse, they love it. There was a lot of rage and frustration expressed in yesterday’s vote. And it is almost impossible to grasp how much Macron is loathed across the political spectrum. I fear a period of profound instability in France with violence in the streets no matter what the final tally next Sunday. I love this country and it’s tearing me apart what is happening. (Add what’s happening in the U.S. and today’s Supreme Court rulings and I feel like we’re in flashing red lights and screaming alarms territory.)
I’ve enjoyed reading your column since HCR’s Letter from an American put me on to it. Clearly, you’re no stranger to France and French politics. How can you characterize the newly formed coalition, NFP, as “extreme left”? It is made up of the Socialist Party, some of the Communist Party, various environmental parties and Melanchon’s LFI. Lutte Ouvrière is not part of it. And you seem to have written this post too hastily, for you certainly know that Ensemble has nothing to do with Le Pen but is instead the current incarnation of President Macron’s party.
I would be grateful if you would issue an erratum to this paragraph:
"To get an idea of just where we stand after yesterday's orgy of voting, let's look at the results. Here's how the percentages broke down by party—the RN (far-right), NFP (far-left), Ensemble (Le Pen), LR (Les Republicans: old center-right) and Divers (a mélange of misfits)"
No, as you say, it's not over til it's over.... but I fear this new wave will last for a long long time, because we're seeing it sweeping more than just France.
There's some hope on the horizon; however, picture isn't rosy, as David says. Much indebted, for this meticulous account. French republican history is a checkerboard of failures.
What the French call Lepenisme, which began as Vichyite & lost-Empire resentment, isn't just a French thing, I suppose, but part of a world neo-fascist axis, and stimulated by Trump.. and, of course, the past troubled 10 years. I'm still astonished at the backbone displayed by Figaro, which, when I was local, hung to the farther-right. One quibble I'd make, David. I don't think Vichy was a puppet regime. I'd call it a dependent state, fully armed, with ready-made trappings of French fascism, quasi monarchist, and led by Field-Marshall Pétain (who was always an extremist), except that German intelligence was everywhere.
done (correction) ... and thanks ever so much, Cynthia ... that was indeed an gross errata you discovered! it has been a series of long & difficult days.
On the NFP, yes they are Socialists but it does seen to be driven by Melenchon and his Insoumise who I don't think you could consider anything but pretty extreme ...n'est-ce pas??
btw, I got 900+ new subs from 'Letter' !! I'd love to have her notice me, but she does not answer emails or any other communications ;-((
As for France, yes, do have a look at my detailed bio (i'll email it to you!) ... my history with France dates to 1980 when I began as Paris correspondent for CBS News, very close to that Socialist president François MItterrand....and am a chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur !!
Oh my lots to process! I too arrived in Paris in 1981 just as Mitterrand Was being sworn in as the 1st postwar Socialist president. I had left New York Times for CBS News to become Paris correspondent. Mitterrand and I became close friends and my apartment in Paris was and is on the rue de Solferino, then across the street from the headquarters of the French socialist party!!
By the way, I was the network pool correspondent for Reagan‘s first inaugural and earlier I covered his first campaign for elective office when he beat Pat Brown, Jerry, Brown’s father, for governor of California!! Meanwhile, you should have a look at my CNN column from May 1 that may now already be coming sadly, out of date!!!
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/01/opinions/trump-president-americans-emigrate-andelman/index.html
Actually, I think the NFP came together mostly under the ecologists and socialists, who seemed pretty reluctant to let Mélanchon open his mouth (he IS extreme). Anyway, let's hope for a big democratic surge on Sunday. I've been here some 1981, having sworn I'd leave the US if Reagan got elected. Now where to go if Le Pen gets in?
You are so VERY right on every level, Mira … my only hope is that indeed it’s a lovely hot day next Sunday & many young voters will prefer to hit the beaches !!
Truly … among enough other priorities to render much of Europe paralyzed with fear !
Truly, Walter … puppet is perhaps overly generous… client state perhaps….just as a Le Pen France risks becoming vs Putin Russia !
Well I can't disagree. I can still smell the booze on the breath of Lepenist thugs who poured out of bars to start race riots. Remember when Serge Gainsbourg tried to croon the Marseillaise his way?
But that's it-- race-nationalism + dictator, above all.
I fear this is far less true now than people our age can imagine: “But the DNA remains deeply embedded in the French psyche. At least, we hope.” I am disturbed by how many young voters think the AI-enhanced looking young Jordan (his given name a generational giveaway) is just super, and by how many people of all ages in France’s rural and rust-belt social-service deserts (no doctors, no dentists, no maternity wards, hours to a hospital, closed schools) with scarce, low-paying jobs see the RN as an untried party that gives them hope. All of what terrifies me — a dual-national member of the international urban elite — about the RN is invisible to them or, worse, they love it. There was a lot of rage and frustration expressed in yesterday’s vote. And it is almost impossible to grasp how much Macron is loathed across the political spectrum. I fear a period of profound instability in France with violence in the streets no matter what the final tally next Sunday. I love this country and it’s tearing me apart what is happening. (Add what’s happening in the U.S. and today’s Supreme Court rulings and I feel like we’re in flashing red lights and screaming alarms territory.)
Dear Mr. Andelman,
I’ve enjoyed reading your column since HCR’s Letter from an American put me on to it. Clearly, you’re no stranger to France and French politics. How can you characterize the newly formed coalition, NFP, as “extreme left”? It is made up of the Socialist Party, some of the Communist Party, various environmental parties and Melanchon’s LFI. Lutte Ouvrière is not part of it. And you seem to have written this post too hastily, for you certainly know that Ensemble has nothing to do with Le Pen but is instead the current incarnation of President Macron’s party.
I would be grateful if you would issue an erratum to this paragraph:
"To get an idea of just where we stand after yesterday's orgy of voting, let's look at the results. Here's how the percentages broke down by party—the RN (far-right), NFP (far-left), Ensemble (Le Pen), LR (Les Republicans: old center-right) and Divers (a mélange of misfits)"
No, as you say, it's not over til it's over.... but I fear this new wave will last for a long long time, because we're seeing it sweeping more than just France.
There's some hope on the horizon; however, picture isn't rosy, as David says. Much indebted, for this meticulous account. French republican history is a checkerboard of failures.
What the French call Lepenisme, which began as Vichyite & lost-Empire resentment, isn't just a French thing, I suppose, but part of a world neo-fascist axis, and stimulated by Trump.. and, of course, the past troubled 10 years. I'm still astonished at the backbone displayed by Figaro, which, when I was local, hung to the farther-right. One quibble I'd make, David. I don't think Vichy was a puppet regime. I'd call it a dependent state, fully armed, with ready-made trappings of French fascism, quasi monarchist, and led by Field-Marshall Pétain (who was always an extremist), except that German intelligence was everywhere.