A fighting left

“Arm yourself with clairvoyance!” recommended the musician Erik Satie. It will be needed on Sunday, to steer through the hotchpotch of the ruins of our political landscape and, for those having chosen not to vote, to get themselves to the polling station. Fear will dictate action: that of victory for the extreme right who get their hands on large communities: that of a right which moves to extremity and converts to brutal liberalism; even that which drives the choice for opting for Marine’s fascists. Therefore progressivists must always find their direction, that of the interest of our people and, following a demonstration of frustration, win on different terms. Because, even though we must unhesitatingly fight the extreme right, guard against the return of the extreme right which will charge headlong into public expenditure, and also guarantee anti-austerity politicians in regions where this is possible; other battles loom.

To combat the extreme right, we must attack everything which feeds it: growing injustice; repugnant inequality; base sacrifice; ideological regression which has afflicted a large section of the Socialist party and the right; hate; and, dejection. The National Front (FN) remains a good bet for those who hope it will polarise thoughts and create fear that hinders judgment in favour of tactical voting. Sorcerers’ apprentices who have prepared the ground by attacks on the working environment, legitimating the dominance of money, deregulating capitalist globalisation, and the liberal politics of the EU - destroying the fabric of society with austerity... this is the way in which they have undermined solidarity. The sole notion that dominates the media has pounded flat all efforts to find collective progressivist paths. The political impasse – social and economic – into which they have plunged the country, feeds ever increasing dejection. The concoction dreamt up by Manuel Valls and the supporters of a grand coalition – a new party amalgamating right and left around a core of liberalism - will be destructive and create a two party system with the FN. No! We must put liberty back in the saddle and find new ways to engage the majority.