France Unbowed begins attempt to remove president over anti-democratic coup
La France Insoumise (‘France Unbowed’), the leading group in the New Popular Front coalition that won France’s recent parliamentary elections, has formally launched impeachment proceedings against French President Emmanuel Macron after Macron’s Trumpian move in which he announced that he would not honour the election results – an unprecedented situation in France.
In a statement released to its social media, France Unbowed condemned Macron’s anti-democratic move, which many commentators have described as an effective coup, and called for him to be removed and for French supporters of democracy to take to the streets to force Macron to allow the left to form a new government:
The President of the Republic has just made a decision of exceptional gravity. He does not recognise the result of the public vote that gave the leading position to the New Popular Front.
He refuses to appoint Lucie Castets as Prime Minister, invoking ‘institutional stability’. It is not up to him to do this, but up to the parliament to achieve it. Yet another abuse of power! And what does he mean? Has he found another parliamentary majority available? What, or who, is he talking about?
Under these conditions, the motion for impeachment will be presented by Insoumis MPs to the bureau of the National Assembly in accordance with Article 68 of the Constitution and any proposal for a prime minister other than Lucie Castets will be subject to a motion of censure.
The seriousness of the moment calls for a firm response from French society against the incredible abuse of autocratic power of which it is the victim. The Insoumis movement proposes that marches in defence of democracy take place. It expresses the wish that all organisations committed to democracy unite to stand up to and compel the president to recognise the result of the elections.
In a classic example of the reality that so-called ‘centrists’ prefer fascism to socialism, Macron has reportedly been talking to Marine le Pen, the leader of the extreme right that lost heavily in the elections, to try to stave off a left government. The same phenomenon was also evidenced by UK PM Keir Starmer before the French election results came in, when he said during the UK general election that he would work with le Pen against immigration.
As so often when France rises against authoritarianism and exploitation, the UK media have almost entirely ignored the impeachment bid just across the Channel.
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This is a fascinating situation. In populist jargon – it’s a ‘pop-corn moment’ – but, it’s much more serious than that, and should be taken more seriously.
This is about Democracy, and how democracy is interpreted, and used as a form of government.
The New Popular Front is playing a ‘blinder’, in particular, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s – La France Insoumise – who appear to have learned lessons from the vicious attacks on Jeremy Corbyn, and are better prepared.
Whilst in the UK, as Richard Murphy, commenting on Herr Starmer’s latest pronouncement, observes…..
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/08/27/starmers-already-given-up/
…..what passes for a Government has given up:
“Few Prime Ministers have abrogated their responsibility or declared their impotence so openly.”
“Starmer and Reeves are an utter disgrace to the whole history of the labour movement, social democratic thinking and the people who so recently elected them in good faith, thinking they might deliver something better than the Tories.”
It looks to me that because Marine le Pen’s views on Gaza are more “NATO-friendly” than the New Popular Front, Macron is having his feet held to the fire by ‘external forces’ to ‘choose the right side’
Macon and Starmer are similar in that regard JulieT: their Establishments are putting both their (centrist) feet to the fire in order to ENABLE their country’s far-right to prosper and flourish.
Do Macron and Starmer care? No – they both know that’s what they’re here for – to power-up a far-right ascendency.
If Starmer Macron) actually had a written contract with the CIA (of course, they don’t) it would say that its objective is its key success criterion is one-and-the-same thing: To make the neo-fascist far-right electorally stronger and move it to the mainstream centre.
Don’t forget, Starmer’s trilateral commission told us back in the 1970’s that ithad a problem with Democracy – an ‘excess of democracy’ – Starmer and Macron are here to fix it.
Trilateral Commission’s “The Crisis of Democracy” –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crisis_of_Democracy
As this comment on Richard Murphy’s blog……
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/08/28/the-neoliberal-single-transferable-party-is-panicking-in-france/#comment-982731
…..observes……
“Macron seems to be following the same path that the Establishment followed in Europe in the 1930s, that facilitated the rise of fascism.
The fascists did not win majority support. They won sufficient support to cause political breakdown and paralysis – until ultimately some underhand constitutional mechanism. or force, was called on to break the deadlock. Rather than let a left-wing government actually govern, the political centre opted, blindly, for the extreme right.
Macron says the left alliance, which has most votes, could not govern because it doesn’t have an overall majority – but it is his own alliance that could give the left that majority by accepting some compromises; instead, he is playing straight into the hands of the extreme right.
Can it really be true that the political centre still hasn’t understood that in times of radical political polarisation, they must work with the left – because facilitating the right leads to fascism, war, holocaust ? “
to Dave H 3.36 post – “Can it really be true that the political centre still hasn’t understood that in times of radical political polarisation, they must work with the left – because facilitating the right leads to fascism, war, holocaust ?”</i
No. Their austerity and relentless corporatism causes radical political polarisation, hopelessness and despair. They KNOW this. It is deliberate on their part – and as Atlanticists and centrists they hate the left more than “fascism, war and fascism”. Centrists holds ‘the left’ to be a bigger threat to capitalism (their only true love) than ‘fascism, war and fascism’.
‘The left’ might have forgotten what class war is. Centrists haven’t – they fight it daily – for the other side.
Off topic:
Our Broken Energy System
https://youtu.be/-nb0GQiVZxc
Tariq Ali nailed it years ago: “The extreme centre.”
Best of luck New Popular Front who are on the right side of history.
Solidarity with them!
The French Aristocracy are feasting on cake again
The Kleptocracy in this country have announced further daylight robbery in October
The Yanks and their bastard offspring are facing humiliation and defeat in Ukraine and Israel
Genius
Will it all fall apart because of a lack of unity? (surprise, surprise)
French left splits again after Mélenchon calls for Macron’s impeachment
Fresh spat in the left-wing New Popular Front alliance is good news for the Macron camp, which hopes to benefit from a fragmented opposition.
https://www.politico.eu/article/france-left-split-melenchon-call-emmanuel-macron-impeachment-castets/