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NEWS & LETTERS, July 2002
Our Life and Times column by Kevin A. Barry
French Right in power
France's June parliamentary elections placed the Right
firmly in power, with a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. Combined
with the election of conservative Jacques Chirac to the presidency, this bodes
ill for Western Europe as a whole. With Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and now
France under conservative rule, many fear that the Right, with its anti-labor
and anti-immigrant policies, could also come to power in Germany in September. Surely the anti-immigrant backlash since September 11
was a factor, in France as elsewhere. But how could the French Left experience
such a stinging defeat, after the demonstrations of April and May that brought
millions into the streets to oppose the neo-fascist Jean-Marie Le Pen? One answer is that many younger voters—whether students, workers, or immigrants—could not bring themselves to vote to return to power the established left parties—Socialists, Communists, or Greens—that had done so little while in power to combat unemployment or racism. Earlier, this radical youth constituency turned out in large numbers to help create an 11% vote for the Trotskyists in April and then held its nose to vote for Chirac over Le Pen in May. While this new generation, impacted by the anti-globalization movement, is sure to challenge Chirac on the streets, it will now begin to feel the effects of an openly right-wing government, as seen in the canceling of a previously planned July 1 increase in the minimum wage. |
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