As in 2017, the second round of the presidential election in France is played against the far right. But 2022, the notion of a republican front that would block the passage of the extremist machine – which would destroy everything that makes up the splendor and power of France – is no longer obvious to many French people. How did France get here? Answers with Mustapha Tossa, journalist and political scientist based in Paris.
As the second round of the presidential election is to be held on Sunday between Emmanuel Macron, candidate for his own re-election, and Marine Le Pen of the far-right party inherited by his father, fears that France will switch to the dark side are more than ever posed and very real.
Some citizens would be ready to tick the box for France to turn in on itself, by signing up for a hidden Marine Le Pen program which would mark the exit from the European Union, from an economic crisis which would cause the place of great power to France, of dependence vis-à-vis a foreign power (Russia, editor’s note), of a possible civil war between French people who would suffer from a caste system like in India.
This turn of France towards the extreme whereas a few years ago it would have been completely unthinkable is explained by changes which have taken place in recent years in the political and media landscape in France where extremist speech is is trivialized on the back of freedom of expression or freedom of the press, spreading ideas that are often false and devoid of any logic in the minds of certain citizens.
Can we always count on the Republican front in France? There is this impression that it is less obvious today.
The problem of the republican front arises today for two reasons, the first is that the candidate of the national front has succeeded in convincing a certain number of French citizens and voters that she is no longer on the far right , that it has become popular, that it has made up its postures, that it has diminished the intransigence of its positions.
She managed to sell a new image of herself which makes her compatible with the presidential office for many French people. The communication and political efforts she has made in recent times were sufficient to present her as a political personality quite capable of becoming President of the Republic. So, we are very far from the nightmare of the extreme right which could destabilize the Republic and destabilize French society if it ever took possession of the Elysée.
The second element that weakens the Republican front is Emmanuel Macron’s record. Inside the left, as well as the right, among environmentalists and even within the vote for Jean-Luc Mélenchon (radical left, arrival 3rd in the first round, editor’s note), there are people who no longer support d to be governed by Emmanuel Macron. They accuse him of many failures, of having undermined the purchasing power of the French, of having managed the phenomenon of yellow vests with great violence, of having failed at the start of the pandemic, and of having been, not a president of all French people, but a president who defends the rich. Moreover, this reputation of president of the rich still sticks to him with the skin.
It is therefore these two factors that mean that the Republican front may not fully work until 2017 and this risks undermining Emmanuel Macron’s chances and favoring Marine Le Pen. But those are the political and logical explanations for saying why this time the Republican front is not as powerful, as strong as it was or should be precisely because of the threat that put the extreme right on the Elysée”.
What makes more and more people currently assume their vote for the extreme right?
It must be said that lately, racist, xenophobic speech has been released. It has become normalized, it has become popularized. Being racist is no longer a crime, it’s an attitude, a posture. Saying + I don’t like foreigners +, this sentence in the 90s would have earned its author collective and general stigmatization. Now, it is hardly if we lift the corner of our eyes. So (saying), +I don’t like foreigners+ becomes extremely commonplace and therefore extremist voting becomes commonplace.
What has contributed to this trivialization of the extreme right are the extremely violent transgressions carried out, for example, by Eric Zemmour. When he entered the political field, he uttered monstrosities that no recent politician has dared to imagine, whether it be religion, living together, the republic, power. On a lot of questions, Eric Zemmour blew up locks and therefore released and made racist speech guilt free.
Comes after Marine Le Pen who appears in comparison as a moderate, quite round in her verb, controlled in her expression. Eric Zemmour blatantly participated in making France rationally and coldly racist without any guilt, and that’s what makes it possible to say + I’m going to vote far right + without this leading to moral or ideological consequences or even societal.
Have the media, in particular the audiovisual media, contributed to the rise of the influence of the extreme right?
Of course, the role of the media was essential because there are influence and media groups that have found their way into racism and xenophobia. They realized that the more they talk about it, the more audience they get, and so they built this reality as a business venture. And they have done a lot to trivialize racist speech, which is no longer so shocking.
Among the French who listen all day long to commentators who coldly and calmly express their racism, the average citizen thinks he is entitled to vote for the extreme right and to affirm it loud and clear.
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