After the European elections, we followed the developments with numbness at best, horror at worst, until the night of the national elections in France.
The omnipotence of Marine Le Pen and the ultra-right “National Unity” left no room for optimism for the progressive, or rather the entire democratic world. On election night: we saw Marine Le Pen in tears, Emmanuel Macron second and The New French Front led by Jacques-Luc Mélenchon wins the elections!
How is that possible; there is After all, it is. Because France, like the entire European Union, was a case of extreme abstinence, which contributed to the rise of the extreme right. The abstention, as it turned out, was the result of dissatisfaction with the Macron government, which, however, did not find an outlet in another party.
Absolutely the same climate prevails in Greece: ignoring the final registration of percentages, all parties lost from one million (like ND), to hundreds of thousands of votes (like Stefanos Kaselakis’ SYRIZA-PS), to tens of thousands of votes, like all other parties except the party Aphrodite Latinopoulos.
The final twist
Jacques-Luc Mélenchon was not only an outsider. This was not even an assessment of a possible extreme scenario. The course of French politics is both long and historic, but it has never been, so to speak, “government”. When a beleaguered Emmanuel Macron called national elections, we expected a dominant Marine Le Pen and a relative rally around Macron’s personality. As happens in national elections.
Thus, Mélenchon rallied four left-wing and social-democratic parties and formed the New French Front immediately after the election was announced. What are the chances of a three-time French presidential candidate to win with a new lineup?
No. Logic would say that there is none. How does a coalition of forces from “Disobedients” and “Environmentalists” to socialists and communists manage to overthrow not only the ruling party, but also the absolute favorite?
Why did they vote for Mélenchon?
In the animal world, mating between different species, even if they belong to the same family, is rarely successful. In sub-Saharan Africa we find eight different species that resulted from the mating of erifs and antelopes. They bear both characteristics: both antelopes and goats (or goats, respectively). But they failed to dominate their natural environment in such a way that their population could eventually surpass either the antelope or the sable.
It’s usually the same in politics. Coalitions of political “species” do not disrupt traditional parties. But usually about 60% of those who abstained are not present at the elections, and indeed at the pan-European level. There is no more widespread discrediting of mainstream politics by people looking for ways out and new tools.
Fortunately, European nations have preserved a certain historical memory. Not with great success, as we saw in Italy, but in general far-right and post-fascist parties are still terrorizing a continent that has survived two world wars.
The same thing happened in France. The same people who took to the streets against Macron’s pension cap bill are the same people who didn’t go to vote because they had nothing to vote for. Such mass abstinence is a political message. After all, these are the same people who did not allow the ultra-right to rule.
Even if Mélenchon didn’t look like an absolute outsider, Macron got the better of Le Pen. But it took second place, and the reason is simple: a new tool was created. A new, so to speak, “type” with elements that inspired the confidence of the French. With a progressive, popular and fresh address. New. The international “complaint” of leftist and progressive voters “why don’t you all unite” in France was answered and succeeded.
Could it happen in Greece too?
History repeats itself either as tragedy, says Marx, or as farce. Except when he is forced to respawn. Tragic or absurd, history repeats itself when a systemic, post-fascist party manages to win an election in a country that spawned fascist parties. As happened in Italy with Meloni.
But what happens when history, or rather society and thus politics, evolves in search of new characteristics?
The alliance of left-wing and progressive parties is not a new idea at all. For the historical data of our country, it is not even old – only ten years have passed since SYRIZA led by Alexis Tsipras managed to become the government. It was a party of left-wing historical renewalists with the Coalition at its core, which merged with Trotskyist organizations in centre-left/social democratic and environmental schemes.
The fact that she did not win the 2019 elections and how she changed internally as a result is traditionally the case even in bourgeois parties. The oldest post-colonial party, New Democracy, is an example of ideological and indeed significant ideological shifts from the center to the center-right and finally to the integration of far-right “components”.
The fact is that at the moment there are only losers on the Greek political scene – again, if we do not talk about the absolute percentages determined by abstention, but also with the exception of the party of Aphrodite Latinopoulos. Greek political parties are losing voters. The world is disillusioned not with politics, but with existing politics.
In general, he has nothing to vote for!
Are power coalitions the future of politics? Probably yes, just as likely not. But it may be the present time, in the transitional stage from the hitherto “traditional” bourgeois democracy to its next stage. In the evolution of the political scene (if we agree that there will be neither revolutions nor coups – at least immediately).
New Democracy has no reason to cooperate with the Hellenic Solution or the NIKI party, unless it has self-destructive tendencies. So what remains for us is the formation of a progressive, center-left pole, as a possible turnaround on the political scene.
Restoring politics for citizens
This is general, but it also risks being elitist to say that citizens don’t care about politics. Indifference always means two things: either that things are going well – so the policy is working, or that things are going wrong – so we are talking about disappointment, and disappointment is a very deep political position.
Punctuality, poverty, inequality, finally the six-day week does not leave the citizens indifferent. They simply have no room for self-expression.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis achieved something undeniably great for his faction: he destroyed political opponents. And if he loses, objectively, more than a million votes, he is in no danger. And not at all. The official opposition is in the best case in seclusion, in the most objective case — in an existential crisis. And in PASOK, the election of a new leader will be held in three months.
Other parliamentary parties? They don’t exert much pressure. However, they could. If they did it in a coalition and of course we mean the progressive parties.
There was neither a miracle nor a sudden partisan awakening in France. A political exit against the unpopular Macron and the dangerous Le Pen was created in the blink of an eye. This is what Mélenchon did, and it worked for the French left: they provided a solution. They made people want to vote. And between seriousness and joking, they didn’t have time to waste time on friction – the goal is the elections.
For the progressive space in Greece, there is no question of elections at the moment. But there is a question of taking advantage of disagreement with the government and its overthrow. After all, it has happened before.
Who can lead the new coalition of forces? We can only guess. However, if another reference to the French example is important, Jacques-Luc Mélenchon did not come as a young politician full of solutions to win elections in France. He came as a politician the French knew well and truly a lot.