Weekend Quotables
French fascists get a beatdown at the hands of the Popular Front
Israel’s war on Gaza: Day 276
The British medical research journal, The Lancet "conservatively" estimates that the death toll in Gaza could be 186,000 people or more. That's 8% of the population, obliterated. The question now is, will Netanyahu accuse the highly-respected journal of being “antisemitic” or call them a “Hamas front group?”
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Pres. Biden tells Stephanopoulos, “I’m running the world,” adding, “and that’s not hyperbole.” Biden’s delusions of grandeur aside (he can barely run himself)…
leftwing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition’s electoral victory over Marine LePen’s fascist National Rally (NR) in France yesterday showed that real power rests not in the hands of a faltering American president, or any gang of global oligarchs, but the people themselves.
They’re singing La Marseillaise again…
The keys to the Popular Front’s victory were: 1) an anti-fascist tactical coalition led by the leftist New Popular Front (NFP) with Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ensemble, and 2) a strong program of reforms aimed at improving the lives of the country’s working people and taxing the wealthiest.
The Front includes four left-wing parties: Communists, Socialists, Greens, and Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far-left party, France Unbowed.
The New York Times --like the French corporate elite — is fearful of Mélenchon. They call him, “antisemitic” because he calls Israel’s assault on Gaza, “genocide” and they call the left’s program “divisive.” But it sounds about right to me. Take a look and you decide.
A similar program and strategy here would easily assure victory over Trump and the MAGAs in November. But I’m pretty sure the Democratic leadership would rather DT win than bloc with the left and risk losing its grip on the party apparatus.
Weekend Quotables
Jennifer Berkshire, education writer/researcher
Kind of amazing that education funding & school lunch turned out to be key in getting the French to vote against fascism. Taking this as a win for my lonely insistence that public education is a *popular front* issue. — X
Marine Le Pen
“The policies I represent are the policies that are represented by Trump and Putin.” — Democratic Underground.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, France Unbowed leader
On the international front, we will need to recognize the State of Palestine. — Victory rally speech
Olivier Faure, leader of France’s Socialist Party
“It’s time to tax the super rich and the super profits,” said Mr. Faure to cheers Sunday night. — New York Times
Alan Shebaro, Special Forces veteran
What is going on in Palestine right now is not a war. It is dehumanization. It's the genocide. It's the ethnic cleansing. — Middle East Eye
Something has to give.