authoritarians grow stronger every day. God help us all
If people rely on their imaginary friend, we’re so fucked…
It’s a figure of speech. No need to get your knickers in a twist.
The French political system, casually referred to as the “Republic of Friends,”
Where does the author get this? I’m French and have never heard of our system called as such - especially not by a French person.
A search returns this article alone. Bizarre. Is he trying to make this happen??
ChatGPT had a fever dream again
What are the reasons for this? I’m out of the france loop
Isn’t “turning right” the main political theme across the world now? It’s not just France.
But I will still put a disclaimer here that I am not French, just sharing my view since it seemed to be that most countries including mine are, ultimately, having the same problem. Feel free to correct me! Here goes:
I think, the general reason for this right-wing surge ultimately boils down to economics. People are obviously not satisfied with their current quality of life - see e.g. housing prices. Many blame it on things such as outside migrations or the geopolitical enemy of their country, etc etc. This is a hotbed for conservative-leaning mindsets.
Those factors I mentioned could have played a hand in this problem, but my opinion is that the biggest issue lies in unequal wealth distribution across the globe. That’s why the GDP is growing, but people’s standard of living (except for a minor few) is not. People directed their unhappiness at the wrong thing.
All of the western democracies are telling their people the reason their quality of life is declining is due to immigrants and the disabled and poor. A lot of people seem to believe them. I agree its about inequality and bringing the far right in will only accelerate the process.
Right, I see your point. I also wonder sometimes if the excess of social media consumption and the battle to gobble more eye balls has somehow influenced people making them more susceptible to manipulation via charisma and populist opinions, I’m not sure how different it is nowadays than a couple of decades back. I might be wrong about this anyways
Macron made an irresponsible gamble, at the worst possible timing, without taking in account his current lack of popularity. To no one surprise it blown up in his face.
Wait, which gamble? I’m not well informed on what’s going on over there
Basically, his party got beaten so badly at the European elections (barely got half of the far-right votes, and almost got the third position after the Socialist), that he decided to trigger a “Dissolution”, which literally stop the current assembly mandate and call for flash-election. His gamble was to make himself the only alternative to the far-right by counting on the left division and the fear of the far right…
Which blown up to his face since the left kinda united itself and the far right still got a good advance. Even worse, this time its party got third by a long shot, and may loose a lot of its seats at the National Assembly.Okay, I think I saw this somewhere but I didn’t really read further into it
I feel sorry for migrants in general, they are their primary target
I think a quick look overseas will show you it’s migrants, the queer community, women, and to a certain extent any intellectual. Now where have I seen this before.
For now…
How is it France falling to this? Don’t they riot every other month about government bullshit?
We went to the streets for months against the new retirement system and they’ve beaten the shit ouf of us. We couldn’t make us heard by a so called democratic and moderate government. Not a big surprise that a lot of people are trying another way. No excuse for them to be fascists assholes. But Macron is carrying an heavy responsibility for the current situation.
Ok so forgive my ignorance but if they’re trying to overturn government decisions that are a burden on everyone, why are they fascist?
They are not even trying to overturn the decision. The far right has consistently walked back on every social mesure they had in the past 2 weeks to the surprise of noone who knows what right means.
Because people are dumb. A lot of them don’t even realize these people are really fascists, because for them fascism was an ideology that did evil things for the sake of evil, and the moment they had a semi-reasonable explanation why they hated minorities, people believed them. Also they’re avoiding classic signifiers of fascism, like swastikas, fasceses, and calling themselves fascists.
Yeah but s lot of those are self serving right wing ideals, for some reason everyone ignored this and just assumed the old revolution was ongoing. I guess like people who still talk about Russia as communist
Ooohh. Yeah that’s stuff I couldn’t have had a clue about.
deleted by creator
There is one and only one way to deal with Nazis
Carnegie Hall here we come
Ah yes, right-wing authoritarianism that helped cause mass immigration from regional instability thanks to ignoring climate change and sowing global conflicts… Let’s just give the fox the keys to the henhouse.
It’s foxes all the way down. Just a question whether Russians or Americans get their slice.
Thanks to social media, youth unemployment, an uptick in asylum seekers, ballooning energy prices and oodles of nationalist right-wing cash, Macron is no longer the only politician with the regal ability to play Jupiter on TV. There are now a record 4,005 candidates running in the first round, with many fabled divinities to choose from.
There’s your problem. Defund the rich.
It’s also the fault of neoliberal governments around the world for actively looking down on middle class people for not caring as much about the climate, refugees and other matters that you can care about when you actually have enough money to have the time to care about those things.
That’s the problem. When the tech bros have more money than a king, who’s to stop them?
We still have hope this week end for the Nouveau Front Populaire, the left wing alliance. There might still be a chance
Whatever the result, what cause the rise of far right will be still there. We have to continue to mobilize after the election this time. Organized for your interest fellows
The rise… Of the far left???
I think that’s a typo or something
I think so too but I just wanted to be sure, looking at their profile they do have a left wing sensibility so id be surprised if they meant that
yea sorry. It was a typo
No worries :D
The author showed his bias when he wrote
Indeed, the polls indicate Le Pen’s awkward and aggrieved racist coalition—along with the inventively loony left-wing anti-Israel alliance dubbed the New Popular Front—is positioned to form a government that could defenestrate Macron’s Ensemble! coalition in the 2027 presidential election.
along with the inventively loony left-wing anti-Israel alliance dubbed the New Popular Front
I thought we were the Popular Front?
People’s Front!
What a shitty article
I archived this cancerous bloated paywalled shit show of a website just on principle
Why is so much of the internet terrible now fml
Cory Doctorow can explain it to you. He coined a term for it which has now become widespread, “enshittification.” And it’s all about money.
When’s the last time you donated to Lemmy.world?
We’re all donating our time and attention to Lemmy, which is worth something even on a non-commercial site.
But yes, some of us also help with the costs and chores. I appreciate everyone who does but I also appreciate everyone who makes this an interesting place worth chipping in for
only if there are ads
[Deep breath in…]
Wealthy men that are perpetually insecure in life because their fathers didn’t show them any outward affection when they were children are blindly and joylessly driven to increase a bank balance that they couldn’t meaningfully decrease in a thousand lifetimes in the hope that it will make their fathers ghosts smile and pat them on the head (ghosts who don’t even put out the effort to haunt their children anyways)
I’m dizzy, what just happened?
deleted by creator
I asked chatgpt & it said this: " The internet can feel overwhelming or negative at times due to various factors like misinformation, toxicity in online communities, and the sheer volume of content. It’s important to curate your online experience by choosing reliable sources and engaging in positive communities that align with your interests and values. Taking breaks from the internet or limiting exposure to certain types of content can also help maintain a healthier online experience. Don’t share sensitive info. Chats may be reviewed and used to train our models. Learn more ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info. " I think that a better answer might have something to do with commercial interests.
One thing I thought generative ai would be better at is staying focused. I think this starts well but in the second half has too many unrelated sentences
That’s a whole lot of words to say almost nothing.
thats machine learning for you
Yeah. Flying squids answer was better.
What’s (not) funny is that the French far right is just slightly to the left of the US Republicans.
Well, populist proto fachos so…
…the French, in principle, rarely distinguish between fact and impression.
The author comes out swinging and still manages to bore quickly.
Yeah, I was gonna say, I’m sure that you can find media here in the US that is going to provide useful political coverage of France, but I don’t think that this article is gonna be it.
kagis for Le Monde English
Hmm.
French elections: Who would Don Quixote vote for today?
Ugh. This is not really what I was hoping for.
checks the BBC
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2q0rv05p19o
French PM in final appeal to stop far-right victory
That’s better.
French is not one of my languages so thank you for doing the due diligence
Sláinte
I don’t speak French either – I just wanted an English-language article about the French elections, but you’re welcome.
C’mon, France! Vote against the fascists. Let’s go!
According to the BBC
Alongside policies for giving French citizens “national preference” for jobs and housing, they want to cut VAT on energy and allow under-30s to escape income tax.
existing promises on immigration, crime and insecurity as well as tax cuts to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.
plans to abolish droit du sol, the right to automatic French citizenship for children born to foreign parents
Sounds like some good policies no wonder they are getting loads of votes. The reduction in taxes always comes back to bite you and that’s probably a mistake but the lower tax for the youth allowing them to get started in life instead of being in debt is a great idea. I haven’t heard anyone have such a progressive idea.
Most young people do not pay income taxes currently, only the wealthy ones. So this reduction would only apply to already rich people.
Tax in francs starts at €10,778.
You think anyone under 30 that earns more than €10,778 is rich. Come on.
You clearly do not know how things work in France. We have tons of things fiscally in place that make it so that in practice, you have to earn much more than that to truly pay taxes.
I don’t have time currenty to enumerate all of that, but I’ll come back to you later if I don’t forget.
Première fois que j’entends ça tiens
It’s called populism for a reason. Trump ran on a populist platform in 2016. Populism can be Democratic or authoritarian, meaning it can be genuine concern about capitalism and the imbalance between the ownership class and the working class or it can be the sugar coating on a bitter, authoritarian pill—or, in other words, a fuckin lie.
Yea. You hope that the more centrist parties look at what the population are desperate for and will do anything for. And then you hope democracy works and people get to vote for that they believe is right. Hopefully that happens in conjunction with sane and stable leaders listen to the demands of the people.
Currently large amount of the people feel ignored or certain issues and feel only the fair right is listening to them. If they had anyone else to vote for I’m sure they would.
Right, but the lower tax burden isnt worth the authoritarianism. The assholes who can stomach sacrificing poor minorities and immigrants for a few gimme policies are not doing something noble. These are politicians we’re talking about. They’re not here for us. They’re here for themselves, and they are lying and antagonizing in order to get power because they know what people want and what certain people are afraid of. Their goal is to bait people with fear, entice them with populism and then…what? You catch more flies with honey and a hatred of honeybees.
None of that is good.
I think helping everyday working class people is a good thing. That’s what they want.
Sure if you want to help businesses fuck the common people. Keep wages low and prices high and keep the upper class rich.
Most people don’t think like that though.
I think helping everyday working class people is a good thing
Just cut taxes bro. Just one more time dawg. I promise it’ll work this time, dude. Just one more tax cut. One more time bro I promise. It’s going to stimulate the economy homey. This time we swear.
There is a big difference between tax cuts in general and tax cuts on the poorest people in society.
But I agree. Tax cuts across the board are a bad thing usually but I can see why people vote for that. People feel they need more money and it’s not coming from wage increase.
tax cuts on the poorest people in society
Are functionally no different than higher wages. But without public infrastructure - housing, education, health care, etc - what does an extra couple grand actually buy?
We’ve seen this in the US for decades. A pittance of tax cuts pitched as a percentage of income is presented as this enormous boon. But then wages stagnate, prices skyrocket, and debts soar in the face of new privatization.
And then we’re worse of than when we started.
The tax cut doesn’t buy anything in an inflationary economy
Yes so we agree. Wages need to be increased and the best way to do that is to stop businesses undercutting wages by hiring cheap foreign labour. Demand for labour goes up and with it wages.
Inflation is largely a global issue.
Wages need to be increased and the best way to do that is to stop businesses undercutting wages by hiring cheap foreign labour.
Urban density increases the efficiency of public services. Wage rates do not.
Trying to keep populations small and fragmented does nothing to improve domestic quality of life. And rising domestic populations don’t hurt overall household incomes. Cartelized labor markets are what do that.
Inflation is largely a global issue.
Prices vary enormously by local regions. And price gouging is increasingly difficult over large distances.
Inflation is most commonly a consequence of local commodity monopolization, not global price trends.
Debt? What debt are you talking about? You know how taxes work?
Young people are more likely to go into debt at the start of their lives. Whether it be for things like rent, buying a car, buying a house, education.
If taxes are lower they can either have more savings or pay of debt faster.
Come on it’s not that hard to realise more take home means you have more money. Christ this website is so financially illiterate.
Glad to know people taking on 30 year long loans pay slightly lower taxes for a few years, that’s certainly helping a lot. Few because no one’s giving a 20 years old a loan for a house/flat lol so you’re probably closer to 30 when you actually can and do want to settle.
You might be financially literate, but you’re not human literate if you think this tax reform is anything but catering to the young and non-politicised.
The tax break allows you to save. Means you will accumulate a deposit earlier in life, all else being equal.
What’s wrong with catering to the young? They need help.
Because it’s populist crap, obviously. We don’t need MBAs and business school grads to pay lower taxes, quite the opposite. There’s one party proposing to smoothen tax brackets across the board, which would also have a huge impact on the younger, and it’s not Bardella’s.
This tax cut is also a drop in the ocean compared to what they want to do to the retirement reform, but young people think they will never be old, and the old one sacrifices the youth at every turn so not many actually care this stuff despite the impact.
Lastly, I’m not sure there’s even a plan for financing such tax cut. That’s why people call it far right populist bullshit. The man did his entire campaign on tiktok and is only where he is because he married into the Le Pen family.
Poland went through such populist policies and their only outcome was massive inflation
Poland’s a great country. I went there and loved it way more than I thought I would. Lovely people, lovely culture, lovely country. Wages going up every year. They seem on a good path.
Unfortunately that’s exactly what Nationalism Socialism was all about. Great socialist policies to support and bolster the in crowd. Unfortunately those policies aren’t extended to the out crowd. And the out crowd is pretty easily defined when you’ve got “Nationalism” in your political party’s name.
Where do you target your fear mongering if you don’t share a border with scary brown people? Where do you build a wall?
It’s called a Maginot Line and you build it on the German border
You don’t need a wall. Just don’t let people in.
It’s not fear mongering if it is already happened and people can see first hand the impacts. That’s why people vote the way they do they see the reality of the situation and the current parties are telling them things that are lies.
The thing with being in Schengen area is you literally just let people in LMAO. If you don’t check passports of anyone coming in by the Italian border, you don’t get to find out who is an EU citizen and who isn’t.
Do you even live in EU buddy? Life isn’t as simple as you think it is.
The stats I’ve seen have shown that immigrants from Schengen contribute more than average and commit less crime than locals.
As such on a purely data driven view there is nothing wrong with Schengen. For most people the issues isn’t with movement within the people that have lived in Europe for generations. You know they are European, they have European values and there is a back and forth movement/ different perks. In a way Schengen works the way it was designed and works well.
Wow cherry picking 101, bravo 👏.
They are their policies. People vote for policies. Um that’s how politics works.
Those policies seem to me something that would attract people. They currently have the largest amount of votes. So if people are voting for the parties policies what are they voting on? Their favourite party colour?
In case you’re seriously asking, they vote based on how nice looking the head of the party is, not on policies. Democracy is dead when you see rednecks telling journalists they vote for the man because they like his tiktok channel.
