Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National, on the campaign trail.After far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen placed second in Franceâs 2002 presidential elections, the country's left lost its collective shit. Two million people took to the streets to voice their outrage at the success of the Front National (FN) party. It was definitely a disturbing momentâa Holocaust denier who once described Nazi gas chambers as a âmere [historical] detailâ had just picked up more than 17 percent of the national vote.It's been a decade, but the FN still isn't going away. Sundayâs local elections saw the partyânow fronted by Jean-Marieâs daughter, Marineâclaim their biggest-ever victory, with 12 of its candidates winning mayoral elections. Notably, the midterm election also saw record-low turnout, with one in four people not bothering to vote at all. It was a disaster for President Francois Hollandeâs Parti Socialiste (PS), which lost control of 155 towns, and yet another victory for the FN, which has been steadily increasing its influence on French societyâits slick PR campaign and the loyalty of its supporters has led to the party becoming the public face of French nationalism.According to Jean-Yves Camus, an expert in far-right French politics, the election results can be partly explained as the people rejecting the country's political class. "The main political parties in France have been involved in several scandals over these past few months,â he told me. âSo they are discredited in the eyes of the population⊠A recent poll showed that only 8 percent of French people trust political parties.âOh, right, the scandals: A year ago, Budget Minister JĂ©rĂŽme Cahuzac was forced from his position after repeatedly lying about a secret offshore bank account; the government is under pressure for failing to deal with rising unemployment; its fiscal reforms have been controversial, as demonstrated during the wave of âbonnets rougesâ protests; and Hollandeâs approval rating is currently sitting at a pathetic 23 percent. Things are not going well for the people who run France, and the FN represents an alternative."Briois has been at HĂ©nin for the past 19 yearsâwe always see him around," said Jean-Paul. I asked him how he felt about voting for a party whose members are regularly accused of racism. âThereâs no racism here,â he replied. âThatâs all talk to try and exclude us from the political debate. People try to discredit the Front National, but the reality is that itâs a party like any other. In my [area], you know, there are some foreigners. Theyâre there and I speak to them. Theyâre part of the scenery now."Protesters clash with police during the "Day of Anger" earlier this year.I wasnât convinced. I have vivid memories of watching Jean-Marie Le Penâs anti-Semitic rants on TV when I was a kid, and more recently he accused Roma people of being ânaturallyâ inclined to rob people. Le Pen has been condemned for his racist and violent outbursts plenty of times before, so now that his daughter Marine Le Pen has taken over leadership of the party (with Jean-Marie remaining its honorary president), a lot of effort has been put in to massaging the FNâs image. Marine has even vowed to sue those who label the FN as an âextreme rightâ party."We are not extremists," said Nicolas Bay, FN's campaign manager. âWhat defines us is patriotism. We are here to defend the vital interests of France and its people." Well, that and cutting immigration from about 180,000 to 10,000 migrants per year, outlawing protests that support undocumented migrants, instituting a ânational priorityâ policy, and reinstating the death penalty.Candidates from French far-right parties donât win local elections very often, but when they do they've occasionally ended up doing some pretty stupid stuff. For example, in 1997, the Mouvement National RĂ©publicain (MNR)âa party founded by former FN membersâwon control of Vitrolles, a town in the south of the country. The newly elected mayor dramatically slashed public spending on welfare and culture, equiped the townâs police with nice new shoes, and introduced a special 5,000-franc allowance for babies born to at least one parent of French (or EU) nationalityâa measure that later ruled illegal.Any street name that sounded too left-wing was changed to something a bit more palatable to the average MNR supporter. Nelson Mandela Square, for instance, was renamed, and Salvador Allende Streetânamed after the Chilean Marxistâbecame Mother Theresa Street. An avenue was even dedicated to Jean-Pierre Stirbois, an influential figure in Front National history."The FN is a reactionary force of hard right ideology that believes we need to reduce public and welfare spending,â explained CorbiĂšre. âIn todayâs context of rising unemployment, this is going to be disastrous for the cities it took over [in the recent elections].âCamus, however, thinks the electoral success might signal that the FN is a legitimate party. âWe have a political machine in the making,â he said. âThe British far right is outlandish in comparison; the [British Nationalist Party] won a few council seats, sometimes with very good scores. They got three [Members of European Parliament] elected, but it remains a very unprofessional party. From the moment you have a number of cities falling into the hands of the FN, the training of a new militant elite that could become elected representatives will develop.âThe next chance for France's far right to capture more power will be Mayâs European elections, where the FN will hope to capitalize on this weekend's results, riding on the wave of fear and subsequent nationalism that always swells in times of crisis.Follow Rebecca Suner on Twitter.
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Bonnets Rouges protesters clash with police in Brittany last year.Far-right parties have also capitalized on the recent radicalization of moderate right-wingers. Several FN bigwigs joined protesters during the anti-same-sex marriage demonstrations at the end of last year, and more recently, the Jour de ColĂšre (the "Day of Anger") on January 26 drew around 17,000 ultra-droite (ultra-right) protesters, who were there to shout about everything from Hollande, unemployment, the media, and taxes to abortion rights, same-sex marriage, homosexuality, Jews, and Satan."We're witnessing the formation of a reactionary right, similar to the Tea Party in the US," said Alexis CorbiĂšre, the national secretary of the democratic socialist Parti de Gauche ("the Left Party").Jean-Yves Camus believes that the FNâs relative lack of success in the past has also done them some favors. âSince the Front National has never properly been in power, theyâve got a clean sheet on that level,â he said. âItâs neither positive or negative, just blank.âSo where the PS can no longer be trusted, the FN and other far-right parties are unknown quantities. This holds particularly true in places like HĂ©nin-Beaumont, a former mining town in northern France with a high unemployment rate. Last year, a former mayor, a PS member, was sentenced to four years in prison for embezzling public funds and accepting bribes."Right or left, itâs always the same thingânothing ever changes," explained Jean-Paul, a 63-year-old from HĂ©nin-Beaumont. He used to vote for left-wing parties, but this year he backed Steeve Briois, the newly-elected FN mayor.
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