Member-only story
France Fended Off a Fascist. Will the U.S. Be Able to Do it Again?
Across the world, neoliberalism is hanging on by a thread.
As those of us who follow the news have heard, centrist President Emmanuel Macron of France managed to fend off far right candidate Marine Le Pen in elections that took place on April 24th. Despite concern that had been growing considering La Pen had managed to begin to close the gap between them, Macron won by a healthy margin of 58.5% vs Le Pen’s 41.5%. Of course, given the dynamics of the race there were many comparisons to elections in the United States, where left leaning voters are constantly told to “vote blue no matter who” because the dangers of fascism, particularly regarding Donald Trump, are close and must be defeated.
Holding our noses and voting for — as it’s so often put — “the lesser of two evils” has become the norm all across the world, hasn’t it? Don’t get me wrong, I am very, very glad that Trump was removed from office and Le Pen was fended off from taking power. At the same time though, we have to be asking ourselves what neoliberals like Biden and Macron are doing to prevent these scenarios from happening. The people of America and France have done their jobs, and prevented Trump and Le Pen from taking power, but what are neoliberal leaders doing to prevent their rise yet again? If these…
