Macron 2017 = Le Pen 2022
Opposing Le Pen should in no way be limited to voting against her on May 7.
Now that we know the French presidential election’s second round will set former banker and finance minister Emmanuel Macron against neofascist Marine Le Pen, where should the French left set its sights?
The vote — as well as the legislative election that will follow in June — is unfolding amid a deep crisis of political representation that, alongside financial decline and growing violence, has turned the European Union into what Stathis Kouvelakis and others have termed global capitalism’s “weakest link.” Although these multiple crises are far from new, they have produced striking new developments that we need to analyze before mapping out possible next steps for a stronger political left.
The Triumph of the “Extreme Center”
The coalition between center-left and center-right politicians, giving birth to the “extreme center,” has ruled Europe for some time now. It has become difficult to run the European Union and various nations without such an alliance. “Center” alone might hint at a moderation that is altogether absent from contemporary politics. Extreme center, in contrast, evokes the “no alternative,” neoliberal policies that have plagued the world for decades.
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