French far left beat French far right
The electoral pact between the centrist and left candidates succeeded massively. The National Front were beaten into third place due to 200 candidates withdrawing to stop vote splitting.
This is not a bad thing. I am no fan of the National Front, but will admit their current leadership is more palatable than the old one.
But let’s look at the leader of the left bloc, Jean-Luc Mélenchon. He could also be described as an extremist – far left. His stances include:
- A 100% income tax on incomes over 360,000 Euros
- A 100% inheritance tax on assets over 12 million Euros
- Withdrawal from NATO
- To remove private ownership as a constitutional right
- Supported the Russian annexation of Crimea
- Supported Russian intervention in Syria
- Blamed Jeremy Corbyn’s loss in 2019 on the Israeli Likud party
- Attacks journalists as fascists and spies
- A history of anti-semitism
100% tax rates, support for Putin, abolishing a right to private ownership – tis is loony extremism.
It would be nice if the media critiqued the far left as vigorously as they do the far right.