[Peace-discuss] Jean Bricmont on Yellow Vests

[Brussel, Morton K]

Quoting:


" It is the great problem of the left that it is cut off from the majority of people because it rejects this idea of a national community and puts forward its membership in Europe, globalization, etc. From this point of view, the left is completely cut off from the people."

I think that this statement is arguable. Le Monde Diplomatique writers would argue with it. Were Bricmont French, he might argue with it. . Mélenchon, I think would not agree. All these certainly are proud to be French, as many others of the left. But yes, there are those on the left that do not want to be too nationalistic, who want tolerance for the “others" in France. They want the French “community" to be enlarged, accomodating, as it was eventually  for the Italiens who arrived, for the Portuguese, for Algerians(?), Americn blacks, etc. There are narrow nationalisms and less narrow nationalisms that do not deny what it means to be French.


On Feb 25, 2019, at 10:42 AM, Karen Aram via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net<mailto:peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>> wrote:

I’m on FB with Bricmont, and though he usually speaks/ writes in French, his English betrays much passion and anger at the west, the US, Israelis, France and neoliberals. He admits to frequently being sarcastic.  Though I hesitate to say so publicly, as I stand in solidarity with the YV, I fear I agree also with his statement:

“Yes, I think so, but it is very complicated to imagine the form by which the people would take power. They talk about the RIC (Citizens’ Initiative Referendum) and the European Union, but they are not at all clear on the latter issue. The problem is that it is a spontaneous and unorganized movement, so there are no leaders, no method for collective thought. There is collective thought developed by people discussing in the traffic circles and who think of alternatives, but the movement is not yet structured enough so that we could know where it will lead. I tend to think that we have to wait to know what will come of all this. For now, they are resisting, which is already remarkable, but where it will go, I do not know. They should not, for example, create a list for the European elections; I think it’s a mistake. Most Yellow Vests agree that it’s a mistake, but there are still various attempts. There are very harsh attempts to repress the most radical people and at the same time attempts to recuperate the less radical people willing to enter into dialogue with Macron and play the electoral game.”






Does the movement of Yellow Vests not have the merit of showing us the panic of the oligarchy which directs France and the world?

(Laughs). I do not really like the term “oligarchy”, so I will say the ruling class. It is not just the capitalists, there is the whole petty bourgeoisie, there is the media, and so on. And I will not call it the oligarchy. We can see that in all these milieux there is a kind of panic. In France, artists, intellectuals, are very reticent. There is a slight mobilization in favor of the Yellow Vests, but they do not really know what to do. Since the movement is intensely patriotic – they sing the “Marseillaise”, wave the French flag, etc. It is an attitude that deeply disturbs the left.  The people show that they are attached to their country – as the Algerians are attached to Algeria, the French are attached to France -, which does not imply any hostility towards foreigners, but it implies a certain idea of national community and this is something that the left has hated for decades. It is the great problem of the left that it is cut off from the majority of people because it rejects this idea of a national community and puts forward its membership in Europe, globalization, etc. From this point of view, the left is completely cut off from the people.

https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/a-global-challenge/


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