As a citizen and scientist, it seems obvious to me that the coming to power of the far right will leave an indelible mark on living together. We should not have any illusions. Macron’s regime has failed, behaving like a monarch in a republic by having prepared the ground for this earthquake. We will have to expect a challenge to everything that makes a democracy, and particularly the constitutional council, the power of judges, the radios and televisions that they want to privatize; we immediately imagine the Cnews/Europe1 style media effects of Bolloré dominating the news! Contest the IPCC – they are exaggerating – and come back to pesticides and everything that is contested by farmers, wind turbines which harm the panorama prohibit an evolution at “only “1.5°” and will be the cause of serious damage to the forests, biodiversity, coastline, rivers etc. Perhaps even more serious, we come back with the abolition of the right of soil over 4 centuries of evolution putting a barrier between the “native French” and the others, all this in a republic which is already a monarchy with powers exorbitant in the hands of those who govern that the extreme right will not have to modify, it’s all ready. We must realize what this means for many of us who will feel like foreigners in our country. We must realize what this means for foreign researchers/students and science in general accustomed to the government of reason and facts. Do not have any illusions, as Camus said “when democracy is going badly, it is fascism that comes to its bedside, and it is not to check on it” but to call democracy into question. We see it where the cronies and friends of the RN have taken power – Hungary, Italy, Poland at the time of the PIS etc. – calling into question Europe and illiberalism.
As always, we scare people by directing their attention elsewhere to forget the heart of the problem – wages, inflation, retirement, accumulation of wealth for the benefit of a few and to the detriment of the majority etc. Putting the conflict in Gaza as the main concern in this vote is absurd; as a reminder, Macron and the Left in power will recognize the state of Palestine – with different deadlines – while the RN, no, so be it! Putting anti-Semitism at the heart of our decision is just as absurd – certainly, wanting to defend the Palestinian resistance and not criticize Hamas too much, Mélenchon forgets that it is a theocratic and dictatorial party and that Sinwar risks going to The Hague – alongside Netanyahu – both convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity. But is this really the central topic of the day? And we will never convince anyone with reason that the RN, through the effect of a magic ball, is no longer anti-Semitic. just look at the numerous candidates/elected deputies who do not hide their anti-Semitism (see list from Le Monde and Médiapart). Certainly, at the moment they are targeting Arabs (and blacks) but we must remember that the Arab of today is the Jew of tomorrow.
Personally, proud of France of human rights, of the commune, of the great moments in the history of France such as the popular front, sharing and the associations which work to create links; I am convinced that this announced victory will leave an indelible mark. There is still time to prevent it or at least mitigate its success. Some links to invite those who hesitate and ask questions because after that it will be too late.
