FACISM IN FRANCE
Hi there ! Sorry for interrupting your hopefully pleasant reading of Alive,
but I *HAVE* to introduce some personal views here as things have been quite
crappy in France lately. Besides I don't want you - non French readers - to
think that French ppl opted for facism ! Some explanations are needed and I
hope this article will be seen like a support to FREEDOM.
On April 21st the first part of the presidential election was held in
France. I'm not familiar with other countries customs but here's a short view
about the way French people vote for a new president : all pretenders need
to collect the support of at least 500 mayors if they want to enter the first
turn of the election. Only the two 'best' of them enter the second, and final,
turn and of course one of them becomes president :)
This year we had 16 candidates to choose from, a new record for us ! So
that we had a lot of choice on the first turn. Surely I wouldn't vote for
Chirac who is a liar and a thief but I wasn't really convinced by Jospin... I
wanted to give my voice to left wings parties but Jospin didn't seem to be
the announced savior so I voted for a less known candidate - therefore showing
that I did *NOT* want to take part to the left or right wing national parties
support.
Unfortunately it seems that many ppl voted like me and that took us to face
a really bad surprise. My two brothers and I voted on that Sunday even though I
felt a bit tired after the previous night mixed with booze and weed :) I wasn't
interested in politics until the first results were given at 8pm. Then we were
all shocked ! It was a nightmare and none of us could actually believe that
that bastard, Lepen, could actually rank second. It was like feeling there was
a murderer living next door !
We stayed up late at night, waiting for the final results, hoping for a
change... but in vain :( That night, when I went to bed I felt something bad in
my stomach, feeling I needed to puke to get that shit out of my body...
WHY DID THINGS TURN OUT THIS WAY ???
Maybe Modmate remembers my foreboding some hours before the results were
given. I had several reasons to feel worried by the possible results. Let me
give them to you :
1. These elections took part while one third of French ppl were on holidays
meaning most of them would be far from home and unable - or unwilling - to
vote. Of course there was a solution offered as these people could give a
'procuration' to someone else who would vote for them. But it implied lots of
boring papers you had to fill in, send, wait for receipt, send confirmation...
Therefore many ppl thought it was too much just to add their voice to another
boring election. I can't understand why elections were held while many ppl were
away ! Is that your definition of "democracy" ? Well it's not mine !
2. 16 candidates surely meant a division of votes and even though the last
candidate only reached 0.5% of votes, it would have been enough for Jospin to
make it for the second turn. Most of these outsiders received between 3 and 7%
of votes, meaning lost votes for "real" candidates. Still this is not a good
reason as democracy calls for different views and choices.
3. Insecurity was the keyword to this election : TV programs always focused
on violence and thefts in suburbs, good workers being attacked by jerks and so
on. One thing is sure : over the last year France has become a copy of the US
model, young people burn cars when they don't steal them, many ppl are attacked
and feel unsafe even in small villages. These people wanted the government to
respond to these aggressions and surely felt that the other candidates just
ignored them and their problems while lepen could bring some solutions.
In spite of these explanations, results were there and we had to face the
truth : France was about to welcome facism with open arms. Right after results
were confirmed, many people went out and gathered into demonstrations against
Lepen and his party. I only wish half of the guys who demonstrated had voted
instead (well most of them were still at school and therefore too young to vote
or had no right to).
Oddly, once the shock absorbed (and it took several days for all of us !),
no one openly said they had voted for Lepen ! Did they feel they had made such
a mistake that they should hide and repent ? Surely in a way... Still voting
for a facist candidate isn't the right way to show you don't like the "big
party" candidate...
For the next two weeks, there were plenty of demonstrations and above all
an overwhelning sense of suspicion hovering over France as if there were some
traitors among us. Then it was May 5th : time for the second turn and for the
final moment of truth. Sure we knew (or thought ?) that Lepen could not become
our new president, but having no choice but vote for Chirac wasn't good news
either...
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As you all know by now, Chirac ranked first with more than 80% of votes.
Still we'll never forget how close from facism we were. Next elections will
decide of how many facist members of parliament will decide of the nation's
future. I hope this time we'll completely wipe out the threat. Last but not
least, don't think it cannot happen in your country because that's what I
thought and I was SO wrong. Never let it happen again !
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