“The controversies over the Hamas massacres reveal the historical contradictions between irreconcilable left-wing cultures”

2023-10-25 06:30:08

The recent controversies surrounding the massacres perpetrated in Israel by Hamas seem to have given the final blow to the coalition of the New Ecological and Social Popular Union (Nupes). They explain the recent positions of the Communist Party, which called, on October 15, for a “new type of union”as well as the “moratorium” of the Socialist Party (PS), demanding a “clarification of the values ​​and method of the coalition”. Jean-Luc Mélenchon [leader de La France insoumise, LFI] himself believes in a recent blog that “the point of no return has been crossed”. It is perhaps too early to say, because several electoral considerations could lead the coalition partners to maintain it until the European elections in June 2024, or to reset it on new bases, as certain figures are calling for. LFI, like François Ruffin.

Also read the decryption: Article reserved for our subscribers The ambiguities of Mélenchon and LFI on Hamas crack the Nupes

But what is certain is that as it stands, this coalition, designed in the specific context of the 2022 legislative elections, no longer appears capable of leading the left to power. It is therefore appropriate to question the causes of this inability and the avenues for renewal that could be offered to the left in view of future elections, and in particular the presidential election of 2027.

Let us first recall that as soon as the Nupes government program was published on May 19, 2022, the four signatory parties admitted to differing on 33 of the 650 proposals set out. Furthermore, the LFI partners refused to form a single parliamentary group, contrary to the wishes of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who intended to impose his authority on the 151 deputies of Nupes.

Artificiality

Subsequently, the strategy of conflict and systematic obstruction deployed by LFI in the National Assembly became unbearable for its partners, who ended up no longer voting on their motions of censure. And, even more fundamentally, the major political debates have revealed the artificial nature of a coalition bringing together opposing parties on essential issues, such as secularism, the energy transition or the defense of democracies.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers At the demonstration in support of Palestine in Paris, the left is tearing itself apart a little more

This is how in December 2022 LFI distinguished itself from its partners by refusing to vote on the resolution supporting Ukraine following the Russian invasion. During the battle for amendments in the pension crisis, they dissociated themselves again, Jean-Luc Mélenchon wishing to prevent discussion on the main article of the law. Then, in 2023, the communist group voted for the nuclear revival bill, unlike its three other partners. In May, new divisions emerged during the debate on national defense, then, in June, on the agreement between the European Union and Mercosur [alliance entre le Brésil, l’Argentine, l’Uruguay et le Paraguay]and, in July, on the green industry law.

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