Some years ago I reached the conclusion that the totalitarian character of the neoliberal system calls for the elimination of liberal democracy and the political system conquered by class struggle in the previous civilization of industrial capitalism, as Samuel Huntington clearly exposed in 1975 [1]; and that what, for decades, has been presented as "political life" in countries where neoliberalism is dominant, is a theatrical stage on which it is necessary to change the actors in order to maintain the show, without any change in the script.

The "big" news story in the media (and the stock market "celebrations" in the European Union, the United States and other countries) is that Emmanuel Macron of "En Marche" won with 24.01% in the first round of elections, with an advantage of 2.71% over Marine Le Pen of the National Front, who obtained 21.30%; leaving out of the competition for the second round François Fillon of the Republicans (with 20.01% of the votes and 4.0% below Macron), and Jean-Luc Mélenchon of France Insoumise (19.58% of votes and 4.43 below Macron). The candidate for the Socialist Party (PS) Benoit Hamon obtained only 6.36% of the votes [2].

Right away, the world’s stock-markets rejoiced, with a rise in stock prices, for the enthroning of Emmanuel Macron as the new principal actor of the well-known neoliberal script in one of the advanced capitalist powers, that is, at the same time, the main support of the European Union (EU) and of the euro zone. This explains the reactions of governments such as that of Germany and others, and of the officials of various institutions of the EU and of the IMF.  That is, the great relief of knowing that the status quo will be maintained.

The least that one might say is that the result was tight; but the most important thing is that the two parties that used to alternate in government (power for some time has been in the hands of the European Commission in Brussels and the European Central Bank in Frankfort): the UMP (Union for a Popular Movement, re-baptized The Republicans by Fillon) and the Socialist Party (PS), have suffered structural fractures and from now on will be marginalized or simply zombies.

The old order is not yet dead, but the new order will soon be born

But perhaps the most important thing of all, although we will not find it among the news or analysis of the traditional press, is that in this electoral process a movement was born and has grown to become a fourth electoral political force at the national level, that is France Insoumise (FI), that has all the political and ideological attributes, as well as a charismatic leader and well-formed political cadres, that from now on could become the key party bringing together social forces that for political, sociological or ecological reasons, among others, struggle for an alternative to the neoliberal system in France, and therefore in the EU.

It is clear that there were no celebrations in the stock-markets nor in the media of the political phenomenon of the FI of Mélenchon, but for anyone who has observed what has been happening in French political life in the last few months and during the electoral campaign, what is surprising is not the ascent of Macron, a "phenomenon" created from power and through the media, nor the persistence of the FN of Marine Le Pen, but the perceivable growth and development of the FI, with the thousands, and often tens,--or even hundreds--of thousands of people, of all ages and social strata, taking part in the frequent meetings and debates, or following these events through the internet.

The surprising quantity of young people taking part in these meetings can be seen in the official figures of the voting: 30% of young people who voted in this election, voted for the FI [3]; but people engaged with the FI who canvassed "door to door" told this journalist that they had noted that a high percentage of people who voted for traditional parties also expressed considerable respect for the ideas and proposals of Mélenchon and the FI.

This is not the first time in recent years that in countries of advanced capitalism, social and political movements of protest against neoliberalism have emerged, and that in some cases --such as Podemos in Spain – have come to establish themselves as a political force, obtaining legislative seats in the elections. The phenomenon of Bernie Sanders in the United States (US) stands out, since as an "independent" he had formed a broad movement of followers to dispute the candidature of the Democratic Party of the US.

But in the case of France Insoumise, from the beginning it has had something more, with their Wakeful Nights that mixed debate with mobilization – similar to the 99% movements of the in the US – and all this in the context of frequent sessions of information, debate and training at different levels, and with militant activity in the electoral campaign.

What appeared to me most important in the speeches of Mélenchon is his recognition and analysis of French society that, one might say, "is in bad shape" for various reasons, but mainly due to of the socio-economic damage caused by neoliberal policies. Pointing to the "social evil" that the defenseless citizens experience, knowingly or not, is the political key for any attempt to resolve this vital problem, as well for establishing the political basis for a social revolution that one day may put an end to this system.

From outside, as a journalist observer one could say that this whole process has been a massive formation and development of "collective intelligence", from the moment in which the FI was introducing fundamental questions into the debate, from the need to call a Constituent Assembly to establish a new Constitution to put an end to the "presidential monarchy" of the "fifth Republic", to the reference to an economic and social revolution so as to bring about an ambitious ecological plan, in order to structure projects and broaden social plans, among many other proposals debated almost daily among militants and leaders of the FI and followed by thousands of activists through the internet [4]

It is interesting to observe the graphic of the daily Le Figaro on the concentration of the vote among the different parties and note that the FI has solid bases in different Departments [5]. 

There is nothing new in the saying that "the more things change, the more they stay the same".

In the mid nineteenth century, and no doubt after having lived through the failed revolutions of the proletariat that ended in reversals and successful counterrevolutions through the coalition of the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy, French writer Alphonse Karr wrote that "the more things change, the more they stay the same". This is a notable coincidence with what Italian writer Tomasi di Lampedusa, who situated his novel Il Gattopardo in the second half of the nineteenth century puts in the mouth of his character Tancredi "If we want everything to continue as it is, it is necessary for everything to change".

Maintaining the same script, that is a system of politics and State power that guarantees the private ownership of the means of production, has been a constant under capitalism, as is demonstrated in the preoccupation that in the 18th century led Montesquieu to conceive the system of division of powers and the principles of "liberal democracy" -- later based on the system of alternating political parties, conservative and liberal, in order to change government and leave everything the same -- with the explicit objective of precisely avoiding any threat of real and radical political change on the part of the exploited working people.

Of Emmanuel Macron one can say, unequivocally, that he is a politician of variable geometry, created to adapt himself rapidly to the straight jacket of neoliberal power. To put it another way, he is the actor indicated to present the well-known neoliberal script, to large extent because it is a political hybridism created expressly by the out-going socialist president François Hollande, the major exponent of the neoliberal policy that the PS and the UMP have been applying for decades.

For those who have some memory it is hard to think of Macron and not think of Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Gerard Schroeder, Barack Obama and the tale of moving toward "capitalism with a human face", while in reality they were consolidating and making irreversible the political system of parties -- conservative, liberal and social democrat -- that alternate in government to apply the two basic concepts of neoliberalism set forth by Margaret Thatcher: "There is no alternative" (TINA) to neoliberalism because "there’s no such thing as society".

But even when suffering, society continues to exist and when it is threatened by death under neoliberalism, as Karl Polanyi wrote in The Great Transformation [6], a large part of its citizens might be hypnotized by fascist demagogy -- as happened in many European societies in the decade of the 1930s of the 20th century and as on a different scale is happening now in the majority of countries of the EU – or, if the left has adequate proposals, realize that a socialist revolution is necessary.

So the final vote will be between Macron and Marine Le Pen, and as was foreseeable, both Fillon and the defeated socialists have called on their supporters to vote for Macron "to defend the Republic", to prevent a victory of the National Front. Mélenchon, seeing the trap of politically legitimizing Macron and the established system with an overwhelming victory over Le Pen, and while the militants repeated Resistance!, said that he would not give a recommendation on who to vote for in the second round.

For the moment the status quo is the order of the day since -- returning to the characters of Lampedusa in the Gattopardo -- to the question "and now what will happen? the response is Bah! Backswitching harmless gunfire and afterwards, everything will be the same in spite of everything having changed" "... one of those battles that take place so that everything continues as it is".

24/04/2017

(Translated for ALAI by Jordan Bishop)

Alberto Rabilotta is an Argentine-Canadian Journalist.

1.- La democracia en crisis, Comisión Trilateral, 1975 http://trilateral.org/download/doc/crisis_of_democracy.pdf

2.- Official results:

http://elections.interieur.gouv.fr/presidentielle-2017/FE.html

3.- The youth vote:

http://www.20minutes.fr/elections/presidentielle/2055691-20170424-presidentielle-30-jeunes-vote-jean-luc-melenchon-selon-institut-ipsos

4.- The FI program i o n the portal https://avenirencommun.fr/avenir-en-commun/

5.-

http://www.lefigaro.fr/elections/presidentielles/2017/04/24/35003-20170424ARTFIG00016-presidentielle-les-resultats-du-premier-tour-en-cartes.php

6.- Karl Polany, The Great Transformation Boston, Beacon Press, (2001).