On Sunday, an estimated 150,000 people marched in Paris and gathered in the Place de la Bastille to listen to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the Left Front, reports The Guardian.
Afterwards , the Socialist Party officials were prompt to call the event highly divisive for the left. Accusations of populism and gauchisme (unrealistic policies) also rapidly surfaced from Solférino, the Socialist headquarters. To paraphrase Bertolt Brecht: would it not be easier for the government to dissolve the people and elect another?
It would seem rather unwise to admonish those who marched against finance and austerity because they were responsible for sending François Hollande to the Elysée Palace in the first place. Although the event was organised by the Left Front, an electoral coalition of nine parties, large segments of the left were represented, including Eva Joly, the Green Party presidential candidate, trade-unionists, the New Anticapitalist Party and socialist sympathisers. Most had one thing in common: they voted for Hollande in May 2012 to defeat Nicolas Sarkozy.
A year ago, expectations were rather low on the left. Yet people were hoping for a break with Sarkozy's "hyper-presidency" as well as with his economic reforms, which had largely benefited the rich. As Mélenchon put it in his speech: "Mr Hollande's trial period is over and the results are not there."
Indeed, what happened to the man who singled out finance as his main enemy during the presidential campaign? What happened to Mr Normal who promoted an "Exemplary Republic"? Hollande ended up defending until to the bitter end Jérôme Cahuzac, a finance minister responsible for fighting tax evasion who turned out to have used a secret Swiss bank account to avoid paying taxes in France.
Read more of this report from The Guardian.