Far Right and Left

Subject: Far Right and Left



Tolstoys soulful description of life and death in his novel War and Peace rings true. His observation that events are not brought about by the interposition of leaders but rather of the intricate deposit of the smallest mindset as an aggregate of the whole.

The political upheaval in France where Centrist  Macron has been unseated by a coterie of the ‘Far Left’ in the lefts temporary unification to defeat the so called ‘Far Right’ of Marine Le Pen, is democracy at play. The terms ‘Far Right’ and ‘Far Left’ are more ideological than specific, they are a catch all media phrase since there are things which the far left promote that a far right person would approve of and visa vera.

Socialism in France is its religious base, it’s cry of “liberate, egalite, fraternity could be the foundation of a religious order and since the days of the French Revolution it’s been the glue which held the left together. The left of many countries has flirted with communism, the ideology that ‘labour’ (people) were equal to ‘capital’ in the wealth of a nation and runs deep in the mind of the egalitarian. For a man like Melenchon (France’s Jeremy Corbyn), the seam which runs through him is ‘inequality’ and in this poorly adjusted country towards its immigrant past where disadvantaged, largely black people hold sway in certain cities in the south of the country. The French meet this threat with pepper spray and water cannon and heavily public disorder kitted police who are known for their no nonsense approach when dealing with protesters.

Boris Johnson was ridiculed when, as mayor of London he bought some second hand water cannon and our police are often criticised for being too collaborative in their dealings with street protest.

The spirit of rebellion lives on in sections of the Republic and Melenchon is remembered for leading from the barricades when taking on the French Establishment, a singular figure he has had a life of combinative politics which makes him feared by the centerist’s.

Le Pen is anti immigration and pro nationalist, supporting economic nationalism and an interventionist role of government, whilst opposed to globalisation and multiculturalism.

This tag of far right is only seen as dangerous when seen as ideologically opposed to consistency of the far left and is another example of the ‘4th estates’ (media/press) alternative to parliamentary democracy. The power of which has grown disproportionately with the internet, in many instances being well off-piste to rational debate. The demonising of parts of the electorate for wishing to bring back the national element in any discussion has in itself a diversionary effect whilst the established fears of cultural change are not met by describing the supporters of the right as racist.

Our recent General Election in this country saw ‘block voting’ on a largely ethnic matter with Arabic supporters taking their political seat on one issue, the dreadful genocideal  ethnic cleansing in Gaza. This is not a UK issue other than a moral one and whilst we may hold strong views on the matter it is not the bread and butter politics on which the General Election is fought.

If we become affected on a local scale with quasi national politics this will only lead to the further fragmentation of society and the country.