"In 1997, nearly half of French people saw Le Pen's ideas as unacceptable; now only a third do. His popularity speaks much about the continued disillusionment with the political leadership within French society."
Voters will be summoned to the polls on Sunday, April 22. If, as usual, no candidate wins 50% or more of the vote, the election goes to a second round between the two leading candidates.
Le Pen confounded the forecasters in the 2002 election to the Elysée Palace, when he beat the socialist, Lionel Jospin, into second place in the first round of voting.
Socialists belatedly took fright and, to head off Le Pen, reluctantly cast their ballots for the incumbent, Jacques Chirac, in the run-off.
But this spring Chirac will not be part of the electoral equation. He has bowed out of the Elysee, blowing kisses to “the France I love”.
Tub thumper Le Pen has sickened many potential supporters by his record of racist utterances.
He belittled the Nazi gas chambers as a “detail of history” and Germany’s wartime occupation of France as “relatively humane”.
And he denounced France’s national soccer team for including too many black players.
But, apart from his nauseating racism, his programme elicits widespread sympathy.
Le Pen wants to restrict immigration, opposes the European Union and rails against France’s high unemployment.
Full story: France: Encore for old soldier Le Pen
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"In economic life there is extreme inequality and exploitation. Although colonialism no longer exists openly in the political and economic sphere, still it persists indirectly, and this should not be tolerated... In this respect you should remember that in economic life, we will have to guarantee the minimum requirements of life to one and all... There cannot be any sort of adjustment as far as this point is concerned. The minimum purchasing requirement must be guaranteed to all. Today these fundamental essentialities are not being guaranteed. Rather, people are being guided by deceptive economic ideas like outdated Marxism, which has proven ineffective in practical life and has not been successfully implemented in any corner of the world. Why do people still believe in such a theory, which has never been proved successful? The time has come for people to make a proper assessment of whether they are being misguided or not." |
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"Human beings have still not been able to form a human society, and have still not learned to move with the spirit of a pilgrim. Although many small groups, motivated by self-interest, work together in particular situations, not even a small fraction of their work is done with a broader social motive. By strict definition, shall we have to declare that each small family unit is a society in itself? If going ahead in mutual adjustment only out of narrow self-interest or momentary self-seeking is called society, then in such a society, no provision can be made for the disabled, the diseased or the helpless, because in most cases nobody can benefit from them in any way... in that case there always remains the possibility of some people getting isolated from the collective. All human beings must attach themselves to others by the common bond of love and march forward hand in hand; then only will I proclaim it a society." |