In the American media, the 2017 French presidential election has been portrayed as a rehash of the 2016 US presidential election, with far-right populist Marine Le Pen playing the role of Donald Trump and her opponent - centrist Emmanuel Macron - standing in for Hillary Clinton.

And while France is a very different country than the United States, the comparison is a good one, because the French election - like its 2016 American counterpart - was a referendum on neoliberalism, whether the political establishments here or in France want to admit it or not.

In the final French presidential debate Le Pen, the right wing populist candidate, tried to tar her opponent with the crimes of neoliberalism:

"The political choice the French have to make is clear: Mr. Macron is the candidate of globalisation gone wild, of neoliberalisation, uncertainty, social brutality, the dog-eat-dog war, the economic wrecking of big companies..."

This sounds like the kind of economic nationalist language we heard from Trump all last summer and fall.

Le Pen lost, but with a record number of votes for her party.

Where is this outrage against neoliberalism coming from?

-Thom


(What do you think? Tell us here.)

In for Thom tonight, please welcome Sam Sacks, Writer/Co-Founder, The District Sentinel News Co-op



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