CarwilBJ's avatarCarwilBJ's Twitter Archive—№ 36,907

                1. France has spent two decades voting for centrist figures like Joe Biden and Jeb Bush to stave off neo-fascists like Trump. This year, they finally coalesced around a true alternative, a green-red coalition offering real improvements in people's lives.
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              1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
                There are huge strategic lessons here for the USA, but they will be difficult to grasp for those who insist that a single tactic is the one right answer.
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            1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
              Beginning with 2002, French voters and movements repeatedly mobilized in public refusal of electing neo-fascists and racists to power.
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          1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
            Until this year, this has meant mainstream Right parties in France absolutely refusing to join, follow, or govern in coalition with the far right. (Looking at you, Republican Party.)
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        1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
          For the Left, starting in 2002, holding off the Far Right was accomplished through a mix of independent campaigning, strategic voting, and mass protest pledging to resist a far-right government. Not 1 of these but all 3.
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      1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
        Contrast this with the USA, where the mainstream Democrats put defending institutional norms (including the #$@! Electoral College and the increasingly hostile Supreme Court) ahead of refusing and resisting a fascist turn.
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    1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
      The Electoral Left in the US has fielded serious candidates in some presidential primaries, built a progressive caucus, and a comparatively radical Squad of legislators. These figures can lead strategic voting and even sometimes shift the Democratic platform.
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  1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
    But the failure to offer a Left candidate in 2012, 2024 US eelections means there's no opportunity to express Left sympathies while still blocking the far Right. This has become routine in France.
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    1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
      French Left campaigns and antifascist demonstrations overlap. There are rallies every week during campaigns. Political parties join protest movements. In the USA, this didn't happen until after Trump was elected.
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      1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
        It's paradoxical, but the more you engage in independent political action and radical protest, the less of an identity crisis is posed by voting (one fine morning) for the centrist to hold off the fascist.
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        1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
          From 2002 to 2022, the French left was locked in a loop of folding behind a centrist candidate to defeat the Far Right. The evil of two lessers. But...
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          1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
            They had also been building an independent Left platform (well, four actually). This year, they put differences aside and revealed themselves as the country's largest political force.
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            1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
              It turns out that substantive changes like rasing the minimum wage, capping classroom sizes, and expanding retirement can work better than racing the Right to build walls against immigrants.
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              1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
                Growing radical politics inside a coalition is hard, but holding your nose every four years without building one is probably the more gruesome choice.
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