World News: France’s National Rally Party Seeks to Restore its Image

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Category: World News - Europe

Published on Sunday, 12 November 2023 15:16

Written by Olivier Longhi

Present at the demonstration against anti-Semitism, the National Rally continues its quest for legitimacy in a political landscape that has been totally turned upside down and disoriented. At the risk of seeing the far-right party impose itself even more.

In the words of historian Grégoire Kauffmann (Le monde.fr - 12 November 2023), the presence of the National Rally at the march against anti-Semitism held in Paris and in several cities across the country is "a sign of a profound recomposition of the political game."

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The far-right party, which was recognised as such by the Council of State on 29 September, has been trying for several years, and in a rather crude way, to get rid of its past and its image as an extremist party, but also to gain a form of political and even ideological respectability that would tend to legitimise the overall discourse of the party chaired by Jordan Bardella.

Using the slippages of France Insoumise to, once again, polish and police its image, the National Rally is chasing all possible opportunities to restore its image. And the march against anti-Semitism is one of those opportunities that the political movement is trying to seize. The question that now emerges in the face of this entryism is whether the attempts at legitimization will bear fruit?

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Public opinion, often fickle, fragile, and fractured, can for some of it give in to the sirens of an easy and simplistic xenophobic populism that claims to solve contemporary ills when the proposed solutions would only aggravate one or more already complex situations.

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However, the presence of the National Rally at this event, which is supposed to illustrate national harmony, never tires of questioning the ability of other political parties to propose and develop a discourse imbued with contemporaneity capable of responding to the ills of the times.

The mediocrity of the French political class, which has been denounced many times, is now reaching its climax because it is incapable of discrediting the discourse of a party with clear and announced ambitions. It will thus be difficult in a few weeks to reshape the political landscape in an attempt to see the emergence of one or more figures capable of proposing a discourse rich in vision and gravity.

The election of Emmanuel Macron also testifies, in its own way, to the intellectual poverty of the French political class. Without a direct competitor, and on two occasions in 2017 and 2022, the former National school of Public Administration alumni was elected with a far-right candidate as his opponent in the second round.

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If a signal were needed to herald the decrepitude of the French climate and ideological landscape, it could not have been more obvious. Udder! The presence of the National Rally at the demonstration mentioned in the preamble would tend to trivialize a party whose foundations are antithetical to republican or even democratic principles.

This trivialization, concomitant and corollary of the superficiality and ignorance of society, thus works at the same time, dumbing down of this same society, seduced by the ease of a discourse undone by any quibbles or reflexive theses. If there were still dikes capable of resisting the spread of extremism in France in the face of populist movements of this order, it seems that the presence of the National Rally at the demonstration broke them.

The second question that emerges on the evening of the demonstration is how the far-right movement will regain its presence. It is therefore to be feared that this recovery will in no way be neutral or second-rate but, on the contrary, will serve as a passport and a shroud of probity for a party in a hurry to see 2027 announced.

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Bio: Olivier Longhi has extensive experience in European history. A seasoned journalist with fifteen years of experience, he is currently professor of history and geography in the Toulouse region of France. He has held a variety of publishing positions, including Head of Agency and Chief of Publishing. A journalist, recognized blogger, editor, and editorial project manager, he has trained and managed editorial teams, worked as a journalist for various local radio stations, a press and publishing consultant, and a communications consultant.