France confronted with the contemporary world
It is curious that the French were so passionate about such an election that they participated massively. During this electoral campaign which ended in street incidents and the return of the rain, the candidates were flat, with rare exceptions, the intellectual level of the discussions left something to be desired (as evidenced for example by the comments made on the genetics and on May 1968…), everything was an agitation of symbols and commercial advertising without depth, the so-called “social” options were alleged more than they were really solid. Each hunted on the other’s land, without at any time the hypothesis of a real change, of an original identity, appearing, at least through the two final candidates.
The voters finally elected a man ridiculous enough to have himself photographed in Colombey-les-deux-Eglises, facing a gigantic cross of Lorraine, with a ray of light falling directly from the sky…The exemption from charges for overtime is an inappropriate measure in a context of long-term mass unemployment, the tightening of the conditions for family reunification will not solve the problem, and the “reestablishment of authority” is not really a relevant avenue in a country marked by Bonapartism. As for neo-liberal type measures, they can in certain cases be theoretically good, but everything depends on the competence with which they are implemented, and on this point we can have the greatest fears. If, for example, it is planned to give universities more autonomy so that they can modulate their remuneration, in itself this can be good, but it can also be a disaster if these modulations, applied without discernment, method, reflection or strategy , serve in practice to enhance existing mandarin mediocrities.
Overall, the system appears well locked. In many Western countries, there is no real alternative, no renewal, electoral victories are victories by default, political leaders are increasingly mediocre. This is the end of the pitiful hypocrisy of Blairism, in a context of strengthening of the police state and use by those in power of the fears raised by the social crisis that it itself caused.
In sociological terms, we can see through this French electoral campaign certain transformations in progress: promises of reforms in the direction of participatory democracy, more direct candidates who speak out personally – all this testifies to a less authoritarian society than in the past. . But there is also the aspiration, still in its infancy, to go beyond the ready-made packages in which the traditional left and right confine citizens, and to rediscover a certain spirit of community – the restoration of which would undoubtedly involve transformations for the less profound both in structures and in daily behavior.
