Faced with polls which unanimously predict the re-election of Emmanuel Macron 13 days from the first round, Philippe Poutou calls on the left to prepare for the sequel. “The electoral balance of power is not on the side of the left, so much to discuss plan B”, he pleads this Monday at the microphone of France Info.
“The solution is in the street”
“If it’s Macron who wins – which is most likely – if it’s the right or the extreme right who win, the ultra-liberals, the racists and fascists who win – which unfortunately today is the more likely – how do you defend yourself right after the election? », Questions the candidate of the New Anti-Capitalist Party.
According to him, “this is where the problem arises of rebuilding a political tool, a radical party, rebuilding unions, rebuilding associations”. For the former trade unionist at the Ford factory in Blanquefort (Gironde), “the solution is in the streets, in strikes”, because “what is fundamental is how there is solidarity that is reconstructed, how we defend ourselves on a daily basis against the greed of the capitalists, against an increasingly anti-democratic and increasingly authoritarian society”.
Rebuilding a left “linked to the struggles”
Unlike the campaign, in which everyone overplayed his difference with the other candidates, the day after the election will force the left to exchange. “It’s not the election that will change all that, so we want to discuss with Mélenchon”, indicates Philippe Poutou. “We can discuss, including even with the activists who are going to vote Jadot, with the people who are going to vote Hidalgo, and it is in our interest to pose the problem now”, he warns, calling for a “struggle anti-fascist in a unitary way”.
“There would be a need to rebuild a left, but a radical left, a left linked to struggles, an anti-capitalist, internationalist, feminist, anti-colonialist left, we would need that to prepare for the battles, because behind it we have to fight because we are going to be attacked from all sides, ”he insisted.
The NPA candidate also regretted the lack of response, according to him, from the other left-wing candidates to his proposal to debate, “which also shows that, on their side, there is not even the desire to confront each other” . He advocated “a real debate” between “the institutional or liberal left, which still has assessments to make of its past governments, and then even the radical left with Mélenchon”.