Jean-Luc Mélenchon was a longshot candidate in the French presidential race: an avowed socialist who split from the mainstream (and dysfunctional, and centrist) Socialist Party to found a new party — La France Insoumise ("Unsubmissive France") — pundits wrote Mélenchon off early in the race.
That was before the neo-fascist candidate Marine Le Pen outed herself as a holocaust denier and the center-right candidate was caught embezzling half a million Euros from the EU.
Many have drawn comparisons between Mélenchon and Bernie Sanders. Raquel Garrido, a spokesperson for Mélenchon’s campaign, told Jacobin Magazine in early April that, like Sanders, Mélenchon is embracing a populist platform that seeks to speak to every portion of society, not just the traditional left.
“I think we are similar to Bernie Sanders in that way, who rarely spoke about ‘the Left,’ but about the people against the 1 percent or the billionaire class,” she said.
Mélenchon’s supporters have circulated a meme on social media comparing Le Pen to Trump and Macron to Clinton. “To beat Trump it would have been necessary to support Sanders,” it reads. “Let’s not make the same mistake!”
FRANCE’S BERNIE SANDERS STARTED HIS OWN PARTY AND IS SURGING IN THE POLLS [Zaid Jilani/The Intercept]
