Members of Parliament and some activists from Québec solidaire (QS) and the New Democratic Party (NDP) publicly support the candidacies of the New Popular Front (NFP) while there is an election in France. There, all the social and political groups are gathered for a rare time (political organizations, associations, unions, etc.).
The accusation of interference is on the tip of the lips of several Quebec columnists and political polemicists, people more to the right than to the left, in fact. In this context, we wonder who has the most interest in seeing the right and the far right win in France. These people are probably the same people who do not know the difference between defending rights and lobbying.
Supporting the mobilization and supporting our fellow human beings, validating the importance of their struggle and their vote, bringing them hope, is not interference.
According to federal MP Alexandre Boulerice who speaks on social networks, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the secret services inform us that the interference manifests itself through two types of actions and demonstrates that we have an interest . Interference actions consist, firstly, of a foreign power controlling a parliamentarian. This can be done through threats, blackmail, or through gifts and benefits. Thus, the MP in question could change their votes or give privileged information to the country in question. The second type of interference is attempting to disrupt the electoral process. The most common is to sow division and tension in society via social media with “ fake news » from fake accounts. This strategy aims to create chaos in order to politically weaken an “adversary”.
We have seen media commentators confuse the support of QS and the NDP with what Chinese capitalists are doing in Canada. This is a serious lack of understanding of the issues and analysis.
Several left-wing parties in Europe support the NFP, which is quite natural for them. They have a more advanced history and political training than we do in terms of building solidarity.
After a better understanding of the concept of interference, we must see what is currently happening in France: a rise of the extreme right like many places in the world. Putting a stop to it is a duty. It is a matter of life or death in some cases. It may seem very far from us, but have you seen the images of the Nazi demonstrations in France? Have you seen people being beaten up in the street?
We must know how to mobilize while there is still time. Before we regret having remained silent and having failed to act.
This is what is at stake right now. Not seeing that the right is giving the extreme right a leg up, not seeing that the left needs mobilization support, is either a lack of political training or willful blindness.
Good luck to our French friends.
Long live solidarity.