A little over a week before the second round of the presidential election, more than 70 associations are calling for demonstrations in around thirty cities on Saturday April 16 “against the far right and its ideas” but also “for justice and equality”, explains on franceinfo Claire Dujardin, president of the Syndicate of lawyers of France. The union relays the call to march “to insist on the democratic emergency” and “to ensure that Marine Le Pen does not come to power”. The program of the candidate of the National Rally “is incompatible with the functioning of democracy” because “it establishes as fundamental principles the principles of discrimination and xenophobia”says Claire Dujardin.
franceinfo: Is it a civil society movement or something more political, in the idea of a republican front?
Claire Dujardin: This movement brings together organizations, associations and collectives at the same time, so it is a very broad gathering. It’s about saying no to the far right and its ideas, for justice and equality. It is a very broad movement to insist on the democratic emergency, that is to say collectively affirm that the strength of the ideas and values that bring us together are strong enough to fight against the ideas of the extreme right and to so that Marine Le Pen does not come to power.
What are Marine Le Pen’s proposals that would concern you directly if she were elected?
Its program is incompatible with the functioning of democracy. It establishes the principles of discrimination and xenophobia as fundamental principles. National preference would be enshrined in law, therefore all the fundamental principles of access to social assistance, employment, education would be based on a principle of national preference and therefore there would be discrimination enshrined in law . Marine Le Pen’s program is extremely dangerous. This march against the far right is not there, that said, to say that we are for the policy of Emmanuel Macron. We hear the anger, but we say that the first emergency is the democratic emergency, then we will fight against the policy of Emmanuel Macron.
How do you explain this strong risk, and a little more each time, of seeing the far right come to power?
The causes are multiple and ancient. The responsibilities are to be sought on the side of the ultra-liberal policies carried out for years and which have exacerbated social injustices and inequalities. They set aside a whole part of the population, they made populations precarious. The consequences of these policies mean that many people do not have access to their rights, to justice.
There is also the rise of far-right ideas. There has been a shift: policies that were initially right-wing policies, based on the social republic and the integration of all populations, have slipped towards far-right ideas. Necessarily, we trivialize the proposals put on the table by the National Rally. We also have enormous anger against Emmanuel Macron and the risk today is that voters will vote against Emmanuel Macron because they are angry with him.