The La France insoumise MP from Seine-Saint-Denis was the guest of “8h30 franceinfo” on Sunday October 22.
Raquel Garrido, La France insoumise MP for Seine-Saint-Denis, was the guest of “8h30 franceinfo” on Sunday October 22. Israel-Hamas conflict, divisions within La France insoumise… She answered questions by Agathe Lambret and Jean-Rémi Baudot.
“There is a strong desire to change the way we operate”
La France insoumise has multiplied internal disagreements since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, Jean-Luc Mélenchon having notably refused to qualify Hamas as a terrorist group. “There is a strong desire to change the way we operate, assures Raquel Garrido. So far, La France insoumise was structured as a presidential campaign tool for Jean-Luc Mélechon, it cannot continue like this. Activists, executives, deputies, the rebellious electorate want us to change the way we do things.” insists the member for Seine-Saint-Denis.
The MP, described as a rebel within La France insoumise, had already judged that Jean-Luc Mélenchon “had only done harm” to the movement in recent months. She adds : “Jean-Luc Mélenchon has sought from afar to put wedges between us and the trade union organizations and between us and the other Nupes parties”. Jean-Luc Mélenchon “will always have influence but I ask him to ask himself the question of how he uses this influence”pleads Raquel Garrido.
Four years before the presidential election, “Insoumise France must say how it intends to designate the team that will access the Elysée”concludes the rebellious MP.
Israel-Hamas conflict: “Embodying better responsibility”
“There is a difficulty in calibrating the rebellious words today to the management”recognizes Raquel Garrido, while a demonstration is being held on Sunday in Paris for “the end of the massacres in Gaza” and the demand for “an immediate ceasefire” in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. “I try, with others, to embody better responsibility”, continues the MP. This Sunday’s gathering is organized by the “national collective for a just and lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis”, which brings together around forty left-wing organizations, including La France insoumise. The communist, socialist and ecological parties are not joining the demonstration.
“If, somewhere, there is an Insoumis who, wrongly, because of these errors in calibrating words, believed that there was any complacency with violence in La France insoumise, then he was wrong of place”insists the MP. “I’ve said it before, I think Hamas is a terrorist organization”would like to remind Raquel Garrido, while La France insoumise has been torn apart since the start of the Hamas offensive in Israel, on October 7, over how to characterize the Palestinian organization. “We must put Israeli and Palestinian victims on the same level”repeats the member for Seine-Saint-Denis, for whom this “controversy has no logic”.
———————————
Watch the interview in full: