Amazing! Thanks for bringing your video to my attention. I think both of our French videos play well together. Mine gives an overview of the country as whole, but yours really breaks down current issues and problems. Great to see how many views you've gotten for your very first video, it's a great achievement. Looking forward to seeing more.
Yep, I second that statement. Though it seems pretty clear that not everyone hates all parties equally, since there are at least one that they hate sufficiently less to join, usually thanks to a closer ideological alignment.
@@RichSmithson According to your logic, peaceful civilians who happen to lack the strength and resolve to wage guerilla warfare, and find themselves forced to live under enemy occupation, somehow deserve their fate on the basis that they don't resist the invaders? It's a quick and effective witticism I admit, but I don't think it rings true.
In theory the French have a low retirement age, but not in reality. People can't just retire when they turn that age. But they have to have worked for a specific number of years. This results in(most) French people retiring later than (most) Germans for example.
@@cmolodiets Wich is really low if you do a low payng job, which actually are the most hurted job. Statistics shows that most working class already die before retirement
@@borisdetrashniminia2505 Yeah, and that's why 72% of the French are against this law, since it is basically "let the poor dies before we actually give them what they paid for their entire life"
But also with technology SHOULDN'T the retirement age go down? I mean factories have a fraction of the manpower they once had and many other jobs are being threatened by AI. So if anything the retirement age should go down to like 50.
As a French, I think the next election will be an election between far right/far left. We are tired of promises, and bs of every last presidents. People want change, in a way or another, but they want change. And I think, with a bit of fear, that will be wild.
Funny, because promises and betrayal are the only things you'll find there also. Look at Trump: more banks, more money for himself, more "business friendly" tax cuts. Not even immigration reform lmao
One thing you forgot to mention about french presidential election is the rise of people not voting, it's gotten to such a degree that almost a third of the french people do not vote. This means that when you see 58/42 for Macron/LePen you gotta take in account that this only from 60% of french voters. I like to remind people of that because a lot of us french people refuse to even partake in the unavoidable trap that has become our elections.
>invents guillotine to get rid off bad actors in politics >doesn't use it in times where it makes all your problems go away Seriously, how many politicians (in total, independent of party/affiliation) do you have? You could probs get rid of them in a month or so.
what's incredible is that despite our elections being a fucking joke, the medias constantly try to antagonizes us (peoples who don't votes). it even go so far that depending on your work, the fact that you may not be voting could very well be a problem in your profession. i used to work for my local city hall (ma mairie locale) and i've been asked multiples times why i didn't present myself to vote, and if i'm going to change that. i ended up quitting anyway because that was a fucking circus, but i could have faced profesionnal problems down the line for my personnal electoral beliefs.
@@FifinatorKlon why would we get rid of small parties, they aren't the one plaguing the eleections and they're used for senate and legislatives. Guilottine were used for kings and their nobles. What are you on?
@@Rise65487 yeah it's wild how nobody here remembers that if a majority doesn't vote or even a big part of the electora it does matter, the media just wanna avoid tackling that topic by all means
Ouais enfin il reste un journaliste, il connait tu a politique française dans les grandes lignes en ne ressortant que les pomcifs de gauche qui ont amené macron au pouvoir
Pas vraiment. Beaucoup de grosse approximation. Je sait que c'est un ricain et qu'il est clairement dans le haut du panier de toute la médiocrité que les USA font en masse, mais c'est loin de mérité les mots "Great Work". C'est passable, au mieux.
One comment: The rise of French citizens who do not feel recognised or acknowledged by the political parties are leading to a rise of people not voting. This is a problem threatening the French democracy, as this allows for the rise of extremes. Really nice video, keep it up! (frustrated french citizen here)
French democracy is a lie, and the way the party system is set up is against people's interests, and in the interests of the powerful. The rise of the extreme right is a feature, not a flaw! The system itself has to come down. I think this is also a realisation a lot of people are having, and is another reason they refuse to continue to partake by voting.
Several fun facts I’d like to add: 1) In 2002 when Le Pen made it to the second round against Jacques Chirac; left wing voters were urged to “vote for the crook not for the fascist”. 2) The electoral tactic of the Republican front or “front republicain” has actually been used as far back as the Third Republic; mainly as a way of rallying all pro-Republican forces against those of the monarchist right at the polls. 3) If I recall correctly Hollande was elected mainly on the promise of being bland - he was even referred to as “Monsieur Normal” because he would avoid the scandals and craziness of the Sarkozy years. 4) Also the habit of President Mitterrand started the habit of preaching redistributive policies on the campaign trail while imposing neoliberal policies or rigeur while in office; though it is true that this did come after he tried to implement Keynesian policies when he came to power.
Those political zigzags of French politicians who want Left votes mirror what the Democratic Party does in the US: On financial issues most Democratic politicians vote for Big Business over the Working Class. The "Vote for the Crook, not the fascist" campaign slogan mirrored a campaign in Louisiana when KKK leader David Duke was running for Governor "Vote for the Crook, not the Klansman" 👎
Mitterand did not impose neoliberal policies in office. He was our last leftwing president. Rightwingers are (those that are old enough to have his name on the tip of their tongue) still blaming him for... everything. 35h work weeks, holidays, the social safety net, etc.
@@zenster1097 Remember Giorgia Meloni really belonged to the Fascist Party (MSI) but is now an EU advocate. Marine LePen has already departed from some of her father's positions. If elected President she would probably have to depend on a coalition within the National Assembly, so would be forced to make the sort of accomodations Meloni has made
Great video! As a citizen of a neighbour country of France, this was very interesting. Hollande's prime minister, Valls, came to Barcelona to be mayor but lost the election. Then, he voted against the winner, who was a Catalan secessionist, to get the former mayor to repeat term (Ada Colau). So he ended making mayor the candidate he had been criticising the whole campaign. Then he returned to France to be senator or something but nobody voted him. A true despicable politician.
I recommend this parody of a French song "moi je mapelle lolita" which becomes "moi je mapelle manuel valse" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-V2WIG8bmO9s.html
During my first degree studies one teacher summed up how reforming the French political system tends to go: "People said employment law was too complex for any small business to grow. Big companies wanted radical reform, smaller firms wanted it slip streamed, and everyone got mad. Eventually, in response to claims the book was too big, they settled - and made the font smaller so the book size decreased."
You did your research, well done ! But I have to say, yes, our legal age for retirement is one of the lowest in the world and yes we want to keep it that way but thats not the only reason at all. Most people need to work way past 62 yo to keep a decent revenue for their retirement. The "bonus years" that our elders sacrifice by working for a better retirement revenue are deeply endangered by those two "simple" years.
And 62 or 64 for retirement is a thing if you managed to have jobs every month of your life at that point which is more and more complicated to say the least.
@@justingrandia9208 Not mentioning the fact that with elder people now leaving the job market later, jobs will be even harder to find for newcomers. It's not a random chance, if even the rich industrialist are widely against this law. The 28% of french that don't oppose this law are either indecisive, have a semi-religious trust in Macron, or just want to get over with it. People who actually support it in full reason are very few.
But also the large referrendum that got 5 really good suggestions and was just snubbed by the French government and barely taken seriously also kind of confirmed the contempt the elite has for the non-elite.
I wouldn't call the National Rally "fascist" since it changed a looot since it's creation. Note that I'm not voting or supporting them but the term "fascist" is just too much and honestly quite overused these days. It's certainly a far right party tho. Nice video, it's always interesting to get an external point of view of our own country!
@@MasoMathiouI highly doubt that the daughter of a fascist who runs just like daddy did is somewhat different to him. Especially when you take the lead of the same party
It's wrong on so many levels. How can you even compare Sanders to Melenchon. Basically what Sanders wants is what France is today. So really what a whole lot of bollocks. Ignore this American who can't look beyond the politics he knows. There isn't anything to compare France with in the US. Its bollocks.
"Tankies and Fascists" this is such a stupid oversimplification and it will not help you understand these movements, regardless if you're part of them or not
Not to mention the open letter that was wrote by the military about their concerns about a probable civil war due to the escalations and the lack of communication and understanding between the government and the population back in 2021 Which i find quite scary as a french
A miraculously great way to just get barely informed about something I've never thought twice about... in just 24 minutes under such a calming narration. I thank for your work sincerely...
this man presented an extremely biased opinion on french politics, become more informed if you actually care and if not please don't repeat propaganda.
yep, that's pretty true lol. Police reform & Georgist-corporatist reforms combined with a pronatalist religious revival would probably help France but oh well....
@@zhcultivatorNews for you, France has registered an uptick in Catholic baptism, and an increasing number of those baptism are from people of Non Religious or Muslim background
Damn I just stumbled on your channel, this is hands down the most comprehensive breakdown of recent french politics i ever found on the english speaking side of internet. You really did an incredible job on it, you absolutely rock ! Thanks for your work ❤
Une approche générale de notre politique qui est franchement intéressante, c'est souvent tellement un foutoir de comprendre comment il fonctionne au quotidien, qu'un regard externe nous en apprend même plus sur notre situation.
La politique ne marche pas! pas seulement dans La France. Personne n’a pris le MoDem au sérieux. Quelle représentation précise de la politique ! La seule chose qu’on peut prendre au sérieux en politique, c’est la menace. Une bande de non-nons opportunistes, sadiques et pitoyables. Esclaves de leurs glandes hormonales. Ils ne peuvent tout simplement pas ne pas abuser de leur pouvoir.
Kudos from France, it's a pleasure to see a foreigner vulgarize french politics this well, and it offers a fresh point of view when you're completely hooked on politics like me. Thanks for this amazing work, the humour is delightful, the montage nicely adding to the quality of what you're saying, can't wait to see what comes next! A French tard who loves politics and video essays
@@MatthewMcVeagh oh thanks, my bad ! In French, we use "vulgariser" more frequently than "populariser" when talking about science or politics, didn't know it was the other way around in English ^^
This was well put together. Thank you for correcting the mistake that the increase in the petrol price is absolutely brutal from a working-class perspective. The inability to understand anything that way is the problem that the center has had.
THen get organized. We cannot be dispirited. We must continue the fight. Even if the fight seems hopeless. WE MUSST FIGHT ON. For help is far away and wont arrive in time. So we need to fight smarter. We must fight to win.
Congrats man, you summarized French politics better than French journalists. Also your analysis is showing drawbacks on every sides, which is much appreciated. I hope people will now understand why this is complicated for us to believe in our politicians. I'm waiting with impatience some other analysis of different countries if you plan to do so !
It's complete nonsense. Macron didn't brake French Politics. The socialists broke themselves, and the Republicans, well Fillion is all you have to say. If it wasn't for Macron, Le Pen would've been French president since 2017. Also you can't possibly compare Sanders to Melenchon. that's total bollocks. Mr "LA REPUBLIQUE C'EST MOI!!!" is not at all like Sanders! He is a maniac and indeed a the core of the problem on the left because he monopolises the French left on untenable positions and statements that are anti-Republican. Sanders doesn't do that at all. He wants what France has now: universal healthcare, education etc. Sure Sanders is more to the leftt as Macron that's for sure but he's just comparing Apple's to Oranges. Also I have no love whatsoever with Le Pen. But basically she is like a Brexiteer Braverman type of Far Right, not comparable to Le Pen father either. She kicked out a lot of the people he spoke about - ad that's why this Mr. Z on the extreme right emerged. She moved to the ... err... left I guess - still far far righ, but not the same thing as her father at all. So he is basically just oversimplifying everything and propagating dangerous bs. Sorry Also, he completely failed to mention Edouard Phillippe as the natural successor to Macron, he is doing US Politics, in France. It's ridiculous.
1. I wouldnt say Chirac was very popular. He wasnt really expected to make it in the 2nd tour in 1995. It was a big surprise that he came ahead of Balladur who lost traction in the last weeks of the campaign. And his 2002 election when he wasnt really that popular either was saved by Le Pen making that in the 2nd round instead of Jospin. 2. Chirac and Sarkozy had very bad relations by the end of Chirac's 2nd term. They mostly stemmed from Sarkozy abandoning Chirac for Balladur in 1995 as I remember. Chirac's preferred successor had always been Dominic de Villepin.
I don't think i said chirac was 'very' popular, he's just the last president to be 'generally popular' which may not have been the best choice of words, by that i mean he was above or at least near 50% favorability more often than any president since, and french presidents have had absolutely dismal favorability ratings ever since (save exceptional short lived bumps) as for chirac and sarkozy's relationship, that would have been a tangeant that I don't think the video would have necessarily benefitted from. I think it remains true that sarkozy was able to beat Segolene Royal fairly easily at least in part due to the fact that people weren't generally dissatisfied with Chirac / UMP leadership at the time, the way they were 5 years later (obviously not the only factor), but you do bring up valid points nonetheless. Thanks a lot for the comments!
@@barelyinfo i havent finished watching the video yet tbh. So i wont respond in detail yet. But will mention few things that i find factually controversial later, if i do spot any. That being said idk who you are, but this is a very good quality video for a small channel. If I didnt know it came from a small channel I would have thought its from Vice or TLDR, or RT. Some big outlet with very professional and advanced production. Very impressive. You only do these analytical vids or theoretically you open to investigations and interviews too?
Pour une vidéo en anglais (donc a priori destinée à des non-francophones, donc non Français), c'est déjà pas mal précis. Si vous ajoutez les petites subtilités des trahisons intimes au sein des mêmes camps qui font la joie des chroniques politiques françaises, ça devient imbitable pour des non spécialistes. Et puis, le temps aidant, il faut reconnaître que Chirac, comme Mitterrand, malgré toutes les critiques légitimes qu'on pouvait leur faire en leur temps, on su conserver à la fonction présidentielle une stature "gaullienne" que leurs successeurs (Sarkozy, Hollande et Macron) ont singulièrement dégradée.
That's a really well produced first video ! To add some elements to the ones others already put in the comments : - François Hollande wasn't unpopular because of incompetency but because he betrayed all his left-wing promisies, but right-wing voters were gonna hate him no matter what. - It's really important to note that Macron was propulsed by the media in an unprecedented orgy of positive coverage. - at 15:10 , I would have animate "En Marche !" pushing to the right "Les Républicains" to take there place on the political spectrum, because it's actually what happens both in ideology and in practice. Les Republicains were made obsolete by Macron.
yeah, I wouldn't disagree with any of those points. I had a much longer version of the script originally but I just went over too much stuff that didn't really help the central point of the video so I cut it down. On the hollande incompetence thing, I do think him being incompetent was definitely a factor in his impopularity. but yes, probably not the main reason, since it was kind of a known quantity (he was a last minute pick as candidate, after all, when DSK was caught being a naughty boy), but I did mention the left felt betrayed by him
@@barelyinfo Macron governement is way more incompetent (due to lack of political knowledge way more non political ministers of staff members) making about a mistake a week. Which wasn't the case under Hollande, it was his politic the problem, promising a more left political and being in the end like any other president for the last 30 years a liberal, cutting taxes, increasing retirement conditions age, deleting funding for public services...
@@barelyinfoI think the power of the President in France in the Fifth French Republic is inspired by the President in the USA. Thank God my country Ireland has a parliamentary system and a more restrained President who tends to be from an intellectual background.
As a French citizen I think your video is very very well donned and helps a lot to understand the situation.... I choose personnally to leave France since 2019 considering how the situation is evolving and every week proves me I made the right choice ... its getting worse and worse in France
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Fantastic stuff! What a debut. I'm excited to see what comes next Also the graphics and original footage are top notch 👌
French politics has been broken my whole adult life. They like it that way. But yes, the polarization is beginning to crystallize and that's obviously worse than the love-hate cycles pursued with past Presidents. Most of whom turned out to be corrupt.
The West is experiencing intense polarization across the board. The old ruling elites are detached from reality and are unable to address the problems that plague us today. When it comes to addressing the problems of today. The ruling elite does 1 of 4 things 1. Won’t mention/address it and pretend like the problems don’t exist 2. Acknowledge the problems existence and then do nothing but hope it goes away on its own or people forget about it and move on 3. Acknowledge the existence of the problem and then blame said problem on the other side. 4. Do whatever the extremists recommend. This can’t go on, our status quo has existed since 1989 at the earliest.
@@Kaiserboo1871you think the elites ever cared for the majority of the population? I actually welcome the growing polarization as a real chance for change. I’m willing to accept the inherent risks (like ending up in a fascist hell hole) over continuing the farce of our current systems that exploit the masses for the benefit of the few.
@@MCSorry Too an extent yes. I can’t speak for Europe, but I can say the FBI and DOJ have absolutely been weaponized into a praetorian guard for the establishment elites.
I really appreciated the effort you and your team put into this highly detailed explanation: the proper use of different environments, the clear and correct use of audio, the use of props and figures to further outline the truth... thank you and you have me subscribed. Best wishes.
Clicked on this video and assumed it was some big well established channel I had just been missing out on. The quality is here awesome, and I am looking forward to more of your content.
This was a great video. This topic has been something I've been keeping my eye on since 2017. Being an American seeing my own country's politics shift so rapidly I took to looking at other places to get a better grasp on what seems to be a more global trend. I loved your graphics with the physical shifts of voting blocks. Amazingly great video!
Really great video, it should have way more views. As someone who is from the US but interested in European and global politics more generally, it’s hard to find English language media that reports in-depth and accurately on issues like these. The way the most outlets here have reported on France and the recent periods of unrest is simplistic at best if it is even given any time of day. Excited to see more of your stuff dude!
anything remotely right of center = "fascist" I'm much more concerned with hundreds of thousands of violent military-aged migrant men in the streets burning everything down than I am some references to WW2 politics from 60+ years ago
Any party in Europe that doesn't want mass immigration or an international elite ruling it are by modern terms Fascist. It's a RU-vidr commenter. everyone right of Center is either a Fascist or sitting next to one according to them.
Great video ! As an expat living in France, I find it hard to navigate the French political system. You structured the information pretty well. Keep going 🙌
Bravo. That was brilliant. A concise and effective summary of the political system of the 5th Republic and its (many) idiosyncrasies. Studied in France in the 1990s and it remains my second home - fascinated by French politics ever since. That “elimination round” sure can make French presidential elections rather dramatic. Outstanding video.
I just wanna convey my appreciation for this video. Its rare to see english speaking media to present the current french situation and just say, "hey its france there are protests and its normal". Because it is very much not.
Count yourself lucky you're not American. People view our politics a bit like sports: any random person feels comfortable talking about US politics regardless of how much or how little they know about the US, and one weird double standard people have with US politics is they're fine arguing American politics if they're non-American but will shut down any discussion about their countries politics if you have never been a citizen there. It's a bit surreal sometimes going online and coming across chat rooms, message boards, or comment sections with tons of non-Americans talking about American politics when it's fairly obvious they know very little about the US outside of the basics of pop culture. It's really similar to how some people boil down French and Greek politics down to "the parties disagreed so they rioted for the third time that week". I've run into people who dont even realize that Washington _state_ and Washington _D.C_ are 2 completely different places as far from one another as Paris and Cairo but they'll argue American politics.
@@arthas640 that's understandable since the impact that you're elected president has in the world is huge. I think most people don't care of internal politics that the Américan president does but mostly care on the way he will act with it's allies (not always nicely) or enemies. American presidents already started wars that impacted all members of nato so that's understandable that the world prefers that you choose your president wisely
@@flyingfish00 You could make similar arguments about the PRC chairman and EU leadership since they both have similar impacts on the world as the US president. You could perhaps even include a few other countries like France who have a huge impact on the world both because they're not only a major economy and military, but are also one of the worlds largest arms exporters, carry out tons of military operations across Africa and the middle east, are heavily represented in NATO, have equal footing as the US on the UN Security Council, and occupy positions of power in many major NGOs. They dont have nearly the same power as the US but you could even include Sweden on that list since they wield far more power than you'd expect, having sat in many high ranking positions in the UN like President of the General Assembly and Deputy Secretary General, and they head some NGOs that wield tons of influence like the famous Nobel prize. That said people chiming in on American politics goes far beyond just the president. When the George Floyd and BLM protests started up there was discussions across the globe about it, but Europeans are usually defensive if Americans bring up things like the recent riot in France over the shooting of Nahel Merzouk. On social media I came across quite a few people talking about the CHAZ protest in Seattle in 2020, but people in France will get defensive if non-French or at least non-Europeans talk about their protests against the government. Chinese people tend to be extremely willing to chime in on US politics or western politics in general but get defensive when Americans talk about Chinese politics, and Russians are similar. I regularly run into people online that will talk about state level politics in the US like the latest thing going on in Florida or California. A common thread I tend to notice is people willing to talk about any of the latest news stories on American politics even if they're non-American and even if they're understanding of US politics or life in America in general is limited to stereotypes and memes with a sprinkling of headline news snippets, but they get offended and defensive when Americans do the same and will often mock Americans for having similarly limited knowledge of their countries politics. I cant tell you how many people seem to think that the whole US is like the south, who think the US is mostly white, dont realize that many Americans understand the metric system, dont understand how distinct laws are in different states (almost as much variation as different laws in different countries even), or who's knowledge is limited to a few headlines. During the George Floyd/BLM protests for example I ran into many who thought the whole US had erupted into riots even though the protests were rather limited and even in the major cities where they occurred it was mostly business as usual outside of the few blocks or streets the protests were happening. I live near Seattle and similarly people thought Seattle was brought to standstill during the CHAZ protests but things were just like any other day in 99% of Seattle and there was nearly zero impact outside of the city, and since many non-Americans think Seattle is the state capitol and since the neighborhood the protests occurred was called "capitol hill" many thought the protests were affecting the state government when in reality they only moderately impacted city politics and had little to no impact on the state government's operations.
I think the fact that for the americans this is worse than for the others is because they are very efficient to spread their news all over the World .As a french I can tell that i read often news about america maybe because the greater part of the internet is owned by american companies. I never see someone stranger talk about the politics of my country or maybe one time to tell the classic stéréotypes that there is always protests which is true imo x). generaly the stereotypes doesn't come from nowhere The things you said about the south and that the americans don't know the metric system are also stéréotypes and i'm sure that a lot of people think about a country using only stereotypes. That's sad but i thinks it's natural to talk about what you see on the news and as you don't know well the country you will make your opinion using the little you know about it already. There is also the problem that each time you faced a social issue in usa i don't know why but it propagates some months later and a french version of your issues happends in France, we had BLM and the LGBT culture as recent examples. This phenomenon can also explains why so much people try to give their opinion about your politics. For those who doesn't like to hear your opinion about their country maybe they are not used to and react badly or maybe they feel superior because the americans suffer from pretty bad stéréotypes or bad réputation. This also seem to be the downside of freedom of speech and freedom in general. You mention russia, well for them it's easy to think that russia or china are good countries. For those who like the country they can't know a lot about it's actions or problems because everything is secret or denied so you can always tell that a bad info is fake and those who make the gouvernement seem weak are unfortunately killed in a plane crash. So finally maybe it's a good sign that the others are interested in american problems and politics it means that your country has influence and is still free enough to allow it ;)
@@arthas640 that are some fair points imo I'm French and I'm pretty you also tend to overestimate the impact and levels of riots after Nahel shooting. In reality those riots occurred ONLY on few places all over the country and if you happened to walk 200 meters outside those places you couldn't realize there was riots ongoing. For instead I literally live 20 meters outside Nanterre, the epicenter of riots, and I could easily live my life without fear or anything, the only thing was random noises from firecracker and stuff + the smell of plastic being burned. My point being that wherever you live in a random point in the world and that you really try to follow and understand abroad politics, you'll only read facts describe by journalist who tries to summary a whole situation on few sentences. The information you get on a country politics will always be partial unless you live there. That said, that is fair to say that, as French, we love to follow American politics and mostly laugh at it cause it feels so weird, violent, and always exaggeratedly polarized (if that's a word).
@@ShidaiTaino"but-but far right is when you have weird mustache" yeah all these nazis trying to hide what they truly are are cringe af, its about policy not just weird mustaches.
@@lewisbaitup6352the “National Socialist German Workers Party” was far right? Look up Hitler’s quotes about his hatred for capitalism my friend, you’ll find he wasn’t a fan of conservatism or traditionalism or Christianity.
Opens up for economic growth if those rich people are factory and business owners. Might stop people from relocating abroad, attract foreign investments etc. Its not the black and white question you make it out to be.
Thank you for this very good video explaining well the situation in France! I was getting tired seeing foreign medias twisting what's happening in France to serve whatever narrative they want to push. When people ask me what's going on in France, I will refer them to your video!
As a French, I'd like to say that far-right parties cited are not as far-right as they are told to be. Zemour is far-right, but the RN barely is now. Them being sais "ultra far-right" was just a strategy from other parties to win the elections, but in fact the RN is just nationalist and anti-immigration
can you explain to me what far right means to you, because being nationalist and anti immigration is what far right means to me, that and the fact that they are don't care about global warming at all.
@@Sourenn_ Well I think every politician should be nationalist, it's their role to prioritize their own country. We don't want a president who sells his soul to other powers do we ? (Like Macron is doing). So historically, both left and right were nationalists in France. So I think it is dumb to associate those movements to the far right, it's not the right's fault if the left (in France) wants to suicide. Far right designates extreme nationalist parties WITH authoritarian tendencies, and in terms of authority abuses I think we have a better candidate (Macron). Also historically in France the far right is linked with n*zis, but saying that the RN is n*zi is as false as saying that LFI (the main left party) is communist.
Chirac was called the "lazy king" (roi fainéant) by journalists and political commentators. He was more focused on arts and foreign culture especially Japanese and Chinese. He basically did nothing but was seen as the cool uncle.
Europeans like to think of france as a model for democracy. Never got that. It's the 5th (failed) french republic by now. Give them a little time and they'll call back the Bonapartes or Bourbons, AGAIN.
Great video ! There is one more point to the whole debacle of french politics that you did not touch on, the massive loss of interest in politics from the french people. Since 2002, we did not vote for a president but against a running candidate. - In 2002, in the first round there was a 28,4 % abstention rate which saw Chirac and Le Pen in the second round. And it was the first instance where the people were called to vote in the second round against a candidate and not for a president. - In 2007, we had Sarkozy (Right) and Royal (Left) in the second round but Royal was depicted as a lunatic by the media and crumbled in the public debate versus Sarkozy so France voted for Sarkozy because they did not want Royal to win. - In 2012, we had again Sarkozy (Right) and Hollande (Left), once again France voted for Hollande to not see another term of Sarkozy after the situations you explained in the video. - In 2017, the left and the right where not seen as viable solutions anymore from the last 2 terms (Sarkozy and Hollande), which saw the rise of Macron and Le Pen in the second round. And once again, France had to vote for Macron in order for Le Pen not to win. - Finally in 2022, "Rebelote" as we say in French, Macron vs Le Pen because the left is still in shambles since Hollande's term and can't find a uniting canditate while the right is still stained from Sarkozy's term. So we find ourselves voting again for Macron despite a lack of popularity because he is against Le Pen. The second round saw an abstention rate of 28,01%, despite the abstention rate seeing a massive drop after the 2002 election (16% in 2007) and the rise of the far right. This sentiment is even more present in the younger generation who has only known this era of politics, 13% of people aged between 18-24 did not vote at all in 2022 and a whooping 22% of people aged 25-29 did not either. While other age tranches don't even see more than 8% of people not going to vote. Sources : - fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstention_%C3%A9lectorale_en_France - injep.fr/publication/le-vote-et-labstention-des-jeunes-au-prisme-de-leurs-valeurs/
The idea that you knuckle draggers continuously vote for a guy that literally hates you and is actively replacing you with infinite immigration while your crime rate rises through the roof, and even talking about it gets you assaulted in the streets by your cops that probably aren't even French makes me wonder why you all don't just off yourselves. It's much faster than waiting to be culturally enriched. I know the French are generally cowards, and all the fight was knocked out of you in the 40s by the Mustache Man, extremely quickly I'd like to add, but my God is it pathetic watching you people just circle the drain. Get it over with.
Very good, and very accurate! As a French it's nice to see these issues properly explained and represented for the outside world. I hope you keep up the great work, and look forward to following your growth and blossoming on the platform! Merci beaucoup, et bon courage :)
La france Insoumise is not a far left party. It's barely center left. Also the government's arguments for the reform were entirely false. There was absolutely no need for it. Most extimates (including from government agencies) actually showed that the debt would not even be a problem and even the worst estimated the debt would be resorbed by itself eventually.There were also plenty of other ways to get the necessary money (like taxing welath).
Did you not hear me contradict the government's justifications for the reforms 30 seconds after presenting them? Also, saying LFI are 'barely center left' is insane, if you think that you've completely lost the plot
Depends on whats left to you, for me a comunist is radical left (radical meaning root, changing the root of the problem instead of far left, extremist left that means absolutely nothing, like an horseshoe theory. @@barelyinfo
@@deojuvante632 LFI wants a 6th republic republic and their rhetoric ticks the boxes for all the markers of a populist movement. The problem is your personal overton window is so out of whack with the vast majority of people that it's barely even worth discussing. It's like if someone said they're an anarcho-capitalist type of libertarian with ultraconservative social views and therefore to them, the RN is center left just by virtue of the RN wanting any type of taxes or a government in general. What you **personally** consider to be the center is kind of useless to discuss if it doesnt fit anyone else (who isn't as far left as you)'s view of the center. I find it way more useful to just say 'yeah LFI is far left in relation to most countries, to most political parties and even to most french citizens, and that's okay, it's a step in the right direction because i want to go even further left.' Own it, say it with your chest, instead of getting so offended by the word 'far'.
Im not with LFI, im portuguese just the use of the word as it is, far left, is not what the left is really about. The radical left, being a comunist i mean with this, does not want the statu quo, the left wants to break with it. The perfect example you have in portugal are PSD (social democratic party- the conservatives/neoliberals) and PS (socialist party-that is a social democratic party) but they use their names in hopes of gaining votes without really saying what they are.@@barelyinfo
@@barelyinfo You didn't really contradict anything, you just mentionned that people were unhappy with Macron's budget and that there was a cumulative effect. I did forget that you had mentionned the government's ommission of taxing wealth as a solution. I apologize for that. You could have mentionned clearly that none of the government's "arguments" were made in good faith, that they kept changing from day to day, and that they were demonstrated to be lies numerous times. How is LFI far left? Their policy choices are far less radical than any of the preceding socialist parties that won the elections and took power in France (SFIO, PS, etc). Heck even that social traitor Miterrand had a far more left wing program than them! One look through their program and you realise how unbelievably tame their policies are. It seems to mz that your overton window has been influenced by the USA's definition of left.
Not getting involved in the Iraqi clusterf*ck was one of our proudest moments to be sure. Too bad we couldn't keep out of Afghanistan or Libya. Too bad the culprits will never be held accountable, either.
As a french 40yo caucasian male left voter, I can give you my answer on what broke our politics, one major part is in 2002 when Chirac get 82% against the far right, some of our politician see in that a way to be easely elected, so they start to bring more and more "far right issues" like talking about muslims, immigrants, etc... so they can be sure they rally against the far right in the final vote, and then they summon the republican front (like a magic spell yes ^^) and "pof" they get elected no matter what they say. One other major thing is the media, tv, press, etc... during his first campaign in 2017, Macron was on every headlines, sell like fresh renew "nor from the right, nor from the left" , in the media own by wealthy businessmen, first beneficiary of its policy. And like everywhere in the world, greed over money broke our politics, our politicians are more concerned about their careers than getting a better life for everyone.
As someone on the outside looking in, thank you for your succinct, eloquent, and captivating explanation. Bravo! I hope you get more attention for all your hard work.
for instance he let you think the current RN is fascist but its not, lots of members left or were outed in the past decades and the political program changed a lot He also said the kid was killed during a traffic stop but that was during a high speed chase in a city, and he was illegally driving the car @@charlesdeco3821
Just discovered this channel, and oh my god is it brilliant!! The style is a bit like Johnny Harris' but honestly, much more informative and engaging, and I feel like the topics you cover are super pertinent. Amazing work!!
As a French student currently at uni studying the English language, Media is one of my classes and something we learned is how difficult it is to find well sourced, in depth journalist works in English about our own country. So your channel is something I am very very glad I found.
French politics is more alive than anything else. Because real politics is freedom and right to protest. If you want to see at the real broken politics, look at Russia or North Korea or Syria. Here's what broken politics means.
You didn't got the point. The similtude between Russia and France is strange: nothing can change. The whole system is built to maintain this hoax. Our republic democratic election system is totally broken. We got many times on the streets and the government doesn't care at all, they keep going. We lost our incredible power of self-determination. The only exit for us today is a definite collapsing of society or France will not exists someday.
yeah but the problem is people don't feel represented anymore, can't bear anymore talking about politic because of how polarizing simple topics have become and how people let their emotions get the best of them instead of being open minded
@@axanarahyanda628 He does not talk at all about the fact that Melenchon's party panders a lot to the Islamic community including integrists and antisemitic muslims. Currently his party is way more into antisemitism than Le Pen's party. Also Marine Le Pen has normalized a lot her party, fired her own father and excluded many members who had engaged in antisemitic speeches. She herself did not say specific about Jews contrary to her father. Currently the RN is more a populist catchall party than a real far right one He's way too kind with Melenchon comparing him to Sanders while the latter did not brag and insult journalists
Fantastic video. Best English speaking summary of French politics I've seen. As a suggestion would like to see one on the German political situation post Merkel. Specifically, how the country might be changing due to it's inability to rely on Russian fuel. Could also focus on the demographic situation there, the possible the rise (and fall?) of the AfD and how that could be linked to immigration (which is itself linked in part to their demographic decline). Also their on/off relationship with France, Germany's relationship with the EU (often headbutting against the debtor countries of the south such as Greece), their status as an export-led manufacturing economy. How they became the European economic powerhouse and whether it'd likely to stay that way. And finally their internal conflicts over nuclear fuel and green energy in general. Obviously don't expect you to cover all of this but just some food for thought!
One thing you forgot, and it's pretty big, is that under Sarkozy in 2005 the french people were called to vote in a referundum for or against our entry in Europe. Even with a STRONG propaganda the french people voted against joining Europe...but Sarkozy signed the treaty anyway and we joined against our will. So in the end there always was sort of a grudge against the EU in the people old enough to remember that their voices were ignored.
The inititive was launched by Chirac, and it wasn't about joigning the EU, but creating a constitution for the EU, which co-exists with our own. France joined what would become the EU in 1957.
@@dakinoytc986 Not quite. Both the far right and left love to hammer the point that "they didn't listen to the people". The reality is, they did, by amending the text. France wasn't entirely opposed to the project (at least not it's majority). They were opposed to aspects of it. Also to note that the lack of effective power in referendums is because the fifth republic was built that way. There is no way the country could be organised with referendums. The french barely go to vote for a new president. I doubt it would be much better for a weekly referendum. Only the most politically-minded people would go, and nowadays, that would mean the far left, the far right, and Macron's core fanatical clergy. I would not see that as a win. And given that crowd's grasp on most topics... we'd have a system of outrage and misconstrued information even more than we do now
@@k.v.7681 here i was talking of the EU constitution vote in 2005, the Roma treaty iirc however i might be wrong on that one. We were in the EU before but it wasn't much, however with an EU constitution we would be loosing our soverignity. The people said no but he signed it anyway.
I’m American and have been living in France for over two decades now. To answer your ending question I believe it will more than likely be the far right who wins and I will explain why. The French people have tried the left, the right and now the center with every single one of these parties saying they’d fix he many problems in France but failed every single time. Now French people feel they’re left with no other choice but vote for the far right to send a strong message to Paris. For my area which is rural people here feel unsafe, the see the crime happening in Paris and elsewhere and they want stronger police and more protection for victims (such as self defense) along with serious consequences for violent criminals with some wanting a return of the death penalty. They see France has a joke on the world state and want a strong leader, less red tape, less corruption, lower taxes, and a return to normal economic conditions and prices! Food prices have risen significantly over the past two years and this directly affects the middle class and the poor which are the majority of people, especially in my area. People are just fed up and over it now.
As a french, Mélenchon support but understanding why people vote for Le Pen, I thank you for this video but I have to say you drop quick judgments on both, while sparing Macron. Macron is above all a traitor, selling national companies instead of reinforcing them (trains, subways, highways, airports, electricity, water…), and lying about having ecological concerns then following EU policy. He also bypassed democracy every time he could and never did a votation / référendum. Mélenchon never liked Poutine, he did much better than that : he forcasted the war in Ukraine and was claiming for diplomacy since 2012, even before Crimea invasion. We should have listened to him and negociate a peace with Russia before it’s too late. And his distrust of EU is understandable since EU is pure lobbying, never about sustainability and NOT DEMOCRATIC. Marine Le Pen is not as stupid and racist as her father, she is not even racist, just opportunistic. But people vote for her because immigration is not handled AT ALL in France since 30 years : no one is respecting the laws about who can stay or not, illegals are living in slums of Paris and Marseille, legals are living in specific suburbs held by drugs mafias, and therefore don’t integrate. Lack of investment on school make poor people’s children don’t speak a proper french, can’t read and write and finally chose between drug dealing and Islam, Islam which has laws in total contradiction with French laws (women rights, criminals rights, LGBT rights, slavery…) and we can thanks the moderate muslim to not follow exactly what is written in the Coran, but unfortunately some radical people don’t see it this way and pressure our society to reduce freedom of speech, freedom of caricature, sexual freedom of women and gays… and so this combine with security problems makes not racist people vote for Marine Le Pen or Eric Zemmour. Altogether, the question is not « will Macron be re-elected ? » but « how will start the next French Revolution ? »
Well (as someone who live in France) I can't imagine a single youtuber talk about politics expressing that much his opinion, even know most of the people think like that in France, or he would be criticized from everywhere. But yeah, really interesting video !
thank you for explaining this in such a good and easy to understand way - I tend to stay away from news cause my mental health is more important to me than knowing what's going on in politics - but i'm considering relocating to France (south) from Czech republic and quite a few French friends told me the situation there is sh*tty but they weren't able to actually explain why. Do you think you could make a video like this on Italy's poitical situation possibly?🥺
True journalism- something really rare now especially on social media. You covered this incredibly well (I'm saying this as a native french living in France), this channel deserves alot more recognition :)
This Chanel is incredible! I’m going into political science next year and this type of content is so amazing to me. Can’t wait to see the trajectory of your channel
Just a remark, our legal age of retirement isn't the lowest. It's counted with "annuités", so the legal age of retirement is just the legal age. If you want your full pension, most people have to work until 64-67 years old.
The initial tax of fuel is VERY poorly understood in media, online, etc. These kinds of taxes have the effect of dropping discretionary income for those who need it most AND causes indirect price inflation.
it's the sad part that pits people against each other on energy. People would be fine with "cleaner" energy if it was prevalent and cheaper. But it's not. Even then, not all forms of energy use called "clean" even fits their definition of clean, it just pushes the pollution elsewhere. And no one wants to talk about nuclear cause it would solve 70% of the problems...
@@AshnSilvercorp As an Austrian I always envied you French for your take on nuclear energy, interesting to see that it’s still such a contentious topic.
@@steven_003 I guess I might have implied I'm French? I'm not, I'm American... I just was commenting how I've noticed how every western country has gladly allowed division to quickly make changes that people never really wanted.
@@AshnSilvercorp My bad I just assumed so, as some French guys discussed it in some other comment. I wouldn’t say they allowed it, they enabled it. Willingly or out of ignorance. Bad and harmful policy making, alienation and arrogant views on the voters, votes over actual problems; the list goes on. It was a long time coming. I sincerely hope it turns out alright, but as things are going right now I am concerned for a lot of European countries.
The problem with crime is, it's done out of desperation. Improving people's standard of living is the only real way to decrease crime. These far right people want to target immigrant housing sectors for the crime of being poor. It won't actually solve the issue.
@@marwin4348 "clash of cultures" is a easy excuse. It has an impact on social unrest and social structures, but being of one culture over another dosent inherently increase crime. The biggest factor behind crime, are crimes of nessecity. AKA crime from poverty. This is just a fact.
Great journalism. I watched the whole video, only meaning to check it out for a few minutes. Very well researched and presented, without drama, nor sensationalism. The sense of humour is not "in your face", but just enough to avoid the impression of creators taking themselves too seriously.👍
L’édit de la vidéo est d’une propreté 👌 ce récapitulatif était très intéressant! En espérant que ça empire pas trop car si on est tous si en colère c’est parce qu’on aime notre pays, malgré ses défauts; on veut faire en sorte de protéger nos valeurs et nos concitoyens 💙🤍❤️
Hey, im French and I'm absolutely stunned by how accurate your video is and the level of effort and quality that went into it It's insane ! Especially since it's so hard to learn politics from another country, for the US and UK its isn't that hard bc if you speak English you can basically follow the news and get updated in main stuff, but learning about the politics of a country that speak a language you dont know is soooo muchhh harder It's like, trying to learn about Italy or Spanish politics when you speak neither of those 2 languages is so complex and convoluted + translation isn't easy in this particular field I'm also amazed at how well you pronounced all those party names and just.. well human names, so with all that I guess that you live (or lived) in France for a while ? In any way, thanks a lot for your video, it was very interesting and a topic that international audiences probably never get to hear about, your production standards are so high if someone told me that this was made by a journalist backed up by a big press agency I would have believed it !
@@barelyinfo There's a little bit of misinformation in the video: actual effective retirement age is 65yrs because of the weird way pensions are calculated. In France, you owe the government about, I think it was, 42-45yrs worth of taxes.-even if you are an immigrant starting in France age 35, you legally cannot collect pension until your 70s. That last part is a bit hazy since it's been a while when I was first told about this. People work about 3-5 more years so that their pension at retirement isn't.... well, poop; so this in reality brings the practical retirement age to 67-70yrs old. Source: a French friend. _you could do a whole video on the wacky history of the French social safety & intertwining taxes._
The extreme changes in the National Assembly can be contributed to France's voting system. While the Two-Round System is better than what's used in the UK & US, it disproportionately benefits the largest parties, while muting the smaller ones. Ironically, the "fascist" Marine Le Pen wants to implement Proportional Representation, as is used in other European countries.
She likes it because France tried it in 1986, and the FN went from 0 to 35 seats overnight. So they (ruling parties) realized it left them terribly vulnerable to fascism (back then the FN was much more brazen about their positions) so they immediately changed it back after one election. That's the 'fluke election' i mentioned in the video. I didn't include the 35 seats in the history of their representation in parliament bc it would have been comparing apples and oranges since it was the one election with a different set of rules.
Her proposal isn't pure proportional, but proportional with a +33% of seats bonus for the top party so that there is always an absolute majority, wich is even worse than our current system.
@@barelyinfo Further irony is NUPES & RN are polling ahead of all other parties. They will disproportionately benefit from the current voting system come the next election, should current popularity stay the same. Proportional representation would moderate the extremes of both the left & right. On one hand, this feels like karma for the legacy parties intentionally implementing an electoral system which harmed smaller parties. On the other hand, historically a legislature divided between a radical left & a radical right doesn't bode well for the country.
@@barelyinfo > (back then the FN was much more brazen about their positions) Buddy, explain how the National Front could've been fascist when Jean-Marie Le Pen was a self-admitted Ronald Reagan fan. If you have the bravery to answer, please do better than most of illiterates who calls ffascism everything they don't like.
@@parjupiter134 you know hitler himself was a big fan of US politicians too and felt a kindred spirit with right-wingers in the US, right? And the fact that JMLP liked Reagan doesn't mean his politics aligned 100% with Reagan. But the quotes by JMLP i included in the video (which are just a small selection of the despicable things he's said over the decades) speak for themselves. Yes, the guy is a fascist, who's surrounded himself with other fascists to create a fascist far-right party, one that was created specifically with the intention of being the French branch of an italian fascist party at the time. They're fascists. They've always been fascists. They were founded by fascists. There are still fascists in the party, they're just better at hiding it now.
Hello, i'm a french man. I found your video on my youtube frontpage and it get me realy interest. I wanted to thank you for your video. And your deep comprehension and analityc of our politics. I will defenitly check your other video !
There's one man I think you forgot: Edouard Phillipe. As the previous PM under Macron, he is currently one of the most popular political personalities, and is basically a Macron v.2 in terms of politics. There are rumors that he would take the lead for Macron's party, and would be a quite likely personality to do so.
