• MaybeItsTheLead@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    I am glad that there is so much opposition to this within the French government. Because:

    1. The French people have the means and the motivation to continue protesting, and this is going to piss them off.

    2. The authoritarian country I was born in regularly does this during protests but they also have almost full control of the media and telecomms . People, also, have limited choices of social media (because almost everyone uses a cell phone because the power regularly goes out, and some social media apps use a lot of data). A lot of times people don’t know that they’ve been cut off until it’s already cut.

    I’m not saying he is authoritarian but the idea is authoritarian. Macron is clearly panicked, but this is the wildest, and most extreme reaction. Plus, once people get to know of this then they will just create groups on other platforms. This idea is very short sighted.

  • Leigh@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    I don’t follow French politics too closely, but from everything I’ve seen, this guy is absolutely DESPISED by the people. Is he not worried about getting voted out or something? Why does he seem to want to stick his finger in the eyes of the French citizens?

    • MerrickGreen@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      He’s term-limited anyway. Just hope he doesn’t pave the way for Le Pen or some other out and out fascist to take over for him.

    • Kajo [he/him] 🌈@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      According to the French Constitution, the President cannot serve more than 2 consecutive terms. Macron was elected in 2017 and relected in 2022 (against the far-right candidate) so he can’t be candidate in 2027.

      Before 2027, there won’t be any meaningful national election in France (European congress in 2024 and municipal elections in 2026).

      Also, Macron hasn’t the absolute majority at the French national assembly, but there are tools in the Constitution which allow the government to pass laws without a vote. And the opposition is not strong enough to dismiss the government.

      • phillaholic@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        tools in the Constitution which allow the government to pass laws without a vote

        That sounded terrible until I realized that’s what the Supreme Court can and just did do in the US with their completely made up Major Questions Doctrine.

    • Seathru@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      Is he not worried about getting voted out or something? Why does he seem to want to stick his finger in the eyes of the French citizens?

      From what little I know of french history, I would be worried about far more than just getting voted out.

    • DdCno1@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      The French always hate their presidents and most French presidents have had abysmal approval ratings. It’s a national sport, maybe for a reason.

  • editediting@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    If I was French and had to pick between Macron’s hand-picked successor and Le Pen, I would go insane. Vesting so much power in the presidency can only turn presidents into strongmen.

      • John_Coomsumer@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        There is no reasonable rational analysis where Joe Biden is a fascist lol. He’s a neoliberal and I think he sucks, and I truly wish for a different candidate for the Democratic Party. But there is no comparison there between him and the other guy. Not even the same stratosphere.

        I think the world’s nation-states are widely adopting the “lesser-evil” faux-choice strategy these days. This is by design

        Politics has been an exercise in finding compromise from day 1, thousands of years ago. Any, ANY, system of politics that could reasonably exist, will result in candidates that huge percentages of the country aren’t happy about. Now, I would LOVE any ranked voting method for this country to minimize this effect. We definitely don’t have an amazing system of politics. But “this is by design” is literally untrue unless you believe in some weird conspiracy thing. The US constitution is mega old, most of it’s failures are related to that, imo.

          • John_Coomsumer@beehaw.org
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            1 year ago

            This whole thing is so deranged it’s hard to choose what to highlight, but

            Politics is about compromise" is liberal propaganda that has very little to do with reality

            Ahh yes, the famous liberal propagandist, Otto Von Bismarck(politics is the art of compromise is derived from his quote “politics is the art of the possible”). I suppose Machiavelli is also a liberal propagandist for writing the Prince in 1512, or any of Jeremy Benthoms works. An entire branch of political philosophy is not propaganda just because you disagree with it.

            The viewpoint that politics should be examined from a practical or utilitarian viewpoint is so much older than even the modern concept of Liberal Politics that it’s such a clear and intense revelation of your personal obsessive bias against modern liberals. Which is whatever, I’m sick and tired of not having true leftist representitives myself. But c’mon man this whole reply is off the rails.

            You should really read more literature by people like Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn

            Yeah, people who has a different viewpoint on political nuance are unread and not properly educated, this is definitely going to fix the problem. If I read rules for radicals again, maybe this time it will finally erase the information in my brain about political history.

  • arctic pie (he/him)@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    This is the point at which the left-wing in France needs to step the fuck up and convince the centrists that the best way to beat the Nazis is not to vote for Diet Nazi.

    • John_Coomsumer@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      I think its a bit more reasonable to say that “the centrists in France need to step the fuck up and realize that the left is a superior option to Diet Nazi”

    • ATGM 🚀@beehaw.orgOP
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      1 year ago

      There needs to be an alternative to both Macron and Le Pen. I would love to see Macron forced to retire, though considering his authoritarian impulses, it seems unlikely without a vote of misconfidence from parliament.

      Note that I’m not super familiar with French political process, so I’m not totally sure how that’d need to play out.

      • gaael@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        Vote of misconfidence only gets rid of the government (PM and the other ministers), the president stays in place. Macron already theatened the parliament of dissolution (meaning everyone goes home and we do a parliament election) in case of succesful vite of misconfidence. It doesn’t make it impossible but it makes it less likely.

          • gaael@beehaw.org
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            1 year ago

            Yep. Our current constitution was designed by De Gaulle, who was military and not too big on parliament power. From the official presidential website “Élysée” (name of the palace where presidential powet resides in France) : While it is based on the Constitution of 1946, the 1958 Constitution is different, as its purpose was to strengthen executive power and stabilize the government, making it more difficult for the Assembly to overthrow.

            • ATGM 🚀@beehaw.orgOP
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              1 year ago

              Sounds like it’s time to destabilize the government and overthrow the presidency.

              Maybe the Assembly can’t do it, but the people sure could.

    • ATGM 🚀@beehaw.orgOP
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      1 year ago

      To my eyes, Macron clearly has some egotistical and authoritarian impulses.

      He clearly seems to believe that he knows better than other people, and has little patience for what they want or say.

      • ArcticCircleSystem@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        Why though? And why do so many people, including many who aren’t in power, seem to have similarly awful responses to crises? ~Strawberry

        • Queue@beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          Those who are meant to lead, choose not to. Those who are not meant to lead, choose to do so.

          Never trust someone who wishes to become a leader above you.