The leader of LFI will be present during a march for pensions initiated by several youth associations and which will take place on Saturday afternoon in Paris. Beyond the number, there is an issue in terms of image for him: to prevent the event from being marred by excesses.
“Saturday January 21: hello we are back”. Here is the title of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s latest blog post. The leader of La France insoumise (LFI) has made an appointment. He will be present at the demonstration of youth organizations against the pension reform in which his people participate.
The three-time presidential candidate is under pressure. After an inter-union mobilization which brought together between 1.12 and 2 million people in France on Thursday, it will be “difficult to do better”, euphemistically Matthieu Croissandeau on BFMTV.
“Fishtail” of the unions
Our columnist recalls that “Jean-Luc Mélenchon dreamed of taking the lead in social protest” and thus “overtaking the unions”. Result: he “got a fish tail”. The centers set their mobilization date two days before that planned by the youth organizations. The triple presidential candidate will therefore have to go after this success.
A first challenge for him: the number of people present on site to pound the pavement. The march against high prices organized by LFI on October 16 had resulted in relative success, bringing together 140,000 participants according to the organizers, 30,000 according to the police.
“I really ask you to make the effort in this battle”
In recent days, the rebellious have multiplied.
“We distributed leaflets, organized cars, put up posters. And it continues now so that the 21st is a success”, explained Jean-Luc Mélenchon Thursday in a video broadcast on his social networks.
Referring to “two meetings” about the mobilizations of Thursday and Saturday, he declared: “I really ask you to make the effort in this battle”. And to address “those for whom it will be the first time in their life”: “It will be a great stage in the social history of France”. A clear call to action.
“It all converges”
After the unions have already given the Thursday, and in the absence of the other components of the New People’s Ecological and Social Union (Nupes), the rebellious nevertheless ensures that “all that converges, all that goes in the same direction” .
“The 21st is a Saturday, which means that all those who are not salaried workers, who have not been able to go on strike – whether they are unemployed, whether they are young people in training […] pensioners – will have the opportunity to mobilize”, he underlined in the video already quoted.
The risk of “overflows” for “the image of Jean-Luc Mélenchon”
Beyond the number, “there is a big issue in terms of images”, according to Matthieu Croissandeau. “If there are overflows then it will be terrible for the image of Jean-Luc Mélenchon” he explains, stressing that the demonstrations on Thursday took place without notable incidents.
There is therefore no question of making a again of the controversy that followed “La Fête à Macron” in 2018. That year, despite a fair atmosphere, between picnics, brass bands and disguises, some floats had raised their teeth, like the one with a Macron puppet hanging from a gallows.
