France: Cheminade Leads an Exemplary Anti-War Campaign

With legislative elections scheduled for next Sunday, after only two weeks of campaign, France seems headed for severe instability (cf. SAS 24, 25/24). The polls still give a comfortable lead to the Rassemblement national, followed by the popular front of the left, with Emmanuel Macron’s party a distant third. But how the second round of the elections on July 7 will shape up cannot be forecast at this point.

As we reported, given how fast these elections were scheduled by a President Macron desperate to hold on to power despite his debacle in the European elections, the Solidarité et Progrès party of Jacques Cheminade chose to run candidates in three highly symbolic electoral districts of French citizens abroad, the 9th, 10th and 11th districts, covering respectively the Middle East, Africa and Eurasia (China, Russia, Ukraine and 46 other countries), in order to deal with the main danger of the moment, that of a third world war and the need to ally with the Global South to stop it. Jacques Cheminade himself is the candidate in the 11th district. Three other S & P candidates are running in mainland France, and are demanding their opponent candidates take a clear position on the issue.

Cheminade has given short interviews to two major French-language Russian news media, Sputnik and RT, to International Reporters and to russreinfo.ru, focused on President Putin’s security proposal. He was also on Chinese media such as sinofrance.net and insidetaiwan.net, which are geared more specifically to Frenchmen living in China, and on CGTN and Mandarin TV in France.

In his declaration of candidacy, Cheminade insists on the importance of this region of the world for world peace and prosperity. In terms of foreign policy, he states it should no longer depend “on those who have seized power in Washington, but works, in the name of national sovereignty, in harmony with the countries of the Global South and the BRICS-Plus, that intend to ensure that their own sovereignty is respected. I support their initiatives, particularly China’s, for a win-win international system. It’s not about rallying anyone, but establishing good relations with the forces growing in the world. I will fight to have a liberated France to be present in Kazan on October 22-24, without Emmanuel Macron, of course.”

“It’s about participating in a new architecture of mutual security and development in the world, to the advantage of each country and in the image of the principles of the Treaty of Westphalia. Leaving no one by the wayside, neither large nor ‘small’ countries, as I said back in 1995, from the Atlantic to the China Sea. President Xi Jinping’s three Initiatives are a good place to start. India, a member of the BRICS with almost 20% of the world’s population, is an essential complement to this Global South. Vietnam is dear to our hearts. Australia must become an essential pivot.”

On Ukraine, he calls for an end of weapons deliveries from France, and for negotiations to end the fighting. Moreover, he is “in favor of dissolving NATO, which has become the armed wing of the City of London, Wall Street and the Anglo-American services. I have nothing against the United States as a nation, but everything against the military-financial forces that occupy it. I support an alliance between the workers and citizens of the North and the peoples of the Global South.”

The campaigns of all the candidates of S&P can be followed here.