Interview
Claire Simon: The left is stronger, but we need an alternative to Macronism
The documentarian spoke with us by phone: ‘Macron, and also Mitterand, called on the French again and again to stop the National Front using dishonest tactics, and shelved their promises once they got the votes they needed.’
Claire Simon, director and film studies professor, writer and feminist, one of the greatest contemporary documentary filmmakers (with a body of work spanning from 1992’s Récreations to 2023’s Notre corps), has been building an in-depth narrative of French society across her vast filmography.
On Sunday evening – she tells us over the phone – she was among the crowd at the Place de la République, celebrating “an unexpected result. It was very surprising to us, but now the real challenge is to build a real alternative to Macronism.”
June 30 seems like such a long time ago. How would you recount the time between then and now?
On the Sunday of the first round of elections, the result was not unexpected after the European results. At first, we were surprised, and very concerned, by Macron’s decision to dissolve the Assemblée Nationale. Unlike that, the victory of Le Pen's far-right was predictable.
If we think about it, it’s a paradox: the NR, which has always been anti-European, owes the fact that it has inched closer to power to the European elections. Perhaps Meloni's victory was less traumatic for you in Italy; for us, this success of the far right was a profound shock, especially considering the efforts we have constantly made to keep them out. It’s enough to recall the enormous risks to daily life, starting with policies against migrants, who are fundamental for our society.
I wanted to make a film about their work, about the fact that nowadays, new buildings, supermarkets – like the Carrefour chain – and so on can only move forward thanks to the labor of migrants. And then, there are the schools, public health, civil rights and, for us who are filmmakers, the privatization of the audiovisual sphere, which would be catastrophic for French cinema. In the days after the first round, the NR showed its true colors behind the “moderate” façade it has put up in recent months, and many of its candidates were forced to withdraw because of racist and anti-Semitic views and their past involvement with violent movements.
Words like “eliminate” feature prominently in their lexicon, recalling Hitler: that is the word they used together with the names of a hundred French lawyers – a “list“ published on a far-right blog [Rèseau libre] – who needed to be “eliminated” for their calls not to vote for Le Pen. This is unbelievable.
What will happen now?
Now the left is stronger, but there is a need for an alliance. The problem is that in recent years, Macron, and also Mitterand, called on the French again and again to stop the National Front using dishonest tactics, and shelved their promises once they got the votes they needed.
I have never seen a government so controversial as that of Macron, who has been the president of the rich, has certainly lined their pockets, but constantly forced the hand of the Assemblèe on decisions that mattered to citizens, such as pensions and migrant policies.
Leaving Macron aside, how much is the left responsible for this social frustration that the right has been able to exploit?
The truth is they fought some tough battles, like on the issue of pensions, but, as I said, Macron forced his proposals through. Of course, the left also made many mistakes: Hollande's presidency produced some positive results on the economic level but was weak on everything else, and nobody liked him. Then there are complex figures like Melènchon – despite what the NFP has been saying, there are many voters on the left who don’t like him and who don’t support his ambition.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/la-sinistra-e-piu-forte-ma-va-costruita-lalternativa-al-macroismo on 2024-07-09