How to Defeat the Far-Right: Lessons From the French Left

Jul 11, 2024

The results of a second round of elections in France on Sunday yielded a for the New Popular Front (NFP), a coalition of left-wing parties that had joined to beat the surging far-right, Marine Le Pen鈥檚 National Rally (RN) party. The RN had a in the first round of elections held a week earlier. But by Sunday, the NFP had emerged with the largest number of seats in Parliament, with incumbent President Emmanuel Macron鈥檚 centrist wing winning the second-largest number, and Le Pen鈥檚 party coming in a close third.聽

With no clear majority, prospects for a hung parliament are high. Still, France鈥檚 left offers lessons for the United States, where could open the door to greater authoritarianism if former president Donald Trump wins in November.

, an author, academic, and political commentator based in Paris and Brussels, has been closely following the French elections and spoke with 大象传媒 Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on 大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about lessons from the French left.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined 大象传媒 in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.