Jean-Luc Mélenchon

Jean-Luc Mélenchon was born in Tangier (Tangier International Zone), Morocco.[6] His father, Georges, was a postmaster of Spanish descent, and his mother, Jeanine Bayona, was a primary school teacher of Spanish and Sicilian descent.[7] He grew up in Morocco, until his family moved to France in 1962.[6]

Mélenchon was then educated at the public school Lycée Pierre-Corneille in the city of Rouen, Normandy.[8] With a degree in philosophy from the University of Franche-Comté in Besançon, and having gained the CAPES (a professional teaching qualification), he became a teacher before entering politics.[6][8]

Jean-Luc Mélenchon left Besançon to enter professional life in Lons-le-Saunier (Jura), and joined the Socialist Party (PS) in September 1976.[9] He soon assumed local and departmental responsibilities (deputy section secretary of Montaigu), and developed a federal newspaper that fought for a union between PS and the French Communist Party (PCF). It was at this time that the latter broke the agreements of the union of the left on a joint program of government. He then came to the attention of Claude Germon, mayor of Massy (Essonne) and member of the executive office of the PS responsible for the business section. Without stable work after his application was rejected at the Croix du Jura newspaper,[10] he was hired by Claude Germon to become his private secretary.[11]

He became one of the leading Mitterrandist leaders of the Essonne federation, which led him to the position of first secretary of this federation at the Valence Congress in 1981; he remained in this position until 1986. He positioned himself both against the "Second left" of Michel Rocard and the "Centre of socialist studies, research, and education" (CERES) of Jean-Pierre Chevènement.

He was elected senator during the senatorials of 1986.[12]

At the Reims Congress, in September 2008, the political current "Trait d'union", created after the victory of the "No" in the French European Constitution referendum of 2005, Mélenchon made a new contribution. On the eve of the filing of the motions, an agreement was reached between the seven contributions of the left wing of the PS, and Jean-Luc Mélenchon was one of the signatories of the motion C entitled "A world of advance", led by Benoît Hamon.[13] He described this gathering as a "historic event":[14] For the first time, this motion brought together all the sensibilities of the left wing of the PS, with emblematic personalities like Gérard Filoche, Marie-Noëlle Lienemann, and Paul Quilès.

On 6 November 2008, the Socialist militants voted to decide between 6 motions. The motion supported by Ségolène Royal led with about 29% of the votes cast, while the one led by Benoît Hamon came in fourth with 18.5%. For Jean-Luc Mélenchon, it is a victory of the outgoing majority, which carries 80% of the votes (with the three firsts motions) and, among them, the motion advocating the alliance in the center.[15] Believing themselves too far from this trend to the point that it would not be useful to take part in the congress, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Marc Dolez announced on 7 November their decision, "by fidelity to their commitments", and for their independence of action, to leave the Socialist Party, and to create a new movement "without concession facing the right".[16]

They announced "the construction of a new left-wing party", simply called the "Left Party" (on the German model of Die Linke), and called for "the constitution of a left-wing front for the European elections".[17] On 18 November, in a meeting with the French Communist Party, the two parties announced their alliance in the form of a "partnership", within the framework of a "left front for another democratic and social Europe, against the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon and the current European Treaties". The launch meeting of the Left Party is held on 29 November in Saint-Ouen, in the presence of Die Linke's co-chairman, Oskar Lafontaine.[18]

Mélenchon was the candidate representing the Left Front (Communist Party of France, Left Party, Unitarian Left) in the 2012 French presidential election.[19][20] He took fourth place and achieved 11.10% of the vote, trailing behind François Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Marine Le Pen (and their respective parties, the Socialist Party, Union for a Popular Movement, and National Front). In comparison, the winner, François Hollande, received 28.63% of the vote.[21]

Jean-Luc Mélenchon in 2013 in Toulouse.

Mélenchon represented the Left Front in the Pas-de-Calais' 11th constituency against his rival Marine Le Pen, where she had over 31% in the presidential election.[22] He received third place with 21.46% of the vote, narrowly edged out for second by Socialist Party member Phillip Kemel. Mélenchon decided not to stand in the second round of the election after this result.[23]

During the presidency of François Hollande, Mélenchon became one of the most critical voices in the left against his centrist free-market policy. He denounced a betrayal to the culture and ideas of the French Left.

On 10 February 2016, Melenchon launched the left-wing political platform La France Insoumise ("Unbowed France") during an interview on the French news station TF1.[24] La France Insoumise was subsequently endorsed by several parties, such as the Left Party and French Communist Party, in addition to members of the Europe Écologie Les Verts such as Sergio Coronado, a gay assembly member for the 2nd Overseas Constituency,[25] and the mayor of Grenoble, Éric Piolle.[26]

On 12 January 2017, Mélenchon secured the 500 elected sponsors required to be validated by the Constitutional Council. After Benoît Hamon won the nomination for the Parti Socialiste on a left-wing platform, beating former Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, 58–41,[27] Hamon announced on TF1 on 27 February that he and Melenchon had been in talks to form an alliance, but their stances on the European Union separated them, as Melenchon's platform was to renegotiate EU treaties or hold a referendum. France 24 reported following this that, "Adding their scores would place a candidate in first or second place"[28]

Jean-Luc Mélenchon held at a consistent 12% for most of the campaign, until a late upwards surge which put him just behind third place Francois Fillon at 18%. This late surge is mainly due to Mélenchon's performance within the second presidential debate hosted by BFM TV and CNews, where, according to an Elabe poll, he was found the most convincing candidate by 25%.[29] However, he did not qualify for the second round of voting, winning 19% of the vote in the first round, placing fourth.

After the first round, Mélenchon refused to endorse Macron, and refused to tell his voters to vote against Le Pen, as he had done in 2002.[30][31] Following constant criticism for this choice, Mélenchon invited members of La France Insoumise to vote on who he will endorse with the choices being "Vote for Emmanuel Macron", "Blank Vote", or "Abstain", with the result being announced on 2 May. 36.12% submitted a blank vote, 34.83% chose to endorse Macron, and 29.05% abstained.[32]

His campaign positions included the intent to establish a Sixth Republic and preserve the environment. According to the NGOs for the development aid Action Against Hunger, Action santé mondiale, CARE France, and ONE Campaign, Jean-Luc Mélenchon is the candidate in the presidential election who is the most engaged regarding international solidarity. Together with other French intellectuals, he vigorously denounces free trade between France and the United States as an example of global exploitation.[33]

Mélenchon with Éric Coquerel, 2017

Mélenchon became in June 2017 a member of the National Assembly for La France Insoumise by winning the following 2017 French legislative election (59.85% in the second round) in the 4th constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône department (Marseille), against En Marche! candidate Corrine Versini in the second round. He notably also defeated Patrick Mennucci in the first round, a significant member of the Socialist Party in the city and former MP in the same constituency.

His entrance to the Assembly draws the national media attention.[34] During the examination of the 2017 Labor Law bill, he was remarked in the Assembly for his multiple interventions, defending the statu quo of Labor Code along with La France Insoumise, arguing that flexibilization would be harmful to workers.[35] He had once more the media attention when he came in the Parliament with a five euros food shopping bag to denounce the cut of student grants planned by the government.[36]

Jean-Luc Mélenchon advocates for the holding of a constitutional convention to create a Sixth Republic. In 2017, in La France Insoumise's manifesto titled L'Avenir En Commun, it states in the first chapter: "The new constitution that France needs must be radically different".[49] On 14 September 2014, Mélenchon wrote in Le Monde, "France must protect itself from the powers of finance. They devour the real economy." He goes on, "To this end, the definition of the constitutional rights of private ownership of capital should change", he continues by stating, "Again, it is inclusion in the Constitution that will fix this and make it a common rule."[50]

Mélenchon is also endorsed by the "Movement for the 6th Republic", and has spoken positively of them before. A spokesman for La France Insoumise affirmed that Mélenchon was very welcoming of a Sixth Republic run by the people that welcomes democracy, ecology, and challenges social issues.[50] The new Sixth Republic must also not include no existing parliamentarians, and that they cannot be re-elected.[51]

Jean-Luc Mélenchon is very much in favour of better treatment of animals. He stated during an interview with the magazine Gala that he changed his diet to "reduce consumption of meat and relieve animal suffering".[52] The association L214, which is a non-profit for animal protection, stated that he was the only candidate "for animals" during its evaluation of the candidates' programmes, giving him a score of 15.7/20, placing him at the head of 11 candidates.[53]

Jean-Luc Mélenchon's attendance before the 2012 presidential election was at 63%,[54] and after this, his average is often compiled with pre-2012, so it is compiled at 71.40%[55] Mélenchon justified his relatively low attendance with how active he is within France itself, and has posted a list of other reasons on his blog.[56][57] He increased his attendance after that, with the website votewatch.eu reporting it in 2017 at 85.1%[58]

Mélenchon mocked accusations of support for Vladimir Putin, saying that it is unlike an "eco-socialist" to support Vladimir Putin,[59] and has stressed that Putin had "imprisoned [his] friends in Russia",[60] and when attacked by Benoit Hamon on the topic of Putin, he stated: "I am not bound in any way to Mr. Putin. I am absolutely fighting his policy, and if I was Russian, I would not vote for his party, but for the Russian Left Front whose leader is in prison."[61]

Mélenchon is in favour of a United Nations-led intervention in Syria featuring all nations on the Security Council. He opposes intervention without international cooperation.[62] After the chemical attack in Ghouta, he said that he feels like a strike on Syria "would be a mistake", and calls for a "political solution".[63]

He has compared an intervention in Syria to Iraq,[64] and has approved of Russia's intervention in Syria, saying that he believes Vladimir Putin will resolve the ISIS problem in Syria, noting "Russia blocked communications which helped ISIS's oil out of Syria to counterband with Turkey".[65][66] He said numerous times that he believes Putin cannot be left alone to solve the problem in Syria, saying: "The UN will solve the problem [...] it's time for an international coalition".[67]

During a Europarliament session on 8 June 2016 concerning Venezuela, Mélenchon criticized what he called European hypocrisy, comparing European tolerance of Saudi Arabian rule and intolerance of Venezuelan rule.[68]

In 2018, he affirmed that the countries that denounced the 2018 presidential elections were "henchmen of the United States", insisting that the date of the elections was agreed upon with the approval of former Spanish Prime Minister José Rodríguez Zapatero and rejecting that the international community did not recognize the electoral process.[69]

Following the killing of major general Qasem Soleimani, Mélenchon tweeted: "We must equally condemn the USA and Iran as warmongers. My condemnation of the USA does not exempt Iran from the fact that it is a theocracy that wants to destroy the State of Israel."[70] On French news channel LCI, he declared: "the current government of Iran claims it wants to destroy the State of Israel. This is an intolerable project which in itself creates incredible tension in the region, and obviously favors extremes on either side."[71]

Mélenchon wants France to withdraw from NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization),[72][73] and advocates for what he calls a "separate France" which is pacifist.[49] He opposes the concept of a unified European army.[74]

In the 2017 presidential election, he made his main foreign policy point to be the exit from NATO, stating that the organisation has led to "war" and French "submission to the United States".

Mélenchon also says that Nuclear Deterrence is an "essential element of our protection", but it is "outdated".

Mélenchon has no real position on regionalism, but has stated that he supports the teaching of regional languages, especially Breton.[75] He supports state funding for the teaching of the Breton language.[76] He has gone against autonomy for Brittany, even blaming socialists from the region for promoting "autonomy".[77]

In 2018, Mélenchon was asked a question about an anti-corruption investigation by a journalist from Toulouse. He responded by mocking her accent, accusing her of "talking nonsense" and then asking "has anyone got a question in more or less comprehensible French?". Video of the exchange was circulated widely on social media and sparked a debate about whether discrimination based on regional accents should be made illegal.[78] Mélenchon apologised for his comment, claiming he thought the journalist was mocking his own accent.[79]

After the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in December 2014, described reform efforts so far in France and Italy as "insufficient", Mélenchon replied through Twitter: "Maul zu, Frau #Merkel ! Frankreich ist frei. Occupez-vous de vos pauvres et de vos équipements en ruines !" ("Shut your mouth, Mrs. Merkel! France is free. Take care of your poor and your equipments in ruins.").[80][81]

After the referendum on the Greek sovereign debt crisis in early July 2015, he said that the "right-wing German government" was primarily responsible for the aggravation of the crisis.[82]

Commenting for The Guardian in April 2017, Natalie Nougayrède, a former executive editor and managing editor of Le Monde,[83] noted:

"In his 2015 book Bismarck’s Herring, Mélenchon wrote that, 'Germany is again a danger', its 'imperialism' is 'returning', and the EU is its 'new empire'. He's described Germans as 'grumbling Teutons' who seek to 'deport' their old people to Eastern Europe or Thailand. And he's written that German 'expansionism' was at work in the country's 1990 reunification – an 'annexation' of East Germany, in his words. That, in itself, is no small rewriting of history, and no small denial of a people's freely expressed will after the fall of communism. His criticism of Angela Merkel's eurozone policies goes far beyond the economic. It peddles nationalistic, if not bigoted, hatreds. He may have tried to soften that impression by saying he wants 'the peoples of Europe' to revolt against their governments – and not start to fight among themselves. But he has hardly backtracked on any of his earlier statements. Much of this echoes and amplifies Le Pen's rhetoric, rather than helping to combat it."[84]

Opposed to Mélenchon's public opinions, some magazine editors claimed Mélenchon "supported Russia".[65][85] The journalist Nicolas Hénin said that Mélenchon is "on the left of the political spectrum, but is an advocate for the Kremlin leader", with Hénin quoting how Mélenchon is the "political victim number one" after the murder of the Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.[86] Cécile Vaissié, author of The Kremlin Networks, considers Jean-Luc Mélenchon as "one of those that approve of Putin",[87] and Yannick Jadot of EELV said that the "pro-Russia" stance is "contary to any environment thinking".[88] However, Jean-Luc Mélenchon defends himself by considering that Putin is a president elected by the ballot box and that one must therefore treat with him as with a legitimate president. He is totally opposed to his domestic policy and says that if he were Russian, he would be in opposition; he takes for example the fact that his friend of the Russian Left Front, Sergey Udaltsov, is imprisoned in Russia.[89][90]

Jean-Luc Mélenchon is often highly critical of the media, and has before asked his supporters to monitor and film journalists, especially of Le Monde and Libération.[91] Mélenchon has insulted numerous journalists. He labelled Renaud Revel of L'Express a "dirty little spy" and labelled the newspaper "fascist".[92] He accused Le Monde journalists of being "une muse de la CIA" ("a muse of the CIA").[93][94] When questioned on if he could win "without Benoît Hamon" by a France 5 reporter, he answered "being annoyed" and told a member of his team to get the journalist out.[95]

In August 2014, Mélenchon said during a speech in Grenoble: "We’ve had enough of CRIF" - the Representative Council of Jews of France (CRIF) is a coalition of organisations representing French Jewry - asserting "France is the opposite of aggressive communities that lecture to the rest of country."[96] Paul Berman wrote in the American Jewish Tablet magazine that by "aggressive communities", the French politician was referring to "CRIF, and not the people who were staging pogroms."[97] Mélenchon's comments came in the wake of a series of protests across France against Operation Protective Edge. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched on synagogues in the Paris area while multiple antisemitic attacks had been reported across France within the previous month.[98]

In July 2017, Mélenchon maintained that France bears no guilt in the Holocaust, and criticized Emmanuel Macron for admitting at a gathering in Paris remembering the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup that Vichy France was the legal French government at the time, thus conceding the French State's responsibility in the deportation of the Jews. Mélenchon's comments were echoing those of former President of France Mitterrand who declared in 1994 that the roundup and deportation of Jews to death camps during the war was the work of the country's Nazi occupiers and "Vichy France," an illegitimate entity distinct from France. Haaretz noted that Marine Le Pen had made comments similar to Mélenchon's three months earlier.[99]

Following the murder in March 2018 in Paris of Mireille Knoll, an elderly Jewish woman who survived the events at Vel d’Hiv and the Holocaust, Mélenchon ignored requests from CRIF leadership for him to stay away from a march in her memory.[100] As with Marine Le Pen, who made the same choice to be present despite the appeal, he was booed by a group of demonstrators.[97] In November 2019, Mélenchon further accused CRIF of practicing "blatant, violent and aggressive sectarianism, namely against me" after it asking him not to attend the memorial ceremony for Knoll more than 18 months earlier. No violence occurred at the march; police accompanied Mélenchon and Le Pen away from the proceedings.[101]

In December 2019, he deplored that UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gave in to the accusations of antisemitism in his party, saying Corbyn "had to endure, unaided, churlish anti-Semitism claims from England's chief rabbi and various influence networks linked to Likud. Instead of riposting, he spent his time apologising and making pledges ... It showed a weakness that troubled the popular sectors [of the electorate]".[102][103] Melenchon later published a post on his personal blog denouncing the use of antisemitism as a pretext to launch smear campaigns against political figures. He called the "method ... absurd, offending, but more importantly, dangerous. For all this is at the expense of the real fight against antisemitism. Its main result is to lower the vigilance threshold of sincere anti-racists." [104]