Version imprimableAddressing all the forces of the anti-liberal or anti-capitalist left anti-capitalist left, we met three times with a delegation from France insoumise. There we discussed the NPA’s willingness to and the concrete possibility of participating in a joint campaign around their list of popular union based on the programme of the Nupes.
Following these meetings, LFI has just sent us a letter putting an end to this prospect. According to them, “our discussions have highlighted a series of disagreements", and LFI considers that these “now seem too important to guarantee our joint ability to run a coherent campaign”. We regret this all the more because the reasons given in LFI’s letter do not seem sufficient to justify the end of our of our discussions.
The first disagreement concerns Ukraine. Although we agree in denouncing Putin’s aggression against Russia and call for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, Ukraine’s request to join the European Union poses a problem. LFI’s response to this request is already to say no. We believe that such a position of refusal could strengthen the most reactionary currents and their policies aimed at turning Europe into a besieged fortress. Moreover, this refusal does not respond to the demands of progressive Ukrainian currents who are seeking support in the war against Putin. On the other hand, we also think that if a list including all the forces from the Nupes (a battle waged for several months by LFI), had emerged the position of such a list on Ukraine’s membership of the EU would in any case not have been the one that LFI is now putting forward as a condition for a joint campaign. A double standard, then.
More generally, LFI criticizes us for wanting to “rebuild a radical left around LFI and the NPA". Whatever LFI may say, we had never thought that a joint European campaign should boil down to a tête-à-tête between our two organisations. On the other hand, for the same political reason that had led the NPA not to take part in the Nupes in May-June 2022, we continue to think that there are two contradictory orientations on the left, between forces that manage the system and a fighting left that that defends a break with it. The instability and the break-up of the Nupes was one expression of this.
For the NPA, the challenge of the next European elections should be to allow the broadest possible expression of the left that stands for a break with the system, which fortunately extends beyond the ranks of our respective organisations.
Faced with the dramatic rise of the far right, a list bringing together the combative left would have made it possible to involve the whole social movement in this struggle. By not taking on its responsibilities, LFI is not responding to the urgency of the situation. For its part,
the NPA will continue its policy of unity in order to bring together, in the streets and in the ballot box, all the forces of the left who are ready to break with neo-liberalism and the far right.
Montreuil, Thursday 22 February 2024
Translated by International Viewpoint from l’Anticapitaliste.
