In today’s Vatnik Soup, we introduce Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a French far-left politician. He’s best known for founding the party La France Insoumise (LFI, “Unsubmissive France”), demanding submission from his own movement, and advocating worldwide submission to authoritarian dictatorships. 1/23
Mélenchon received his early political education in the Organisation communiste internationaliste, a Trotskyist-Lambertist communist group known for secrecy, rigid discipline and entryism. Lionel Jospin was also a member, and both later joined the Socialist Party. 2/23
Mélenchon was elected to the Senate and was a junior minister (2000-2002) in Jospin’s government. He left the Socialist Party in 2008, co-founded the Left Party, then the Left Front alliance with the Communists and ran as its presidential candidate in 2012. He was also an MEP from 2009 to 2017. 3/23
In 2016, Mélenchon founded La France Insoumise (“Unsubmissive” or “Unbowed” France), a “movement” more than a party: so cool, and anyone can join easily! It also means that unlike a classic party with delegates and internal democracy, the real decisions are in the hands of… a politburo troika. 4/23
As the Socialist Party collapsed, LFI captured much of its electorate, while still allying with them (and with Greens and Communists) under NUPES and later the New Popular Front. The ideological continuity is clear, with some tensions when other parties feel overshadowed by Mélenchon’s role. 5/23
Born in Tangier, Morocco, Mélenchon also describes himself as a “Maghrébin européen” and a voice of voters of North African origin. His project is not merely a change of government, but a regime change: “Sixth Republic”, “New France”, “créolisation”, a refounding of the country around his base. 6/23
He even borrowed the far-right phrase “grand remplacement” as a good thing. Of course, the new regime will need a leader. In 2018, during a police raid on LFI’s headquarters, he infamously roared, “La République, c’est moi!”, “I am the Republic!”. 7/23
On October 7, 2023, as Hamas massacred random civilians and dragged hostages including children into Gaza, LFI described it as an “armed offensive by Palestinian forces” and Mélenchon refused to call Hamas terrorist — just like Russia. 8/23
Mélenchon and LFI have flirted with antisemitism on other occasions. LFI published a caricature of Jewish broadcaster Cyril Hanouna widely condemned as echoing Nazi-era antisemitic propaganda. The party deleted it, but Mélenchon just told journalists asking him about it to “shut up”. 9/23
Whether it’s the press or dissenters, Mélenchon’s instinct is to demand submission, so of course he often clashes with journalists. He compared Frontières journalists with “rabid dogs” and he even got fined for insulting France Info journalists. 10/23
Mélenchon is running for president (2027) for a 4th time, with some polls placing him in 2nd position behind far-right vatnik Le Pen. He demands blind devotion from his followers and anyone who questions him is purged from LFI nominations as a traitor. None of this should sound familiar… 11/23
One comrade has his favor though, Sophia Chikirou, reportedly his partner. She’s praised Hamas and attended vatnik events with Russian flags galore. Chikirou described possible Ukrainian membership of NATO and the EU as a “provocation” — Europeans must just submit to Russia’s whims. 12/23
Mélenchon has also spent years promoting Edward Snowden and Julian Assange. He promised both asylum, French nationality and even state decorations. In June 2022, Snowden reciprocated, in (broken) French, rallying up young voters to vote and wishing Mélenchon and his NUPES alliance good luck. 13/23
That support from Moscow was hardly surprising, as Mélenchon’s record on Russia is indeed that of a loyal vatnik. When Russia occupied Crimea in 2014, he described its actions as protective measures against a “putschist” Ukrainian government supposedly influenced by “neo-Nazis”. 14/23
In March 2015, he welcomed the prospect of Ukraine’s disintegration, calling it a country that “has such trouble being one” and adding: “good things come to those who wait.” He expected Ukraine to last “less than a week” in case of a full-scale Russian invasion. 15/23
Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, Mélenchon insisted that the United States and NATO were the aggressors. After the invasion, as is tradition, he formally condemned Putin’s attack, BUT his movement opposed or undermined sanctions, weapons deliveries and security commitments to Ukraine. 16/23
Speaking of weapons deliveries, Mélenchon complained when they stopped… to Russia. At the European Parliament, оn the resolution condemning Wagner Group crimes, only 27% of MEPs from The Left group (which LFI is part of) voted in favor. On recognizing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism… 17/23
… the figure fell to just 14%. Both resolutions passed by large majorities, but LFI had supported neither. His party denounces the far right and Nazis constantly, but refused to condemn the Nazi-themed war criminals of Wagner and the terrorist state financing them. Cherchez l’erreur. 18/23
As a junior minister, Méluche welcomed Bashar al-Assad at Orly Airport, a protocol chore other officials had reportedly avoided. His outright support for the dictator is harder to excuse: he even backed Russia’s military intervention that saved the regime and led to massive civilian casualties.19/23
On Venezuela, Mélenchon called Hugo Chávez’s revolution a “source of inspiration” and praised Maduro as the right successor. As Maduro dismantled democracy and repressed protesters, Mélenchon continued endorsing him as Venezuela’s legitimate president. 20/23 bsky.app
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Venezuelan bus driver, politician and dictator, Nicolás Maduro. He’s best-known for ruining Venezuela, turning it into a dictatorship, and for collaborating with other authoritarian regimes like Russia, Iran and Belarus. 1/21
And then there’s the People’s Republic of China. Méluche called Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan a “provocation”, declared Taiwan an integral part of the PRC and was publicly thanked by the PRC embassy. Apparently their communist symbols are enough to make him lose all concern for human rights. 21/23
After finishing 3rd in the 2022 presidential election, Mélenchon commanded the French to “elect” him prime minister. If Macron objected, Mélenchon proclaimed, he would have to “se soumettre ou se démettre” — submit or resign. But in the end, the one who had to “submit” was Mélenchon himself. 22/23
Under Mélenchon’s communism rebranded as “révolution citoyenne” and rank campism dressed up as “non-alignment” and “peace”, some comrades are, as ever, more equal than others. For the leader of “Unsubmissive France”, there is always either himself or some dictator to submit to. 23/23
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Follow @vatniksoup-fr.bsky.social for this soup in French and other exclusive content on French vatniques! ADDENDUM 10/23 — Frontières (the magazine that Mélenchon insulted) is a far-right outlet, pushed by Bolloré and with ties to Orban, that could have a soup of its own, but Mélenchon does insult everyone. Here's what he had to say about Lithuanians, for instance: