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| In Paris, Worries That Trump Will Embolden Le Pen | In Paris, Worries That Trump Will Embolden Le Pen |
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| PANTIN, France — Tourists near the Eiffel Tower were met with an unexpected sight this month: hundreds of people marching to protest the election of Donald Trump and condemn the politics of hate and division. The #ParisAgainstTrump march was organized by a group of Americans in Paris but also drew French citizens who are worried that Mr. Trump’s victory will embolden far-right politicians in France. | PANTIN, France — Tourists near the Eiffel Tower were met with an unexpected sight this month: hundreds of people marching to protest the election of Donald Trump and condemn the politics of hate and division. The #ParisAgainstTrump march was organized by a group of Americans in Paris but also drew French citizens who are worried that Mr. Trump’s victory will embolden far-right politicians in France. |
| That may already have begun. Marine Le Pen — the National Front candidate, who is expected to make it to the final round in French presidential election in the spring — congratulated Mr. Trump on Twitter and later said his election was “good news for our country.” | That may already have begun. Marine Le Pen — the National Front candidate, who is expected to make it to the final round in French presidential election in the spring — congratulated Mr. Trump on Twitter and later said his election was “good news for our country.” |
| The French citizens who supported the #ParisAgainstTrump march have many reasons to disagree. Mikael Zenouda, an activist with Act Up-Paris, said he marched because he is worried that “homophobic crimes will increase in France.” Abdel-Rahmène Azzouzi, who founded the group Je Te Voix, warned, “Minorities should not be steppingstones for presidential ambitions.” The goal of Je Te Voix, whose name is a pun that means “I see you” and “I call you out,” is to bear witness to racist, xenophobic and misogynistic speech by French presidential hopefuls. Mr. Azzouzi’s message to Mr. Trump was: “Don’t mess with us. We are watching you.” | The French citizens who supported the #ParisAgainstTrump march have many reasons to disagree. Mikael Zenouda, an activist with Act Up-Paris, said he marched because he is worried that “homophobic crimes will increase in France.” Abdel-Rahmène Azzouzi, who founded the group Je Te Voix, warned, “Minorities should not be steppingstones for presidential ambitions.” The goal of Je Te Voix, whose name is a pun that means “I see you” and “I call you out,” is to bear witness to racist, xenophobic and misogynistic speech by French presidential hopefuls. Mr. Azzouzi’s message to Mr. Trump was: “Don’t mess with us. We are watching you.” |
| Adiaratou Diarrassouba, a co-founder of the blog L’Afro, said to me about her readers: “The United States has made real something that could now happen here. We support denouncing the election of someone who makes racist remarks.” And Magali Fontaine of Black Lives Matter France observed: “When Barack Obama was elected, it was symbolically very important. Trump’s election is also symbolically powerful.” | |
| Stephen Bannon, who will be Mr. Trump’s chief White House strategist and is the former executive chairman of the right-wing Breitbart News Network, has made it clear that he plans to leverage that symbolic power in France. Back in July, the French website Radio Londres reported that he said: “We think France is the place to be.” He even said Breitbart was “looking to open a Breitbart Paris, even a Breitbart France.” Days after Mr. Trump’s victory, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, Marine Le Pen’s niece and a rising force in the National Front, tweeted, “I answer yes to the invitation of Stephen Bannon, CEO of @realDonaldTrump presidential campaign, to work together.” | Stephen Bannon, who will be Mr. Trump’s chief White House strategist and is the former executive chairman of the right-wing Breitbart News Network, has made it clear that he plans to leverage that symbolic power in France. Back in July, the French website Radio Londres reported that he said: “We think France is the place to be.” He even said Breitbart was “looking to open a Breitbart Paris, even a Breitbart France.” Days after Mr. Trump’s victory, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, Marine Le Pen’s niece and a rising force in the National Front, tweeted, “I answer yes to the invitation of Stephen Bannon, CEO of @realDonaldTrump presidential campaign, to work together.” |
| The day after the Trump protest, French voters delivered an election surprise of their own, giving François Fillon a resounding victory in the first round of Les Républicains’ primary. Mr. Fillon had been third in the polls, behind Alain Juppé, the more moderate front-runner, and former President Nicolas Sarkozy. Then, on Sunday, in a runoff vote against Mr. Juppé, Mr. Fillon won his party’s nomination with 67 percent of the vote. | The day after the Trump protest, French voters delivered an election surprise of their own, giving François Fillon a resounding victory in the first round of Les Républicains’ primary. Mr. Fillon had been third in the polls, behind Alain Juppé, the more moderate front-runner, and former President Nicolas Sarkozy. Then, on Sunday, in a runoff vote against Mr. Juppé, Mr. Fillon won his party’s nomination with 67 percent of the vote. |
| Mr. Fillon, a former prime minister, is hardly cut from the same populist cloth as Ms. Le Pen. But, his victory is not good news for French citizens worried about a tack to the political right. | Mr. Fillon, a former prime minister, is hardly cut from the same populist cloth as Ms. Le Pen. But, his victory is not good news for French citizens worried about a tack to the political right. |
| In addition to pledging a makeover of France’s economy along the lines of what Margaret Thatcher did in Britain, Mr. Fillon is a staunch social conservative. His supporters include opponents of France’s 2013 “marriage for all” law and, though Mr. Fillon says he won’t reverse the law, he promises to move against adoption by gay couples. Mr. Fillon also believes that France has no reason to be ashamed of its colonial past — a time, according to him, when France generously shared its culture — and he has scolded immigrants, saying, “When you arrive in someone else’s house, out of courtesy, you don’t make the rules.” France, Mr. Fillon insists, is not — and will never be — multicultural. | In addition to pledging a makeover of France’s economy along the lines of what Margaret Thatcher did in Britain, Mr. Fillon is a staunch social conservative. His supporters include opponents of France’s 2013 “marriage for all” law and, though Mr. Fillon says he won’t reverse the law, he promises to move against adoption by gay couples. Mr. Fillon also believes that France has no reason to be ashamed of its colonial past — a time, according to him, when France generously shared its culture — and he has scolded immigrants, saying, “When you arrive in someone else’s house, out of courtesy, you don’t make the rules.” France, Mr. Fillon insists, is not — and will never be — multicultural. |
| With President François Hollande’s approval rating down to 4 percent and his Socialist Party in profound disarray, French voters could be faced with a choice in the final round of the presidential election between the populist far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and the establishment right-wing candidate François Fillon. Either way, French progressives will have plenty to protest. | With President François Hollande’s approval rating down to 4 percent and his Socialist Party in profound disarray, French voters could be faced with a choice in the final round of the presidential election between the populist far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and the establishment right-wing candidate François Fillon. Either way, French progressives will have plenty to protest. |