Hosted by Faisal Al Yafai
Featuring Victor Mallet
Produced by Finbar Anderson
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When Victor Mallet decided he wanted to document the rise of the far right in France, he knew he had to remove himself from Paris. “Everything is centered on Paris,” he tells New Lines’ Faisal Al Yafai. “It’s really important to get out of the big cities and just talk to people. You get a totally different perspective of what people think.”
Following that work, Mallet has written a new book, “Far-Right France: Le Pen, Bardella and the Future of Europe.” Popular support for the far-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen has moved significantly away from the classic image of a far-right group, he says.
“It’s really important to get out of the big cities and just talk to people.”
“The kind of people that you met were not skinheads, the obvious kind of fascist that a lot of liberals might expect. They were just a bunch of ordinary people — firemen, nurses, office workers, accountants — a whole range of people who were just keen to see this new phenomenon in politics.”
Furthermore, Mallet says, support for the party has broadened across the political spectrum. “In recent decades, the center of gravity has moved to the north of France, the industrial, mining areas. There you have a really fascinating phenomenon, which you’ve seen in other countries, where people who would’ve voted for the far left, or at least the Communist Party or the Socialist Party, are now voting en masse for the far right.”
Mallet has given significant thought to what drives the popularity of the National Rally, and that of populist right-wing parties worldwide. “It’s not just that they’re rejecting the other side, it’s not just that they’re rejecting the left. I think it is very much [that voters believe], ‘These people are talking like me,’” he says.
Europe, Mallet says, finds itself increasingly isolated in terms of its commitments to liberal democracy. “Europe is the last person standing. You’ve got China, Russia and Trump’s America. On the day that we’re doing this interview, Trump pulled out of 66 major international organizations.”
A far-right victory in France is likely, Mallet says, and will have a significant political impact. “We have the real possibility of the RN [National Rally] winning both the presidential election and the legislative elections. And if they do that, it will really be an earthquake in European and global politics.”