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Anti-Le Pen protests: France, April–May 2002

It used to be said that every picture has some shadows and a source of light. This observation can be applied to France in the days following the first round of the presidential election on 21 April 2002. The shadows were the dark traces on the electoral map, representing the support for the far-right candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen, growing outwards from his established bases in the port cities and towns along the Mediterranean coast, into the rural south-west, up the eastern frontier to the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine, out to the north and east of Paris, and even into the old French industrial heartland, the northern departments of the Pas-deCalais and the Nord. This snapshot presents an image of stark clarity: for that reason alone it deserves further study. Le Pen’s success caused an almost overwhelming shock. Martin Jacques, one-time editor of Marxism Today, interpreted this vote as a warning of a ‘new barbarism and the approach of ‘a new Dark Age. Considering the collapse of left-wing parties across Europe, the internal corrosion of democracy in Berlusconis Italy, the rise of racism, and the aggressively anti-Arab policies pursued by the USA after 11 September 2001, Jacques concluded that ‘Europe is sliding into a new abyss’. Jacques’ analysis, I will argue, is too bluntly pessimistic. This is, however, a complex point which merits careful discussion. Restricting our vision to the Le Pen vote of 21 April, it is easy to highlight points