Europe 1 with AFP 5:29 p.m., March 6, 2022
Judging NATO as a "useless organization that causes tension", Jean-Luc Mélenchon proposed Sunday at a meeting in Lyon that France establish "alter-globalist alliances" to prevent conflicts and act against climate change.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon proposed Sunday in a meeting in Lyon that France establish "alterglobalist alliances" to prevent conflicts and act against climate change, rather than remaining in NATO, "useless organization which causes tensions".
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"Solidarity with Ukrainians"
In front of 15,000 people, in the open air in the Croix-Rousse district, the Insoumis presidential candidate restored his position as "non-aligned" on the war in Ukraine.
"Stop the war, stop the invasion of Ukraine, down with the army that is invading Ukraine", he proclaimed at the start, to dispel criticism from some on the left who attribute to him a complacent attitude towards Vladimir Putin in recent years.
"Solidarity with the Ukrainians, whether it is the regular army or those who mount tanks to slow down their advance", declared Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
He also sent a "message of solidarity and love to Russians who refuse war" by demonstrating.
As an introduction to the meeting, a video message against the war was broadcast, sent to the rebels by a militant of the Russian radical left, Alexeï Sakhnin.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon regretted having had to make his speech to the National Assembly on Tuesday, "under the boos of the LREM sect which howls as soon as we do not agree with it".
He insisted, criticizing the "yelps of fury" of "playmobil robots".
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"If you elect me, I will embody a non-aligned France"
"We will not be shooters in the back. But we will participate fully in this presidential election by going after our criticisms," he warned.
"I undertake, if you elect me, to consult the National Assembly at least once a year if there is any conflict in which we would be engaged militarily", promised the deputy of Bouches-du-Rhône.
Rising as much against "the new world order" of George Bush Sr. at the time of the Gulf War as against "Vladimir Putin's war", he assured that he wanted to "understand and not excuse".
"If you elect me, I will embody a non-aligned France" which "does not accept a world order in which there would be NATO on one side and a Russian" and Chinese bloc on the other, he said again.
"I propose the exit of NATO, a useless organization, which causes tensions everywhere by its agitation, hoping to withdraw here and there subsidies for I don't know which agency", he said.
Instead, he pleaded for "anti-globalization alliances that start from the general human interest" to take care not only of conflict prevention but also of "the protection of common goods", such as water and electricity. air, and the climate challenge.