Used book – Le Compte à rebours, François de Closets

The countdown has begun. If nothing interrupts it, the National Front will come to power.

Anti-Le Pen sentiment will not be enough to stop it. For we have already entered the post-Le Pen era, and the National Front will be much more dangerous without its current leader. So, let's face it: the rise of the far-right is only the political expression of a general crisis; to contain it, we must tackle the real problems of our society.

First, the social crisis, cruelly evidenced by this new proletariat of unemployed and excluded people, ever more susceptible to the demagoguery of extremism; also the financial crisis, maintained by a budget deficit that fluctuates between 15 and 20% from one year to the next; finally, the immigration crisis, poisoned by the perverse games of politics. So many cogs that make the infernal machine turn.

Is France a victim of the new global capitalism? I don't believe so. It is better equipped than any other country to resist it; it is up to France itself to protect itself and profit from it at the same time.

Our misfortune is this "French model" which conceals egoism, conservatism, impotence, and the most brutal injustice beneath beautiful principles.

The countdown is not inevitable. At any moment, the French can pull themselves together and stop it. To avoid the intolerable, I have chosen to speak the unpleasant truths. Here's how we could avert the worst, and even achieve the best.

François de Closets