Your editorial on the French elections (11 April),with its encouraging mention of the rise of the higher tax and spend candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, failed to mention possibly his biggest electoral draw: the fact that he is a leftwing protectionist. Prior to the 2012 election, and polls showed that over 80% of French across the political spectrum thought that free trade had a negative impact on employment. So it’s not just immigration that is fuelling ever-broadening support for Marine Le Pen,it is also the fact that she too is an overt protectionist.
These trends have obviously not been lost on the unholy trinity of free trade pushers the IMF, WTO, and the World Bank (Report,11 April). Having forced nations across the world to accept their open-borders, export-led growth mantra they are now busy crying crocodile tears for the “left behind”, or the inevitable result of their policies. They still rail against protectionism,despite the fact that whether it has a progressive discontinuance goal, it could enhance the economic and social conditions of the globally disadvantaged.
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Source: theguardian.com