Santa Rebellion. French far right gains a fresh ally

In fresh months, the slogan "Nicolas qui paie" ("The Santa who pays") has gained popularity in French social media. He is accompanied by pictures of thirty-something-year-old men wearing white shirts, hiding their face in their hands, clearly broken by state and society. The subject is being picked up by politicians – already in April by the utmost right thunder from the Court of the National Assembly that all period Nicolas pays, and since then the number of references to him only increases. Who precisely is this Nicolas and what is he paying for?

This popular (especially in the 1980s) name is to be followed by an educated middle-aged urban resident, besides mediocre to fall into complacency, but besides also "affluent" to belong to the main recipients of state aid. To the latter, Nicolas feels a much greater resentivity than to the rich, for whom he works in corporations for their best wage – he is convinced that he would be much better off if he did not gotta keep various kinds of "parasite" from pensioners to immigrants. It is the conviction that drives him to embrace the far right.

For Nicolas solidarity is passé

It's primarily about the libertarian right, according to which taxes are theft. Those identifying with Nicolas celebrated in mid-July tax freedom day, i.e. the minute erstwhile the average payer ceases to work ‘for the benefit of the State’ and starts ‘on himself’. In France it is 2 weeks later than in Poland, which according to this ideology makes our country more attractive to life...

However, it is crucial not only how much taxes and the Dane mediocre Nicolas must pay, but besides what they will be allocated. You can get the impression that Nicolas are disturbed by any public spending that would not contain a minimum in the country. All social benefits, spending on higher education, media subsidies, improvement aid for the "third world", support for theatres or free urban transport are so to be expendable and wasted. Anything that doesn't service them directly. Egoistic Nicolas must have been content to watch protests against retirement improvement 2 years ago, happy that his pensioners would not fund their flights to Corsica with his money.

In specified cases, anti-fiscal individuals always escape that in a fewer decades they themselves will live off pensions, and they will be affected by the adverse effects of the improvement alternatively than the current seniors. The frustration of white collars is besides frequently racist and anti-immigrant – Nicolas believes that the unemployed Karim (also the character of memes), his full large household and his colleagues, who he brings to France, survives from his taxes. specified perception of reality encourages voting on the utmost right, which in Nicolas' environment was not so popular.

Although the generation of 30- and 40-year-olds in France is the backbone of an utmost right-wing electorate, the another members of this age group are more likely to vote for the National Unity (NR). The talk of agrarian residents and tiny towns, conservative and not very wealthy, opposed to globalisation, which they consider to be 1 of the main causes of all problems. In larger cities, the main line of division runs between wealthy districts that vote for macronists and folk ones who choose the left. possibly Nicolas' appearance will let the wedge to enter between these 2 options.

Social Darwinism as a fresh direction for the right?

On last year's parliamentary campaign, Jordan Bardella presented a alternatively liberal programme, including taxation cuts, which falls into the liking of the average Nicolas. Nationalists, however, are not the only ones who search his favor. Conservative Republican president Bruno Retailleau, in the context of the forthcoming budget debates, announces that Nicolas will not let Nicolas to proceed paying the bill for the supposedly blown-up welfare state, serving a narrow, increasingly "French" part of society. Anti-fiscal resistance, aversion to "social" and xenophobia seamlessly merge here, beginning the way for the far right in a completely neoliberal edition.

Éric Zemmour and his Reconquista organization were already the precursor of specified a course. A popular publicist occupied positions more anti-immigrant and xenophobic than National UnityBut he gave up his plebeic image, posing as an intellectual and letting go of his eye to wealthy Republican supporters. Although Zemmour's task suffered an election defeat, and he himself is alternatively on the way out from the planet of politics, the future president (candidate in 2022) wiped out the routes to an alliance of conservative elites, with the support of the state of Marine Le Pen.

In the last 2 years, there has been no deficiency of evidence of rapprochement between the 2 environments. Éric Ciotti as Republican leader unsuccessfully attempted to tie an election coalition with the RN, for which he was thrown out of the party, but his successor Bruno Retaileau is heading in a akin direction. Throughout the process, they patronise right-wing billionaires with Vincent Bolloré At the head of the media empire, whose 24 hours a day is turning on support for the far right, at the same time calling for an alliance between conservatives and nationalists. It is not essential to add that a feature of specified an alliance would be a program written under the expectations of rich sponsors, but besides mostly anti-fiscal and anti-state electorate.

Will Nicolas elect the next president?

The emergence of a fresh libertarian voice in public space, on the 1 hand, favours a government consistently cutting social spending, on the another hand, poses a threat to it. Macronists find that not only do they not have a monopoly on liberalism, but they can inactive be attacked on this side. In addition, this complicates the situation before the next year's budget is set for autumn – it has late ended cancellation of the Prime MinisterAnd Bayrou doesn't get any easier.

The government's goal is to find respective twelve billion savings. The Prime Minister had already announced that to this end he would reduce the budget of the healthcare system, frost the valorisation of pensions and social benefits, and remove 2 state holidays (East Monday and the day of triumph over Nazism). But Nicolas are more afraid about a peculiar solidarity taxation for the wealthy, even though most of them will not. The closeness of the frustrated mediate class is besides the right-wing criticism of government's slowness in the fight of welfare frauds, reportedly costing France billions.

The electorate group identifying with Nicolas' character is not the most numerous, but in the context of the upcoming presidential run any vote can be on the weight of gold. The possible for her to presume the function of language in the rivalry of Macronists with nationalists could bring the second to positions characteristic of the modern utmost right – from the German AfD to the Polish Confederation, to the Italian Brothers typical of this environment is alternatively to support neoliberalism and extremist social Darwinism.

Often repeated in Polish media the story of "social" or "left-wing economic" Le Pen has long had small to do with reality, testifying to the media effectiveness of the RN alternatively than its actual program. However, if the nationalists were to further adapt to Nicolas' expectations, they would seriously test the loyalty of their current electorate, hazard losing any supporters to the left or pushing them towards electoral abstinence. However, the possible success – attracting fresh urban voters without losing the erstwhile 1 – would bring them importantly closer to the presidency, so the temptation is large and we can inactive hear a lot about Nicolas.