Well over four thousand people attended the radical left France Insoumise (FI, “France in Revolt”) summer school in Valence, in the South of France, this weekend. Around five hundred of them had spent two days previously at a young people’s event for activists under 26.
Meetings at the summer school ranged from “Introduction to Historical materialism” with Stathis Kouvélakis to “Building a Young People’s Antifascist Movement Across Europe” to “Is the Nation a left wing idea?” Among the 110 debates and round tables, there were meetings on secularism, Islamophobia, the conflict between China and the US, racism at work, housing injustice, defending the climate, building local branches, pesticides, animal rights, police violence, Palestine, extractivism, and fighting homophobia.
While this is a sharply radical organization, it is not a revolutionary Marxist one. Thus, many talks emphasized relying on the United Nations, and changing the laws on racism or sexism. But the insurgent tone of the movement was very real. In a situation where many forces are calling for a yellow-vest style day of action on September 10th, Jean-Luc Mélenchon said in his (two hour!) keynote speech, “We need a general strike on the tenth of September.” He also said that if in coming years the France Insoumise is elected as the government, the role of the activists will not be to obey but “to be in revolt everywhere.”
Islamophobia was spoken of in many meetings and was central to Mélenchon’s keynote––something absolutely unheard of on the French Left. The FI is attacked everywhere in the right wing and left wing press for its principled stand against Islamophobia, and it is now recognized as the leading force which has brought about a sea change in left attitudes to Islamophobia in France. There were also a number of activists present, many of them Muslim, who were pushing for the FI to go further against Islamophobia and demand the abrogation of the 2004 law which bans Muslim headscarves in high schools (the FI is divided on this).
A series of meetings was organized on local politics, since the municipal elections, which happen every six years, will take place in March 2026. Six years ago, the FI was smaller and unable to stand in many towns. This year the plan is to stand in as many towns as possible. Some FI proposals, such as not allowing municipal police officers to be armed, are already hitting the headlines. The talks covered experiences of left councils today, from Naples and across Spain, historical examples of radical left local councils, and debates on specific challenges today, such as reversing the privatization of water supply, building social housing, and so on. Left mayors, who in France are local council chiefs, spoke at several debates
Stands from various campaigns and political groups were present: Palestine groups, antifascist groups and others. Three far-left groups had their own stands, but the vast majority of revolutionary groups in France––3-4 of which have over a thousand activists and 5-6 with over a hundred––are haughtily dismissive of debating with the France Insoumise, and hardly ever even invite FI people to debate at the far-left summer schools.
While national press coverage on the summer school continues to be largely negative, with a huge smear campaign against the FI, portraying us as antisemitic fans of Putin, mesmerized by the charisma of Mélenchon, there were some more objective reports.
All in all, it is a vibrant movement with tremendous potential––I have never been at a political event where the average age of the speakers was so young, though it definitely needs far more revolutionary Marxist input, in particular on the nature and processes of French imperialism.
