Incredibly weird takes on Le Pen's ban today, especially from the left. What I notice is that when Golden Dawn was banned in Greece no one claimed they should have been fought in the ballot box instead. Le Pen was not convicted for her politics but for embezzlement that seems beyond doubt >> - ThreadSky

proufos.bsky.social • 6 days ago

Incredibly weird takes on Le Pen's ban today, especially from the left. What I notice is that when Golden Dawn was banned in Greece no one claimed they should have been fought in the ballot box instead. Le Pen was not convicted for her politics but for embezzlement that seems beyond doubt >>

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jtownsend.bsky.social•6 days ago

I'd draw a distinction between "thinking the sanctions shouldn't be applied" (very hard to justify given what appears to be clear-cut guilt) and "worrying that well-justified legal sanctions could redound to the RN's benefit if they successfully portray it as lawfare."

jtownsend.bsky.social•6 days ago

What really worries me in France is the macronistes repeatedly opting for a cordon sanitaire against the left instead of the far-right, but upshot is a political landscape I'm not optimistic about. Ban seems like correct application of the law, but it doesn't follow that I see it as a poli. windfall

jtownsend.bsky.social•6 days ago

(If ambiguous: I'd also say it's *necessary* to apply the sanctions, not just appropriate. In that respect I do agree with the people making Trump/Yoon/Bolsonaro/LePen analogies, but the stronger argument that every case is closely analogous re: political advantage is more questionable to me)

proufos.bsky.social•6 days ago

This might be a political distinction that is worth discussing (though I don't agree that conviction makes the far right stronger - as if acquittal would have weakened them) but it is not a distinction that makes sense at a legal level, esp with proven embezzlement from 2004 to 2017.

troublingtome.bsky.social•6 days ago

Yanis just is wrong about this
If the charges were bogus, then okay
If not, what is he going on about?

mkay.wtf•6 days ago

Turns out he is wrong a lot of the time. In this case, assuming he’s not just an idiot, animus against the centrists in power that she threatens is a believable explanation, but that’s just a guess: trying to fathom why people are dumber than dogshit on the internet is a mug’s game

publicwrx.bsky.social•5 days ago

Literally everybody on the left thinks the fascist should be executed for her crimes. It's the FECKLESS liberals who are clutching their pearls in support of fascism, as usual.

russellengland.bsky.social•5 days ago

Len Pen in 2013

proufos.bsky.social•5 days ago

Damn I was sure there was such a quote and tried to find it yesterday but gave up after a while. Thanks so much for this!

russellengland.bsky.social•5 days ago

No probs 👍

That's my English interpretation

There's a link to the original French video and article above too

greatfausto.bsky.social•6 days ago

Same with Trump convictions in hush money and defamation cases… But SCOTUS saved him

proufos.bsky.social•6 days ago

>> So what are people suggesting? That she and the others should have been let off? It is one thing to say that political questions shouldn't be resolved judicially & quite another to call for the acquittal of someone who has committed a crime - for political reasons.

proufos.bsky.social•6 days ago

This is not a discussion about whether judicial authorities have the right to ban parties or personalities because of their politics (which is also constitutionally possible in most European countries anyway). It is about whether someone found to have committed a crime should be let off. >>

proufos.bsky.social•6 days ago

If this is coming from an abolitionist perspective, a different discussion can be had. But it's not. And something else that many seem to be missing: *she* and a few others have been banned from running for 5 years. Not the party. If people want to fight them electorally, they can still do it.

proufos.bsky.social•6 days ago

In comments here & elsewhere the argument is made that such a conviction will only strengthen her/the far right. But it feels like this assertion is not really followed through: an acquittal (even more so, one for political reasons, like Trump's) would have also been instrumentalised to boost them.

quilombo.bsky.social•6 days ago

I think one issue here is the crime: embezzlement of 🇪🇺 funds originally meant to hire parliamentary assistants for the European Parliament's work but reused for other party purposes at home. Mélenchon (left) and others could have done similarly ... https://www.rfi.fr/fr/podcasts/politique-le-choix-de-la-semaine/20250330-assistants-parlementaires-europ%C3%A9ens-et-revoil%C3%A0-le-dossier-m%C3%A9lenchon

proufos.bsky.social•6 days ago

I also note legal commentaries which (rightly, up to a certain extent) point out that acquitting someone - for political reasons - when there is so much proof, further undermines the notion that the rule of law has any meaning - something that the far right happily promotes.

granuailynn.bsky.social•6 days ago

And which the US is showing to the world is THE WRONG WAY

Trump was convicted of 34 felonies but b/c he "won" the election he will not receive punishment - that is purely political & THE WRONG WAY

proufos.bsky.social•6 days ago

Some may point out that upholding the rule of law is not a radical position. But these can't be the same people who want to defeat the far right electorally. These two things belong in the same universe.

anuszewska.bsky.social•5 days ago

💯

aiteall.bsky.social•6 days ago

Fines, jail time (she won't serve!) are appropriate. Banning her as a candidate is bound to make her a martyr and burnish her 'anti-Establishment' credentials.

mooseknucklsammich.bsky.social•6 days ago

She could have avoided all of this by not doing crime. But she did crime.

proufos.bsky.social•6 days ago

Whereas acquittal would have weakened her somehow?

aiteall.bsky.social•6 days ago

Not arguing that. I'm talking about the sentence.

proufos.bsky.social•6 days ago

My impression is that convicting her but avoiding any actual sentencing (as was done with Trump) would have had a similar if not worse result. It would also strengthen the idea that laws do not apply to politicians.

aiteall.bsky.social•6 days ago

She was fined and sentenced to jail. Why did they add the ban on her standing in the election?

proufos.bsky.social•6 days ago

I see claims that it is in complete accordance to the Loi Sapin II, the 2016 anti-corruption law reform which made sentencing for embezzlement automatic.

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