It's an almost surreal situation. Ten years ago, when the international attack on Iraq started, the leadership of the opponents of that intervention was taken by France, a country then under the "reign" of the right, President Jacques Chirac. The speech delivered by Foreign Minister Dominque de Villepin to the UN in February 2003 became a point of reference for pacifists all over the world. Now, on the other hand, France is revealing itself as a "warmonger", even if any action against Damascus is justified by the desire to safeguard human rights. And today France is run by the left.
Yes, we really need to get out of an obvious dichotomy, right versus left, respectively for and against the use of force. The situation is reversed… even at the level of public opinion. A few days ago a survey conducted by CSA, an institute considered reliable beyond the Alps, indicated that just 45% of the French approve of the possible intervention in Syria. But, if we limit ourselves to left-wing voters, we rise to 55%. And even 62% for the socialists.
There are many reasons for such a situation. Conjunctural, first of all. Because Laurent Fabius, the current foreign minister, is an early Atlanticist. Already in the XNUMXs, when he was positioned at the top of the Socialist Party, he was a pro-American, often in argument with his party comrades. It has also been increasingly closer to the positions of Israel than its Arab enemies. Fabius is at the origin of the French government's determination to get involved in a possible operation against Assad, to put an end to the use of chemical weapons, which the Syrian dictator allegedly resorted to. François Hollande, at times displaced on the international scene, especially on non-European fronts and on non-economic issues, is under the direct influence of Fabius. In Paris, several observers also recall the friendship that has developed between Hollande and Obama, which is said to be at the origin of this new Franco-American harmony.
But the reasons for the convinced attitude of Paris to go all the way towards a military intervention in Syria go beyond the economic situation. In short, it is nothing new for the left. Since the 2011s, the main maitres à penser of the Parisian left have aligned themselves, in similar contexts, in favor of military operations, if they were the only way out to restore human rights and if crimes against humanity were at stake. Just think of the philosopher par excellence, Bernard-Henri Lévy, who in recent days, in an editorial in Le Monde, has reiterated the need to act against Damascus. Even in recent months, when France intervened (at that moment alone) in Mali against the jihadists, neither the politicians of the left, nor the public opinion close to that political side said nothing. And in XNUMX, when Nicolas Sarkozy was one of the promoters of the intervention in Libya, the left followed suit.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, a parliamentary debate on the issue is scheduled, for the moment without a final vote, because the Constitution provides that the President can decide on his own an operation such as the one looming in Syria. There are now those who are asking for that vote, because, as Prime Minister François Fillon underlined, "France cannot go to war without clear support from Parliament". But it's more a matter of form than substance. Even the UMP, the center-right party, is globally in agreement with an intervention against Damascus. Only Marine Le Pen's Front National and the Front de gauche, an extreme left formation, are opposed. But the latter's ally, the Communist Party, while pushing for a vote in the National Assembly, leans towards yes. They too, the communists, left. To the war.
