On 23 févr. 07, at 00:42, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>> If SP members chose Royal it is because they are sick of the utter
>> inability of the SP "elephants" to work with and for the left.
>
> I agree with you that the traditional left parties, the SP and those
> to its left, are more an obstacle than a solution, apparently when it
> comes to elections in the short term and building a left hegemony in
> the long term. (More on that later.)
>
> But today's Le Monde says that the elephants have returned, in part in
> response to the SP militants who were fretting that a sharper
> anti-Sarkozy offensive was missing and wanting the party as a whole to
> answer Sarkozy's team (and probably also the media, which had been
> rejoicing in the Left's apparent disarray).
Thank you for the link. On a different subject I am sure you will appreciate this one on her feminism: http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/ 0,1-0 at 2-823448,36-875047 at 51-822961,0.html
Regarding the Elephants, reactions of anti-Royal militants in "my" federation (expatriates) have been extremely violent after she was overwhelmingly selected as the official candidate. A number of militants simply quit the party, other had very harsh comments on the media dictatorship and on the "20 euro members" inability to correctly understand the issues etc.
I think the elephants, and specifically DSK and Fabius, who had been so clearly rejected by militants had to wait at least until her first important campaign meeting (Rennes, yesterday with about 15,000 people coming when the hall could only sit 6,000) before officially acknowledging her successes. As for her, she could not accept them in before she proved herself and her supporters that she could do something herself.
So all this is just decorum to make sure nobody's pride is hurt. The rush for mayors signatures started yesterday and it is clear that the SP will not tolerate this time that SP militants give their signatures to other left candidates as had been the case in 2002, when Jospin was so sure to win. Bové is not sure anymore to gather the 500 signatures to confirm his candidacy. The real campaign started with that, and it is not a surprise that the 2 other SP candidates officially accept to join her.
I've just watched the Rennes podcast, it is not as vibrant as Villepinte but she took the time to develop other themes like regional cultural and linguistic autonomy but also environmentally sound and healthy agriculture (Bové's theme).
JC
> <http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/
> 0,1-0 at 2-823448,36-870448 at 51-822961,0.html>
> MM. Strauss-Kahn et Fabius feront partie de l'équipe de Ségolène Royal