Arlette Laguiller doesn’t give up. At 83 years old, the historic figure of Lutte Ouvrière will be symbolically included on his party’s list for the European elections in last position, we learned from the party on Monday.
During its annual congress which took place last weekend, LO voted “unanimously” for a motion confirming “our participation in the European elections”, the party spokesperson indicated at a press conference. Trotskyist Nathalie Arthaud, who will head the list, with Jean-Pierre Mercier, other spokesperson.
Slim chance of having an MP in Brussels
“Europe, like France, like all countries in the world, is governed by bourgeois politicians. We believe that we must overthrow the big bourgeoisie and establish institutions that would be run by the workers themselves,” explained Nathalie Arthaud. “But we certainly do not want to add borders,” she added, castigating “those who move in the direction of exacerbated nationalism. We are for a borderless world led by workers.”
The Trotskyist party has no illusions about its chances of sending a deputy to the European Parliament. During the three previous European elections, it did not exceed 1% of the vote while it takes 5% to have elected representatives. “We are not electoralists,” clarified Jean-Pierre Mercier. “We want to make this internationalist voice heard, this revolutionary communist voice,” he added.
“It will not be one voice too many to voice radical opposition to all these racist, xenophobic ideas, which are poisonous and are disseminated 24 hours a day,” added Nathalie Arthaud. “It will not be one voice too many to affirm the fact that when we belong to the working classes, of course we live mixed and with common interests.”