In France, a National Demonstration against Macron and for Peace was organised in several towns and cities.
Our correspondent Bruno Bardiès was at the rally in Toulouse, in the south of France, and collected testimonies.
The rally was organised by ‘Les Patriotes’, a sovereignist political party opposed to France’s participation in NATO and the European Union. Around sixty people gathered to speak at the rally. The slogans on the posters were ‘Peace for us and our children. Macron, we won’t die for Ukraine. Not one more cent to finance war’ and “Frexit, freedom, peace”.
Cathy, representative of the Les Patriotes party in Haute Garonne:
‘We’re demonstrating because we want peace, the French are not concerned by this event in Ukraine. Our economic situation is bad, billions have been spent on this lost war. Economic sanctions have been imposed on Russia, even though it is not an enemy of France. Macron has given another €2 billion to finance the war, while our pensions and public services are being drastically cut.
“We also denounce France’s involvement in this conflict, even though Russia has historically been a brother country to us. We don’t want to see our children go off to be bled and have this conflict imported into our country. ‘We are sad to see that people are so little mobilised on these issues. Les Patriotes (the party) is invisible in this fight because we are against this oligarchy and this European Union. We’re not in the ‘narrative’ business, like the other Frexit parties. It’s difficult to see so little mobilisation of the French people because this is going to have an impact on their daily lives and their future. For them, it’s as if the war were far away, like a Netflix episode, a story to tell, even though it will have a huge impact on our economies”.
‘We also know that many people agree with us and don’t move, but the problem is that we need to make ourselves heard, regardless of the political party, it’s the French who need to rally around the issue of peace’.
Christian, participant, history and geography teacher ‘You have to remember that it was Alexander I, when France was defeated in 1814, who prevented France’s territory from being carved up… The British are still the most Russophobic of all. I’m here but I’m not a pacifist.’
‘Politicians are full of nonsense, we have no army to face anyway. I admire the Russians because they’re a great civilisation. What’s more, I’m Catholic and I hate the Pope, which is why I like the Orthodox, they run the church in every state, which is what we should be doing.
Gabor, artisan butcher “I’m a sovereignist and a patriot, naturally. I pull my hair out every day. The more I dig into economic, political and media issues, the more I realise that mind-boggling things are happening before our very eyes, and that the population is being ‘screwed’ in every area”.
‘In my case, I don’t think we’re risking a war with Russia because everyone knows we don’t have the means to wage it. This is an operation of intoxication and swindling, the aim of which is to seize, take control of or mobilise European savings. Macron is only working for European federalism, whereas the people don’t want it, they’ve said so in referendums’.
“Regarding ideal relations with Russia, De Gaulle had already theorised this. It would be linked to France’s position as a sovereign, powerful, respected state, in good economic health overall, which manages to maintain its interests while maintaining a position of balance. We have a lot in common with the Americans, but they often behave like overlords rather than friends. De Gaulle used to say: A state has only interests, not friends. On the other hand, Russia is our neighbour, we share a great deal culturally and economically, and they can supply us with energy. It is in our interest to be in a position of balance, of good understanding, to be a pivot, not to be in the hand of one camp and used against another, which is exactly what is happening”.
W. (anonymous), “I have Polish origins, and I can tell you that the reputation of the Ukrainians in Poland is catastrophic. They killed 150,000 civilians in 1943, and as many Jews. They have their arms outstretched. They’ve got tattoos all over them and they think they’re the SS. There’s a problem because the guys are Slavs. It’s like 2+2=5. The Ukrainians haven’t understood that it’s BlackRock who’s ripping them off from A to Z.’ ‘I’m here because Les Patriotes is the only opposition movement in France. France is non-existent as a sovereign country, there is a rape of the France of General de Gaulle, of the reputation that we had in the world, and that we no longer have. Today, I don’t recognise France. I’m ashamed of this France of Macron and Attali. I’m no longer proud of today’s France”.
‘France should be a sovereign, balanced, Christian country, not one that ‘kisses ass’ and submits to occult and diabolical forces’.
‘We should promote peace and, above all, tell the truth about what’s going on. We are being lied to to an infinite degree! I refuse to allow anyone to dip into my wallet to give weapons to the Ukrainian neo-Nazis and the mafia that governs that country’.
”I think Poland has become the ‘whore’ of Nato, the EU, Ursula Von der Leyen, Macron, the Bank…. There used to be great figures in Poland, like John Paul II, but that’s all over now’ Caroline, secretary: ’What pushed me to come is peace. Macron is biased. No one people is better than another. We’re all human. At the moment, there is a push for division based on dominant thinking. I am thinking of the Ukrainians and Russians who are suffering.
I would have liked France to have taken the position that General de Gaulle might have taken, i.e. impartial, bringing peace to the world, a certain universalism”.
