A neutral, independent community in which members debate issues related to social justice.
Congratulations to Macron
Emmanuel Macron has won the French presidency, and is expected to win roughly 65% of the vote to Le Pen's 35%.
It's perhaps the most decisive defeat of the nationalist anti-immigrant right since the phenomenon started after 2013/2014, and polls did not err on the result. It is especially rewarding considering that France has suffered recent terrorist attacks committed by the Islamic State and its citizens have a history of Islamophobia due to its perceived threat to Western values.
Do you think the tide has turned against the alt-right decisively in the West? Or do you think they will be back for more? Do you think that nationalist anti-immigrant politics will remain a potent force in the future, or will it fade away?




I am glad France has gone against the right wing slide, sadly nationalist anti-immigrant politics are still finding a stronghold here in the UK, UKIP may have lost all their seats in the local elections we just had, but that was a sign that the Conservatives are now unafraid to spout the same rhetoric that was UKIP's bread and butter when they were a fringe party.
So even if other EU countries are making better choices, apparently there is still a place for this damaging nationalist thinking in the UK, which is terrifying.
That was actually interesting to see. It seems like UKIP is getting decimated, but almost entirely to the Tories' benefit. Labour is still doing terribly in the polls - any particular reason why? I know that Jeremy Corbyn isn't exactly a popular guy, but this Conservative domination in the polls reminds me of the Thatcher era, if not worse.
I blame the press vilifying Corbyn at every turn, even the BBC seems to have an anti-Corbyn bias, there's a bit of a movement to vote tactically not-Tory but with our antiquated first past the post system it's debatable how much of an effect those who don't want the country to continue off the cliff we're heading towards can have at this point.
I mean there is this article going around that I am going to read later called "The great British Brexit robbery: how our democracy was hijacked" which sounds like we are falling victim to same circumstances that caused Trump to get elected (which did try to hit the French too but they seem more resistant to that)
It's certainly the best outcome we could have hoped for. We'll have to see if Macron can fulfill his promises on unemployment and EU reform though. This applies to all the centrist leaders in Europe, really. If they can't make any progress in addressing their very real problems with immigration, security, and the economy, the fringe parties on both the left and right will grow more attractive. It seems that the far right surge has been stymied across Europe this time around, but who knows what will happen in five years if the status quo continues.
There's also the legislative elections, so France isn't completely out of the woods yet.