In front of an enthusiastic audience on Friday January 31, Jean-Luc Mélenchon confirmed that the ‘great replacement’ is indeed taking place, but in a framework that he is redefining. He said: ‘Yes, Mr Zemmour, there is a great replacement’, echoing the theses of his main opponent, as reported by the Journal du Dimanche.
For the leader of La France Insoumise, however, this replacement is above all ‘that of a generation that comes after another and that will never resemble the previous one’.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon then celebrated what he called the ‘creolisation’ of France, a process that he sees as a richness born of cultural encounters and exchanges. ‘You who have had the good fortune to mix, to discover each other, to hear yourselves sing, speak, cook and make music, you know how important this mixture is,’ he said. In doing so, he emphasised a social model in which diversity is at the centre of development.
Mélenchon criticised those who defend an ‘ossified tradition’ and emphasised that the future must not be a copy of the past. ‘The future is not destined to be the ever-recurring past,’ he said. He also praised the tradition of mixing and evolution and emphasised that humanity should look forward and not try to repeat old models.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s comments naturally provoked an immediate reaction from Éric Zemmour. On social media, the leader of the Reconquête party expressed his disapproval and condemned what he sees as a ‘denial’ of the nation. ‘Jean-Luc Mélenchon, you are blessing the conquest of France by a foreign civilisation. You have conjured up the downfall of the French people,’ he wrote, pointing the finger at Insoumi’s approval of a vision of the country that he sees as devastating to its identity.
Zemmour also accused Mélenchon of being part of a tradition of historical collaboration, claiming: ‘In the history of France, there have always been French people who have allied themselves with our enemies against our people. That is the only one of our traditions that you respect’.