SPEECH IN BESANCON

FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIN

24. Jan. 2012

Please note that this speech's video (with subtitles) will be uploaded: The first part can be found on Youtube :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMYimc4GoMI

    PART 1:

The original video (without subtitiles) can be found on Dailymotion :  http://www.placeaupeuple2012.fr/discours-de-jean-luc-melenchon-a-besancon/



Discours de Jean-Luc Mélenchon à Besançon by PlaceauPeuple ==================


Ah, my friends, enjoy this moment.Get your fill of it.Find all the strength you need from here. From this Tribune, how proud we are to be amongst you. Look at this beautiful room, where one doesn't absurdly shout the name of a man, where one doesn't forget even for one moment that we are not here for one candidate, but for a cause, bigger than us, that we received from the ones who lived before us. Glory to our red flags. The red is back.I say that, because I found recently, in a certain room, that there was a lot of white, and way too much blue. My friends, we must find in ourselves the strength we need to face the hard task that we chose to lead. You see, should I have had a doubt today, it would have been washed away by what I  saw. Some pretend that the "class struggle" is an old thing, and that it has disappeared, well then, I can tell you today, that with Pierre Laurent, we have met the class struggle ! We have met it in PSA [Peugeot/Citroen], where, just because we were coming, he and I, with the flags of the Left Front, they decided that, out of the four days of unpaid production days [chômage technique] that they inflict to the workers of the scooters' factory, that two of those days would be THAT DAY, to make sure that they couldn't come here now.

01'56"

And after that, when we went to Alsthom, in Belfort, one did, after welcoming us with a lot of courtesy, and even a certain elegance, one did take us to see the machines we wanted to see, and even the extraordinary realizations of the organized workers skills -- those gigantic turbines of over 400 kilograms, that were obviously perfected to the tiniest details, via the holes that you first drill in them, and in which you fit the wings, which is a work of extreme accuracy, almost handicraft-- And while we were there, admiring those marvels of human intelligence, we literally saw the deployment of a curtain of small bosses who were coming to block the way, because the workers of the wings production workshop wanted to meet their spokesmen! And all they needed was to point fingers at them, just like a whiplash, to force them to walk back. They are adults! Those workers are, like the great [Jean] Jaurès said, "kings inside the City, but inside the factory they are nothing but serfs".

So, this is why the class struggle is there, and it is us who carry the dignity. We are the stubborn ones, the revolted ones, the ones who do not submit, those who never give up! I dedicate this evening, the strength that we represent together, I dedicate to the brave unionists from the CGT and from the CFDT who came here to meet us, hence  defying the followers, the weak ones, the coward ones, the ones who report and give away, to carry their unions' banners, and to show that they would not step back. That is to whom I dedicate who we are. Quiet.

[timecode 3 min. and 58 seconds.]

Comrades and friends, now you're not dispersed anymore.You're not spread out anymore. And tonight most of the credit goes to you, second to those, of course, who had such a hard time organizing this evening and make you aware of it. Because, by coming tonight so numerous, just like you did, you broadcast a furious message that the whole Comté [Region] will hear. Never had this room been as full as it is tonight. With so much energy and so much strength. Since how many years? We are back! The left-wing is back!

This evening will be cheerful and it will be serious. I came to explain to you how we are going to proceed. I am asking you to listen to me carefully, to then pass on my arguments to others, to those who still wonder how they're going to use their ballot paper, the next time, to take the right decision, matching the global interest of the country and the interest of the greater number, those who suffer in poorness and have a hard time.

In this election you'll have only two speeches: one that says that "we spent too much" ... And you will wonder when it was that we spent too much for you? That "you've been living above your income" ... And you will wonder who's been living above YOUR income? The same ones will offer, in a masochistic contest, to contribute with the price of YOUR blood and tears. Who will give you the hardest blows, and then will pretend to be the bravest "because they made you bleed the most"? Just like I described them, they are now gathered to tell you that "you will have pay the debt" ... Even though HALF of it was created under the direct and personal authority of Nicolas Sarkozy when he was Minister of Finance, and then when he joined the successive governments, and when eventually he became President of the Republic. They'll try to scare you -- and many people WILL be scared, because they don't understand the situation at all, and they are scared to death. It will be your duty to comfort them, by telling them that the country has never been richer in its entire history. That during the time we would supposedly need to "repay this debt" -- suppose we blocked it right now -- the country  that allegedly owes €1,640 billion will also produce, over seven years and 31 days,  €14,000 billion!  €14,000 billion will be born from your work! Therefore, we have with us our self-confidence! And next to this, you would have those who try to scare, to stun, to daze, to force you to resignation.But you have the alterative, and that alternative is represented by one and only paper ballot, which is the one that is given to you by the Left Front, because it is the only one that refuses absolutely, totally, in any possible way, the austerity! And because it offers, instead, to relaunch the economy! Relaunch! By starting with increasing what counts, that his: the wages! We don't beg. We are not asking, as they say, "the assistance"! ... Because, in that country, there is only ONE social class that is assisted: the rich! They are protected, nurtured, encouraged! Cheaters, liars, scoundrels! Hiding their money abroad! ... Where I will catch up on them very soon.

[timecode 8 min. and 18 seconds]

This is the situation. But relaunching the economy, my friends, mustn't be done blindly. We have two tasks to accomplish.
The first one is to hunt away capitalism as it is today. Finance as it is now. Hunt it out of companies, so that we can reorganize the production of our country on different grounds.
And the second task that we have to accomplish is to learn the lessons from the big crisis that humanity is facing at the moment. This crisis is the crisis of the human ecosystem. Not only must we break free from finance, but on top of that we must also beat productivism! It is out of the question that we start again producing anything, randomly, in any random conditions -- even when people don't need things, by creating needs, using advertisement.
Look at how we will proceed: this is the bit I need you to hear and that I need you to be able to repeat. No, we're not a group of Messrs. and Mrs. "Just do this, Just do that". The radicality of the Left Front is a CONCRETE radicality. Technical, argumented, reasoned. I can tell you how much money the financial program of the Left Front will "bring in" -- since they keep asking me how much it will "cost". Overall, it brings in €195 billion, that is the 10 points that were transferred from the pockets of the workers to the pockets of the capital in the last 25 years. That's how much it brings in! And on top of this basis, then you can start creating a large circulation of the resources -- through the increase of the wages, through the increase of social welfare, through the reduction of work time (with equal wage and constant wage) -- which allows the global economy to breathe again. But for that, first we need to extract the cancer of financiarization, and prevent that everything that is produced, and that all the richness that is put in circulation, be captured in one place, and stored away, and prevented from coming back into the pockets of people -- thus also blocking economic activity. Because, when your minimum wage [SMIC] gets increased by only two euros per hour, what do you do with those two euros? Yeah, right! [sarcastic] You surely call your banker or your financial advisor. You're modern and "flexible"! ...Of course not! Of course not! This money doesn't go into the financial bubble. It goes back into all those little things needed for small joys of life, and helps breaking free from this horrible "every day accountancy" that make us wonder if we're going to heat up ourselves OR pay for our commuting, OR pay the rent -- how couldn't you anyway? Otherwise you get expelled.-- Or you endlessly wonder from what you could save money. ENOUGH SAID! Nowadays everybody has the IMF at home! And we want to throw them out of the country AND out of the house.


11'27"

Look!
How the finance gets into everything.
to understand how we are going to remove it.
how does it enter?
See that example of PSA [Peugeot/Citroen]
but I could give you 10 of them.
but since I was in PSA I talk about PSA  [Peugeot/Citroen].
As it happens, PSA has a worldwide strategy
which is trying to match with the ones of its challengers like Renault and others.
For them, the new deal is now to move out their production sites,
as they say, "to bring them closer to consumption places".
wow! that sounds green!
Truth is,
They will produce somewhere else...
-- Of course we agree
with the production sites to be brought closer to the consumption locations
we totally agree with that
Let's stop transporting around so much stuff around the world!--
but then it must apply to us too, am I right?
Am I not?
We talk about what we see:
How come that 3 out of 5 Renault vehicles that arrive in our country
come from abroad
even though they are used here ?
For what reason will the Fralib company move its tea production to Poland
even though it's in France that the "Elephant" tea [brand] gets sold...
...85% of it is sold here!
Relocalization of industry,
which is an ecologic goal,
must also proceed in favor of our people!
This is the argument that you must give,
and not that stupidity that they label "consume French products" ... Whatever!
Apparently, that's all Mr. Bayrou [center-right, MoDem] could find!
He is going to glue stickers on things,
and then you will go from shop to shop comparing the prices
to see where things contain "more France" than somewhere else !
How random is that…
They are mocking us!

13'07"

What we need
is to produce in France
and we need to produce in France
to produce in a clean and useful manner!
But look at PSA,
they want to externalize their production tool
and for that they need to borrow money.
And NOW is when you're going to learn new things:
In order to borrow money,
the title that's put in circulation,
that's called an "obligation",
-- and to have someone eventually buy it,
and for that someone to know at what price to buy--
they need to have a grade that comes with it.
And here come the credit rating agencies!
The thing that maybe you don't know,
is that the credit rating agency,
once the credit rate is decided,
will keep a "small bite" for itself.
It means that, when the title is not good,
and when it gets expensive,
the "small bite" gets bigger.
you got it!
Therefore, it is not -- as it is said stupidly by Mrs. Le Pen --
a "thermometer".
Surely she doesn't know how to use a thermometer!
Because, generally,
a thermometer is used to measure the fever,
not to GIVE it to you!
And this is what credit rating agencies are!
And so,
the credit rating agency arrived,
and told PSA
"beware! We are not satisfied with your profitability!"
They didn't mean that PSA was not profitable!
-- They are, very much so! --
They meant "you don't give ENOUGH to your shareholders!"
That means "you are not healthy,
or you are badly managed"
"...so we threaten you to lower your grade."
And immediately, PSA
decides to cut themselves an arm,
a leg, a hand, a foot,
to satisfy that endless appetite,
that the Capital has,
for always reducing the share of the workers.
So that the production can be moved somewhere else.
THAT is the guarantee that PSA gave to the credit rating agencies
and to international finance.
It is because of the SHAREHOLDERS and because of capitalism
that those factories get moved abroad!
And for no other reason!
And similarly, you observe
the same ones who come on TV
with their very clever faces
telling you in one single word
" China, India, Brazil,..."
...Sometimes they even add Mexico...
"Be afraid good people
it is the worldwide competition"
… But the worldwide competition is THEM,
who organize it with THEIR factories, that get moved abroad...
...by THEMSELVES!
Therefore,
they lie to you,
all the way,
to shear you!

15'41"

What I just told you,
about PSA,
the same event happened for Arcelor-Mittal [steel and aluminium]
on the Monday, Arcelor signed an agreement with the Belgian workers
to develop their implantation in Belgium,
on the Tuesday Moody's [credit rating agency] gave their opinion
and put Arcelor-Mittal's grade "under surveillance".
On the Wednesday Arcelor-Mittal closed their factory in Belgium!
There is no material reason,
No issue related to production,
nor to the skills of the workers, to the quality of the products,
it is exclusively the fear of the whip of the capital
that submits every compartment of the human activity!
And this is what we are going to shatter.
...Shatter!
Shatter!
SHATTER!
This is how I would like us to proceed,
and how the program of the Left Front suggests that you proceed.
First,
prohibition of the "stock options":
It is out of the question that the boss, the CEO,
continues staring all day at the stock-exchange rate
because that all he's interested in,
instead of being interested in the longer-term production,
that would allow him to do the investments,
to have the patience to wait for things to happen,
for the skills to build up,
...so that we get out
of this absurd companies management model,
in which they have to report to their shareholders every three months.
Can you imagine?
Every three months!
Every three months under surveillance!
When one needs time, when one needs smartness,
when one needs "long time",
to lead a great industry with great projects!
Secondly,
we need, in companies,
to STOP that stupid idea    that
"only greed can lead work efficiently"
and that "Those at the top
are never fed enough."
That is why we must make ours
the proposal of the European Trade Union Confederation [ETUC].
It states that, in companies, we must prevent some from stuffing themselves at one end
while the other end gets nothing.
Therefore, we must set the maximum wage to a 20 to 1 ratio,
like the ETUC suggests.
My friends,
I will tell you what it means:
The boss of PSA is named Philippe Varin.
And I have excellent news for the workers of PSA
if we get a Left Front government:
Philippe Varin allowed himself a 300% increase in 2010.
Therefore, YOU...
...Listen to what comes next ...
Therefore YOU will all get a 300% increase!
As for me,
I have nothing against the fact that this man earns €3,300,000.
Sincerely, I have nothing against that.
And I will tell you why:
because, above €360,000, I take everything!
Therefore, he can add as many zeros as he wants!
All right, but think about it,
€360,000 is a lot of money.
Isn't it? It's not a joke!
Through that, we state that, in France, not everything is permitted.
In the France of the Left Front.
No, we don't agree.
But it's a choice, eh!
Some may agree with the opposite!
But WE don't agree
with a few people accumulating sums that they don't use for anything...
...except for investing it in the [financial] bubble and feeding the stream of the speculation.
Our choice is that we won't allow it.
So some may disagree with this...
...But some may also want it.
And for that there is a paper ballot.
And if this paper ballot wins, then it WILL happen.
Whether speculators want it or not...
Through the law.
The good news for the worker of PSA is the following:
Since the boss is already pointlessly paying himself €3,300,000...
...And since I already took him everything above €360,000...
... Then I have good news for him:
Since the ratio is 1 to 20,
and since the boss' pay is €3,300,000,
the lowest wage in PSA will be €13,750 per month.

20'15"

I'll tell you what, I think that recruitment won't be too hard!
But, as the unionists from the German DGB say,
" those people managed to find cheaper workers,
we will find MUCH cheaper bosses".
Someone told me: "if you do that,
they will leave.".
Goodbye!
Bye!
Yes, but…
We're used to that, aren't we?
In '81 they were already fleeing with their gold bars...
And you know what? Mr. Peugeot [Senior] got them robbed in his bathroom ...
Yes, you forgot history !
Yes ! Robert Peugeot [Boss of PSA],
got robbed €50,000, in gold bars, that were hidden in his bathroom!
How stupid is that?
As the PSA workers used to say :
"gold should go into the workroom, not the bathroom"
That is the workers humor!

21'28

Anyway, every time they flee!
It began during the great revolution of 1789,
they all emigrated.
Here it's the same, but what they don't know,
is that this time it's going to be different.
Because, this time, we will apply
the "fiscal catch up".
As long as you are French,
you pay for France.
and you pay proportionally to what you own.
and you can still run away in Switzerland,
I will go negotiate with the Swiss.
Exactly the way the USA and other countries did it.
There is a very simple way:
you know, I am a European deputy.
the wage is comfortable.
Hey guess what:
we, the Left group, in the European Parliament,
we asked for a 25% production.
We didn't even have time to vote:
the others had already granted themselves an increase!
So we said: what's the big idea?
The others said:" we already voted for the increase, we are not voting for the reduction"!
My friends, I pay taxes
that are levied over there, in Brussels.
and then my tax form arrives in the French office.
And the French tax office has a look, and levies the difference
with what I should give if that money were in France.
Did you understand?
Everybody followed?
Should I repeat?
Yes, they say! Okay let me start over.
You are in one country...
... You pay taxes in that country...
... Because you went there to hide yourself...
... But then the French tax office says "you are French"
"how much did you pay?"
And then they check how much taxes you would have paid for the same amount
if you earned it here in France.
And then you pay the difference.
That's what the USA do.
They do with country by country.
We will do the same!
If you are French, you pay.
You contribute to the collective life,
to the collective well-being,
wherever you are in the world,
you contribute to the only community that is real,
the legal community of the Citizens,
proportionally to your means.

23'44"

And there will be 14 tax brackets.
And the last tax bracket, yes, it shall be the "Roosevelt bracket",
it amounts to 90%,
and then you have the"Melenchon bracket"... 100%!
My friends, 14 brackets.
So, now shall I explain what are brackets?
I guess you know that?
Good!
I use the reactions of the first seats row.
Wait, you'll see:
Always be aware, when I smile, that means something is coming!
Why do I say 14 brackets?
Why do I tell you that the last one will be either at the rate
of 90% [Roosevelt] or 100% [Melenchon]?
...The last bracket...
I'm not talking about every bracket, right?
The last part only!
That is because I've heard some very strange things the other day
about taxes.
I've heard my "comrade" Francois Hollande [social Democrat, "PS", equivalent to Labour]
say that he would create the last bracket at 45%!
Congratulations!
But allow me to remind him...
...that in 1981 the last bracket was 65%!
... I say that because of his so-called resemblance with the 1981 program...
[1981 = first French left-wing President since WWII, with 4 Communist ministers]
...And under Lionel Jospin [last French left-wing government, 1995]
...it was 52%!
… And under Mr. Raffarin? [Liberal Right-wing Prime Minister, UMP, 2002]
...48%!
I think that the left-wing ought to do much BETTER than the right-wing in this domain!
… And not LESS!

25'14"

I have told you how,
as the old saying says,
"The fish starts rotting from its head",
and how we can Fix things amongst those who command.
 but now I want to deal more deeply with the topic.
 We need to change the management mode of companies.
INCLUDING capitalistic companies.
Because, of course, nobody said...
...that at the end of the Left Front mandate…
… All property would have become collective!
Therefore, we must take care of the way
all capitalistic production is organized.
Those come way too often give us lessons of "responsibility".
... We will, in turn, make them responsible people!
Here is how:
To make sure that finance will not find any interest
in the management of the capitalistic company...
... First off, we will tax the FINANCIAL income of companies.
We've had enough of the way they speculate with their cash flow,
and sometimes hide their bad results in production and sales...
...by doing financial business with the money of the company.
The CGT [main French Union] has calculated that if you tax
the financial income of the company,
(that means the portion of its richness that it uses to speculate),
the CGT has calculated
that it would bring in €20 billion
that we could then inject in our social welfare...
... Including the retirement plans.
Did everybody understand?
Secondly,
we will change the voting rights within companies [Conseils d'Administration]
for the capitalists.
Those who invest their money without saying for how long...
...their voting rights will be equal to...
... And depending on the length of the investment...
... their voting right shall have a weigh of 1, 2 or 3.
So much so that, amongst capitalists,
we will compensate for those who leave the money.
And, by the way, to help them making the right decision,
we will create, for a proportion of the investment,
a warranty fund.
The Brazilians invented it.
It means that, whenever someone invests 1000,
for example you could consider that 200 is the warranty fund.
If the investor leaves before it's time, then we keep it.
It helps staying.
here!
These are the measures to manage capitalists.
But then comes what counts, that means: Us!
My friends, you need to know it.
You all know the way hedge funds
keep marauding around the profitable goods that are companies.
Including French companies that often have VERY GOOD grades.
Including those small and medium companies ["PME"] they keep talking about.
700,000 owners of such companies will retire in the next 10 years.
So what do we do?
Speeches? Sentences?
Blah blah… Small companies… Blah blah... Very small companies ["TPE"]
"Mr. Melenchon [the speaker], you don't know anything"
"you don't take care of them"
etc., etc., etc.…
… Or do we take measures?
The first measure will be to say this:
"the social property of the company is possible"
This means that the Left Front offers this measure:
Every time a company becomes for-sale,
or every time the boss leaves,
abandoning everybody,
or every time the company is moved abroad...
(Which is equivalent to closing it)...
... Then the workers will have a preemption right.

28'54"

Just like the town has a preemption right
on every building and every land that gets sold,
the workers will have a preemption right
to create --if they manage to agree,
I'm not saying it will always happen -- but if they agree
to create a workers production COOPERATIVE.
The "social property of production tools",
is not always synonymous to "nationalization"!
I want you to repeat that around you,
comrades and friends, my fellow Frenchmen,
There is in the people the trigger of intelligence, of skills,
that allows all of this to work without them [the capitalists]!
Like a steel worker said:
-- he said that to Mr. Mittal --
"You can't make steel without us ...
But WE can make steel without you!"
You can't do anything without us!
But we can do EVERYTHING without you!

And, in any situation,
whether or not you are preempted, whether or not you are in a SCOP [cooperative],
we need to increase the powers and the duties of alert of workers.
By "powers" we mean, in the company,
the right of suspensive veto for the company comittee [CE],
when there is a layoff [licenciement economique]
in a company that does huge profit in the stock exchange!
...That is to say... In the case of "speculative layoff" [licenciement boursier].
And don't come tell me that you don't know what is a speculative layoff!
"Speculative layoffs" are those currently led by PSA, Arcelor-Mittal and the others!
They are doing huge profits,
while condemning to a certain social death
workers, female workers, and EVERYTHING AROUND!
Yes, I said "everything around".
Look:

30'48"

Now I've come to the third point of this policies  of re-industrialization,
and elimination of the financial Capital from the "real" production.
We need to comfort the ones who produce.
Others want to "comfort the markets".
"Comforting the ones who produce" means giving ourselves the means
of stopping permanent fear!
Stopping the fear of next week. Of next month. Of next year.
I'm talking about you, teachers, hired with "a limit",
that causes you not to know where you'll work after each holidays!
I'm talking about you, workers who go from a contract to another,
who keep changing company,
Without ever having another horizon than the week about to start.
Enough fear!
Enough uncertainty!
Enough precarity!
"Precarity" [precariat], THIS is what we must fight in our country.
Listen to me:
The life of human beings, ever since they were human beings,
has been a struggle against precarity.
My friends, we humans invented cattle not to have to rely on hunting.
We invented agriculture, not to have to rely on gathering.
We invented the City, we invented mutual protection
to break free from the terrible dependance of having to defend
ourselves against all the others.
The struggle of Humanity is a struggle against precarity,
and the stupidest sentence, the most crual, the most imbecile
was said by Mrs. Parisot [president of the MEDEF, the French CEO's Union],
when she said that "because love contains precarity, then so should work".
This proves that this lady has no idea of what is WORK, or what is LOVE!

32'26"

Here is the measure that the Left Front will take :
It will IMMEDIATELY turn into permanent positions
the 800,000 the cotractors from the 3 branches of the public sector!
State workers, local administrations workers [collectivites], hospital workers!
We will do that WITHOUT destroying the status of public workers
through the mean of a "professional exam" [examen professionnel]
...I didn't say a "test"!
I say that for the most aware unionists who already told me :
"Say it, Melenchon, otherwise it means there is no more status"
...And, my friends, NO, it is not a measure we can't afford,
because you most know that those smarty pants
thought they would first make savings
...and then ransom all of you
using extensive precarity.
Thy thought "Let's prepare the field...
so that tomorrow, everything gets merchandized"
That way they'd make sure that the teachers would depend on the principal...
...who would hire them according to his personal wishes.
It's already how it works in Universities.
That's why they urned you into contractors:
They thought they'd save money... And it's the complete opposite!
Precarity is MORE expensive than stability.
Not only economically and financially,
but of course, also, FIRST at the human level.
You idiots!
Don't you know that people who live in fear
work less efficiently than those who're not afraid?
Don't you know that everybody love their job, their task?
No need to whip us to convince us to act,
and to properly do our share of the job!
Management based on fear is an imbecility...
...that must be revised, if we want to raise the level
And then,
We will FORBID, do you hear me, we will forbid...
-- because such a thing already happened in this country...
...at the time when permanent positions were the "regular contracts"...
...at the time when temporary contracts were legally called "atypical contracts"...
...when I was a young man...
...and now the "atypical has become the rule...
...and the permanent position has become the exception...
...what's the big idea?!? --
we will FORBID large companies...
...to hire more than 5% of contractors.
and in small ones, no more than 10% contractors.
That's enough!
I told you
how we would proceed to force finance out of companies.
Having said that, this speech would be worthless...
...if I hadn't told you what must be said...
...at least an outline of our main task.
We are human beings first. Alikes to every other human.
That's why each of us must carry their share...
...of the general interest of Humanity.
And THEREFORE,
We must consider removing productivism
from the French economy.
Because we CAN do it,
Because we have the industrial tools for that,
Because we have highly skilled workforce that allows it.
We must finally start the big project of the Left Front:
The Ecologic Planification [planification ecologique]
That means: anticipate on the long run!
So, you will ALL have to start thinking differently!
-- and I say to some of my very best friends:
Ecology is NOT the opposite of industrial production.
Ecology is NOT the opposite of progress.
It's the other way around:
Both ecologic and social progress are the CONDITION
to the general progress of humanity.

36'08"

I will give you one or two examples:

I already told you :
If you have the right wage,
then what do you do first?
well, of course, you will start with eating proper food.
Because you think of your family, of your kids.
And you will first seek healthy food.
Why should there be healthy food fo some, and "the rest" for others?
Why should there be an organic agriculture for those who can afford it,
...and the for others, "deal with it!...
...Catch obesity-related diseases!"
...when both come from the salt and sugar lobbies!
Why should there be different food for the poor and for the rich?
You get it!
When you get better wages, my friends,
you will go buy those products.
and those products come from the small farmers...
...who are more involved...
...and hire more workers...
...that's why it's more expensive.

37'01"

Workers, when you have better wages,
then you can pay the farmer better.
And if you pay the farmer better,
He will make better products,
and it will be ecological.
This is why the increase of the minimum wage
is an ecological decision.

37'20"
We are able,
by "relocalizing" the industrial activity,
out of ecological care,
to bring our contribution to the development of humanity.
Look at these idiots in PSA [Peugeot-Citroen],
who decided that HALF of the layoffs they do in this company...
...will be engineering jobs suppressions...
...the ones who are committed to R&D [research and development]!
My friends, my fellow Frenchmen,
We ALL know that we're hitting the limit of the oil and carbon civilization.
Therefore we must switch
to another way of using the energy.
That is why the Left Front STARTS by telling you\N that we must leave carbon energy.
But, if we want to move forward to tomorrow's car...
...we will NEED this research capacity!
I'm talking to engineers, I'm talking to highly-skilled technicians,
I tell them: "For how many years did you believe --
-- because you were the "best at school"\N (good for you! We're happy!)...
...Because you were the ones who were\N caring first about the efficiency of work...
...and were not worrying of waht was happening\N with the workers and the unions--
Now, look! (I'm talking about most of them, of course, ...
...not all of them, some of them are unionists)
But now, I say: Look at this waste!
Look at this mess!
Look how your work is destroyed by some people\N who care about only one thing:
How to shear the worker even more!
Join our banners! It's on the "red" side...
... that you'll find your beautiful perception of the future!
...Your beautiful inventions!
...Your beautiful work quality!
That is why...
...we must REQUISITION [the equipment, the factory] \N every time they try to flee!
We need "Emreal" [paper making company] to stay open!
We won't allow it to be plundered...
...because it is the ONLY paper dough company \N that we have in this country!
And we must not let it leave!
We must requisition the reffineries \N who want to shut down!
Because our country needs reffineries,
for ALL the products of the chemical chain!
Even when you want to leave carbon energy!
At this stage, we need to threatem them:
I'm warning you!\N When the Left Front will govern this country,
We will use article 401\N of the civil law [code penal]...
...(that wasn't enabled yet [decret d'application], you guess why!)...
...It rules that those who conspire against the Nation's interests...
...In the economic, environmental or financial fields...
...will be sued ["tracked down"] and may face\N jail sentences and fines!
I'm warning you!
If you conspire with hedge funds [fonds de pensions]...
...There is an exisiting law for you!
If you conspire with people...
...like the ones who decided to shut down the Celanese...
(the only factory of acetic acid in the country)...
...then you'll be tracked down!
If you shut down the only factory that produces Insulin...
...then you'll be tracked down!
I won't let it happen! I will requisition!
Similarly, I won't let Paracetamol --which is a basic molecule...
...that you ALL used once in your life--
There is not ONE paracetamol factory left in our country!
Everything is China!
So much so that you'll be depending on exports...
...for everything! --Including your headaches!
It's absurd!
We must keep our AUTONOMY capacity.
Saying such a thing is not "nationalism"!
It is indeed ecological intelligence...
...to stop moving people around \N to go to the cheapest places.

40'59"

Voila.
I wanted to tell you all this...
...and now I go on with another topic.
You already started asking me about that one, at the door.
The journalists too, asking me about it:
"What do you think about Le Bourget speech?" \N [speech of rival social-democrat rival Francois Hollande]
...And I know you people:
"What's he going to say about it?"
--Because you want unity -- me too...
...but you don't want me to get fooled!
Therefore, how do I do?
I tell you the truth.
I try to do it with humour...
Because I don't want to break into anything,
I don't want to destroy anything,
I don't want to spoil anything,
I don't want to block anything...
...this unity, we need it for the left wing to win.

But I don't want to lie to you!
I won't do it, and nobody will do it in the Left Front.
No matter how bitter the truth is...
...one needs to hear it.
And sometimes it's the best way to start fixing it.
I have only one thing to say :
When Francois [Hollande, PS, social democrat] told us that his enemy...
...is finance, we tell him, Pierre, Clementine and me \N [Pierre Laurent, PCF, communist - Clementine Autain, socialist] :
"Join the club!"
Join the club!
We feel less lonely.
...But...we "know the beast"!
My friends,
One doesn't fight finance -- in other words, our times' capitalism--
With a water pistol! [pistolet a bouchon]

42'29"

When one takes measures \N to face finance...
...these must be SERIOUS measures...
...thought through...
...deep.
A few "good words" about the topic are not enough.
Previously, I showed you --
--and I started with that--
how to fight finance in our country.
How it needs to be "pulled out" of the productive "soil".
I showed you concretely.
Well then, I have only one thing to tell you:
It is your duty of enlightened citizens...
...to document yourself.
And I know the "music" won't be enough for you...
...you listen to the "LYRICS".
And you like when the lyrics [paroles] aren't just small talk [paroles].
You must master the topic.
You must examin, you must compare...
...because, my friends, if you don't do it...
...afterwards don't say \N that you didn't foresee that Papandreou [Greek former prime minister]\N would capitulate in 24 hours!
Even though he was also president \Nof the Socialist International...
...and prime minister of his country!
By opening the gates in Greece,
he opened the gates to the WHOLE continent!
No, let's not "booh" him right now, let's think:
No shouting. Nothing that makes things worse.
Only thinking. Arguments.
Cold-blooded determination.
Bravery built up within you.
Not because you hate or despise others...
...but because you are conscious, lucid...
...because you know that you're not playing a game...
...or looking for careers opportunities [like some politicians do].

What you do is carrying the French Patry...
to the highest level of th Revolution it calls for...
in order to get rid of the capital!

44'13"

To face the needs of today!
To answer the call of duty of humanity!

Francois [Hollande, social democrat candidate, PS], you say...
...that you don't know "the address of finance".
Well then I'll give it to you because I went there...
...with Pierre Laurent [PCF] 3 evenings in a row.
"Standard & Poor's, 40 Courcelles street".
Why not go there again?
And, Francois, if you lack information...
...just ask your friend Jean-Pierre Jouillet,
former minister of Sarkozy [liberal right-wing, UMP, current president],
and head of the "Financial Markets Authority"...
...who's been bold enough to explain to us...
...that "credit rating agencies\N have been very patient...
...and very responsible". \N Not our opinion!
Yes, finance has a face\N and has addresses.
Finance has a face: It's Goldman-Sachs'...
...who dispatched their men\N at the head of Greece,
...who dispatched their men\N at the head of the ECB\N [European Central Bank]
The very same man who was faking Greece' accounts...
...is now the Central Banker.\N It's Mario Draghi.
"The Dragon"... How appropriate!
Here is the situation, my friends:
The ECB --that denies loans to our countries...
...1% loans, as Pierre Laurent [PCF] said before-- ...
...is directed by a scoundrel,\N who faked the accountancy in a country...
...and then abandoned his patry,\N to deliver it to Finance!
Encouraging plundering!
In a moment I'll tell you \N what seems to be the worse.
Here is what I want to say :
WHY am I talking to you this way?
Because in this country, a HUGE anger can be heard.
And because NOBODY knows what way it's going to turn!
And when we restored the Left Front's flag,
when we started gathering,
we opened a path...
...but we very well know\N what damages have been done!
...How much skepticism is around us...
...How many talk about abstention...
...How many think all politicians are the same!
...Or how they are disheartened...
...And ready to do the biggest mistakes \N including voting against their own class!
We need to address those issues SERIOUSLY.
With CONCRETE answers.
Not with postures!
\N["arms movements", possible reference\N to Sarkozy's body language]
When one says they're going to attack Finance,
It's not with a wooden saber!
It must be done with an AXE!
Because THEY will have no mercy!
So, that's why I'm tellign you those things.
Otherwise, "The madam" [Marine Le Pen, FN, extreme right]\N will profit on this.
You know why: Not because of you! You do your best!
Not because of the unionists, who started explaining around--
--I'm thinking of the CGT's \Nand Solidaires' [major unions]...
...maybe others do it as well-- who explain around...
...why the FN is a mystification, and an imposture.
But let's not ignore what damage has been inflicted...
...Ever since Nicolas Sarkozy "lifted the dam" \Nbetween the right and the extreme right.
...Ever since they invented that SHAME\N they call the "people's right wing"! [Droite Populaire]
That thing is like the trash bin of the right...
...it keeps vomiting stinky ideas onto the workers...
...trying to divide them...
Ever since they lifted that dam...
...Then all those who were already a bit naive...
...became even more naive,\N and massively switched to the FN [extreme right].
Doing so, they created a dynamics\N that REJOYCES "fancy people"!
--which people, just like their ancestors\N --maybe they don't know it--...
...--do repeat the saying\N"Rather Hitler than the Popular Front"\N ["Plutot Hitler que le Front Populaire", 1936]
Look at them!
Not only the ones who harass us on the field!
Also look at those "perfumed scoundrels",\N who, all day long, take postures, ...
...and they say "Yes, Ms. Le Pen [extreme right] represents the workers",...
Like Pierre Laurent [PCF] said it earlier: You, the workers,...
...apparently you conceal 2 abominations:
Either you're not here --you're invisible--...
...Or you get insulted --and denied any opinion\N other than right-wing extremism...
...locked in with Ms. Le Pen,\N who doesn't represent you at all!
Comrades, friends, workers, stand up!
This time, the Left Front gives you this direction:
Front versus Front, we will take back the field!
Meter by meter!\N That means head by head!
With arguments!\N One by one!
Here is our task!
To each of you!
[crowd: "RESISTANCE! RESISTANCE!"]
You will do it!
With arguments!
With the light of reason!
And you'll tell yor co-workers: \N"Silly you! You'd believe anything!"
She [Marine Le Pen] told them: "I'll give you €200"...
...and many say "Ah, what a good idea!"
...But WHERE do those €200 come from?
Do you know it?
From your OWN social contributions, silly yous!\N [costisations sociales]
From the money that's already yours!
The money that you use to pay\N your social contributions [costisations sociales]...
...she offers to give it to you as a salary.
It doesn't cost ONE EURO to the Capital.
That's what she is: The watch dog!\N
She throws you bones\N That are already yours.
for short:
She takes your watch to give you the time.
That's what she does with her €200!
But WHO will pay them?
YOU WILL!
Because it is the LAW, that "for every euro\N removed from social contributions,
...the State's budget MUST give it back".
What she gives you with one hand\N she takes it back with the other.
Here is what are the "marvelous €200"\Nof that woman, who is a walking imposture!
...and when talk about the minimum wage [SMIC], my friends...
Tell the workers! WE want to increase the minimum wage!
...when SHE gives you €200 that are already yours.
I forgot to tell you that,\N with this great idea [sarcsatic],
...she DOUBLES the deficit of the Social Welfare.\N A small detail.
Today, she was asked,...
...at the "Ethic club"\N of Ms. Sophie Dementon...
...she got asked a quesiton about the minimum wage [SMIC].
Here is what she answered (that way, you'll know)
(then you won't tell she cares about the workers)
--actually, do you know what they do?
They despise you so much...
...they think you're so stupid...
They say "she's close to the workers\N because she knows how to talk to them".
A sociologist said that on the radio.
he said: "Melenchon is perfect, he's got only one flaw:
If he wanted to beat her, he should be more xenophobic."
Of course!
They think that all workers and employees are interested in...
...is to smash immigrants ["arabs"].
Those who say that came to the wrong place.
That's not this country's issue.
So, they think that it's your only preoccupation.
And that's why she [Marine Le Pen] is here:
To explain to you that the issue is the immigrant, not the banker.
That's all the work she does.
She's only there for that.

51'14"

So, she was asked about the minimum wage [SMIC]
and here is what she answered:
"I don't believe in an increase of the minimum wage"
Did you here that?
You can go home!
"I don't believe in an increase of the SMIC...
...that relies on the company."
Ah...
Ms. Parisot must be happy! \N[head of MEDEF, French CEOs' union]
"I don't believe in an increase of the SMIC\Nthat relies on the company...
...This is why the State will support\N the increase of the buying power."
What could that possibly mean?
"The State"... But WHO is "The State" ?
In other words... Yes... we will pay\N our own SMIC's increase OURSELVES.
How random.
This is the brilliant invention of the \N"great spokesperson" of working men and women.
That's what it is.
Go tell that to those who want it.
So, working men and women as well as employees\N are interested in the minimum wage [SMIC],
in other words: the wages. They don't beg.
They demand, through the strength leverage of the classes,
that their pay gets increased.
But I don't intend on dodging the question of immigration.
Even if I risk boring you.
DO NOT MAKE CONCESSIONS.
We DO NOT AGREE on saying that our country's issues...
...result from immigration.
THIS. IS. NOT. TRUE.
THIS. IS. NOT. TRUE.
Already, in this country,
some tried to do this stupidity that she [Marine Le Pen] explained:
She said -to boast in a meeting- , and she wrote :
"We demand the immediate expulsion of clandestine immigrants"
The "immediate expulsion".
The only issue is that they are indeed "clandestine".
...But I'll come to this.
I started a sentence, I must finish it\N --so that you have it in your toolkit.
In this country, we ALREADY \N--between 1931 and 1935--\N expelled 700,000 immigrants.
what happened then?
Did we instantly see people taking the position\N that immigrants had previously "taken" from them?
No! My dear fellow Frenchmen, ladies and gentlemen.
Unemployment increased \N of almost 50% immediately.
Why?
Because all these people, who are here, who work...
...they pay taxes.
she [Marine Le Pen] says they cost 70 billion to the country.
She LIES.
To call for a war that's not yours...against immigrants.
She lies.
Immigrants receive 48 billion in social welfare.
...Yet they pay 60 billion worth of taxes.
In other words, they offer to all others 12 billion.
So, Ms. Le Pen?
Let's imagine we'd FIND, to expell from France,
the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who are here.
--that's your figure.
That we'd manage to book\Nthe 3,000 required Airbus
(provided they all fly to the same place!)...
That we do the blunder --if we catch 20,000 a year--
--if we increase the rate by not renewing\N the IDs of those who have one--
...Then we'd spend 10 years of chasing them.
But imagine we manage to do it.
Then, Ms Le Pen...
...Where do we find the 12 billion that are now missing?
And I'm only talking figures!
Now I'll talk about the heart's law!
We are alike.
The ones who're here did their lives with us.
Our kids went to school together.
Our kids are all French.\N They are all equally beautiful.
We don't sort them. We love them all.
In Europe, we hold the record of mixed marriages!
Because... The same way a North African worker\N in their village, in their "bled"...
...does not benchmark the social rights\N of european countries before leaving...
Because, when they leave, they are mostly scared...
--Am I going to reach my destination?--
Because they renunce every small happiness\N of life, like being with their family...
...scents, landscapes, ... all is lost!
They don't compare.
Well, once they're here... Once they live with us...
Then should WE be the ones to tell them:\N "It's a permanent Crusade here! Get Out!" ???
"Leave!"\N ...And we forget we have together \Nchildren, grandchildren, uncles, aunties...
C'est la vie!/That's life!
We are the Front of LIFE!
Against those people who promote DEATH...
...who want divison and hatred!
we are PROUD of this!
and I, who's speaking to you...
...Child, grandchild of immigrants...
...and of Algerian Frenchmen [pieds-noirs]...
...adopted by the beautiful Franche Comté [French region]...
...that never asked me where I was coming from...
...that adopted me and gave me my chance in life...
...and allowed me to have the honor\N of being in front of you tonight:
I say to this gang of bastards: \N"You will not start again in here [in France]...\N...the war that you already led over there...
"...and that we ALEADY lost! [in Algeria, 1962]\N Because of your idiocy!"
"Because of your stupidity! Of your cruelty!"
Le Pen: Father, daughter, granddaughter!
Family of endless exploiters! \Nwho understand nothing about life!
...or about the happiness there is in being together!
You understood nothing about it over there...
...you understand nothing about it in here.
GET OUT! If someone must leave, \Nit should be you rather than us.

57'19"

So, after "the Madam" said\Nthat the State should pay the wages increase...
...immediately, the newspaper "Challenges",\N quoting a manager of the UIMM...
--you know, the hardest CEOs' union, the steelworkers' one--
what did he say? he said: "It is a very interesting offer"
Here you are, dummy!
As a worker, feel free to choose such a bosses ass-kisser\N to represent you!
Good.


I'll finish with the icing on the cake,\Nregarding this good woman.
They say she is "anti-system".
Her father used to say he was fighting\N the "gang of the four" [sarcastic]...
...She IS part of it.
And her friends of the "anti-system",
They govern in Greece.
In Greece, the extreme right\N is present in the government.
SHAME to those who govern with them.
SHAME to the right-wing and the socialists, \Nwho accepted to team up woth them.
They don't boast about this, do they?
In Greece, the twin-party of the Front National, "LAOS"...
...is part of the "Papademos" [prime minister] government,\N installed by the IMF and the EU.
The new Greek minister of transports\N is named M. Makis Voridis.
He's a big friend of the Front National.
And when he was appointed as a minister,
a leader of the FN, Pierre Chesnay, twitted :
"The appointment of our friend Makis Voridis\N in the Greek government is excellent news."
They are well acquainted.
He came to the latest FN congress, \Nand Mr. J-M. Le Pen was at his wedding.
Family business, so to speak!
THAT is what are the watchdogs of the Capital.







(the rest of the translation will come soon)