Jaques Cheminade Declares Candidacy for 2012 French Presidential Election

June 19, 2010—On June 18, 1940, Charles de Gaulle launched his historic "Appeal to the French people" from London, calling upon all patriots to resist the occupation of France by the Nazis, as well as the fully complicit Vichy regime of Petain. Against all odds, de Gaulle, at first alone and isolated, went on to organize and lead the Free French forces, admittedly small but ultimately successful.

Now, 70 years later, Jacques Cheminade, president of Solidarite et Progres in France, chose the same date to officially announce his candidacy for the Presidential elections of 2012, in order to rally resistance to the new, financial fascism which threatens worldwide. Although politicians of all stripes have attempted to coopt the 70th anniversary of de Gaulle's famous call, Cheminade is the only one to incarnate the true spirit of resistance.

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The "European Cathedral" that Charles de Gaulle, his predecessors and his allies dreamed of building, has become, through the unconscionable compromises of his successors, a disreputable house where banks are bailed out and the people's throats are slit.

I find no one, among my country's official circles, who has risen to the challenge. No one who has offered a vision corresponding to our founding principles and documents, drawn up in the aftermath of the victory of free peoples over regimes that were intent on enslaving and degrading human beings: the preamble of our Constitution and the program of the National Council of Resistance. No one who is leading a ruthless battle against the new feudalism; no one who unstintingly serves the imperative of social justice set out in the Declaration of Philadelphia of May 10, 1944, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That is because no one dares to stand up to the predatory order of the City of London and Wall Street, by calling by its name this British Empire that intends to destroy the resistance of nation-states.

The two major candidates for the presidency currently promoted by a clique of media cartels, the former surrounded by "a firm," the latter by a "gang," (1), both serve, in their own way, the selfsame interests of a financial oligarchy which is driving the world to disaster, and promoting global austerity which, if not stopped, will lead to a war of all against all. Their policy is that of Chancellor Bruening and Pierre Laval during the 1930s, and we know where that led.

Faced with this tragic failure, faced with the illusion of returning to the past and to the self-destructive blindness of extremisms, I have decided to run for President in 2012 so as to contribute, now, to the needed political wake-up call.

Today, as 70 years ago, France is not alone. A movement is growing in the U.S., within the population, and among certain policymakers — despite the sickening cowardice of the Congress and President Obama — to demand a public productive credit system, to abolish the law of short-term financial gain and restore the priority of productive labor and human creativity. This movement is emerging as a coalition in favor of separating chartered commercial banks from investment banks — i.e., the Glass-Steagall principle adopted under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in order to stop destructive forms of financial speculation. This issue is absolutely crucial, and my dear friends across the Atlantic are the spearhead of the motion.

In response to the breakdown of the financial system of Wall Street and the City of London, a mobilization is now building internationally to fend off political and social decomposition.

In this situation, my role, as I see it, is that of a trailblazer striving to give a new sense to the history of our nation by contributing to this great promise emerging worldwide, and to do so in cooperation with all who are guided by the same intention.

The current policy of France is treasonous, and a crime with respect to our own history. It can only lead to chaos.

I therefore call upon all patriots, above party lines and allegiances, to join me in this effort to awaken the great issues of burning inspiration in our country and to unite them with those of others.

For there is a life after the euro and the IMF, provided we rebuild Europe, with such foundations as great projects for development from the Atlantic to the coasts of China, with such pillars as the financial capacities of a New Bretton Woods, and with the rooftop being the political and economic cooperation indispensable for achieving such great infrastructure programs.

This is the Europe that the world needs, whereas the Europe peddled under that name today, is just as dead as the monetary system that begat it.

In order to survive, our society must rediscover political virtue and courage. The opportunity is here and now, amidst the tempest.

(1) the "firm" and the "gang" are the self-proclaimed names of the political teams supporting the candidacies of, respectively, Nicolas Sarkozy and Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

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