On Thursday evening, BFM TV hosted a debate between Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the left-wing La France Insoumise, and Eric Zemmour, who can be described as many things. I've seen journalist, essayist and polemicist. He's generally positioned as right-wing or far right. Both are eloquent, intelligent and engaging speakers, whatever your views on their political positions, which meant this debate was likely to be a big draw for viewers.
BFM set the whole thing up with all the drama and urgency of a real presidential debate. There was tense music, two moderators and the debaters positioned opposite each other and separated by an open space, as if they might otherwise lunge at each other at any moment. In fact, the actual presidential debate of 2017 had less drama.
Remember that only Jean-Luc Mélenchon has actually announced he will be running for president in 2022. Eric Zemmour is keeping everyone guessing. Whether he runs or not - and it looks as if he will - he's likely to have a big impact on the campaign.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon started by saying he didn’t want a ‘cock fight’ and looked forward to a responsible debate. Despite that lofty intention it didn’t take long for him to describe his opponent as a ‘danger for the country’ and a ‘racist’. Zemmour was equally scathing, reminding Mélenchon of statements he’d made in the past, notably regarding Islam, and claiming that ‘Mélenchon had betrayed Mélenchon’.
The debate was split in two. The first part asked whether France is in danger and covered immigration, security and global strength while the second was on how to reduce social divides and looked at purchasing power, the environment and how to reconcile the French.
What became clear from the outset was the fundamentally different view the two have on French society and, specifically, the people who make up French society. Zemmour believes France is guilty of ‘criminal madness’ by admitting ‘millions of Muslims who are hostile to Christians’. Mélenchon thinks France has been more successful than other countries at what he calls ‘créolisation’, which means bringing in new people and cultures and creating something new. They are two opposing theories. Zemmour says ‘créolisation’ is just another word for multi-culturalism. Instead, he wants those coming to France to ‘assimilate’ (his word) and adhere to French values, including having French names, for example. Mélenchon questions what a ‘French name’ even means, arguing that any name that a person of French nationality has is, by definition, a ‘French name’.
There were several good things about the debate. First, the moderators allowed the two to debate most of the time, avoiding the need to insert themselves into proceedings too much, except to remind one or the other of the relative time they had spoken or to move the topics forward. Second, it was good to hear the two men outline their views themselves, rather than hear them characterised by others. Third, the debate stayed firmly on substantive topics and did not stray into personal issues and character attacks.
Of course, the big winner was BFM itself. The programme was watched by 3.8 million viewers, or almost 20% of the viewing public, making it the most watched channel that evening.
If you want to watch the debate it’s available on YouTube here.
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