Melanchon’s position on foreign policy, including on Ukraine where he seems accomodate Russia, probably anger many.
Fresh from this weekend, but same as always:
Jean-Luc Mélenchon a dit refuser « qu’on envisage une paix avec des concessions territoriales en Ukraine, sans qu’on demande aux populations concernées si elles sont d’accord pour se trouver de ce côté-ci de la frontière ou de l’autre ».
S'il y a des concessions territoriales, ce que nous ne demandons pas, mais s'il y en a, alors les habitants doivent pouvoir décider et s'autodéterminer" (Panot)
LFI supports and have even hosted leftist opponents of Putin, yet people still call them putinists, this is just ridiculous. Even better, the instant one of Putin's leftist opponents sided with Russia in the Ukraine war, Mélenchon publicly renounced him, on that very day:
Les liens repris avec l’opposition russe nous ont fait découvrir un tableau affligeant. Nous venons de rompre politiquement avec SergueÏ Oudaltsov parce qu’il s’est prononcé pour la guerre. [...] nous avons aussitôt pris contact avec la minorité restée fidèle à l’idéal commun.
The only putinist in the presidential race is Le Pen. Calling her leftist opposition a "support of Putin" is helping Le Pen's campaign by making both of them appear similar on this topic. Just because Mélenchon thinks we should press harder on peace negotiations instead of accepting people dying in a neverending war doesn't mean he wants to throw Ukraine under the bus. Quite the opposite.
The most compelling argument imo against this nonsense is that a large number of us ground level activists would instantly stop supporting him and the party if he was actually pro-Russia / putinist in any way. Most of us are not affiliated with LFI and would distance ourselves from their presidential campaign without regrets if they strayed away from the leftist ideal of being pro-peace and anti-imperialist, with Russia being the imperial warmonger in this situation.
You do not have to repeat the opposition & mainstream media's propaganda on Mélenchon 🙏