Marine Le Pen took to the stage with a clear message: She would lead France’s “renaissance” as the country sank into crisis – and she would do so soon.
asserted
she → take → crisis
The far-right figure’s words were met with cheers from thousands of supporters gathered in Orleans in central France on Sunday, as she launched her presidential campaign against a backdrop of mass demonstrations and widespread social and economic discontent.
asserted
she → meet → demonstrations
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Rally → gain → France
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crimes → rise → Europe
“Marine présidente!” the crowd chanted, waving French flags beneath a sea of red and blue lights.
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crowd → chant → lights
Organisers said 8,500 supporters had gathered in a venue transformed into a fort for the event.
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supporters → say → event
Standing tall on stage in a pink blazer, her hair impeccably coiffed, Le Pen spoke with the confidence of a leader who believes the presidency is within reach.
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presidency → stand → reach
Riding high in the polls, with candidates from the right, left and centre trailing behind her, she presented the election as a historic opportunity to restore France’s past glory.
asserted
she → rid → glory
“This is a story to be written, a destiny to be fulfilled,” she told the crowd, which erupted in cheers.
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which → write → cheers
Her pitch was a promise to restore authority and security in a country she portrayed as having lost control.
asserted
she → restore → control
“We are going to re-establish the rule of law,” she said, drawing loud applause from supporters wearing “Marine présidente” T-shirts.
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she → go → shirts
“What they propose are values that resonate with me, that vibrate within me,” she said.
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she → propose → me
“Honestly, I feel at home here.”
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I → feel → home
Le Pen’s speech comes as the country is at a crossroads.
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country → come → crossroads
France has been shaken by a wave of protests since mid-September, a movement sparked by high school students in a Paris suburb that grew into a nationwide mobilisation tapping into widespread discontent.
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that → shake → discontent
Over the past two weekends, largely peaceful protests have been accompanied by episodes of violence on a scale rarely seen in recent years.
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protests → accompany → years
On October 17, shops were looted and ransacked, and more than 2,000 people were arrested as hundreds of thousands took to the streets of French cities.
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thousands → loot → cities
A similar dynamic unfolded the following weekend, though on a smaller scale.
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dynamic → unfold → scale
The protests show little sign of abating, with calls for further demonstrations already circulating.
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calls → show → demonstrations
The unrest has given Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) an opportunity to play one of its favourite cards: presenting itself as the guarantor of law and order.
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unrest → give → law
It has fuelled criticism of President Emmanuel Macron over his handling of public security, allowing Le Pen to accuse him of incompetence and the far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon – a contender in the coming elections – of encouraging the violence.
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Pen → fuel → violence
‘My country is drifting off course’
asserted
country → drift → course
“I believe that my country is currently drifting off course,” said Nadede, a 56-year-old who began voting for RN in 2024 over what she said was the country’s growing lack of security.
asserted
she → believe → security
She did not spell out any specific event.
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She → spell → event
“I think that the only person capable of setting it back on the right track is Marine Le Pen – especially since, up until now, everyone else who has run for office has struggled to do so,” she said.
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she → think → office
Outside the convention hall, the scale of the security operation offered a glimpse of the tensions surrounding the event.
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scale → offer → event
Police checks began at departure stations in Paris and continued on arrival, while officers in full gear moved through train carriages during the journey.
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officers → begin → journey
Orleans itself had been brought to a near standstill.
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Orleans → bring → standstill
All businesses were shut and public transport suspended.
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transport → shut → ?
Standing almost alone in the city’s main square was the statue of Joan of Arc, surrounded only by fences.
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statue → stand → fences
A day earlier, about 3,000 police officers had been deployed to prevent unrest as anti-RN protesters gathered against what they say is a xenophobic and racist party.
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they → deploy → unrest
For a party that has long sought to cast itself as the guardian of French identity and national sovereignty, the city is inseparable from the story of Joan of Arc, the 15th-century heroine who helped lift the English siege of Orléans in 1429 and became a symbol of France’s resistance and liberation.
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who → seek → resistance
For decades, the far right has claimed her as an emblem of national pride, invoking the image of a warrior who came to save France from foreign domination.
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who → claim → domination
Le Pen herself has drawn parallels between Joan’s mission and her political ambitions.
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Pen → draw → mission
The crowd at the RN Congress offered a glimpse of how the party has expanded its appeal to a wider section of society: from young people from urban centres to middle-class workers who used to vote for the centrist party.
asserted
who → offer → party
Only a few years ago, the party was still considered on the fringes of French politics.
asserted
party → consider → politics
Its growth has been driven in part by a carefully crafted strategy known as dédiabolisation, or de-demonisation, developed over the past two decades to broaden the party’s base while tempering its rhetoric and distancing it from positions that had made it toxic to many voters.
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it → drive → voters
The party has long been associated with racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.
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party → associate → racism
Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, was convicted of hate speech, including for describing Nazi gas chambers as “a detail of history”.
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father → convict → history
He was expelled from the party in 2015.
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He → expel → 2015
…and 19 more, not listed.
The Aporia
