Julian-Nicolas Calfuquir is national executive secretary of the Parti de Gauche's Youth Network and international coordinator at Les Jeunes Insoumis·es.
Most of the last decade’s left-populist insurgents failed to create lasting alternatives to neoliberalized social democracy. But Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Insoumise bucked the trend — and did it through years of work building real, popular roots.
In 2017’s French election, radical left-winger Jean-Luc Mélenchon surged to 20 percent support, only narrowly failing to make the runoff. Last month he announced his candidacy for the 2022 race — and he’s trying to show that his France Insoumise movement can govern as well as protest.