Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Jean-Luc Mélenchon was for many years a leading member of the French Socialist Party. He broke with the Socialists in 2008 and founded the movement that is now La France insoumise. He stood in the presidential elections of 2012, 2017 and 2022, and in the latter came close to reaching the run-off.
In this interview he discusses his childhood in Morocco and early politicisation, his approach to ecological planning, and the future of politics in France.
His new book, Now, the People! Revolution in the Twenty-First Century, translated by David Broder, is a major investigation of the possibility of a new type of revolution in our epoch.
Out now: versobooks.com/products/3256-now-the-people-revolution-in-the-twenty-first-century?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=now_the_people_25
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:23 Childhood in Morocco
00:10:04 National identity
00:24:08 Early politicisation
00:34:23 Marxism
00:35:41 The history of mass struggles
00:41:54 Why did you join the Parti Socialiste
01:04:03 A Critique of Stageism
01:06:39 Sci-fi
01:11:15 Demographics
01:18:10 Immigration
01:22:05 Cities
01:33:47 Climate change and planning
01:51:03 The politics of everyday life
01:55:38 The role of morality
02:05:12 The 1848 Revolutions
02:10:21 Citizens’ assemblies
02:15:57 State repression
02:23:08 Islamophobia
02:34:29 Geopolitics
02:53:01 Anglophone culture
Jean-Luc Mélenchon was for many years a leading member of the French Socialist Party. He broke with the Socialists in 2008 and founded the movement that is now La France insoumise. He stood in the presidential elections of 2012, 2017 and 2022, and in the latter came close to reaching the run-off.
In this interview he discusses his childhood in Morocco and early politicisation, his approach to ecological planning, and the future of politics in France.
His new book, Now, the People! Revolution in the Twenty-First Century, translated by David Broder, is a major investigation of the possibility of a new type of revolution in our epoch.
Out now: versobooks.com/products/3256-now-the-people-revolution-in-the-twenty-first-century?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=now_the_people_25
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:23 Childhood in Morocco
00:10:04 National identity
00:24:08 Early politicisation
00:34:23 Marxism
00:35:41 The history of mass struggles
00:41:54 Why did you join the Parti Socialiste
01:04:03 A Critique of Stageism
01:06:39 Sci-fi
01:11:15 Demographics
01:18:10 Immigration
01:22:05 Cities
01:33:47 Climate change and planning
01:51:03 The politics of everyday life
01:55:38 The role of morality
02:05:12 The 1848 Revolutions
02:10:21 Citizens’ assemblies
02:15:57 State repression
02:23:08 Islamophobia
02:34:29 Geopolitics
02:53:01 Anglophone culture
