Wouldn’t you vote for the man who can bake such lovely bread?
He is Stéphane Ravacley. Born in Besançon, whose other great son was Victor Hugo, another man who stood for ordinary people, and sat in parliament. Stéphane is a baker, and he has always taken cudgels to defend working people. He gained prominence last year when his Guinean apprentice, Abdoulaye Traoré was being threatened with deportation, after having arrived in France as an unaccompanied minor three years ago. Immigration being an election issue, when the country was gearing itself for impending presidential elections to be followed in six months by legislative ones, being soft on the sans papiers can lose you votes. So Stéphane had received his notice. Ravacley thought it was outrageous, and after his attempts to win a reprieve for his young apprentice had failed, he decided that the only course left for him was to organise a massive petition to President Macron and start a hunger strike until death unless the authorities finally looked at the case. They blithely ignored him. However, after eleven days he became seriously ill and had to be taken to the hospital where doctors fought to save his life. This became a cause célèbre, and Traoré won.
This was what gave the baker of Besançon the idea that what government needed was fewer Enarques (over-educated academics turned politicians), and more working-class men and women who understand the problems of ordinary folks for having had a better chance of experiencing them. He allowed an alliance of parties of the left to talk him into becoming a candidate for the coming French general elections this week.
When the Russians invaded Ukraine, he launched an appeal for humanitarian aid for the beleaguered country, and within a week he had 25 truckloads of humanitarian aid for the victims of Russian bombing.
In France, where the far-right immigrant-hating Marine Le Pen obtained 42% of the votes, Ravacley has attracted a lot of venom from the far right. His electoral posters are regularly covered with swastikas, and not a day passes without his receiving a death threat.
The political pundits have opined that he has a realistic chance of being elected and of becoming a parliamentarian
