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Olivie BezansnoFrench Trotskyist, member of the Revolutionary Communist League.
Date of Birth: 14.04.1974
Country:  France |
Content:
Olivier Besancenot: A French Trotskyist
Early Life and EducationOlivier Besancenot was born on April 14, 1974, in Levallois-Perret, a suburb of Paris. His father was a teacher, and his mother a school psychologist. He studied history at the University of Paris-Nanterre and later at the University of Paris-6, specializing in contemporary history.
Political Activism
Besancenot's political involvement began at a young age. In 1988, at the age of 14, he joined the Revolutionary Communist Youth, an organization aligned with the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR). While at university, he established a cell of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) at the supermarket where he worked.
In 1991, Besancenot joined the LCR. He became a member of the SUD-PTT union (representing postal, telephone, and telecommunication workers) in 1997. He left the postal service in 1999 and worked as a parliamentary aide to Alain Krivine in the European Parliament from 2000 to 2002.
Presidential Candidacies
Besancenot gained national prominence after running for President of France in 2002. At 28, he was the youngest presidential candidate in the country's history. Running on an openly revolutionary socialist platform, he received 1.3 million votes, or 4.25%. He won 13.9% of the vote among voters under 25, outperforming both Lionel Jospin and Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Besancenot ran for President again in 2007 on behalf of the LCR. His campaign focused on the slogan "Our Lives Are Worth More Than Their Profits." He advocated for income redistribution, increasing the minimum wage, workers' control of businesses, opposing layoffs, and providing legal documents to all foreign residents of France. He also called for the political and electoral independence of anti-capitalist leftists from the Socialist Party and opposed their participation in a potential left-wing government. Notable non-political supporters of Besancenot included filmmaker Ken Loach. In the 2007 election, Besancenot received 1.5 million votes, or 4.08%, increasing his vote by 300,000 from 2002.
