06.04.2012 - 14:14 [ Guardian ]

Jean-Luc Mélenchon: the poetry-loving pitbull galvanising the French elections

In packed agricultural hanger in a rural town in central France, an enraptured crowd raised their fists and chanted: „Resistance! Resistance!“ On stage, arms flung wide, sweat pouring down his face, stood the charismatic, hard-left firebrand hailed as the best orator of the presidential campaign. „The French Revolution of 1789 hasn‘t breathed its last!“ roared Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the poetry-loving pitbull of anti-capitalism. „If Europe is a volcano, France is the crater of all European revolutions!“