Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja is a professor of African, African-American, and diaspora studies at the University of North Carolina and the author of many books, including “The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People’s History” and “Patrice Lumumba”.
The first round of the local elections took place against a backdrop of widespread creeping fascism in France and comes after a brutal offensive by the far right, during which the traditional ‘Republican’ right has decisively broken from much of its historical framework and values.