Journalist Trond Andresen has been fired from left-wing paper Klassekamlpen after claiming in a column that populist Marine Le Pen was a better choice than globalist conservative candidate Francois Fillon.
Mr. Andresen noted that if he was French he would likely vote for the populist candidate saying, “had I been French, I would – gulp – have voted Marine Le Pen in the second round of elections next year, based on the two options the polls now pointing towards.” The comments made in Monday’s edition of the paper led to an email later in the day from editor Bjørgulv Braanen telling him he was no longer employed reports Aftenposten.
The firing of Andresen will have a major impact on the left-wing paper as he has been the page 2 commentator off and on since the founding of the paper 16 years ago. Andresen himself is a longtime left-wing politician in Norway under the Norwegian Communist party and is notably anti-Israel having attempted to get the Norwegian University of Science and Technology to boycott the country.
“They had plenty of time in which to ask me to modify the contents,” Andresen said.
In his column on the Front National leader Monday he wrote, “Le Pen and I agree with these very important issues: opposition to the EU, getting out of the euro, national industrial policy with elements of protectionism, immigration restriction, secular state, independent foreign policy, no to America’s wars for regime change, for relaxation and cooperation with Russia, against globalism.”
He also added, “François Fillon against Marine Le Pen, is a bit like Trump against Clinton. I’m not excited about any of them, but Le Pen is the best of two evils.”
The divide between left and right in Europe and in North America has become centered around the debate on globalism leading other traditionally left-wing figures to support populist candidates.
One notable example was Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek who told Channel 4 that he supported Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton before the U.S. presidential elections. Zizek said the election of Trump would, “be a kind of big awakening. New political processes will be set in motion, will be triggered.”
In Italy, the Five Star Movement is another anti-globalist party from the left led by former comedian Beppe Grillo. The movement’s adherents distrust the ruling European Union elite in Brussels and have stated their intentions to get Italy out of the euro currency via a proposed referendum. They have said they will fight for a new election in the wake of the referendum loss for former Italian Prime minister Matteo Renzi who resigned in the aftermath.
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson@breitbart.com