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Olivier Besancenot (born April 18, 1974) is a French left-wing political figure and candidate for the 2007 French presidential election, for the Ligue communiste révolutionnaire (LCR), the French section of the Fourth International. He gained 1.2 million votes, 4.25%, standing as a revolutionary socialist in the 2002 presidential elections.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Portrait 3 Political life 4 Published works 5 Related quotes 6 See also 7 External links

Olivier Besancenot was born on April 18, 1974 in Levallois-Perret in the Hauts-de-Seine Region, (France). His father Michel Besancenot was a teacher and a scholar of psychology.

He studied history at University of Paris X (Nanterre) and since 1997 has worked as a postal carrier in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Along with Alain Krivine and Roseline Vachetta, Besancenot is one of three spokespersons for the Ligue communiste révolutionnaire (LCR), a left political party which is the French section the reunified Fourth International, an international Trostkyist group.

He defines himself as a revolutionary and an "altermondialiste" and cites Rosa Luxemburg and Che Guevara more often than Trotsky^{[citation needed]}.

Besancenot's engagement in left-wing politics started at an early age. He joined the Revolutionary Communist Youth (Jeunesses communistes révolutionnaires) (JCR) in 1988 when he was just 14 years old.

When at university studying for his history "licence" (BA) he formed a local branch of the Confédération générale du travail trade union in the supermarket, Shopi, where he worked.

In 1991 he joined the LCR. Since 1997 he has been a member of the Sud-PTT, trade union. He took a break from his job at the postal services in 1999 and 2000 to serve as a parliamentary attaché to Alain Krivine in the European Parliament.

2001 and 2002, he participated in the World Social Forum at Porto Alegre.

He gained some national prominence when he stood for the 2002 French presidential election. At 28 years old he became the youngest presidential candidate in the country's history. Standing on an openly revolutionary socialist platform he gained 1.3 million votes, 4.25% of the total vote. Among under 25 years olds he gained 13.9 percent of the vote, beating both Lionel Jospin and Jean-Marie Le Pen.[1]

Since the beginning of his presidential campaign, Besancenot has used the slogan "Nos vies valent plus que leurs profits" (Our lives are worth more than their profits) and has campaigned for further redistribution of wealth, an increase in the minimum wage, prohibition of layoffs for profitable companies, and a taxation of profits from capital speculation.

• Tout est à nous (2002), ISBN 2-207-25309-0, Denoël
• Révolution (100 mots pour changer le monde, 2003), ISBN 2-290-33828-1, Flammarion

• "The problem with Besancenot is that the class he believes he represents doesn't exist." ("Le problème avec Besancenot c'est qu'il croit incarner une classe qui n'existe pas.") Alain Minc
• "Responding to Olivier Besancenot when one is on the left is to find oneself in short order against youth and on the right." Dominique Reynie (professor in political science)
• "Indeed, he is a nice boy, he has a pleasant face, what he says isn't stupid, I share some of his analysis but not all of it, far from it." ("Ma foi c'est un gentil garçon, il a un visage agréable, ce qu'il dit n'est pas bête, je partage quelques unes de ses analyses mais pas toutes, loin de là.") Elisabeth Guigou

• Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire (LCR)
• The reunified Fourth International

• (French) Olivier Besancenot official website for 2007 Presidential elections
• (French) Olivier Besancenot - Blog