Marine Le Pen Injured

Marine Le Pen was seriously injured in a fall last week but the news has just been released to the press. There is some confusion over her condition because she has made television appearances since the accident, therefore she could not have broken her back. It appears to be a fractured sacrum that resulted from a fall in an empty swimming pool. Exactly how the accident happened is not clear.  Sarcastic readers' comments at Le Monde and even at le Figaro are a reminder that the animosity towards her has not slackened. Here is part of a report from Le Point:

It was Jean-Marie Le Pen who announced the news during a meeting in Limoges where he replaced the president of the Front National. "Marine could not come, because she has been the victim of a rather serious accident that is preventing her from going out. She fell in her empty pool and fractured her spinal column," explained Mr. Le Pen as an introduction to his speech in a municipal auditorium.

The president of the Front National tried to be reassuring when she posted on Twitter: "No panic! Fractured sacrum last week-end, it will be long and painful but nothing terrible! MLP."

The accident, which occurred a week ago, has forced Mme Le Pen to limit her travels, but does not prevent her from participating in meetings and making television appearances.

In a communiqué, the Front National confirmed that Marine Le Pen is suffering form a fractured sacrum that "will lead to a slight reduction in her schedule, but will not prevent her from continuing her activities." It "reassures the party members about the state of her health and thanks them for the many messages of sympathy that were addressed to her."

(…)

Note: A medical website explains:

 - Treatment for a sacral fracture may include rest, a donut pillow, narcotic pain medications, and nonsteroidal medications for pain. Surgery may be required to treat a severe sacral fracture.

Speedy recovery, Marine, France needs you! According to a poll conducted by the Huffington Post, a majority of Frenchmen believe that Marine Le Pen is better able to solve the problem of crime than either Nicolas Sarkozy or François Hollande. Below, the results showing that 31% of those questioned place their faith in Marine:

Taubira's Law is Constitutional

This will be the week that was. Next Sunday, May 26, the Manif Pour Tous will once again, assuming the weather is favorable, bring out huge crowds of protesters in an all-out effort to demand the repeal of Taubira's law. But the law has been judged constitutional by the Constitutional Council in a decision rendered on May 17. A decision that was expected but dreaded. Le Figaro reports:

The Constitutional Council validated the law authorizing marriage and adoption for homosexual couples, emphasizing nonetheless that the wording of the law does not recognize a "right to a child". Rather, the "interests of the child" must be the principle adhered to in any adoption agreement.

The "Wise Men" have determined that marriage was not contrary to "any constitutional principle": "This ruling affects neither the fundamental rights and freedoms, nor national sovereignty, nor the organization of public authority" and "cannot therefore constitute a fundamental principle," added the Council in its decision.

Note: The members of the Council are called "les Sages" ("Wise Men").

The Council made one stipulation: that henceforth the constitutional requirement of the "interests of the child" be applied in the granting of adoption by the general councils and in the decisions on adoption rendered by the courts.

Note: This means the "interests of the child" must be considered. It is almost a hint to the authorities not to allow adoption. At the very least it permits them to deny an adoption if they have doubts about the potential parents. But this must be true in any adoption, even one by a traditional couple.

On May 17, Christian Taubira visited Lyon and was greeted by noisy opponents. The video below shows the event:

The abject government of François Hollande

Catholic writer Bernard Antony demands the resignation of François Hollande following the post-soccer mayhem on Sunday that tore up the Champs-Elysées and the Trocadéro, leaving many people wounded and terrorized, and businesses destroyed.

All Frenchmen were able to see for themselves last night on every television channel the extent of abjection and ridicule that characterize Mr. Hollande's government, his minister of the Interior, his minister of Justice, as well as the grotesque posturing of the prefect of Paris.

Clearly, it is easier to use the riot police and mobile guards and hordes of cops in civilian clothes to repress the peaceful demonstrators of the Manif Pour Tous, by spraying women and children with dangerous tear gas. But the latter, in the eyes of the gang of sans-culottes who claim to govern us, were, it is true, guilty of crimes such as holding small pennants or flags on the end of derisory wooden sticks.

Those demonstrators never broke anything, never smashed windows, never burned cars. They were mistreated by the hundreds, apprehended, held in custody and even, for some, thrown in jail for two days for no reason at all.

We even watched as wretched executors of disgraceful orders, decked out in their armor everywhere, gleefully beat mothers in front of their children.

Last night it was a completely different ball game! To celebrate the victory of an athletic team, formerly Parisian but now owned by the Islamist State of Qatar, the fauna of thugs came to the party, in accordance with their usage and customs! And then, after hours of pillaging or setting fires, at their discretion, the eight hundred valiant cohorts of the Republic of Hollande, Valls, and Taubira, only managed to make twenty-one arrests!

True, those hooded young people were not "fascists" guilty of defending the family through reactionary acts as serious as pushing baby carriages with little French babies inside. Furthermore, last night we saw and heard at length the distinguished vice-president of SOS-Racism in charge of sports, the ineffable Hermann Ebongue, with his Afro coiffure artistically braided and his awkward speech, express his understanding of the cause of the "ultras" and at the same time his gratitude to Qatar. (Bizarre, you said bizarre?)

Note: I know little about Hermann Ebongue and nothing of the television appearance referred to. There is a photo of him here, minus the corn rows. "Ultras" must refer to the vandals and thugs.

The truth is that for Hermann Ebongue and his richly subsidized association, no more than for Lady Taubira, there is little cause for concern over a barbaric rampage obviously engendered by the most total racist contempt for France and the French.

AGRIF, of course, demands the dismissal of the prefect of Paris and also, because of their ever-increasing failures, of the ministers of the Interior and Justice. But the most necessary decision would be the one that Mr. François Hollande ought to make in the interests of France and his own interests: to resign, without waiting for it to become unavoidable.

Note: AGRIF, founded by Bernard Antony, provides legal support and aid to those ethnic Frenchmen and Catholics who are victims of discrimination and/or anti-white racism.

At the top, one of several photos from Le Parisien of the violent confrontations on May 12.

Below, a photo of two tourist buses attacked by thugs. From François Desouche.

Note: I will have to try to clarify a few things later. I had assumed all the violence took place Sunday night, but it seems the attacks at le Trocadéro (near the Eiffel Tower) took place on Monday afternoon. These were the attacks that involved tourist buses.

Some readers have suggested that this week-end's rampage was part of a pre-programmed attack on France by Islamic forces, and other enemies of France. Manuel Valls has ridiculously tried to compare the violence to the incidents that have occurred during the Manif Pour Tous. For him there is no difference. (Actually, there IS a difference: the Manif is much worse in his way of thinking, but he cannot quite bring himself to say that publicly.)

The passive, unperturbed, unmovable indifference at the highest level of government today is not very different from the passive unperturbed complacency of President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin in 2005 when the ghettos rampaged for days on end (October 27 - November 17 approx.), setting the stage for all future rampages, accelerating the Islamization of France, and forever paralyzing the police, under permanent orders to treat the vandals gently. Over nine thousand cars were burned, and Seine-Saint-Denis became more famous than the Latin Quarter. Below a map showing the "hot spots" of the 2005 riots. At the time, Nicolas Sarkozy was minister of the Interior.

Pillaging the heart of Paris...

The violence that followed the PSG victory on Sunday was worse than previously thought. Here is a communiqué from Marine Le Pen:

On the occasion of the celebration of the PSG championship, rampaging thugs pillaged the heart of Paris.

Barbarians with no connection to the fans left a countless number of victims: residents, merchants, tourists.

This raid committed with impunity was nonetheless predictable. It is the consequence of the impoverished mind of Interior Minister Manuel Valls, who should have banned this gathering, considering the eruptions that had taken place the night before. The problem with this minister is that, like his pathetic predecessors of the UMP, he cultivates a veritable State-sponsored policy of laxness.

Note: I have no information on what happened the night before.

These urban riots are a reminder that nothing has changed since those of 2005, and that France is seated on a volcano: at any moment, the situation can explode and extreme violence can be unleashed at innocent people.

It is clearly no longer possible to organize even the smallest event in the large French cities. The population is at the mercy of thugs who, far from being neutralized, have been assiduously protected by the ideological convictions of successive governments of both the right and left.

Marine Le Pen urges a revolt against this gangrene: we must prevail and apply zero tolerance against these thugs who feel they can do as they please on our territory.

Below, a short video, posted at François Desouche, showing some of the mayhem. In the beginning you see a yellow tourist bus that was attacked near the Eiffel Tower. The announcer says the vandals come in to pillage from the outskirts of Paris every time there is a popular event. There were dozens of wounded, numerous arrests and much damage done. The Paris prefect has announced that the PSG soccer team will no longer be allowed to celebrate in public.

Note: The team, per se, was not responsible. But the prefect has chosen to blame them instead of naming as guilty the thugs from the suburbs.

Reports also indicate that there were hardly any CRS (riot police) on the scene, especially at Trocadéro, near the Eiffel Tower, at the outset, but their numbers had increased greatly by the time the rioting was over. Therefore, some of the violence could have been prevented if there had been adequate security.

Ramage on the Champs-Elysées

If you read my preceding post you know that twenty persons who were doing nothing wrong were arrested on the Champs-Elysées a few days ago. In contrast, a violent rampage erupted on the same avenue Sunday night following the soccer victory of the PSG (Paris-Saint-Germain), but according to 24matins, the police dispersed the crowd. No mention is made here of arrests (see below for more).

Sunday evening many fans went to the Champs-Elysées to celebrate the victory of the PSG as champions of France, its first championship in nineteen years. But the crowds soon became disruptive: store fronts were smashed and there were confrontations with police. Vandals had mixed in with the fans and started trouble. Motor bikes were damaged, trash cans turned upside down and windows broken. The CRS (riot police) were there and intervened to disperse the crowds.

Note: The report is noticeably succinct and bland, as if this were no major event.

However, turn to François Desouche and you'll get another view of things. The photos below are examples:

And this short video gives an idea of the crowds and the noise, although violence is not obvious here. The France 2 journalist narrating says: 

"You have to forgive their excesses because they have been waiting for this for such long time…":



Twenty-one persons were eventually arrested including three vandals. Two of them had smashed windows and committed gang robbery, and the third had set fires.

Finally, a reminder that this PSG soccer team is owned by Qatar. It's one of many French institutions either owned outright or partially by the Emirate.

Arbitrary Arrests

Le Salon Beige reported the following on May 8:

About twenty persons, calmly walking on the Champs-Elysées this evening, without banners or slogans, were arrested by the police. No motive was given when they were forced to get into the police bus, not even that of illegal assembly. It seems to have been an arbitrary arrest, the crime of looking honest!

With no explanation, wallets and cell phones were confiscated. Some of the young persons were taken off the bus. No one knew why. Sixteen persons were then left in the bus. The police chief of the 16th arrondissement gave no reason for the arrests.

Note: At this point LSB gives two phone numbers for those who wish to call the police.

Three persons were taken to the Châtelet headquarters. We repeat that there was nothing distinctive about them. A lawyer was contacted. Eight persons were sent to police headquarters in the 16th arrondissement. The others were sent to different destinations!

Some opponents of Taubira's law immediately went to Châtelet to demand an explanation.

Below, the captives inside the bus:

Note: LSB posted an update on May 9:

Having shown their ID's, they were all released after three or four hours of arbitrary detention. Lawsuits are being initiated.

Note: There are no fewer than 84 comments to this article with references to gulags, Stalin, Himmler, etc… as well as reports by those readers who took the time to call the police. It seems the stressed-out police are confused and beginning to lose their self-control.

- Our country is being transformed into a dictatorship. Thank you for giving us news of this matter. I hope that complaints will be filed and that our deputies will react. If we don't react to this abuse of power it will get worse. If the people are anesthetized, the cat will be set among the pigeons.

- Is this the Gulag Archipelago? It sounds vey much like Alexander Solzhenitsyn. An arbitrary arrest, then ten years in the camp! Holland is the worst kind of Stalinist. He is not legitimate. (…)

- Everyone who called the police at Châtelet report that they are jittery I cannot judge myself but it confirms that the men are tense. The tension has been going on for seven long months in unusual circumstances. Clearly things can move rapidly because police blunders are multiplying, which is a sign of weakness. The fruit is ripe.

Surprisingly, Le Figaro also reported the story, giving a much wider audience access to news of the arrests, and underscoring the tremendous effect the protest movement is having on the media, the police and (we can assume) the powers that be. According to this article, a spokesman for the prefect admitted that they had spotted a young person wearing the Manif Pour Tous sweatshirt. The twenty young persons were arrested because they were dangerously close to Elysée Palace:

"They separated into two groups: one group was blocked at the rond-point des Champs-Elysées, another was arrested on avenue Gabriel."

"For two or three weeks, we have performed similar actions," justified the prefect's spokesman. "The day before yesterday, for example, they blocked rue de Rivoli for ten minutes. About fifteen of them were arrested. We're just doing our job: we cannot allow young persons to walk twenty yards from Elysée Palace".

Le Figaro has no fewer than 364 comments! These too make references to places like Uzbekistan, North Korea, and other "democracies". Many note that on May 26, date of the next massive demonstration, the police will have a hard time arresting everyone wearing a Manif sweatshirt.

Police Action in Caen

There are numerous reports of arbitrary attacks and arrests by the police. Le Salon Beige reported on May 7 that a woman, accompanied by her children, was beaten (above) by the police while she and a small number of protestors demonstrated on the occasion of the arrival at a school of Mme George Pau-Langevin, minister of Educational Outcomes. The woman had a megaphone and stood about hundred yards away from the security personnel:

Suddenly, the police chief, without warning, ordered about thirty riot police to push the demonstrators even further. Police in civilian dress also came and charged like a steam roller! The chief insulted a mother with her children, calling her a coward. They hit her haphazardly with  sticks, and four policemen in civilian dress literally fell on top of her, rolled her over and beat her on the ground, as her children watched! A young man, 16, could take no more and called the police "b..….s", then sat down on a bench with his friends. Fifteen minutes later the police in civilian dress arrested the sixteen-year-old. They put him in handcuffs and took him to headquarters.

The video below shows what happened. The text reads:

Hérouville Saint-Clair, suburb of Caen, May 6, 2013. The Manif Pour Tous of Calvados is ready to welcome George Pau-Langevin, minister of Educational Outcomes, at the exit of an "experimental middle-school". The regional leader of the Manif Pour Tous had organized the demonstration. It was authorized by the prefect.

Then, the images begin:

It is 4:47 p.m. and it is forbidden to film the scene. At 4:49, the adjunct police chief tries to ban the megaphone. 4:50 p.m. - he doesn't hesitate to shove the protestors against the barrier. The demonstrators are few in number and peaceful. The CRS (riot police), on the other hand… At 5:42 p.m. the riot police are ordered to push back the crowd. At 5:44 the police action becomes more intense. By 5:45 p.m. it is intolerable. At 5:48 p.m. (1'55" into the video) the woman with the megaphone is knocked to the ground by police in civilian dress. (She screams). All that for a megaphone.



Reminder: Small groups of protestors demonstrating against the law that legalizes "marriage for everybody" gather whenever a minister or public official makes an appearance. Their purpose is to continue to make known their opposition to Taubira's law. These groups, known as "welcoming committees", usually announce their plans ahead of time to receive official authorization.

May 8, 2013 - Few remember

Just a word about yesterday's "ceremony" on the Champs-Elysées, commemorating the May 8, 1945 victory over Nazism when Germany finally surrendered. While members of the government were there, including of course the president of the French Republic, and invited guest Bronislaw Komorowski, president of Poland, the French people did not show up. True, it was drizzling, but that rarely stops a crowd from attending a celebration. According to Le Figaro's readers the French people were not ignoring the anniversary of May 8, they were ignoring their leader whom they now regard as a non-entity:

- The crowd was in proportion to the mediocrity of the Chief Executive. He no longer represents the French.

- Remember, too, the reality of the total unpopularity of our null and void leaders.

- What awaits Hollande, after this fall in the polls, is the greatest indifference, similar to those presidents of the Fourth Republic who inaugurated chrysanthemums. Even with just 10% popularity, he will stay until the end of his term! Alas! His authority is collapsing, the, the Socialist Party will get the greatest licking in its history in the municipal elections and will explode. The situation in France will worsen even more. But so what? He remains stoic, trapped, ill at ease in all circumstances… Four years will be a long time!

- Hollande the Inept will perhaps understand that he must resign. The French People don't want to see him any more. But it must have made the Polish guests laugh at the sight of the empty avenue…

- Manuel Gaz (i.e., Interior Minister Manuel Valls) and his propaganda service counted three million four hundred thousand persons...

- What a shameful thing for France and Europe to still commemorate May 8. In the context of a European entente, it's a joke.

Note: According to Le Figaro, the date became a holiday in 1953. President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing abolished it in 1974 during the rapprochement with Germany that would be so critical in the formation of the E.U. But it was François Mitterrand, also a devoted advocate of Europe, who reinstated the date.

- This is just the beginning. We'll have to boycott July 14 also.

Note: Personally, I find this pathetic. Nobody shows up and the president of France is clueless. It may be asking too much of people to continuously remember a date most of them did not live through. These events have to be part of their upbringing and their education for any sense of history to be preserved. 

Below, a great historic video from May 11, 1945, three days after the surrender. Another age, another culture, another planet, almost. The crowds are astounding, the happiness tangible, and De Gaulle, like him or hate him, is a welcome sight.



Photo at top from Les Echos.

AQIM threatens France

The organization known as AQIM (al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb) has released a video in which it threatens to attack French interests throughout the world. Huffington Post reports:

Denouncing the "crusade led by France against Muslims" and "the occupation by France of a land of Islam", referring to Mali, Abou Obeida Youssef al-Annabi, chief of the Council of Notables of AQIM, calls on Muslims to "mobilize" and to wage "jihad".

In this message dated April 25, he exhorts "Muslims throughout the world" to "attack French interests everywhere, for since the first day of the aggression they have become legitimate targets." He was making a reference to the French military intervention in Mali in January.

François Hollande reacted to the threat in a press conference:

"We are taking the question of a threat reiterated by AQIM seriously. We inflicted considerable losses on AQIM during our intervention in Mali, but the AQIM network exists outside of Mali. We therefore believe that we must continue both the intervention in Mali for as long as necessary - even with a reduced presence - and the maintenance of vigilance around Mali, in order to pursue the fight against terrorism. But we must also protect our installations and that was the order I gave so that we are not victims of some AQIM operation. I remind you, though I am not making a connection, that there was an attack against our interests in Tripoli, so the terrorist threat did not disappear. This is why we want it to be stymied by the ensemble of Europeans."

France began the withdrawal of some 4500 soldiers from Mali and their replacement by MISMA soldiers from other African countries.

Note: MISMA is the International mission of support for Mali.

A thousand French troops will remain beyond 2013 to support, if need be, the U.N. forces who will replace MISMA.

Note: I have little military knowledge, but this sounds awkward. The French, who have done the lion's share of the fighting (and very well, reports say), are being replaced by Africans who will be replaced by the U.N. in a kind of relay system. Those thousand Frenchmen remaining in Mali will have their hands full, I fear.

Huffington Post had also published the AQIM video, but it has been removed by YouTube. Not surprising, considering it's an overt threat, and incriminating to Muslims (and possibly dangerous to France for security reasons.)

At the top, a French convoy heads for the city of Gao last February 7.

Below, from RFI a screenshot from the video that was removed, showing the logo of al-Andalus. The man in the turban is presumably Abou Obeida Youssef-al-Annabi.

For adoption, against marriage

Deneuve contre le "mariage pour tous" by LeHuffPost

Catherine Deneuve is against "Marriage for Everyone". But her reasons are cynical and useless to the cause of French traditionalists. In the video the still-beautiful actress is supportive of homosexual adoption (without marriage) and indifferent to marriage in general:

- (...) It left me a bit perplexed. I would have preferred them to improve considerably the PACS and to allow adoption for homosexuals. People marry a lot and divorce a lot. So eventually, it may become  a  frightening situation. There are very few children at school with a father and a mother.

- It's a question of rights.

- Yes, but they could have just as easily improved the PACS so that the rights would be the same.  Why marry when everyone is divorcing? It's bizarre. But the issue of rights could be settled differently without marriage.

Reminder: The PACS is the existing civil union agreement for heterosexual and homosexual couples. Adoption is a complex question. The PACS allows for adoption, but only by an individual. The couple, as a couple, cannot adopt. Filiation is established through the person who is adopting. That person alone has parental authority.

Note: I have always found Catherine Deneuve to be exquisitely beautiful, even as she aged. But there was a cold-blooded cynicism in her look and her words in this video that betray her lack of connection to or affection for traditional France, traditional Western civilization and traditional morality. While it is true that people marry and divorce frivolously, this is not a reason for throwing gasoline on the fire. Being a woman with two illegitimate children, and no interest in marriage (she was married once, and wore black, presumably to show off her disregard for convention) she could not bring herself to endorse a family values program that would attempt to strengthen marriage and in-wedlock birth, encourage young couples to stay together, and restore the teaching of French culture in the schools to better revive a feeling of national identity and personal responsibility. She does none of that. It is not in her nature. Instead she advocates adoption for anyone, and marriage for no one, essentially in line with François Hollande's thinking.

We have always known that celebrities often live more turbulent personal lives than the rest of us. In recent decades that has changed and what the general population does today makes the Hollywood stars of yesteryear look like stodgy stay-at-homes. But the fact that "everybody does it" does not make it right. For a famous personality to say that it does is cause for concern. What makes her think that a gay couple joined by the PACS will not do as much harm to the child as a married couple who divorces? And what makes her think that PACS couples will not separate, leaving as much, if not more, destruction behind as those who divorce?

Not My President

Another one of many new groups forming in France is the collective called Hollande n'est pas mon Président ("Hollande is not my president"). Here is their communiqué that arrived a few days ago in my mailbox. It is also posted at Les 4 Vérités.

Barely two days from the anniversary of François Hollande's accession to power, but especially on the eve of demonstrations throughout all of France that strongly question the policies adopted by the government, the group Pas Mon Président is once again making its voice heard.

Note: The anniversary in question was May 6. The demonstrations took place May 5.

Almost one year ago, François Hollande was elected President of the French Republic by a minority of Frenchmen.

From the first day of his election, we launched the Hollande n'est pas mon président campaign and declared that François Hollande did not have the legitimacy to make the profound reforms his winning party claimed it would make.

The minority that believed in Hollande is now the last holdout before the fall.

In addition to his record unpopularity, a poll has shown that if the election were to be held today, François Hollande would not even qualify for the second round.

Hunkered down in his bunker and surrounded by a few faithful ideologues, François Hollande is more and more disconnected from reality.

Incapable of resolving the economic crisis, champion of Unemployment for Everybody, beset by crises, scandals and corruption, scorning the anger of the people, it will have taken only twelve months for François Hollande to have proved to everyone what we already knew in May 2012: he is incapable of leading the nation.

So it is not a question of a mere ministerial overhaul, or even the dissolution of the National Assembly. Only the resignation of François Hollande is acceptable.

Faced with Socialist chaos, we urge all Frenchmen, of whatever partisan stripe, to relay and to broadcast our new campaign: Dégage! ("Get out")

Beginning next week we will reveal the particulars of this new campaign.

Dissent within the Manif Pour Tous

In my recent post entitled Rejecting Compromise, I spoke of a proposed civil union that some insist is the necessary compromise that would persuade the government to repeal Taubira's law on "marriage for everyone". Among the most active supporters of such a union is Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party. But critics, including most traditional Catholics, point out that there already is a civil union called the PACS, and that another civil union would never quell the demand for homosexual marriage any more than the PACS did.

More surprisingly, the spokeswoman for the Manif Pour Tous, Frigide Barjot, has been vigorously campaigning for a civil union, a development that has placed her reputation in peril and her motives in doubt. On May 5, in Lyon for the demonstration, she angrily reproached those participants holding signs that were anti-civil union (above). The sign reads "Civil Union = Civil Hoax". When they refused to put down the signs, she took their opposition as a personal affront and stormed off the podium. The video below shows the scene:



However, she came back later to the acclamations of her fans. While Barjot appears to be at times part crusader, part clown, she must exert a galvanizing effect on the crowds who follow her. Her theatricality, for better or for worse, has been a major factor in the success of these demonstrations. Yet one cannot help but wonder if she has begun to regard the Manif Pour Tous as her sole possession, and dissent as an act of treason. A Catholic website called Le Rouge et le Noir has published a long comment from a demonstrator named Jeanne, a committed member of the Manif Pour Tous movement, who has lost patience with the flamboyant Frigide and her arrogant ways. Here are excerpts:

Frigide Barjot has returned from Lyon where her proposed civil union was booed by the demonstrators. Since Frigide is convinced that she alone is right, and that only her way of leading the fight is relevant, she does not discuss anything with her opponents - who are theoretically those for whom she is the spokeswoman. She doesn't try to explain her point of view, or to argue. She just accuses them, on her Facebook page, of being fascists.

Frigide does not for one minute imagine that someone can be in disagreement with her without being a fascistic dolt. If you are not for her, you are necessarily a fascist. This is what is troubling: that she believes that her personal transformation, not as a spokeswoman, but as a committed Catholic, must necessarily be the rule for everyone. True, Frigide has been advocating a civil union for months, as a personal preference, but the official messages from the Manif Pour Tous have never presented this possibility as one of the demands of the movement.

(…)

Frigide, you cannot fight against an upheaval of society with a civil union. You cannot unite the opponents by forcing on them one way of thinking. You cannot mobilize demonstrators by assimilating them to fascists. You cannot fight against your own people with the weapons of the adversary: contempt, exclusion, accusations, denial and lies. You cannot claim that you will never give in, and then give in on the civil union, then later give in on everything else.

(…)

Below, Frigide in the Lyon demonstration on May 5, 2013.

Rejecting compromise

There has been a great deal of talk about the possibility that some opponents of Taubira's law will accept a "civil union" as a compromise if the government agrees to rescind the much-despised law legalizing "marriage for everyone". The Catholics at Le Salon Beige are vehemently opposed to such a compromise which, for them, is tantamount to defeat: the law must go, and nothing must replace it. Furthermore, France already has a civil union called the Pacs. Here is Wikipedia:

- In France, a civil solidarity pact (French: pacte civil de solidarité), commonly known as a PACS, is a form of civil union between two adults (same-sex or opposite-sex) for organising their joint life. It brings rights and responsibilities, but less so than marriage. The PACS was voted by the French Parliament in November 1999.

As of 2012, 94% of PACS are between opposite-sex couples. From a legal standpoint, a PACS is a contract drawn up between the two individuals, which is stamped and registered by the clerk of the court. In some areas, couples signing a PACS have the option of undergoing a formal ceremony at the city hall identical to that of civil marriage. Since 2006, individuals who have registered a PACS are no longer considered single in terms of their marital status; their birth records will be amended to show their status as pacsé.

What would be the purpose of yet another civil union agreement? A communiqué from Le Printemps Français (The French Spring), one of several newly-formed groups participating in the recent demonstrations clarifies:

- The attempt to offer the government an escape hatch from the crisis it itself created, by means of a civil union instead of unisex marriage is a deadly idea. The creation by a legislator of a new conjugal status will leave him free to combine in it all the advantages of marriage and of the Pacs at the same time. The history of the Pacs is a blatant illustration. Not only did it in no way constitute an obstacle to unisex marriage, but it has been aligned on all points, or almost, with marriage, all the while preserving its precarious and arbitrary character. It will be the same for a civil union, as for any measure inspired by ultra-liberals that carries in it the mark of a society recognizing no law other than its own desires and its own ego. Le Printemps Français denounces all forms of highjacking of the gigantic protest movement that arose six months ago. It will oppose the attempts by minorities to orient the fight against Taubira's law towards a capitulation in disguise. For Le Printemps Français, "we will never give up" is not just a slogan. It's a program of action, until the law is repealed!



The problem centers on Frigide Barjot, spokeswoman for the Manif Pour Tous, who has been the most visible and audible leader of the protest, and who strongly supports a civil union despite massive opposition from her fellow demonstrators. In fact, I have learned that Frigide Barjot is not the president of the Manif Pour Tous as one might have thought from her ubiquitous media coverage. The president is one Ludovine de la Rochère (above), a name I was not familiar with until a few days ago. In a post dated May 2, Le Salon Beige readers also express surprise that there is a president many had never heard of:

- Never heard of Ludovine de la Rochère. Why does she let Mme Barjot rattle on all the time?

- Since when is there a president? Appointed by who and what collective does she come from?

- It's about time she took her place as president and chose words with an unambiguous message.

- Too bad that Mme de la Rochère didn't speak up sooner: we would have had more sensible and intelligent statements, a more serious tone, and arguments on a different level from those of the very mediocre Mme Barjot. Why did the latter once again hold a press conference today and not Mme de la Rochère? It is time for Virginie Merle (i.e., Frigide Barjot) to stop singing words that do not go with our song.

Meanwhile, Frigide has labeled as "extremists" and "fachos" (i.e., fascists) those demonstrators who openly oppose a civil union. This includes the Front National. In a recent interview with Le Nouvel Observateur she was asked about those demonstrators who had booed her on May 5, 2013 in Lyon:

- There was a sort of provocation from members of the Front National and Le Printemps Français who were waving banners against a civil union, even though we had just explained a few minutes earlier that the best way to block Taubira's law would be for the politicians to adopt this civil union. I said that so long as the banners were waving, I would not speak. So I got off the podium and went and drank a beer at McDonald's with a few young demonstrators. Hervé Mariton joined me.

I'll have more on the quarrels between Frigide (below) and the demonstrators in future posts.

"Hollande! Listen to your people!"

It's been another big day in France. Thirteen Manif Pour Tous demonstrations took place throughout the country. From the endless stream of photos at Le Salon Beige, the weather was great (except on the Riviera) and everyone was as fired up and determined as ever. The cities hosting rallies today were Paris, Rennes, Lyon, Montpellier, Toulouse, Dijon, Lille, Amiens, Saint-Raphaël, Chartres, Dreux, Niort, Île d'Oléron.

Note: Île d'Oléron is part of an archipelago off the Atlantic coast of France.

Below, the Champs-Elysées earlier Sunday. The sign reads:

Hollande! Listen to your people! The French are in revolt!

Below, a picnic in Amiens:

Below, burying democracy in Lille. This has been one of the most striking methods of protest. Such "burials" have taken place in many cities.

Below, they say between six and seven thousand participants showed up in Toulouse.

Below, the city of Rennes did itself proud. The sign says "One Breton, one Bretonne, and little Bretons". ("Breton" refers to the ethnic people of Brittany, of Celtic origin, who preceded the Romans in Gaul. They were eventually defeated but never completely renounced their tough individuality or their language.)

Below, sixteen seconds of the Manif Pour Tous in Rennes:



And of course Paris, below, where tens of thousands gathered:

To conclude, a complex sign (below) seen in Lyon shows a tombstone with a victorious female figure of France sitting by the May 2013 part, while the May 1968 headstone seems to have a bomb ready to go off. The words at the top say: "The end of lies". The four figures at the bottom are too small for me to make out, but the first one represents either Communism or Islam. The fourth one is wearing a reverse baseball cap and a tee with the SOS Racism logo.

It looks as if some people in France have not forgotten what the '60's did to their country, their culture and their future. And this is true not only of France but of the entire Western world. It's time to reverse 1968 and return to hope and progress.

More later. If you can't wait,  click here.

Arrests, convictions, and on-going demonstrations...

On May 2, RMC (Radio Monte-Carlo) posted an exclusive article revealing the fate of some of the one hundred twenty Frenchmen who have so far been taken into custody during anti-gay marriage demonstrations:

Since the end of March, one hundred twenty demonstrators against "marriage for everyone" have been arrested and placed in custody. Thirty-four of them will go before the judge in June. (…) Students, women with children who gathered at the wrong place at the wrong time. They all complain of not having had time to build a defense, and feel they are victims of a "double standard" in a justice system that is acting too quickly. (…)

Note: I believe this means that justice takes its time when the case involves thieves, rapists or murderers. In the case of these demonstrators, however, justice is swift.

- Found guilty of attacking police officers during the last big demonstration, Guillaume, 26, was the first demonstrator to be convicted. Last April 26, he received a four month suspended sentence that he cannot get used to: "I find this perfectly scandalous. Two riot police testified. One said to the judge that I had fought back while being arrested, but the other one said no. They also reproached me for voluntary violence against the police because of a weapon. But the weapon in question was a miserable empty beer can, and in the end, I received a four-month suspended sentence, seventy hours of general work, and eight hundred euros in damages - four hundred per police officer. I have the feeling that the State incites them to get their bonuses in this way. They tried to make me take the blame for what I didn't do."

- Hélène, a mother of five, spent forty-eight hours in jail last week, in a cell with no mattress. She cannot forget the experience. Now another ordeal awaits her: her trial in early June. She is accused of having continued to demonstrate despite orders to stop. She risks a suspended sentence. (…) A swift justice but also a costly one for those arrested. A collective has been formed to help financially "those people who are often young students, and who don't have money to pay damages or court fees," explains Louis. They will all pay on average 1500 euros in lawyers' fees.

- Among those to be judged next month, Mathieu, who was at the latest demonstration that became violent. He risks two months without parole: "I do not have the right to go to Paris. If they check my identity in Paris, I'll be sent to jail immediately, until my trial. When you're looking for work, this is a problem; I do not have access to Parisian train stations." He is suspected of being the leader of a small group. Arrested with a megaphone in his hand he still does not understand: "This is very much on my mind. I'm preparing my defense, but I still have questions about what they are accusing me of."

Demonstrations, large and small, go on every day somewhere in France or wherever there are French nationals. Here from Le Salon Beige are a few photos, most of them dated May 4 and 5:

The signs say:  

"Monsieur Hollande, thief of our democracy, your days are numbered, resign!" "Monsieur Hollande, marriage for everyone? Then get married yourself! You are living in adultery!!"

A young Frenchman on the Great Wall of China:

Young Frenchmen in Jerusalem:

Below, Strasbourg:

Below, Châlons. The sign says: 

"A child is not a right!"

Finally, Beirut, Lebanon. French ex-pats carry banners reading: 

"Gay marriage, sinister marriage", "Hurray for biological marriage", "Hollande, even in Beirut, you spread chaos". 

It's strange to see the word "bio" (biological) used, but in French "bio" can refer to foods that are organic, hence grown in accordance with nature.

Lest we be accused of presenting only the alpha, here is the omega: a demonstration that took place on May 1, Labor Day in France. Note the banner with the Mount Rushmore of Communism: Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin. The sign reads:

"Long live Marxism!"

In fact, cultural Marxism is alive and well and thriving in the so-called Western "democracies". But at least in France, the Catholics are also alive and well.