Claude Reichman's Pipe Dream

If my previous post shows Philippe de Villiers waffling just a bit on the issue of separating the religious from the political in Islam, this article from Claude Reichman, leaves little doubt that the leader of the Blue Revolution is drifting leftward (or is it downward?) in his perception of the Muslim population of France. He has shown some signs of this in the past, but never to the extent exhibited in this surprising, even shocking, editorial posted at his website:

Dear compatriots (if you are French), dear guests of France (if you are foreigners),

Very serious events are taking place in France. Young persons, many of whom are Muslims, wearing hoods, armed with iron bars, baseball bats and sometimes brass knuckles, are engaged in attacking the police, after setting them up in an ambush. Others seize public buses and set them on fire. In both cases, according to concurrent sources, there was intent to kill, or at least an awareness of such a risk. The result is that policemen have been seriously wounded and a young woman - a passenger on a bus set afire in Marseilles - was burned over 60% of her body.

These concerted and organized attacks are without doubt part of a larger plan verbally plotted in the lawless neighborhoods and motivated by gang rivalries.

No sensible person can be unaware that if these assaults continue, there will inevitably be deaths, either at the hands of the aggressors or of the police who legitimately defend themselves. At that point, a general irruption of violence in France is to be feared. No one can wish for such an outcome.

There is without any doubt the same proportion of moderates among Muslims as among the rest of the French. In other words, they are a overwhelming majority. How come, when such events occur, we don't hear them speak out? They cannot approve of the aggressive and violent behavior of their young coreligionists. Also, they understand perfectly that they have everything to lose from an angry reaction of non-Muslim French citizens who will indiscriminately hold them responsible for the attacks, even for criminal acts perpetrated by a minority among them.

Wisdom, reason and national interest dictate that the moderate Muslims should now make their voices heard. Non-Muslim French must know if French Muslims intend to respect French society as it has been fashioned by centuries of Christianity and democracy, or if they intend, one way or another, to carve out a fief for themselves, large enough to hold all their numbers, where the dictates of Islam will be law. Moderate Muslims must also realize that the non-Muslim French have no intention of submitting to Islam or of living under its rule.

Now that the problem has been clearly defined, it is up to the moderate Muslims to take their responsibilities. For its part, the Blue Revolution has taken its own: it has thoroughly identified those responsible for the current tragic situation. Obviously, I do not mean the immigrants. They wanted to come to France, the powers that be took them in. It was up to those powers to adopt the necessary measures to solve the problems inevitably created by such a massive immigration. But they did nothing. Above all, in no way did they lessen the fiscal and social burdens so that businesses could create jobs - the principal factor of integration in any country. Nor did they restrict the arrival of new immigrants, so that France could have a much needed respite and integrate those who were already here.

Such an attitude has a name: irresponsibility. And that is why the Blue Revolution wants the current politicians out of office.

Dear Muslim compatriots, dear guests of France, together we can still avoid a catastrophe. But there isn't a minute to lose. The Blue Revolution has taken its responsibilities and has made them known everywhere. Now, you must do the same. If you agree with us concerning the causes and solutions of the current crisis, your place is in the Blue Revolution. With us, you will sing the Marseillaise and you will shout: Vive la France!

Claude Reichman
Spokesman for the Blue Revolution

Excuse me for living, but has this guy had a lobotomy? Either he has become a true believer in multiculturalism or he is being ironic, and secretly knows that no Muslim is about to join the Blue Revolution except to Islamize it, which, considering this article, may not be all that difficult to do.

What seems to have happened is that his hatred of the politicians has blinded him to the nature of his "dear guests" whom he now sees as VICTIMS and potential allies!!! These tactics are usually reserved for Le Pen.

I should add that Reichman is a businessman and can only conceive of solutions from the frame of reference of the business world where giving a person a job solves everything. This notion may have some merit in a cohesive society, but in a society with divergent ideologies, mere economics will not solve the underlying problems. He is assuming Muslims are like everyone else and just want a nice home and a good school for the kids. This is what Bush thought. Has Reichman learned nothing from the debacle in Iraq?

Unbelievable.

The Latest From PDV

The following interview, posted at Philippe de Villiers' website, was granted on October 27 to Marianne2007, a website devoted entirely to the upcoming election. He repeats many of this favorite themes, but he distinguishes between the religious and the political aspects of Islam, an unfortunate tactic, since Islam itself does not recognize such a separation. Another example of a "softening" in his tone towards the enemy?

You are in the process of touring France. What is your message?

The French people see what the media show them every day. Namely, a continual slide into what some have called "the Islamization of minds." The prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis said that he lost control of the neighborhoods because of the "barbus" (bearded ones, often used to refer to Muslims). In our hospitals doctors have been attacked by Islamists. Last week, on the front page of several regional newspapers you could read articles on the conversion of French people to jihad. I have been the first public servant to open this debate. I will soon be joined by everyone else. The presidential debate will center on a choice between Islamism and the French Republic. And I will be the last defender of the Republic against Islam.

You are fighting Islam. Do you see yourself in a religious war?

There is a misunderstanding. This has nothing to do with the question of religion. It isn't religious Islam that I'm fighting, it's political Islam. It isn't for France to adapt to Islam, but for Islam to adapt to the Republic. I take very literally the issue of "laïcité". A report written by ten inspectors from the Ministry of Education has just revealed that certain French writers and whole periods of French history are censured in order to have a semblance of order in the classrooms. Muslims are free to practice their faith. They must respect our laws, our traditions and the Republic. Some do and others don't. In France, 46% of the Muslims place their religion ahead of their nationality!

Note: Am I wrong or has he just contradicted himself? He IS fighting the religion because one can't help fighting the religion when one fights Islam. The separation he spoke of does not exist. Also remember that when the 1905 law on "laïcité" was passed no one was even thinking about Islam. The law was only to curtail the power of the Catholic Church.

Even more so in other countries...

81% in Great Britain and 60% in Germany. But that fact that it's worse elsewhere is no reason to feel satisfied. What I cannot abide is that those who collaborate with Islamism want to place the religion above the Republic.

Whom are you thinking of?

All those who refuse to open the debate and who are ready to sell off our entire legal and ethical heritage in the name of galloping Islamophilia. And who advocate a multicultural society, which is in reality synonymous with a multi-conflicted society. When you consider that the number of cafeterias serving halal meat has multiplied by four, it's cause for concern. We are indeed confronted with a system of collective intimidation.

Have you reached an agreement with Nicolas Sarkozy where his UMP party will not present any candidates who oppose you in the legislative elections in Vendée?

There is no agreement with Sarkozy, that's a myth. The UMP party spoke of several reserved districts. But I did not take it to mean that they would not present any candidates. You mustn't confuse absence (of a candidate) with an agreement. For my part, I'm placing 577 candidates in 577 districts. At any rate, every time the UMP or the RPR parties presented candidates in Vendée, they lost the election. So whether or not they send candidates, I couldn't care less.

Furthermore there are great differences between Nicolas Sarkozy and myself. The first is Europe: he wants to sneak the European constitution in through the window, even though the people voted it down. The second point of divergence between us is the idea of an opposable law. Those who don't have housing will be able to sue the State for damages. That will topple us into a collectivist society. Lastly, Nicolas Sarkozy favors the right of foreigners to vote, he is for homosexual marriage in the form of a civil contract, for affirmative action and for public subsidies to mosques.

There has been an on-going debate at the Vox Galliae website over the possibility of a deal between Sarko and de Villiers, whereby de Villiers would be given a post in President Sarkozy's government. Vox Galliae, a pro-Le Pen, cool-to-Israel, Catholic website has frequently posted articles suggesting such a collusion. Guillaume Peltier, de Villiers' spokesman at one point vehemently denied the rumor and said that "anything was possible IF the views of de Villiers were taken into account." This was taken by Vox Galliae as an admission of collusion, and the ball goes back and forth between Vox Galliae and Peltier. The argument continues in the comment sections.

To me it sounded like a provocation on the part of Vox Galliae led to Guillaume Peltier's protesting too much. A few curt words would have sufficed. Still, if the rumor of collusion is false, I can well understand the anger of both Peltier and his boss, and their need to set the record straight.

I think it's safe to say that the pro-Le Pen websites engage freely and happily in provoking their adversary.

Europe, the Prostitute

Thanks to a tip from Lawrence Auster I am posting this chilling article from Brussels Journal:

The Rape of Europe

From the desk of Paul Belien on Wed, 2006-10-25 20:57

The German author Henryk M. Broder recently told the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant (12 October) that young Europeans who love freedom, better emigrate. Europe as we know it will no longer exist 20 years from now. Whilst sitting on a terrace in Berlin, Broder pointed to the other customers and the passers-by and said melancholically: “We are watching the world of yesterday.”

Europe is turning Muslim. As Broder is sixty years old he is not going to emigrate himself. “I am too old,” he said. However, he urged young people to get out and “move to Australia or New Zealand. That is the only option they have if they want to avoid the plagues that will turn the old continent uninhabitable.”

Many Germans and Dutch, apparently, did not wait for Broder’s advice. The number of emigrants leaving the Netherlands and Germany has already surpassed the number of immigrants moving in. One does not have to be prophetic to predict, like Henryk Broder, that Europe is becoming Islamic. Just consider the demographics. The number of Muslims in contemporary Europe is estimated to be 50 million. It is expected to double in twenty years. By 2025, one third of all European children will be born to Muslim families. Today Mohammed is already the most popular name for new-born boys in Brussels, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and other major European cities.

Broder is convinced that the Europeans are not willing to oppose islamization. “The dominant ethos,” he told De Volkskrant, “is perfectly voiced by the stupid blonde woman author with whom I recently debated. She said that it is sometimes better to let yourself be raped than to risk serious injuries while resisting. She said it is sometimes better to avoid fighting than run the risk of death.”

Click here to read the rest.

I checked out the website of Henryk Broder and found a page of marvelous Mohammed cartoons from American newspapers. This appears to be an excellent website for those of you who know German.

A Fait Accompli

A poll taken on October 17 and 18 of 959 persons, 18 years of age or older, suggests that the French have accepted Islamization as a fait accompli. Google group Via-Resistancia reports:

According to this poll, 75% of the French are ready to vote for an immigrant in municipal elections (24% against), 69% in legislative elections (29% against) and 56% in the presidential election (42% against).

The implementation of a proportional voting slate for the election of deputies would be an effective way to assure a better representation of the diversity of society in the parliament for 64% of those questioned as opposed to 24% who were against such measures.

However, only 45% of those polled favor quotas as a way of helping immigrants obtain access to certain professions and political posts, while 50% are against such quotas.

Note: Polls such as these are hardly the last word. We don't know how the questions were worded, or the extent to which people responded as they thought they were expected to respond. Nor do we know how the persons polled were chosen - completely by random, or according to some undisclosed criteria?

I'm not sure how the "proportional" voting system works, but it runs counter to the "majority" system. It is set up so that a certain number of deputies from each party are assured a seat in the National Assembly. It sounds a bit like re-districting in the United States, which is good or bad, according to who is being re-districted.

How Responsible Is Sarkozy?

Vox Galliae reports the following reactions to the Marseilles bus burning:

Jean-Claude Delage, a leader in the Alliance police union, designated the savage attack on a bus in Marseilles last night as an attempted murder. "He did not even tell the passengers to get off," he said Sunday night on LCI (a news channel). The bus drivers in Marseilles decided not to work on Sunday.

In a related move, the police union Action Police CFTC, has demanded the resignation of the Interior Minister. "Nicolas Sarkozy is no longer able to adequately insure the safety of persons and property," wrote Michel Thooris, the general secretary, in a communiqué. "Now that this incident has occurred, we demand his resignation."

However, the Google group, Via-Resistancia, comes to Sarko's defense:

Who dared say this about Sarkozy? : "His responsibility is, by necessity, implicated, in his decision to disband the neighborhood police, and in the way he himself verbally provoked a certain number of young persons. Yes, he created an atmosphere of tension."

Are these the words of a Communist from Seine-Saint-Denis? A Socialist deputy? Not at all! It is Jean-Marie Le Pen! So obsessed is he with Nicolas Sarkozy that he goes so far as to place the responsibility for the latest Muslim riots on the Minister of the Interior whom he accuses of "verbally provoking young persons."

Le Pen is pathetic...

There is truth in both points of view. Sarkozy has waffled so many times on crime and illegals that it is impossible not to hold him responsible for his LAXNESS. But of course, that's not what Le Pen is saying. He's saying that Sarko was rude to the "young persons" and thus provoked them. Via-Resistancia is right to denounce this twisted interpretation.

However I would call Le Pen "foxy", not "pathetic". He wants the Muslim vote.

Regarding the "neighborhood police" (police de proximité), this was a relatively recent experiment initiated by Jean-Pierre Chevènement, Sarkozy's predecessor. Its purpose was to personalize the police in the eyes of the residents. These policemen were expected to form close ties with the local administration, to know the territory well and to understand the needs of the population.

I don't know how well (or badly) it worked, nor do I know exactly why Sarkozy ended it.

Pro-Hungarian Rally Banned In Paris

While buses are being incinerated, and a young woman hovers between life and death in Marseilles, the French police were ordered today to stop a ceremony in honor of the Hungarian insurgents who, in 1956, revolted against communist rule on Hungarian territory. Blog-Identitatire gives an eye-witness account:

Today at 3:00 P.M. a gathering of those wishing to pay homage to the Hungarian insurgents of 1956, whose revolt was crushed in a bloody confrontation with Soviet tanks in November 1956, was scheduled to take place in Paris at Place du Châtelet.

Sponsored by the Europae Gentes Association and several other groups, this quiet gathering was to include some speeches, a homage to the Hungarian people, a minute of silence and one particularly violent action: throwing a few white roses into the fountain at Place du Châtelet so that the children of Hungary would never be forgotten!

As I exited from the RER Regional Train at Forum des Halles...I was somewhat amused to notice that a demonstration of Palestinian women, gathered at the Fontaine des Innocents, included 100 or so people dressed as they had been before during the pro-Hezbollah rallies, chanting slogans in Arabic with Palestinian flags flying high...

Unfortunately, 200 yards away, at the Place du Châtelet, 200 to 300 CRS (riot police), gendarmes, policemen in civilian dress, municipal police...heavily equipped, were turning away any and all dangerous anti-communist militants.

The gathering had, in fact, been banned by the Paris Prefect of Police, Pierre Mutz, just a few hours previously. Prefect Mutz is the one who regularly bans the gatherings of the SDF Association.

Note: SDF is a charity organization that offers "soup kitchens" to the homeless. In recent months they have been banned because of their use of pork meat in the food they distribute. Most homeless people are neither Muslim nor Jewish, but the ban was a result of protests from Muslim organizations, aided and abetted by the dhimmi government. The SDF has fought these bans relentlessly. This tale of pork meat for the homeless actually made it into the American press several months ago.

And so it was that a few seditious agitators around 40 or 50 years of age were carted off for identification verification, as was a courageous radio host, very un-socialistic in matters of economy, who had the misfortune to point out - courteously - to a cop in civvies that to ban this type of gathering was scandalous.

Let's not forget to acknowledge also the presence of 3 regional councilors of the Front National.

This ban has one advantage: it allows us to see that the pretext used for banning the SDF gatherings, namely, the distribution of discriminatory food, does not hold water, since it turns out that Prefect Mutz doesn't like white roses any more than he likes pork soup. In truth, his hatred is entirely directed against the French people, against Europeans, against little white guys, against anti-communists, against Hungarians. In short, he hates anything that relates to our culture. A terrible, implacable hatred...

As I was returning home, furious, from the Place du Châtelet, I once again walked by the Fontaine des Innocents where the pro-Palestinian gathering was in full swing: anti-Israeli slogans were being hurled about and a small group of young "colored" people, standing amidst the pro-Palestinians, surrounded Kemi Séba, the leader of the KA Tribe, who got on his soapbox (it was 4:30 P.M. exactly for the gentlemen of our Intelligence Services, who clearly were in need of something to do) to harangue his troops on the misery of the poor people in the suburbs...

I had read in the newspapers (Le Monde, le Nouvel Obs) that the KA Tribe was composed of anti-Semites and racists (it's even in Wikipedia). Obviously, for Prefect Mutz, this is less of a serious matter than the desire to honor Hungarians who died in 1956.

Shame on you, Monsieur Mutz

(Signed) A disgusted Frenchman!

Here is a sampling of readers' comments to the above narration:

- At 3:00 in the afternoon Place du Châtelet was surrounded by police. The gendarmes rudely dispersed those arriving. The most conspicuous ones were searched and taken away. An older man told me he had lived through the same thing in 1966, under de Gaulle.

The gathering was at first authorized, then banned at the last minute because of a counter-demonstration by the "reds", that threatened to arouse the suburbs. Possibly the presence of the FN changed the course of events.

I hold that these police officers are only carrying out orders from the government. And the government today is openly socialist-communist, hence totalitarian.

- trash, really they are trash. Traitors more so than the enemy...we will not forget...

- The KA Tribe is to hold a meeting at Belleville on Sunday. The disbanding of the group by Sarkozy was really effective.

- What the hell do the Jews have to do with all this? Whose side are you on anyway? Why do you defend them to the point of placing them on the same level as us?

- Shame on this Prefect who is more and more unpopular and hateful...The French people will remember him on the day they take to the streets of Paris by the millions...

Last July I posted an article similar in nature to this one about the attempt to lay a wreath on the tomb of the unknown soldier, in honor of the French nationals slaughtered in Oran, Algeria, on July 5, 1962. The French authorities took measures to prevent the ceremony, all the while allowing an anti-Israeli demonstration to take place a few steps away. If you read the article, it's best to scroll down to the words: "And here is another eyewitness account from Georges Clément..."

Regarding Kemi Séba and his KA Tribe, there is much information, especially this article from June.

The photos from Click-Clack show the police converging to ban the pro-Hungarian rally (top photo), and a glimpse of the pro-Palestinian rally that was definitely not banned.

Final word: I'm not saying the pro-Palestinian rally should have been banned, but that both rallies should have been allowed. If the danger from the suburbs is that great then the residents of the suburbs should be deported. If the Prefect prefers Palestinians to Hungarians who died for freedom, then HE should be deported.

Woman Seriously Burned In Marseilles

I was wondering how long before someone was burned in these bus attacks. According to France3 the inevitable happened at around 9:00 P.M. Saturday night, in Marseilles:

A 26-year-old woman was burned over 60% of her body, according to the Hospital of the Conception in Marseilles where the unconscious victim was taken. Three other passengers were treated for minor smoke inhalation.

Adolescents set fire to the bus using an inflammable liquid, according to police sources.

Around 9:00 P.M. three teens, according to passengers' testimony, got on the bus by forcing the doors and poured the incendiary liquid.

The attack took place in the 13th "arrondissement" of Marseilles, a district out of the center of town and "not particularly affected by acts of civil disobedience," according to the firemen.

The bus left the downtown area en route for the northern neighborhoods, known to be more troublesome. The prosecutors for the city of Marseilles visited the scene and turned the investigation over to the criminal brigade of the Marseilles judiciary police, "considering the gravity of the act," according to a police source.

The Temperature Rises

According to Le Figaro, the department of Seine-Saint-Denis is heating up following a series of violent incidents on the anniversary of the deaths of two teenagers, Zyad and Bouna, who were electrocuted one year ago when they walked into an electrical transformer during a police chase. Their deaths ignited 21 days of unprecedented rioting in France.

On Friday October 27 two buses were burned in Blanc-Mesnil, incendiary devices were hurled at the police in La Courneuve, 25 cars were set on fire throughout Seine-Saint-Denis, skirmishes irrupted between "youth" and police armed with rubber bullets in Montfermeil.

The day before had been particularly explosive: 54 cars set on fire. At the same time in Montfermeil the police had to shoot about 50 times with rubber bullets in order to disperse gangs of thugs who were attacking a police car stationed in front of the home of Xavier Lemoine, the mayor of the town.

Nicolas Sarkozy announced the deployment of 4000 gendarmes and policemen "in order to assure the safety of potential trouble areas..."

Marine Le Pen Rejected By Israel

According to L'Express, Israel has refused to meet with a delegation from the European Parliament due to the presence of Marine Le Pen, daughter and successor of Jean-Marie Le Pen. Marine is apparently reaping the whirlwind sown by her father:

An Israeli spokesman said, "One of the members of the delegation belongs to a political party that is, unfortunately, both racist and a holocaust denier. This is why we cannot meet with the delegation in its current form..."

In Brussels, a spokesman for the European Parliament spoke of a "technical problem" liable to compromise the success of the Eurodeputies mission. But a parliamentary source confirmed that the trip was cancelled because of the rejection by the Israeli authorities.

The vice-president of the Front National was to participate, along with a group of Eurodeputies, in a tour of Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian Territories from October 28 to November 4.

Jean-Marie Le Pen expressed dismay at a decision that was "contrary to diplomatic tradition" and "to basic democracy."

"In any case, the office of the European Assembly responded with dignity by reminding the States in question that it is not for them to pick the members of delegations," declared the leader of the FN at his party's website.

"I hope that the office of the European Assembly will stand firm on its position" not to change the composition of the delegation, he added.

The delegation, headed by Elmar Brok, a German Christian-Democrat, was to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehoud Olmert.

"Marine Le Pen received a letter" from the European Parliament explaining the rejection by the Israeli authorities, stated a spokesman for the Front National.

On October 20, Marine Le Pen, a member of the European Parliament since 2004, had declared to Reuters that this trip was to be an opportunity to "clear up a certain number of misunderstandings." She had added that she felt no particular hostility towards the Jewish State.

Jean-Marie Le Pen was convicted by the French courts for having called the gas chambers a "detail" of the history of the Second World War.

In addition to numerous snide remarks about Jews and Israel, Jean-Marie Le Pen has more recently come out in favor of nuclear weapons for Iran. This is ample justification for caution and reserve on the part of Israel, but whether they were right in refusing the delegation is more problematical. Might it not have been just as well to meet with Marine Le Pen to lay all the cards on the table, to reaffirm Israel's right to exist and to make it abundantly clear that so long as French politicians defend Iran, Israel will regard France as a dubious ally at best?

Buses Incinerated

There has been a spate of attacks on buses in the last few days. This summary is from Philippe de Villiers' blog, P2V.

While the Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin was holding his monthly press conference in Cergy-Pointoise, and defending the "fundamental course of action" of the government with respect to the suburbs, buses were again attacked during the night. About ten hooded men, five of them armed, attacked a bus in Bagnolet (Seine-Saint-Denis) last Friday night, pointing a weapon at the head of the bus driver and forcing the passengers to get off, then setting the bus on fire.

A few hours before, in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine), several hooded individuals also stopped a bus and set it on fire, allowing the passengers only a few minutes to get off.

A third bus, in Athis-Mons (Essonne) was the target of a Molotov cocktail, but the driver managed to put the fire out quickly.

None of the perpetrators were caught.

Note: this is only a partial rundown of bus burnings. The photo from Yahoo shows still another bus incident in Grigny (Essonne).

The French Flag Will Fly

Two messages posted at P2V, the official blog of Philippe de Villiers, illustrate his priorities in the presidential campaign that is now underway in France. As I've pointed out numerous times, there are those who question his motives and his sincerity, but his words and actions place him at the opposite end of the ideological spectrum from Nicolas Sarkozy, who attempts to play a dual role: top cop and friend to all humanity, and in the end, accomplishes little.

The first message deals with a homage to two victims of violence:

Today, Philippe de Villiers, "in the name of the French people," placed two wreaths before the National Assembly, "to the memory of two victims savagely murdered during last year's riots," Jean-Claude Irvoas, murdered in Epinay and Jean-Jacques Le Chenadec à Stains.

"This symbolic gesture carries two messages," declared the leader of the MPF (Mouvement Pour la France) to the press: "the French people have not forgotten them, just as they have not forgotten the French citizens who are suffering in the suburbs. They are waiting for the authorities to take vigorous measures to calm everyone's fears."

In addition, Philippe de Villiers presented his "plan for the suburbs" aimed at restoring order, and urged the immediate adoption of three measures: a preventive curfew in all potential trouble spots, a policy of zero immigration, and a firm security policy.

There is a Daily Motion video accompanying the post. I have not had time to translate it, but his words are stronger and more decisive even than those he used in Bobigny. He tells the French people: "Do not give up hope. I will defend you to the end." He lashes out with vehemence against Nicolas Sarkozy, accusing him of doing absolutely nothing since 2002, and stating that by doing nothing the situation is much worse today than it was four years ago. He points out that in 2002 there were no cars burned or buses torched or riots. It is hard to imagine that he would talk like this and still be in "cahoots" with Sarko, which is the main accusation hurled at him by his adversaries.

The second message concerns the right of foreigners to vote in French elections:

Questioned by the newspaper Le Parisien, on October 26, on the issue of the foreign vote, the leader of the MPF declared that voting must remain a fundamental freedom. I am opposed to the right of foreigners to vote on French territory. Beginning with local elections, voting means participating in a heritage, a common destiny. However, if you want to promote a sense of civic duty and citizenship, you need to implement a policy of Frenchification. We could institute one hour of French culture and values every day in our schools, as Tony Blair has done in Great Britain. If I'm elected, I will have the French flag flying every morning in every school yard.

Not surprisingly, it appears that France, like the United States, has lost the patriotic impulse to fly the national flag proudly over public institutions such as schools. For many years, in the school where I taught, the American flag was an object of scorn, booed by the student body, and a source of shame to certain faculty members. No one was obligated to say the pledge of allegiance or to sing the national anthem. During assemblies one was treated to the sight of a few solitary students standing to salute the flag, while their classmates remained seated, talking, drinking sodas or eating. It would be better not to have any ceremony at all than to witness such a farce.

Guillaume Peltier Attacked

Philippe de Villiers' spokesman, Guillaume Peltier, also known as the second-in command of the MPF (Mouvement Pour la France), was assaulted on October 24 in the city of Lille. The story was posted at P2V, the official blog of Philippe de Villiers:

Yesterday while visiting Lille, Guillaume Peltier was pulled aside and molested by 40 hateful leftists, some of whom courageously covered their faces. When he arrived at the place where a press conference and a meeting with regional activists of the MPF were to be held, an "anti-fascist welcoming committee" (according to the paper La Voix du Nord) tried to prevent Guillaume Peltier from entering the restaurant. Crying out "Peltier the fascist, the people will get you!", they circled, shoved and struck the Nº 2 man of the MPF. Refusing to give in to the violence, Guillaume Peltier held his meeting as scheduled. In front of the door of the restaurant ten police officers in civil dress prevented the leftists from further disrupting the event. For Guillaume Peltier, this attitude demonstrates that the extreme Left is anti-democratic, and that the rising influence of the Mouvement Pour la France is a source of concern to left-wing splinter groups.

Is The Party Really Over?

Charles Henry, a Canadian reader who frequently comments at Galliawatch, and who has been most helpful to me since I started this blog, is also a video maker extraordinaire. He would probably argue with that, out of modesty, since this is one of his first attempts to use a video to convey a subjective and personal reaction to the changes that have befallen France. His video shows us a tragedy, and yet creates enough nostalgia for what used to be that one cannot help but feel that the party is still not over.

At his website, Covenant Zone, Charles introduces his video with these words:

As a child, I was lucky to learn French as well as English in school. It's a beautiful language. Say what you want about France, but it is a pleasure to speak French, there's a majestic rhythm to the flow of the words; I should miss it, were it to go.

As a teen, I read much about France, marveling at its history, discovering the glory in its past. Say what you want about the French, but they have inherited a wonderful legacy; I would miss it, were it to go.

As an adult, today, I read much about France, her problems, her mistakes; the nation, and its people, find themselves at a crossroads. Which turn shall they take? Do they have the memory that I have, of France?

I shall miss them, should those memories go.

When he wrote these words, he must have been thinking of Victor Hugo's great poem, A Villequier about the loss of his daughter in a drowning accident:

...it is the only joy that endures out of all that we dreamt,
Consider that it is a very sad thing to see it disappear!

The Ocelot Syndrome

Several months ago, at the time of the Cannes Film Festival, Novopress printed this severe criticism of filmmaker Michel Ocelot, of whom, at the time, I knew nothing. A specialist in the art of animation, he was born in the African country of Guinea, spent his childhood in Anjou, and today lives in Paris. His first full-length animation, Kirikou et la Sorcière (Kirikou and the Witch) was an African tale of magic.

His latest film, Azur et Asmar, a sequel to his first, opens today in Paris. When it was presented at the Festival last summer, Novopress exposed the motivations of its author:

Once upon a time, long ago, two children were cradled by the same woman. Azur, blond with blue eyes, the son of the Lord of the manor, and Asmar, dark-haired and dark-eyed, the son of the wet-nurse. Raised like two brothers, the children are brutally separated. But Azur, marked by the legend of the Jinn Fairy that his wet-nurse told him, never ceases to encounter the Fairy, even far beyond the seas. Each of the two foster brothers, having grown up, sets out in quest of the Fairy. Rivals in audacity, they discover magic lands that hold as many perils as marvels...

We are all familiar with 4 syndromes: Munich, Helsinki, Copenhagen and Stockholm. The first three designate the tendency of democracies to grovel before strong States - Nazi, Bolshevik, and Islamic respectively. The fourth represents the propensity of victims to adopt the point of view of their executioners.

It seems fitting to add to this classic list the "Ocelot Syndrome", after the creator of Azur and Asmar, an animated film in 3-D shown at the most recent Cannes Festival.

Despite its association with a relative newcomer to the little world of French "culture" (Michel Ocelot only recently became known when Kirikou and the Witch came out in 1998), the Ocelot Syndrome is far from being a new form of pathology. From our benign Bobos (bourgeois-bohemians) of Saint-Germain des Près to the most severe arch-Marxists, its prevalence on the Left is absolute. It is in some ways its clinical signature.

What is this syndrome about? The person afflicted with this syndrome is white. He is uneasy about his whiteness and this causes him to sob chronically. He has been raised on Christian values and has retained the knee-jerk reaction of turning the other cheek when slapped. Without being especially masochistic, he is ready to bare his right buttock, then his left, then anything asked of him. Paralyzed by a guilty conscience, he is intrinsically repentant. He is Western and he probably knows that one day he will pay the price. So he systematically adds his voice to that of the Collaborators, in the hope that his future masters will be magnanimous to the good little dhimmi that he is, especially if he's willing to stick to his own quiet space. To him, culture has value only on the condition, necessary and sufficient, that it is not white. Above all not French. He offers sacrifices daily to the Cult of the Supreme Other. He is convinced that Islam is a Religion of Love, Tolerance and Peace, and regrets that it is no longer in its Golden Age of the Knights of Allah and the Triumphant Scimitar...If he vomits in disgust at the thought of those evil Crusades, he is moved to tears at the thought of all those fine folks who are converting spontaneously to the True Religion. He has found an infallible remedy for whiteness: a general mixing of races, black and Arab with white, a mixture in which the white race will finally be annihilated.

A few excerpts from the mouth of the patient:

"My childhood in Conakry (the capital of Guinea) was very rich. I have memories of equilibrium, good will, good humor, and beauty, and I had to express my feelings one day."

"I began with a tale that impressed and bewitched me. Besides, the tale was African, a lucky break!"

"Thanks to Kirikou, thousands of pink children have felt black and they will not stupidly reject those who, in truth, are part of their family..."

"The parts in French will be dubbed or titled for the foreign versions, but the Arabic scenes will not have sub-titles...For those who speak both languages it's fortunate, they will understand everything..."

"I want to celebrate the Islamic civilization of the Middle Ages, brilliant and open. With its roots in the Bible and the Gospels, that were themselves born in the Middle East, Muslim civilization picked up the torch of Greco-Roman civilization when Europe dropped it."

A gem of a thought:

"A child (Kirikou) speaks in his mother's womb, gives birth to himself and washes himself."

Is Ocelot supporting the theory that a fetus is a human being? Such a notion would cause Planned Parenthood to tremble in horror...In defense of our filmmaker, let's point out that the child he speaks of is black, and consequently enjoys the benefit of human status while in utero, whereas the white fetus has but one right: the right to be aborted. So we can rest easy: the moral of the little story is intact.

Michel Ocelot is a follower of undiluted Gramsci, and thus wins the massive support of the System. He understood that the indoctrination of young minds cannot take place without dreams, imagination, and aesthetic seduction. In other words, the right side of the brain, before the left. If the left side is essentially programmed, that is, deconstructed, by the "Idiot Factory", alias French National Education, the right side is in the hands of the movie industry and the makers of images. With these two wondrous levers of propaganda it is hard to see how anyone could resist the demolition of our national identity that is now underway.

Is there any way of responding to Ocelot, his peers and his masters?

No. There is no way of objecting to a bulldozer.

Notwithstanding that, we could allow the words of Claude Lévy-Strauss to be heard, though they be a bit paradoxical:

At this point Novopress quotes an excerpt from the anthropologist's speech to the United Nations in 1971, where he says that there is nothing wrong with remaining unmoved by cultures and values that are different from one's own. That there is nothing unacceptable in the idea of placing one way of life above all others, or of not being attracted to a system that is far removed from one's own. That the relative lack of communications between cultures is the price we must pay in order to preserve and rejuvenate the values of each community or each spiritual family.

An e-mail from Via-Resistancia adds this criticism of Ocelot's new film:

Azur and Asmar picks up where Kirikou left off, having fulfilled its task of indoctrination successfully. Michel Ocelot has chosen to leave a great number of scenes in Arabic without sub-titles. Why? "To put oneself in the position of an immigrant", he explains, and then adds, in an effort to show his benign motives, that we must not read anything else into it!

It's just a beautiful anti-racist fable, where Western culture and the world of Islam embrace in true friendship, in an era we are now only discovering: the Middle Ages and Islam's supposed "age of enlightenment"!

Michel Ocelot has also chosen to demonstrate Jewish culture coming into contact with this "marvelous" and "luminous" medieval Islamic world, in the person of a secondary character, a sort of Jewish "sage" named Maimonides, who fits in perfectly as a dhimmi, content with his lot!

Note: I have never seen these films. If anyone has, and can offer some opinion on them, I'd be most gateful.

Click here for the demo of Azur and Asmar.

Allah Poubelle!

A reader who lives in Paris has sent me a series of photos of his "handiwork" - he distributes leaflets that are clearly the work of a raving infidel.

In the photo, a cartoon of Mohammed is captioned: "Allah Poubelle!"

In French, when you throw something in the trash, you throw it "à la poubelle".

The Religion of Peace indeed needs to be thrown out of the Western countries, or re-cycled, which, as we have learned, is not authorized by the Koran. We can throw out our dhimmis and our governments while we're at it, and make a clean sweep.

A Free Ride

An article from Yahoo tells of the French government's latest gift to its immigrants: reduced rates on railroad tickets. While it is not necessary to be a citizen, it is necessary to be a "legal" immigrant to receive this benefit. One can only wonder how long before illegals will be demanding equal rights.

According to Article 44 of a law passed on March 22, 1924, special reduced rates for large families riding the SNCF (French National Railways) were reserved for French citizens and citizens of former French colonies. Later the benefit was extended to citizens of the European Union. Now it will be extended once again to include legal immigrants, according to the Ministry of Family (1), headed by Philippe Bas (pictured).

The government plans to propose an amendment to a bill on the protection of children, scheduled to be examined by the deputies on November 30. The measure is expected to be adopted early in 2007.

The Minister Delegate of Equal Opportunity, Azouz Begag, expressed his delight over the measure which will benefit 38,000 families, or "at least 210,000 individuals."

Early last July, the organization known as HALDE (High Authority In The Fight Against Discrimination and For Equality) took on the issue of the nationality requirement in the obtaining of the SNCF card for large families.

After a deliberation on September 18, HALDE gave the government three months to justify its position on the nationality requirement, insofar as it seemed to violate existing laws passed by the EU, particularly the European Convention on Human Rights.

But in the hopes of correcting an "obsolete" law, Philippe Bas had already issued, last June, a new card for large families granting many reduced rates, besides those on the SNCF.

It appears that the only thing wrong with the new card from last June was that it was for French citizens - a concept that is rapidly becoming itself "obsolete" - especially when politically correct organizations like HALDE prevail over a disintegrating lame duck government that has lost its sense of nationalism.

Le Conservateur adds these words about the creation of HALDE, by the Chirac government:

This is what happens when you yield to lobbies or to fashion, rather than listening to your own electorate. What better way to get publicity than the creation amidst great pomp of costly and troublesome government machineries each geared to some popular theme such as durable growth or the fight against alleged discrimination. But then, it becomes necessary to bend to their demands that are hyped by the media...

It's a classic example of the Chirac Method: the deputies are muzzled, the electorate is cheated, but the lobbies foam with delight. Payback from the voters should not be long in coming.

(1) The full title is "Ministry Delegate of Health, Senior Citizens, Handicapped Persons, and Family". It is one of a plethora of French ministries designated as "ministries delegate" that have been created to serve specific needs of the French welfare state. Such a ministry may be a subdivision of a larger ministry, or independent, as Philippe Bas' seems to be.

The link below will take you to the French government's website.

"Total Impunity"

In an article dated October 17, 2006 at Bafweb, Michel Thooris, General Secretary of Action Police CFTC (1) denounces the gradual return to the violent conditions that spawned last November's riots:

"The events of the last few hours point to a steady resumption of riots like those of last November.

"Blogs that incite to riot and amateur videos showing attacks on our colleagues, especially at Mureaux, circulate freely on the Internet.

"These videos are consulted by several thousand people in a few days. Amateur videos such as these completely discredit the police who appear to be caving in to their attackers. They openly incite to riot and are paraded as trophies by the authors.

"The police are becoming less and less credible. We are more and more the targets of traps and ambushes by these individuals who perceive our total impotence. The minimal conditions of security to do our job properly in the current circumstances are no longer guaranteed.

"The total impunity enjoyed by these individuals has resulted in a greater and greater withdrawal of government services in these neighborhoods. The result: 6.23% increase in violence against persons between October 2005 and September 2006, according to the figures of the National Observatory of Crime.

"This figure is probably minimized compared to the reality, if you consider that the victims almost never file a complaint out of fear of retribution. Nicolas Sarkozy is totally overwhelmed by the situation.

"We want exceptional measures to be implemented in order to restore order in the neighborhoods, and to return their freedom to the residents who are literally taken hostage by gang leaders and a few fanatical families of Islamo-Maffiosos.

"We need supplementary equipment, fire hoses, non-lethal weapons, an extension of video-surveillance and drones to monitor efficiently these lawless zones."

(1) Action Police is a small police union affiliated with a larger group the CFTC, French Confederation of Christian Workers. Michel Thooris is apparently a well-known figure in France.

West Point Looks To The Future

Thanks to a tip from Lawrence Auster, I was pleased to learn that West Point - the United States Military Academy, now has a Muslim population large enough to warrant a state-of-the-art prayer room. Isn't it reassuring to consider that our military academies are eager to keep up with the Joneses, instead of stagnating in worn-out traditions, like patriotism?

When Americans denigrate France with all her mosques, and her groveling to Islam, they are talking about their own fate.

Now West Point has opened its first space dedicated to Muslims, a worship hall complete with a pulpit facing Mecca. The space officially opened Thursday.

"I knew the Army had a policy of religious tolerance, but I didn't know it was to this extent," said first-year Cadet Ahmed Moomin, 20, from the Maldives.

Until now, Friday prayers were held in an increasingly crowded first-floor office, said Imam Asadullah, the academy's Muslim cleric. The number of Muslim cadets jumped by 10 from last year.

The new hall is large enough for dozens of followers, he said.

West Point's Muslim leaders approached administrators last year for help.

"We live in a world where everyone is looking at the United States saying, 'You're anti-Islam.' But here at West Point, that's not what we do," West Point Chaplain Col. John Cook said.

Asadullah said the new hall is a strategic move.

"We have cadets here who are going to be the future of tomorrow," he said. "If we treat them differently from other cadets or other faiths, that will be a cause for future confrontation."

Lawrence Auster ends his post with these words:

You may wonder how many Muslim cadets are at West Point. There are 32. As of 2001, there were two. Now, the U.S. Muslim population has not increased 16 fold in the last five years, has it? The U.S. Muslim community has not been suddenly seized by patriotic fervor to serve and defend America during the last five years, has it? So how could there be so many more Muslim cadets? Obviously the Bush administration has made a concerted effort to increase the number of Muslims at West Point, in order to prove to the world that the U.S. is not prejudiced against its enemies.

And Now, Aulnay-Sous-Bois

After the crimes in Les Tartarêts, Les Mureaux and Epinay, the town of Aulnay-sous-Bois in Seine-Saint-Denis has become the center of attention for crime watchers. As Ramadan draws to a close, French officials are seriously concerned about new eruptions of violence and the police brace for the worst. The following is an abridged version of an article from Yahoo:

...Friday night around 1:30 a.m., following an alarm sounded at a Maternity Services Center, two cars of the municipal police escorted by a car from the police commissioner were blocked by a Mercedes and by barriers erected in the project called Rose des Vents.

A gang of hooded individuals then began throwing various projectiles at the cars that were forced to turn around. In the mayhem, the lead car of the municipal police struck a cement block and was immobilized. The attackers used smoke balls to force the officers out of the car. Their colleagues came to their aid, but a policewoman was hit on the head by a Molotov cocktail.

"She was splattered with gasoline; if it had ignited, she would have been on fire," stated Bernard Pasqualini, Chief of Departmental Security, at the press conference. "Pieces of glass flew in her eyes and we are concerned that the bottle might have contained acid."

The central laboratory in Paris has been entrusted with the job of determining the contents of the two bottles found at the site. The policewoman had three stitches and will be off the job for one week.

David Skuli, Departmental Director of Public Security acknowledged: "What is new is the greater violence against the police and the fact that they now set up ambushes to get revenge for previous police actions. It is a troubling thought that cannot go without a reaction on our part."

The article had opened with a quote from François Molins (pictured), the attorney general of Bobigny, stating that this new assault was probably "a reaction against a court ruling."

The ruling in question concerned the sentencing of a person, not a minor, to 3 months in prison for throwing rocks at a police car. Two months of the sentence were suspended. It is assumed the criminal's family members took action against the police in Aulnay-sous-Bois.

I need not point out, that these revenge crimes constitute a throwback to the law of the jungle, to vendettas that were the norm before humanity learned the difficult lesson of "rule of law". Muslims live by their own laws, and so are incompatible with the Western societies. By yielding to them, treating them with indulgence, allowing them to march into our lands, we are returning to the darkness of primitive behavior.

The attacks at Les Tartarêts and Les Mureaux were mentioned in my post entitled Appraising Sarkozy.

"When The Republic Shows Strength, Islam Backs Off.."

Philippe de Villiers à Bobigny
Uploaded by Philippe_de_Villiers

Yesterday Philippe de Villiers appeared at Bobigny courthouse to answer charges of "provoking discrimination" brought against him by MRAP, relating to remarks he had made on July 15, 2005. On that day, during an interview on TF1 Television he had declared: "Islam is the humus of Islamism and Islamism is the humus of terrorism." Before going into the courthouse he granted a ten-minute press conference, of which the following is an abridged version. If you decide to watch the video, it may take a while to load. He speaks very slowly and clearly.

I stand by my remarks on TF1 on July 15, 2005. That is, I call on all French politicians to leave their cowardice behind, to stop being afraid, and to dare to look squarely in the face of Islamization, the Islamic threat, so that they may refuse the continuing Islamization of our schools, airports, neighborhoods. That they not accept what I cannot accept - polygamy, forced marriages - there are 120,000 cases of polygamy and 70,000 forced marriages...

Today we are far from July 15, 2005, and every day the facts prove me right. I'm thinking particularly of gynecologists and doctors who are sometimes beaten up by husbands who can't accept a person of the male gender performing childbirth on their wives. And Professor Redeker who is under fatwas, who lives hidden in a cellar, who lives in fear, without anyone in the upper echelons rising up to denounce this intimidation of a totalitarian nature...

I have just learned from my lawyer that those who are suing me, those who would have me condemned by the laws of my own country, have disappeared, they've fled, desisted. It's possible they are voluntarily admitting to some procedural error, in order to avoid confrontation. I stand before this court and it's an honor for me - the last defender of the Republic against all ethnic separatists, in particular the Islamic separatists.I say to you that those who would see me condemned have preferred to drink shame, rather than defeat. And I say, and this is a priceless lesson for all my fellow citizens who I urge to be vigilant: When the Republic shows strength, Islam backs off...

Reporter: What of the charge of provoking discrimination?

Provoking hatred and discrimination is not in my culture, not in my family's culture, not in my personal culture. Provocation - it's the Islamists, they're the ones who provoke discrimination. In our hospitals and our schools. They want to impose their own norms, when they do not accept the laws of the Republic. I'm doing my proper job as a public servant when I say to Islamism: You will not have victory in our land. You are not here to make of France an Islamic republic...I'm in my proper role, it's not provocation.

There's a majority of Muslims here to practice their faith serenely and in peace, but I say that if all Muslims are not Islamists, all Islamists act on behalf of Islam. And if put to a vote, this statement would win by an overwhelming majority: It is not for France to adapt to Islam but for Islam to adapt to France.

Reporter: Isn't it excessive to speak of a Third World War?

It's not at all excessive. When you think that the order was given, a few days ago and reported in the press, by the Nº 2 man in Al Qaida to hit France. What does that mean "hit France?' It means war. Terrorism is a new kind of war, but it's a war. They have already struck New York, Madrid, and London. They could strike us here. They would love to see us defenseless, crouching and yielding to their blackmail. I do not accept this intimidation.

It is an honor for us that there are public servants who DO open the debate, who DO break the taboo. History will show that I was the first.

All you have to do is read the papers, watch TV every day, every day you can see what's happening. The baggage handlers at Roissy airport that I spoke of in my book. At the time everyone said, "Oh you're exaggerating..." but look at what's happening.

Reporter: Some Muslim workers at Roissy are accusing you of causing them to lose their jobs.

My position, and I stand firmly by it, is based on confidential and trustworthy information from intelligence sources, is that there are networks of Islamists that have penetrated different services at Roissy airport...

And there are baggage handlers who wear the red badge that authorizes them to enter restricted areas. There are baggage handlers who should be stripped of the badge. There were 50 mosques at Roissy, 25 of them clandestine. Now they have done a sweep of the clandestine ones. So everything I said in my book is coming true. And if the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis is right when he says that at Roissy there are workers with terrorist ties, that is a serious matter and merits a firm response from the government...

What does the Interior Minister do, besides chatter every night on the evening news, to expel the terrorists, the Islamists, deny them French nationality, so that they do not wreak havoc and make war on us...

There is a difference between Islam and Islamism and there is a difference between Muslims and Islamists. If the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis decided to strip some workers of the red badge, it's because there was a reason. The intelligence services are doing their job. I salute them and I salute the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis who is doing a difficult job courageously.

In The Words Of Chateaubriand

Here is a prescient quotation from one of France's great Catholic writers and patriots, François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848). He mentions Benjamin Constant, another writer, composer, and politician (1767-1830). It's interesting to note that both men died in years that saw France shaken by Revolutions:

To claim that we are civilizing Turkey by giving her steamships and railroads, by disciplining her armies, and by instructing her in how to maneuver flotillas, is not spreading civilization into the East, but introducing barbarity into the West: future Ibrahims will be empowered to take us back to the time of Charles Martel, or to the siege of Vienna, when Europe was saved by heroic Poland, over whom the ingratitude of our kings weighs heavily.

I should state that I was the only one, along with Benjamin Constant, to signal the lack of foresight of the Christian governments: a people whose social order is based on slavery and polygamy is a people that should be sent back to the steppes of Mongolia.

Bumped From UMP

When Benedict XVI made the comments heard round the world, on the violent nature of Islam, the deputy from Nice, Jérôme Rivière, promptly defended him, an event I reported on, since politicians defending the Pope were rare. At the time I vaguely wondered if he would suffer some kind of retribution for this deviation from official doctrine, and indeed the axe has fallen. He has been removed as the UMP (Union for a Popular Movement) candidate in his district and replaced by one Eric Ciotti, apparently a lackey of Sarkozy, and a person who has never held elected office.

Jérôme Rivière sent these angry comments, posted at his website, to UMP party members:

It was Wednesday morning, while reading an article in the daily Nice Matin, that I learned that I had been dismissed from my party's slate by the Investiture Commission!

Note: the Investiture Commission chooses the party's candidates.

I received no call from any UMP leader to inform me.

I received no letter, nor did I read any communiqué justifying the reasons why an apparatchik was chosen over me by Paris.

This decision is creating, in Nice, a split within the Right, just when everyone in our party is speaking of coming together and of unity.

What am I to think of these brutal methods so inconsistent with the public statements made to the nation?

On Thursday the local press wrote: "The UMP wants to restore the line" in my district!

I didn't know there was an mandatory line. I understood that the UMP, a party of many different factions, was enriched by diversity.

But if it is my positions that are shocking, which of my political actions are inconsistent with our 2002 commitments?

Which of my votes in the National Assembly runs contrary to the rules of the majority?

- My systematic and loyal support for the Government in all votes of confidence, and on all budgets?

- My public opposition to the adoption of a law authorizing foreigners to vote?

- My stand opposing the creation of a mosque with minarets in Nice?

- My amendments to modify the State Medical Aid to illegals, a budget that amounts to almost a billion euros annually and that eats away at our finances?

- My repeated stand against gay marriage and adoption?

- My appeal to the Government when I address the national Assembly: "...I am convinced that Islam in our schools, in our institutions, but also in the conquest of our streets and our everyday lives is of grave concern to our citizens..."

- My support for the CPE?

- My negative vote on the European constitution?

- My public opposition to the abrogation of the double penalty?

- My amendment that was unanimously adopted making the teaching of the Marseillaise mandatory in school?

Which one? Or else, why this arbitrary decision?

In the districts with UDF or MPF deputies, the candidates are assured their place on the ticket.

Reminders: The UDF (Union of French Democracy) is headed by François Bayrou and the MPF (Movement for France) is led by Philippe de Villiers.

What infamous act, what indignity did I commit to merit a fate unique in France?

If the leading committees of the UMP deem that certain unnamable ideas justify such a punishment, why haven't they started proceedings to exclude me from the party?

Arbitrariness is troubling, being punished for one's opinion is terrifying.

I requested a meeting with Nicolas Sarkozy to inform him of my views and to obtain his intervention.

If you also want to know, you can contact the UMP and ask them!

The closing remarks of my previous post on Rivière raised the issue of his leaving the UMP and joining the MPF, since his ideas are considerably closer to those of Philippe de Villiers than to those of Sarkozy. In many of the e-mails he has received his supporters urge him to leave the UMP, and some mention de Villiers as a more congenial colleague than Sarkozy.

The photo, taken last March, shows him at a luncheon at the Palais-Bourbon, home of the National Assembly.

Epinay-Sur-Seine - Video

This is a first attempt to embed a video into the blog. Whether you know French or not, videos of everyday life are interesting to view. This one deals with the reactions of residents of Epinay-sur-Seine after Friday night's planned attack on the police of the "BAC" (Crime Brigade), discussed in greater detail in my recent post on shari'a law in France. The 4-minute video is actually in two parts, both of which relate the same event, so there is some repetition.

The major theme is that the police were set up. The words "traquenard" and "guet-apens" mean trap or ambush. At the end, the woman speaking stresses the rise in crime, and the male narrator says this is the third such attack in the Parisian suburb in a month. You will also see the type of rocks that are thrown at the police - large ones, that could kill. The wounded officer was released from the Simone Veil Hospital earlier this week.

Sarko Does Not Like France!

Here is a bit of information about Sarkozy, from Claude Reichman's website, that I hadn't seen when I wrote my most recent post on his desire for a "new State". I should mention first that a book about Philippe de Villiers entitled The Villiers Mystery was published recently:

Sarkozy does not like France...and admits it! This is one of the revelations in the excellent book by Eric Branca and Arnaud Folch, The Villiers Mystery, that has just been published by Rocher Press. And it will arouse some debate: Nicolas Sarkozy does not like France, and says so himself! He confided his feelings to Philippe de Villiers, and here is how Branca and Folch describe the scene:

"The two men, who address each other familiarly, have never been close. Their last luncheon together goes back to 1999, shortly after the European elections when the Pasqua-Villiers slate came out ahead of the Sarkozy-Madelin team. At the time, in his feeling of abandonment, the deputy mayor of Neuilly (Sarkozy) made this statement to the man from Vendée (Villiers), who is not about to forget it: 'You're lucky, Philippe, you love France, her history and her countryside. But all of that leaves me cold. I'm only interested in the future...'"

On October 12, 2006, in Périgueux, before 4000 people, Nicolas Sarkozy cried out: "France does not want those who do not love her!" He could not have chosen a better way to torpedo his own candidacy!

France Under Shari'a

The French websites have all been talking about a crime that took place over the weekend (Friday and Saturday, October 13 and 14) in Epinay-sur-Seine in the notorious department of Seine-Saint-Denis. On Friday night the police received a call that a car had been vandalized in the Orgement project. Three policemen of the BAC (Anti-Crime Brigade) were dispatched only to find themselves caught in a pincers by two cars. About 30 hooded "youth" were waiting for them armed with brass knuckles, iron bars and poles. When the three officers got out and tried without success to dissuade the criminals with rubber bullets, one officer was hit in the jaw by a rock. He took refuge under a porch, the criminals headed his way and he took out his FIREARM and shot in the air. One criminal shot back, but the gang fled when they realized the police were using firearms. It is most unusual for French police to use their firearms.

All the reports stressed the fact that it was a premeditated ambush signaling a jihad against the police, and by extension, against the French State.

Michel Thooris, secretary of the police union CFTC maintains that the acts of violence are premeditated and manipulated by "radical Islamists". Occidentalis printed an interview he granted to L'Est Républicain, a regional paper:

- What is your reaction to what happened in Epinay-sur-Seine?

- The situation has been deteriorating since 2002. We're sounding the alarm and exposing what's been happening in lawless areas. Our union covers 600 districts in which there has been an unprecedented rise in violence, violence that is no longer a spontaneous outburst demanding social benefits, but a violence that amounts to a declaration of war with the French Republic.

- What have you been able to observe about this rise in violence?

- Since the neighborhood police forces have been disbanded, there are no accurate crime figures. People can no longer file a complaint. But our colleagues tell us that a many acts of violence committed against them are to the cries of "Allah Akbar". The "youth" are in a holy war, on a jihad against the French State.

- Are you saying that they're Arabs?

- No. not at all. This jihad in the neighborhoods is not about skin color or nationality. They are people who have learned a fanatical doctrine from radical Islamists in clandestine mosques, who instill in them a hatred of the West, of Americans and Jews. Members of the Jewish community living in these areas are under tremendous pressure. They no longer feel safe and are really in danger.

- As in Epinay, these acts of violence are not spontaneous?

- No. It's not the result of young people smoking a joint or drinking and then saying: "Let's go get us a cop!" There is, here, a real structure, a preparation for the act. By doing away with the neighborhood police, the original mission of the police, dating back to the monarchy, has been abandoned. Today, instead, it is the imams who call for calm. Even many mayors appeal to them to restore order.

- Is religion the cause?

- We are for the respect of all religions. The first victim of this rise in fanaticism is the Muslim community of France that aspires to living its faith in peace. But they are finding it more and more difficult because of the attempt to impose shari'a law in these neighborhoods. Look at the example of the young girl eating a sandwich during Ramadan and almost being stoned. In a republic she has the right to choose her religion and not to follow Ramadan! This effort to impose shari'a is a deviation of the Muslim faith on the part of fanatics for the purpose of destabilizing French society and the State. It is not the Muslims of France who have declared a religious war but radicals like those one finds in other countries such as Egypt or Morocco. And they threaten to take vengeance on those Muslims they deem too moderate. We are denouncing the irruption of this situation in France.

- Aren't you making too much of all this and using the same rhetoric as the extreme-Right?

- We are a non-political union. In our group there are people from the Left, the Right, the extreme-Left and the extreme-Right. Some accuse us of being extreme-Right because we use certain words. Are we supposed to remain silent? It isn't helping the people who live in these neighborhoods, be they black, white or Arab, who are suffering because of this rise in fanaticism, for us not to tell the truth out of political correctness.

The noteworthy thing about this interview is, unfortunately, not the courage of Michel Thooris, but rather his obvious fear of offending Muslims and the media. He is adopting the standard George Bush point of view, namely that it is just a few radicals who have "highjacked" a great religion, and he stresses how peaceful most Muslims are. He implies that Muslims should be free to practice their faith in a Republic, but he avoids mentioning that the nature of Islam is such that it cannot accept any law that is not Islamic law, hence the laws of the Republic are doomed to be violently overthrown.

Note also how the newspaper hounds him about sounding like an extremist. Standard media intimidation.

Finally I should mention that the French police are warning everyone that the "suburbs" intend to celebrate with violence the anniversary of last year's November riots.

France Against Israel

Thanks to a tip from a reader I'm posting this entry from Powerline. The events in Southern Lebanon have been on the back burner lately, eclipsed by more urgent topics. The possibility of French soldiers shooting at Israeli planes was raised last summer by many people, including Le Conservateur, in an article I posted in August. He pointed to France's perversely intimate relationship with Iran as a guarantee that if fighting erupted, France would not have to face Hezbollah, but the IDF, or in this case the IAF.

Commanders of the French contingent of the United Nations force in Lebanon have warned that they might have to open fire if Israel Air Force warplanes continue their overflights in Lebanon, according to Israeli Defense Minister Peretz. So, as Charles Johnson notes, the French, having made all sorts of promises about keeping the peace but later making it clear they have no intention of disarming Hezbollah or blocking Syrian and Iranian arms shipments, have finally found someone they are willing to fight.

For his part, Peretz says his government has evidence that Syria is shipping arms to Hezbollah -- in other words, the U.N. resolution is not being enforced. He threatens unilateral Israeli action if, as seems certain, this state of affairs continues. Meanwhile, says Peretz, Israeli flights over Lebanon will continue.

Israel has fought all of the major existing Arab powers. Now, perhaps, it will find itself in armed conflict with the major emerging Euro-arab power.

Powerline uses this article in Haaretz as its source.

Regarding the shipment of arms to Hezbollah, GW reported on this last September.

"I Want A New State..."

Sarkozy is everywhere. His ubiquity is more reliable than his declarations, as he takes on the colors of his environment, adjusting his words to the pleasure of his listeners, sounding one day like Wyatt Earp and the next like the Salvation Army. Here are a few of his most recent comments, taken from longer speeches, that show him in his more "egalitarian" mode.

"I believe profoundly that the possession of a parcel of France, through ownership of an apartment or a house, can help a portion of the immigrant population to identify with France, and can be a powerful aid to the integration process...Access to property for the migrants - there's a great project that should be open for discussion as soon as possible. It's one of my ambitions for the future..."

In a 75-minute speech delivered in Périgueux, before 5000 party members, some of whom apparently survived the ordeal, Sarkozy deplored the fact that there are "far too many poor workers...It can't be all the profits for a few and nothing for the others..."

He also proposed a series of measures to raise workers' salaries, by making the tax exemptions accorded to businesses dependent on salary increases - a type of blackmail, it would seem. His proposals are said to resemble closely similar suggestions made by the Socialist Party.

"My project is simple...I want a new State, a new Nation, a new Republic...I wish to sign a new pact with all French people...a new relationship built upon truth, faithfulness to one's word and trust in public servants..."

Confronted with a "Republic disintegrating into ethnic sectarianism, discrimination, unemployment and poverty," Sarkozy proposed attacking the "new inequalities" with his plan for affirmative action.

"We must move from potential rights to real rights," he stated, proposing that the time spent by women raising their children be counted in the calculation of their Social Security.

If Sarko wants a "new Republic", he's bound to get one as a result of a whole slew of "new rights" he is proposing: the right to shelter, the right to be taken under the protective wing of the State (1), the right to housing, the right to day-care. Any violation of these "rights" would allow the citizen to take the matter to court.

Even Earl Warren is blushing.

(1) The phrase is difficult to translate. In French "le droit à la prise en charge de la dépendance" translates roughly as "the right to have one's dependency accounted for" which is meaningless in English. I think my interpretation is accurate, but if anyone can correct or clarify the meaning, please let me know.

The sources for this post were two e-mail newsletters from Via-Resistancia and Polemia. The photo is from Agoravox.