Europe's Fate

Alain Jean-Mairet responds to an article by Daniel Pipes entitled Europe or Eurabia. Pipes lists three possible outcomes to the current crisis in which millions of Muslims are slowly but surely exerting more and more influence over the European countries they have migrated to: 1) domination of Europe by Islam 2) rejection of Islam by Europeans who finally emerge from their coma and rise up against the enemy 3) peaceful and harmonious co-existence between Muslims and Europeans.

In the end, Islam's inability to accept European culture forces Pipes to reject the notion of a peaceful integration. This leaves two prospects: Europe will become an appendage of North Africa, or civil war will erupt.

But Alain Jean-Mairet foresees only chaos:

If the practice of the Islamic religion is not categorically rejected in Europe, the future of the continent, contrary to Daniel Pipes' prediction in Europe or Eurabia, is clearly mapped out. In a word, it will be decline.

Europe is too satiated and refined, too old, too neurotic and weary, and probably could find within itself the sense of abandonment or sacrifice necessary to yield to a culture it had been forced to believe was superior. But the soul of Eurabia is that of a medieval beast, barbaric, proud and without real culture, except for the culture of lies. The union of the two could never generate a society that looks to the future.

This is because the culture of Islam itself is non-existent. At its base it is hardly more that the thick, salted and putrid sap of the desert, the tribal customs cultivated when the need to survive as a group is the dominant preoccupation. The culture attributed to it comes from conquests, pillaging, or sudden bursts of energy that impose themselves not thanks to Islam, but in spite of this spiritual black hole that the message of the prophet Mohammed really is. And so a cultural encounter between Europe and Eurabia will produce only aborted efforts. The culture of hatred and of limiting fatalism that will be spread by the mosques will prevent any new creativity from blossoming.

Furthermore, the Muslims who are settling en masse in Europe are not a united or fraternal community. It is extremely improbable that Muslims from Turkey will be willing to share harmoniously an Islamic European power with Muslims ruled by Saudi Arabia or with those arriving from India. For the moment, they all still have a lot of space, but the first disputes are already apparent, notably in Germany between Turks and Kurds. There is no reason to suppose that the various opposing Muslim communities will get along better in the context of Europe. (...)

Jean-Mairet goes on to explain that for Europeans to rediscover their Christian roots and start having larger families they need to be informed, and this information has to reach them before the point of no return is reached. However Europe does not allow information to circulate. He points to the flood of censorious activity that greeted Fitna by Geert Wilders. Unfortunately, individuals such as Wilders, willing to risk everything, are always (wrongly) associated with violent right-wing political elements. Jean-Mairet suggests that left-wing rather than right-wing violence is more likely to surpass that of the Muslims. (For the record, in his article Pipes acknowledges, rather reluctantly one feels, that Muslims are more apt to commit violence than Europeans.)

So the Islamic domination of Europe will not be a strong and successful enterprise because of inherent internal differences within Islam itself. Likewise, uninformed, propaganda-saturated Europeans are too mixed up and too afraid of war to fight back.

What is left is a degraded unlivable situation where hatreds harden, violence becomes a daily occurrence, and the brightest people emigrate.

(...) For the moment all indications are that things are getting worse, and if Europe does not succeed, in the near future, in eliminating the near totality of the practice of the Islamic religion on its territory, that is, the driving force and crucial element behind the hatred and political ascension of Islamists, it will lose the means to govern itself.

One way or another, Islam will be the future of Europe. (...) If Europeans seriously ponder this problem and its foundations, and then act with courage and determination, there is a chance they can resolve it. If they prefer to believe in their lucky star, they will soon be lying under it.

At least Alain Jean-Mairet has taken a firm stand on the need to eliminate Islam from Europe. Something Daniel Pipes has never come close to doing, to the best of my knowledge. Note too that he has specified "the practice of the Islamic religion" as the cause of the problem, aligning himself thus with Geert Wilders who stresses that the problem is the religion, the Koran.

The image of the Trojan Horse bearing Islam, that I came upon in my photo file, is from a website no longer online called Limes.

Parade in Mantes-la-Jolie

According to Joachim Véliocras, writing at his website Islamisation, there was a parade in the city of Mantes-la-Jolie, in honor of the Turkish national holiday on Sunday April 27:

Deputy Pierre Bédier of the UMP party authorized a Turkish Islamist parade in Mantes-la-Jolie for the Turkish national holiday, reports Le Parisien of April 27.

In Turkey, you can imagine the fate that would befall the organizers of a parade for the Armenian or Greek or Kurdish national holiday...

Will there soon be a parade on the Champs-Elysées for the Turkish holiday?

In the photo above, note the official flag of Milli Gorus: the crescent on a green background. Milli Gorus, a Turkish Islamist movement, fights for the establishment of a world Caliphate. The marchers, furthermore, are wearing the military uniforms of the Sublime Porte, with the ostentatious sabre.

About the Milli Gorus: It is the largest Turkish organization in Europe. Created in 1971 in Braunschweig, Germany as the Turkish Union of Germany, (...) it acquired its current name of Milli Gorus (National Religious Path) in 1994. The Milli Gorus has just about the same objectives as the Muslim Brotherhood: the establishment of a world Caliphate, the suppression of secular governments, the application of sharia law to the minorities of Europe, and the penetration of society at all levels: associations, charities, schools, in order to attract the greatest number. The Milli Gorus logo (above left) is significant: Europe encased inside a crescent, a sketch of the pan-Turkish Caliphate swallowing up Europe. German intelligence in 2000 classified the organization as "Islamist fundamentalist". Here are a few statements (...) from the organization leaders, that leave little doubt as to their Islamist orientation:

"Milli Gorus is a shield that protects our compatriots from European barbarism."

"Democracy is a Western error."

"(Jews) are vampires and blood suckers."

"(Western countries are) instruments of the world-wide secret Jewish conspiracy."

"Our community is a means to an end - the end being to Islamize society."

Note: Deputy Bédier is also president of the general council of the department of Yvelines of which Mantes-la-Jolie is a sub-prefecture.

Turkey's Progress

Several recent articles update the progress of Turkey's quest for membership in the European Union. The first from Le Figaro dated April 21 outlines the prospects for reforms within Turkey that would accelerate the process:

Turkey could be part of the European Union within "10 to 15 years," provided it continues the policy of reform that has begun, in the view of Olli Rehn, European commissioner on expansion, (...) adding that "this country still has a long road ahead" before membership becomes a reality.

The EU intends to open two new chapters of negotiations with Ankara in June, relating to business law and to intellectual property. So far only 6 of the 35 chapters of negotiations have been opened since Brussels and Ankara began the talks in October 2005.

According to the commissioner who recently visited Ankara with the president of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, the EU is hoping in particular that Turkey grants better protection to women and minorities, as well as greater freedom of speech.

Note: The EU should take its own advice about freedom of speech!

Questioned about the possible ban by the Turkish Constitutional Court of the AKP party in power, Mr. Rehn felt that such a measure "would harm the reform process."

Note: This is in reference to the attempt by Turkish secularists to ban the Islamist AKP party of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In March they brought a lawsuit against the party which they accused of having become a "hotbed of activities contrary to the principle of 'laïcité'". The outcome of the suit is pending.

As far as I know, Turkish secularists oppose the entry of Turkey into the EU.

An article from March 27 in Le Salon Beige hints that France is working to prevent such a ban:

The Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ali Babacan, indicated that any ban on the Party of Justice and development (AKP), currently in power, could lead to a suspension of negotiations for Turkey's membership in the EU:

"If things go any further, relations with the EU will seriously deteriorate and even a suspension of the negotiations will be placed on the agenda."

Is this the reason why Pierre Lellouche was handed a mission yesterday concerning Franco-Turkish relations and immediately left for Ankara? Especially when you consider that Pierre Lellouche is known to favor the entry of Turkey in the EU.

Note: Tunisian-born Lellouche is one of many North African politicians and writers of Jewish origin who participate either in left-wing politics (e.g. Bertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris) or who have become close collaborators of Nicolas Sarkozy (e.g. economist Jacques Attali). Lellouche at one time made critical comments about gays, but quickly changed his mind and became an activist for gay rights. He is said to be an economic liberal, pro-Israel, pro-American, and pro-Turkey. French readers can read more about him at Beta Politique.

Finally an article at Gaëlle Mann discloses that a referendum in France on Turkey's membership is no longer a requirement, thanks to... Nicolas Sarkozy.

The French are no longer in a position to block new memberships in the European Union. A bill to reform the Constitution was adopted on Wednesday (April 23) by the Council of Ministers. The bill abolishes the requirement to hold a referendum to ratify new member States in the European Union. "We feel that this obstacle really is meaningless. It establishes a general rule, when in fact we should consider things on a case by case basis, as with Turkey." On the topic of Turkey, President Nicolas Sarkozy continues to believe that it "does not belong in the European Union," explained government spokesman, Luc Chatel.

The requirement, implemented at the insistence of Jacques Chirac in 2005 when the Constitution was being reformed, aimed at calming the fears that the possible entry of Turkey into the EU had aroused in France. The paradox is that the referendum is being abolished by Nicolas Sarkozy, who is himself opposed to Turkey in the EU. Now, any new membership will be ratified EITHER by a referendum OR by a vote of both houses of Parliament. This was the system in place before Chirac's amendment was introduced.

The secretary of State for European Affairs, Jean-Pierre Jouyet says that abolishing the referendum requirement solved Sarkozy's "credibility problem" with his European partners. "How can you negotiate, if at the end of negotiations you say, 'I have negotiated with you for two years, but there's nothing I can do. I'm not the one who will make the decision, I must leave it up to a referendum?' You are no longer credible within the framework of European negotiations."

Note: From what I have read it comes as no surprise to insiders that Sarkozy is betraying the French people again on the issue of Turkey. It was suggested long ago, before he became president, that he would work secretly to help Turkey's cause.

However, it is not a done deal. There is still time to stop the process - if someone dares. On the other hand, Turkey is already in the EU, in a manner of speaking. See my next post.

Another Brutal Murder

Another horrible murder took place in Paris. A young Swedish student, Sussana Zetterberg, was brutally murdered by a phony cab driver with a record a mile long of convictions for sex crimes. There are many articles online. I'm using Gaëlle Mann's report based on Le Parisien.

Investigators arrested the suspect on Friday at 4:00 p.m. in Bougival (Yvelines), after a series of cross checks lead them to the trail of a "mysterious sex maniac". They then attempted to strengthen these leads that were founded mainly on DNA. On Saturday they proceeded to an in-depth examination of his car.

This fake taxi driver had been seen in the Bois de Boulogne (a wooded area) shortly before his arrest, digging up objects that could be evidence. The police were put on his trail after receiving testimony on the taxi that the victim had taken when she left a Parisian night club, La Scala, last Saturday night.

Witnesses described a white minivan, that turned out to belong to the suspect who had been in trouble with the police a while back due to his posturing as a cab driver. A young woman confided to investigators that she had very recently had trouble with the man but had not been assaulted. The body of Sussana Zetterberg was found Saturday morning, April 19, by a passer-by on the edge of a road in Chantilly forest.

She was lying face down, dressed, partially burned in the pelvic area, her hands tied behind her back, a knife wound in her throat and four 22 caliber bullets in her head.

She had been in Paris only a short while, studying French at the Sorbonne, and waiting on tables in a Parisian pub. She had not been heard from since getting into the taxi around 4:00 a.m. and sending a text message to a friend saying that the driver of the cab "looked suspicious".

The investigators believe she used the suspect's white minivan that did not have the obvious identifying marks taxis all have. The police have been re-examining sex crimes, in particular a very similar case from last February when another Swedish student was raped by a fake taxi driver on leaving a Parisian night club, then abandoned alive in Orgival (Yvelines).

Note: The question that obviously pops into your mind is why on earth would she get into a minivan that had no sign of being a taxi? Other sources point out that in her text message she said that the driver did not appear to know where he was going, that he was sending text messages and looking at his cell phone constantly, as if he were expecting a message, possibly from an accomplice.

Now, here is what Gaëlle Mann writes about the suspect, called Bruno C. :

The suspect, whose detention has been extended for 24 hours, spent 20 years in prison for several crimes including theft, acts of violence, rapes, sexual assaults, sometimes with kidnapping.

He had been convicted in 1989 to 18 years in prison for two rapes committed in 1983. In January 1983 he had raped a 21-year old hitchhiker, leaving her naked and bound in the Rambouillet forest. In December of that year he had kidnapped and raped a child of 12. Furthermore, he had already been convicted in 1988 to six years in prison for a rape committed in 1976, when he was not yet 20 years old.

His first conviction of 18 months in prison for armed robbery occurred when he was 15 years old.

His girlfriend was arrested on Friday but apparently was released, according to sources.

Note: Gaëlle Mann has also posted a police artist's likeness of Bruno. Also, French readers may be interested in the comments where her readers discuss the possiblity of an accomplice.

Finally, these initial reports are vague. Hopefully more and better details will become available.

The Laws of the Market

Journalist Serge Faubert analyzes the inherent weaknesses in Nicolas Sarkozy's attempt on Thursday to justify himself to his people:

We're just unlucky. There isn't much he can do for us. The fault is with the price of a barrel of oil, with sub-prime mortgages, the euro, and the increase in the price of raw materials. Not to mention the budget deficit, which goes back to Giscard d'Estaing, and the 35-hour work week, a diabolical invention of the socialists. In short, he's not the bad guy, but the entire world has turned against him.

From anyone other than Sarkozy, the speech would not be shocking. But for a man, whose entire strategy rests on the permanent praise of political will, to now blame, if not fate at least the international constraints and the legacy of others, in order to justify his own impotence appears quite simply shabby. Caesar is crouching.

If he wanted to win back popular opinion, it's pretty much of a flop. Who could be convinced by this mea culpa? Contrition does not replace butter in the spinach. Or even gasoline. (...)

Apparently, (...) no one realized, at Elysée, that the electorate had changed, that it behaved more now like a collective consumer than like a believer. The election on May 10, 1981 (of François Mitterand) was the last one to obey an ideological impetus. Ever since, the French people have been happily using their politicians. Dissatisfied in 1983, they put the Right in office in the municipal elections. But that didn't prevent them from re-electing Mitterand in 1988, after experiencing Chirac (as Prime Minister) in 86.

In short, whenever the service isn't good, they run to a competitor. That is how we must understand the victory of the Left in the latest local elections. The horse is changed, but that is all. Belief, convictions have nothing to do with it.

It's a strange sort of secularization of one sphere - politics - that had been governed for such a long while by the laws of the sacred. Henceforth, it is the laws of the market-place that prevail. The one who speaks best wins, and his job is to satisfy the demand.

It is because he forgot this imperative that Nicolas Sarkozy is floundering. The Rolex watches and the sunglasses, if they annoyed people, were not the cause of the shipwreck. Public opinion was even ready to accept them, provided the paycheck was equal to the promises. Does anyone care about the grocer's shirt when he lowers his prices?

Explaining It All Away

Thursday night Nicolas Sarkozy appeared on television in an attempt to justify himself to his people, win back their minds and hearts, and lay out his future course of action. Reports indicate that he was in good form, spoke convincingly and managed to persuade some viewers, but it was not enough to be considered a victory for himself and his party.

There are all kinds of reactions to his remarks, and all kinds of theories about the causes of his failures, but rarely does anyone point out that he cannot keep his campaign promises because those promises were (more or less) of a conservative nature, and Nicolas Sarkozy is not a conservative.

Here are some excerpts from Yahoo:

(...) For more than an hour and a half, under questioning from five journalists at Elysée Palace, Nicolas Sarkozy delivered an explanation of his policies, recognizing his errors several times, and promising to speed up reforms.

On the theme of buying power, the major concern of the French, the president recognized that things had not sufficiently improved, but that it was because of the poor economic situation world-wide. And if he has made no resounding progress in the social sphere, he insisted that next year he would institute measures encouraging a return to the workforce, and a lowering of prices in the major outlets. He hammered away at the need for reforms in all spheres and repeated one of his old litanies that in France "people don't work enough." (Apparently he saw the video of Rachida's tough day at the Paris City Council.)

No change in objectives, but the journalists unanimously agreed he was more calm, more humble, and more "presidential".

The president refused to discuss his private life with Carla Bruni, since he has been criticized for generating too much unsavory publicity, but he did say that "everything was back to normal" (I wonder what THAT means). He also declared that he would exert more authority over his troops, promising that the blunders within the ranks of his ministers would no longer be tolerated. (Does this mean he will fire Rachida?)

The Left was quick to criticize his comments, but he makes it so easy for them. Ségolène Royal accused him of dishonesty, of blaming outside forces for France's difficulties and of not responding to the concerns of the French people. While Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë saw his speech as an "attempt to explain his own impotence".

One can hardly disagree.

Gaëlle Mann provides more snippets of his interview with the press, drawn from Le Parisien:

On the budget deficit he announced that beginning next year, one public servant out of two who retire will not be replaced.

On illegal immigrants: "Among legal immigrants there is an unemployment rate of 22%. No one can tell me that we have to bring in unfortunate illegals in order to fill the labor force. There is no chance of a global amnesty. That would draw them in great numbers and would benefit the traffickers who direct these unfortunate ones to countries where they can receive amnesty. There will be no global amnesty because it would lead to a catastrophe."

Gaëlle Mann notes: He says it, but does he mean it? We are all familiar with his double talk!

On allowing foreigners to vote in local elections, he said he was in favor of such a measure "intellectually", but did not have a majority to pass it.

Note: This means he is in favor of North African, Africans and Turks voting in local elections, and implies that he would pass such a measure if he could.

On Turkey in the EU, Nicolas Sarkozy reaffirmed his opposition, indicating that he would hold a referendum if the issue came up.

Note: This is absolute drivel. It was just announced that a referendum in France is no longer necessary for Turkey to be admitted. Sarkozy, having abolished the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, has now abolished a referendum on Turkey. So Nicolas Sarkozy, all the while proclaiming his opposition, has removed the one barrier that could have prevented Turkey's membership.

On his errors: "Of course I have made errors. I have to make a decision every ten minutes."

Yes, but it's always the same decision.

More On Jan Fabre

Earlier today I received an e-mail from Dutch blogger Stefan Beyst who has also written extensively about Jan Fabre, the subject of my previous post. This excerpt is from his essay on Fabre and the exhibit now in the Louvre:

Jan Fabre: "I am the first living artist to get a solo exhibition at the Louvre".

Reason enough to triumph! After all, not everybody is allowed to engage in a dialogue with the Flemish masters of the past in no less than 39 rooms of the Richelieu Wing of the Louvre in Paris!

Reason enough, also, to have a closer look at this megalomaniac enterprise.

Those interested in more information about this sham artist and the fraud perpetrated on the public by an art world that has lost all credibility should click this link.

The Vampirization of the Louvre

Some readers may recall that I have devoted several articles to the Louvre and to the politics that are dictating the future of the great museum. Originally, when I learned that a substantial number of works were to be transferred to other museums bearing the name "Louvre", both in France and around the world I was shocked. Even more shocked when it was reported that one of the new "Louvre" museums was in Abu Dhabi, and that the Emirate would pay France handsomely (one billion euros) for both the art and the expertise of French art historians as well as French architects. But the shock has long since worn off, in view of so many other cultural setbacks and political decisions that were at one time unimaginable.

Now the Louvre, in its effort to be in tune with the times, has on view an exhibit of works by Belgian "artist" and stage director, Jan Fabre, who makes his fortune on scatophilia and exhibitionism, and whose contempt for quality has earned him praise from audiences and politicians alike.

Review my article from last December on Jan Fabre.

A critique of the current exhibit entitled The Vampirization of the Louvre, by Professor Jean-Louis Harouel of the University of Paris, appeared in Le Figaro on April 15. Here are excerpts:

What is inadequately termed "contemporary art" has been gaining ground since 2004 against the masterpieces in the Louvre. Last year, around the tomb of Philippe Pot, a marvel of 15th century sculpture, they appended rows of fakes, as in an old-fashioned hardware store. Today, the center of the huge room (photo) where the life of Marie de Médicis by Rubens is displayed, has become a chaotic pile of tombstones like the backyard of a negligent stone-cutter. (...)

As a general rule, so-called contemporary art is nothing but an imposture. (...) The eternal repetition of what used to be the provocations of empty art or of anti-art no longer shocks anybody and procures fortune and prestige. It's the academicism of our times.

Merchants, collectors, critics, museums, media, public authority present as art an immense farce that ridicules art. The success of this fraud is strange, but fitting to the reign of culturally illiterate leaders deprived of the superior social models that guided them before. The absence of artistic content in so-called contemporary art abolishes the distinction between culture and lack of culture, and flatters the ego of those most ignorant in art and history. There is no need for knowledge, arduous reading, analysis or understanding to place before an amateur a pile of rocks or a block of scrap metal. It's enough to proclaim it to be a work of genius and to pay fabulous sums of money in order to feel like a great collector, a great maecenas. Art that isn't art suits this uncultivated elite to a "t".

But why this mania to bring this farce into classical museums, and in particular the Louvre? For despite its colossal commercial success, despite the media's drum-beating, despite the support of uncultivated billionaires imagining themselves to be art lovers and the approval of all the triumphant dupes who sing its praises, the more lucid adherents of so-called contemporary art know perfectly well that it suffers from a total absence of artistic legitimacy. Now, the theory that postulates equality, that seeks to create a supposed dialogue between on the one hand authentic masterpieces of the past, and on the other the present-day impostures, permits the latter to be extolled as having high artistic value. Contemporary art, which is not art, seeks to give itself artistic legitimacy through a forced confrontation with the greatest masterpieces. It vampirizes them in order to affirm itself as true art. The Jan Fabre exhibit in the Louvre adds nothing to Van Eyck, Memling, Rembrandt or Rubens. It does however bring to Jan Fabre the illusion of conversing on an equal footing with them, the illusion, therefore, of being a great artist. (...)

Time For a Rest

Rachida dati se moque du monde
Uploaded by myonlylover11

This is an absolutely delightful video. The grin on the young announcer's face says it all.

A translation was necessary to fully savor the moment. The video deals with a meeting of the Paris City Council, presided over by Mayor Bertrand Delanoë, and attended by the ever-glamorous Minister of Justice Rachida Dati, who came to cast a vote, I assume in her capacity as "mayor" of the 7th arrondissemnt of Paris. The video is entitled "A Full Day for Rachida Dati":

(...) Yesterday was the first meeting of the Paris City Council presided over by Bertrand Delanoë, with his designer carafe of water. Among those attending: Jean-Marie Cavadas, Jean-François Lamour, and the arrival of Rachida Dati at 3:20, a good half hour after the session began. Here's a breakdown of her day at City Council:

3:20 - we sign in
3:25 - we read La Croix
3:28 - we read Le Monde
3:33 - we send a little text message
3:37 - we plunge into Libération
3:43 - we do our nails
3:53 - we read Le Parisien
3:58 - a little word to our neighbor. Heh, heh, heh!
4:10 - time to pose for the photographers
4:15 - time to go back to Council for the vote. Except that the voting has already begun.

How did Rachida Dati vote? (Note: She voted "no", but she appears to simply follow the lead of the person next to her.)

5:20 - The day is over. Her reaction?

"It was a full day, studious and concentrated."

H/T: François Desouche

One Year Later

According to Yahoo several different polls concur on the low standing of Nicolas Sarkozy among the French people one year after his election. The following is a simplification of the statistics:

A poll done for Paris-Match shows 72% of the French are dissatisfied with his performance. Another poll for JDD indicates a record 79% of the French feel nothing has improved in the last year, and a third poll for Libération shows 59% of those questioned regard his first year as a failure.

How does one go from having a capital of confidence and an unparalleled connection with the French people, to a mistrust that is visible in almost all sectors of presidential activity, in 12 short months?

For Stéphane Rozès of CSA, the brutal fall of Nicolas Sarkozy, perceptible since January, is due to the "juncture of two factors: excessive publicity over his private life which diminishes the value of the presidency, and the impression that he is far from his promise to make increased buying power the reward for hard work and merit."

"Sarkozy fell because of his change in position, his straying from the campaign promises, from the coherence he used to have (sic!), from his duties," he explained.

Even though the theme of buying power was at the heart of his notion of "rupture", notably with the slogan "work more to earn more", the French people sense a "strident discord between the speeches he delivered as candidate and the current reality."

The illustration from Yahoo shows the decline in the president's popularity correlated with events of his administration. When first elected he enjoyed a rating of 65% that continued to rise, reaching a peak of 69% in August. Then the decline started: he divorced Cecilia, attempted to make reforms in pension plans, had his immigration law passed, welcomed Colonel Qadhafi to Paris, published the Attali Report, married Carla, attempted to implement a misbegotten plan to teach the holocaust to 5th graders, and lost the municipal elections in March, falling in that time from an approval rating of 69% to 28%.

Notice that the polls never mention crime, immigration, national identity, the Treaty of Lisbon, bioethics, Islam. Or, if they do, those statistics are never mentioned in the press.

Missives to China

Let it not be said that the art of letter-writing is dead. The French are breathing new life into this age-old method of communication. Besides the letter of apology sent by Nicolas Sarkozy to the Chinese athlete, it now appears that former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin will also be delivering messages to Beijing. As will Jacques Chirac, who was prevented from going in person by illness.

Above you see cartoonist Langelot's interpretation of Raffarin's journey as the King's Messenger. Raffarin, who makes frequent trips to China, appears to know the language as well, since the most recent post at his website is in Chinese (with no translation).

Yahoo informs us that in addition to letters, Raffarin will take a gift to Chinese President Hu Jintao:

In this period of strained French-Chinese relations, President Nicolas Sarkozy has entrusted one of his emissaries with the mission of presenting a gift to Hu Jintao: a biography of General Charles de Gaulle who had recognized the People's Republic in 1964.

The French president dedicated the work to his Chinese counterpart, explained former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin on Wednesday before leaving for China.

The former prime minister, who has been traveling to China for 20 years, is one of the emissaries sent by Nicolas Sarkozy to Beijing for the purpose of appeasing tensions between the two countries since the fiasco generated by the arrival of the Olympic torch in Paris. Mr. Raffarin will bring to the Chinese a letter from the president and a letter from Jacques Chirac said to be an old friend of China, according to a spokesman.

Note: The Olympic torch triggered protests in many countries, not just France, but the French authorities seem to be tearing their hair to "appease" the Chinese. This must be because China is a Communist country and the French Republic is seizing the opportunity to curry its favor, and to make a display, however obsequiously, of enlightenment.

An Act of Submission

I had no sooner posted the previous article on China, than I came upon these impressions of the events by Yves Daoudal, writing at his blog, and found that his pungent criticism put things in a slightly different perspective:

The torrent of "information" on the Chinese anti-French demonstrations is truly amazing. To read the articles and dispatches you would think that all of China had risen up against the evil French who have it in for the Olympic Games, and consequently for the Chinese people.

As if the Chinese had the freedom to think anything at all about this subject let alone... demonstrate!

When you look at the images, you see that a few dozen "students", surrounded by squadrons of police, are demonstrating at the entrances to Carrefour supermarkets.

Nicolas Sarkozy generously hastened to send a letter of support to the handicapped girl who had "protected the torch" in Paris. They say that in China she has become the symbol of the anti-Olympic and anti-Chinese protests.

The letter, delivered personally by the president of the Senate Christian Poncelet to the athlete, "was greatly appreciated by the Chinese people", according to a spokesman in the Chinese foreign ministry.

And they tell us the letter was appreciated by the Chinese people.

They take us for idiots.

Daoudal sees an event completely manipulated by both the Chinese and French media, and designed to bring the French to their knees. Apparently Sarkozy saw it that way too, but had no qualms about bowing to the infinitely more clever Chinese.

One of Daoudal's readers brings up a terrible crime that was committed a few days ago in Roubaix:

By the way, did Sarkozy send his regrets to young Sandra, 16, disfigured for life last week by the knife slashes inflicted on her by Houssna R'Bib, out of pure anti-white racism?

Finally I came upon this interesting item in Nord Eclair, a local paper of Northern France:

By sending three emissaries to Beijing in an attempt to appease the anger of the Chinese, France took a risky initiative that could be interpreted as an admission of weakness by Beijing, and that could also irritate her European partners, say the experts.

"Chinese tradition interprets the sending of an embassy as recognition of the condition of vassal," insists Jean-Vincent Brisset, a specialist on China (...) "It was an act of submission and will be interpreted as such." (...)

For Dominique Moïsi, of the French Institute on International Relations, "France wanted to take the lead as the country of human rights and now she holds out her hand so that they can slap it with a ruler." (...) In the opinion of the experts, the Chinese decided to go after France because she appears to be the weak link in the European Union. "France is very vulnerable to the threats of a Chinese boycott considering her investments in China, her budget deficit and her particularly incoherent foreign policy," notes Moïsi.

It sounds as if the "experts" have little respect for the Sarkozy government. While it hardly matters now, I don't think Jacques Chirac would have been this inept in such a situation.

The photo shows Christian Poncelet kissing the hand of the handicapped athlete in Beijing on April 21.

A New Honorary Citizen of Paris

As I mentioned in my previous post, the Dalai Lama has been named honorary citizen of Paris by socialist Mayor Bertrand Delanoë. I wasn't able to find adequate information on the other recipients of this title, except for Mumia Abu-Jamal, in jail for the murder of a policeman in Philadelphia and Ingrid Bétancourt, currently a hostage of the FARC terrorists in Venezuela.

Bestowing this honor came about as anti-French demonstrations were taking place in front of the Carrefour stores in nine Chinese cities. Le Monde reports:

(...) The city council made the Dalai Lama and the dissident Hu Jia honorary citizens of Paris. The voting was unanimous but many elected officials refused to take part.

Each council member had received a letter with the letterhead of the Chinese Embassy explaining that the decision to honor the Tibetan leader might make the situation "worse" in the province. If the 72 socialists approved the proposal of Mayor Bertrand Delanoë, neither their 54 UMP colleagues, nor the 9 centrists, nor the 8 Communists took part in the voting. A group of Green councillors also received approval of their proposal to make dissident Hu Jia, sentenced to three and a half years in prison, an honorary citizen as well. During the debate, Mr. Delanoë affirmed that "helping to stimulate dialogue is one of the duties of the City of Paris," and announced he would soon meet with the Chinese Ambassador.

Meanwhile the president of the Senate, Christian Poncelet, bearer of messages from Nicolas Sarkozy, is continuing his trip to China. (Note: Poncelet's trip had been planned a while back and had nothing to do with the Paris protests against the Olympic Games.) On Tuesday in Beijing, Poncelet handed Chinese President Hu Jintao a letter from his French counterpart emphasizing the importance that he attaches "to the strategic partnership" between the two countries. (...)

Besides the Tibetan monks, I have heard there are other persecuted minorities in China. Unfortunately I don't have the time to research the topic.

Sino-French Tensions

As usual, Charles Henry at Covenant Zone is keeping his readers informed about the latest acts of violence in France. This time he has two articles on anti-French demonstrations by the Chinese, first in China, then in Paris. These protests are a response to the recent demonstrations in France in favor of the Dalai Lama and against the Olympic Games in Beijing, on the occasion of the arrival of the Olympic torch in Paris.

During the turbulent protests against the games, a Chinese handicapped fencer named Jin Jing, from Shanghai, was roughed up as she protected the torch from harm. Yesterday the French president of the Senate Christian Poncelet was in Shanghai to hand her personally a letter from Nicolas Sarkozy expressing his regrets at the way she had been treated.

The Dalai Lama himself has been made an honorary citizen of Paris, to the displeasure of the Chinese government. Most of the world news services covered this event. I deal with it briefly in my next post.

Charles also covers one of the latest school-related incidents:

For the Sake of Islam

A new book by Martin Peltier, published by Renaissance Catholique, is briefly summarized at the publisher's website. The very short précis is hardly sufficient to make a judgment, but what struck me was the remark about Nicolas Sarkozy's ulterior motives in his so-called campaign for "positive laïcité", i.e., placing all religions on an equal footing and encouraging equal respect for all of them:

By raising the issue of the "Christian roots" of France and of "positive laïcité" in Rome last December 20, 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy made waves. The outrage of the old guard of defenders of laïcité reached the boiling point, and they declared the republican pact to be in danger.

Note: A reminder that the republican pact referred to is the strict separation of Church and State as decreed by the law of 1905. Since being elected, Nicolas Sarkozy has launched a veritable campaign to bring religion back into the public debate and to persuade the population of its importance. But, of course, he had his reasons...

However, if we take the time to read the book he wrote in 2004 - The Republic, Religions and Hope - and if we compare it to other statements, we soon perceive that the primary concern of Nicolas Sarkozy is Islam. His only reason for modifying the law of 1905 is to integrate Islam. The State will pay for mosques and the training of imams. The ghettoes will thus be pacified.

Beyond this policing effort, the President, indifferent to any revelation, hopes that the three religions of the Book come together to spread their common values on behalf of a humanistic globalization. His God is modernity, his God is the Republic.

I have lost track of the number of times I have said here that Sarkozy's only purpose in opening the debate on religion was to prepare the French population for the institutionalization of Islam. Because without the issue of Islam, there was absolutely no reason to talk about, let alone modify, the 1905 law. For better or worse, the French people had long ago adjusted to the law. But he had to force them to re-adjust to a modified law that allowed State funding for mosques. And in order to do this he created a phony debate on the need for all men to recognize the importance of religion (i.e. Islam).

Many Christians did not see this and welcomed the new debate, thinking it applied to them. On the other hand, the defenders of laïcité, most of whom are socialists and pro-immigration, became alarmed at the thought that he was shoving religion down their throats, when in fact he was merely justifying the State funding of Islam.

Martin Peltier's book, entitled Nicolas Sakozy, the Republic, and Religions, can be ordered for 15 euros at the Renaissance Catholique website.

How To Honor Césaire

Among the accolades that came tumbling from the mouths of politicians on learning of the death of Aimé Césaire, there was the suggestion made by Ségolène Royal, and seconded by numerous other politicians, that the remains of the venerable poet of Martinique be placed in the Pantheon of Paris, a suggestion that immediately made headlines triggering a double controversy: first, from nationalists (except Le Pen) there was an outcry at the idea of placing a communist adversary of France in an edifice dedicated to honoring great Frenchmen; second, some (including Le Pen) hurled criticism at the shameless hypocrisy of white racist politicians who suddenly slobber over a black man they care little about but whose death affords them the opportunity to show off their moral rectitude and repentance, etc... etc... etc...

Le Conservateur, as usual provides a concise assessment of the situation:

Must we place in the basilica of Sainte-Geneviève a tomb, or a simple monument to the spirit of Aimé Césaire? I would prefer to reverse the question... Why such honor for a poet that most Frenchmen haven't read? Yes, I know he's black, and that that constitutes the key criteria in this affair, otherwise why would Madame Royal have opened her opportunistic mouth? (...)

Let me say it frankly: I don't give a damn who is placed in the Pantheon. I have never been there, and if I ever go, it will be to admire the beautiful architecture, and the frescoes painted in honor of the founders of Old France. Perhaps this monument had some meaning at the time of its institution. But in 2008, as the Republic is moribund and laws and the common good are disappearing in silence as barbarity takes over, the building is nothing more than a tool of communication in the hands of politicians.

Ancient virtues have deserted it. They cannot tolerate mediocrity. Isn't the bronze inscription on the fronton of the basilica an insult to modern tastes? "To great men from a grateful fatherland." First of all great men do not exist, since we are all equal in mediocrity. As for the fatherland, it's clearly a Fascist term. So I propose to rewrite the inscription as follows:

"To the men and women chosen by the media, from grateful immigrants and entitlement seekers."

Compare Le Conservateur's comments with these from Jean-Marie Le Pen:

Jean-Marie Le Pen salutes the memory of Aimé Césaire, politician and great French poet.

You can disagree with the political ideas espoused by Aimé Césaire, or at least some of them, and still admire the writer and poet, an emblematic figure of the greatest France, who served his homeland for more than half a century.

It's strange to see the eagerness shown by some, on all sides, to place him in the Pantheon.

We don't remember hearing those who are speaking out, now that he is dead, demand that he be made a member of the Académie Française, even though such a step would have given him the recognition he merited during his lifetime.

And it would not have been just to honor him but to allow the Académie Française to benefit from his inventive skill with our language, consubstantial with his vigorous song of negritude.

It is regrettable and harmful to have allowed such an opportunity to slip by, at a time when the French language is being demolished in the globalist magma.

You can read more about the Pantheon of Paris at Wikipedia.

As far as I can gather Aimé Césaire was a revolutionary who would have gladly watched France burn, if we are to judge by this excerpt posted at a website created by Unesco to honor of the poet:

Writing can be the most formidable of weapons used in the defense of one's values, to make one's voice heard and respected. Aimé Césaire used this miraculous weapon to make his ideas known. Today we find, through his writings, the full content of his struggle and the message he wished to pass on to his kinsmen.

Many other leaders have utilized writing to defend the cause they believed in. Among them: Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Che Guevara, Patrice Lumumba, Cheikh Anta Diop, Frantz Fanon and many others.

Having placed Césaire in this illustrious company, we turn to this quote in which he sends a clear warning that his ideas are to be taken seriously, or else:

"In vain, in the warmth of your throat, are you nourishing the hope that we are but mutterers of words. Words? When we manipulate sections of the world, when we espouse continents in ecstasy, when we force open smoking doors, words, ah yes, words! but words of fresh blood, words that are as tidal waves and erysipelas and malaria and lava and brush fires, and flaming flesh and flaming cities."

Note: Erysipelas is a skin infection. Is he saying that these horrible things are the result of white man's rule, or that they are weapons the black man will use to destroy whites?

A personal opinion: The Pantheon does not seem appropriate. Since he was such a hero in Martinique and felt so close to the people, he would probably want to remain where he felt at home.

Aimé Césaire (1913 - 2008)

The French media announced the death on Thursday at age 94 of poet and politician Aimé Césaire, the great heros of the island of Martinique, a French department in the Caribbean. Césaire became known as the poet of "negritude", the condition of being black, and founded the magazine L'Etudiant Noir (black student). He was a member of the French Communist Party, but left the party in disillusionment when the Soviets invaded Hungary. He founded his own Martinican Progressive Party and remained his whole life a severe critic of French colonial rule. His passing has aroused a torrent of obsequious hyperbolic praise from French journalists and politicians, including Jean-Marie Le Pen, who said the poet should have been admitted to the Académie Française. Since I have not read the poet, I cannot speak for the quality of his work, but he harbored considerable animosity towards France, even though he was showered with honors in his long lifetime.

Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:

In 2006, (Césaire) refused to meet the leader of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), Nicolas Sarkozy, then a probable contender for the 2007 presidential election, because the UMP had voted for the February 23, 2005 law asking teachers and textbooks to "acknowledge and recognize in particular the positive role of the French presence abroad, especially in North Africa", a law considered by many as a eulogy to colonialism and French actions during the Algerian War. President Jacques Chirac finally had the controversial law repealed.

His writings reflect his passion for civic and social engagement. He is the author of Discours sur le colonialisme (Discourse on Colonialism, 1953), a denunciation of European colonial racism which was published in the French review Présence Africaine. In 1968, he published the first version of Une Tempête, a radical adaptation of Shakespeare's play The Tempest for a black audience.

A national funeral took place Sunday (April 20) in Martinique with Nicolas Sarkozy in attendance. Here are excerpts from a Yahoo report:

President Nicolas Sarkozy and numerous political personalities attended a cultural celebration at the Fort-de-France stadium, in the city where the poet was mayor from 1945 to 2001.

Since his death was announced, thousands of Martinicans have been paying homage to the man they called Papa Césaire, recalling how much he had contributed to black pride and to the political actions of blacks in France.

Among those present besides Sarkozy: the leader of the National Assembly Bernard Accoyer, Ministers of the Interior and of Culture Michèle Alliot-Marie and Christine Albanel, the first secretary of the Socialist Party François Hollande, former presidential candidate Ségolène Royal, former socialist Prime Ministers Lionel Jospin, Laurent Fabius and Pierre Mauroy, and François Bayrou head of the Democratic Movement Party (MoDem).

Before arriving in Martinique Nicolas Sarkozy had declared: "Aimé Césaire was the honor of Martinique, of France, and of all those who shared in his struggles, his ideas. (...) A wise man has left us. All Frenchmen today are Martinicans in their heart."

The ceremony in the stadium was transmitted to Paris on a giant screen installed at City Hall. In compliance with the poet's wishes there was no religious service.

After the Liberation of France in 1945, Césaire began a long political career marked by the struggle against colonialism, notably in a speech in 1950:

"I speak for millions of men in whom fear, inferiority complex, trembling, abasement, despair and servility were knowingly inculcated."

Italian Revolution

The Brussels Journal has posted a translation of an article from the Italian paper Corriere della Sera on the re-election of Silvio Berlusconi and the sudden disappearance of communists and greens from the Italian Parliament. Will the French people follow the lead set by the obviously more enlightened Italians? More importantly, is this revolution permanent?:

Never before, however, have we seen an entire political area vanish as if it had been swallowed up by the very earth.[…] For the first time in history since the fall of the Fascist dictatorship, Italy’s parliament will not have a single “red” sitting on its benches […] The truth is that this tetchy, daydreaming, belligerently pacifist Left, which in recent years has said no to high speed trains, wind power, peace mission, pension reform and almost everything else, has lost on all fronts. […] As the Left glumly folds away its flags, Silvio Berlusconi, Gianfranco Fini and above all Umberto Bossi smile triumphantly in the background among the celebrating workers that the Left can no longer reach.

Read more

Population Replacement

Last week student demonstrations revived fears of another May 68, although so far there is no indication that an event of any magnitude is about to happen. Gérard Pince, economist and founding member of the Blue Revolution attended one of the rallies and tells us why this is no May 68:

Having returned from the demonstration by high-school students, I can relate to you, while they are fresh in my mind, impressions that the media will be very careful not to show.

Around 10,000 persons. The front section of the parade was entirely composed of blacks and North Africans waving flags imprinted with the Islamic crescent. They represented one to two thirds of the total number of persons in the groups that followed. Let us remember that this sampling of students reflects the face of tomorrow's France.

I must say, in all objectivity, that this youth demonstrated no hostility towards the police. I even saw a group of young black girls dance at Place de la Nation singing "Cops! We love you!" The rally broke up without any major incidents, at least as far as I know.

I want to reassure you, a repetition of May 68 is not in the offing. We are witnessing a different phenomenon: that of our replacement.

If Only...

Ivan Rioufol writes for Le Figaro. His column, though relatively cautious in tone, is still a voice of tradition and conservatism in the otherwise uninspiring MSM. He also has been maintaining a personal blog within the context of Le Figaro's website, and here offers some thoughts on May 68:

(...) Yesterday on France 2, a good documentary put May 68 in the turbulent perspective of the times that witnessed revolts in Eastern Europe (Prague), the United States and even Mexico City. And yet, should we enshrine May 68 to this point, and present it as the liberation everywhere of a narrow and stifling society? The baby boomers had not even waited for 1968 to begin its entry into society. The Neuwirth Law had authorized the pill in 1967. A natural movement towards change was in the air. France would have become modernized without May 68. We can grant it is role as an accelerator. But we can also defend the notion that this "revolution", because of educational and political inevitabilities, caused us to lose time. May 68 also aided in the setbacks and weakening that France is experiencing today.

Philosopher Chantal Delsol made these remarks in the April edition of the Revue des Deux Mondes (from a series on the theme "Whither the Right?"):

"In the 60's, 70's, and 80's the French elite, drunk with a desire for general emancipation, believed that we could with impunity break up the family structure, deconstruct schools, confer on children the freedom to invent themselves with no criteria or examples. Today, 'family values' are high on the list of desireables, the need for authority is being reaffirmed in schools and the very idea of limits has become the topic of debates. We long to say with a sigh, 'If only they had listened to us earlier, what damage could have been avoided!'"

Reality, including economics, is in the process of prevailing over the dogmas inherited from that May 68 which does not deserve such honor.

Note: As indicated, Rioufol remains cautiously optimistic about the situation today. He is unwilling (at least in this article) to go so far as to use the term "irreparable damage", or to analyze the tremendously coercive forces that cowed people back then into complying with the demands of violent infantile rebels. The powers that be (and that were) were clearly terrified and/or easily bought. This fear transformed our societies into politically correct robots, political correctness being a form of exorcism to chase away the devils of racial differences, intellectual inequalities and criminal intent. By denying the existence of racial and intellectual differences, or the hatred within the heart of criminals, they thought these unpleasant truths would simply vanish. And so the taboo on free speech became a type of "magic" employed to chase away demons that people simply could not face. But the real demon is the Revolution itself, its movers and its puppets, its consequences and its destruction. Would that there were a faith-healer who could exorcise those demons and restore us to a bearable level of cultural health.

Question: Why were people unable to face certain unpleasant truths? What happened between 1958 and 1968 to trigger such toxic ideas and so much violence? Was it the political assassinations in America of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King? Did our political situation and the civil rights movement reverberate in Europe and blaze the trail for the May uprising in France? Our Revolution in 1776 was the inspiration for 1789. Did we do it again? Or was Revolution universally in the air, needing only a lighted match to start and spread? I may be wrong but I have always felt that the assassination of President Kennedy started an inexorable process. (Likewise, I sometimes feel that the death of Diana so traumatized the British that they lost their moral fiber and their legendary resolve.)

The photo of May 68 is from a series by photographer Jean-Claude Seine.

Benjamin Stora - Professional Revolutionary

Besides Daniel Cohn-Bendit another celebrated communist from May 68, Benjamin Stora, manages to stay in the news. Stora, born in Constantine, Algeria, is an historian and a specialist of Algerian immigration to France. He teaches North African history and French colonization at the Paris VIII-St-Denis branch of the University of Paris. A militant Trotskyist in May 1968, he was, until 1986, a member of the International Communist Organization, a group formed in 1965 as a result of a split within the Communist Party that had taken place in 1952. In 2007 he campaigned for Ségolène Royal. French readers can view a video of his rant in praise of Royal, in which he also extols the return of the authentic socialism many had hoped would follow her election.

Le Conservateur posted this critique of comments made by Stora on France Culture radio:

Have you heard Benjamin Stora on France Culture? Recently this gentleman proudly announced, with a tear in his eye, that 2007 was that last electoral victory of the Right, because soon new ethnic battalions " would upset the balance definitively." Today Mr. Stora wanted to put us on our guard: staying within the spirit of May 68 is not a matter of commemoration but of mobilization. What is needed, according to him, is to instill in ethnic minorities and the underprivileged (including the notorious migrants created by the Left for its own political purposes) a taste for challenging the established orders, in particular the "ethnic order", by drawing inspiration from the "decolonization" movements.

Note: I take this to mean that Stora wants to revive May 68 with ethnic minorities as his new tools for overturning the government. These ethnic minorities must "decolonize" themselves, the way Algeria broke French colonial rule.

Must we be reminded of how the little powdered prophets of the salons of 1788 ended up, those free-thinking shriveled up mummies professing false enlightenment in the comfort of their sumptuous dwellings, and those philosophizing prostitutes of good society hiding libertarian pamphlets under their skirts? Most of them ended their wretched existence on the scaffold, drenched in blood, or in the gutter, massacred by pikes, massacred by the very "tools" they claimed to be manipulating, and who completely escaped their control. Beware, Mr. Stora... You were forced to leave your native Algeria to save your skin. Your "protégés" might very well remind you one day that they had already chased you from "their territory."

To all those who are in need of a clarification, I dare say, Mr. Stora's thinking illustrates perfectly that massive immigration is a tool invented by the extreme Left to shatter European society, and to destroy it. There is no humanism here; his ideas reek of hatred. It is not freedom that Mr. Stora and the whole Saint-Germain-des-Près clique are calling for, but blood!

Note: For those not familiar with Paris, Saint-Germain-des-Près is an area near the Latin Quarter where left-wing intellectuals and other trouble-makers always gather. The cafés there are famous for their past clientele, including Sartre and Beauvoir.

If Le Conservateur sounds a warning, his readers go further in denouncing Benjamin Stora, calling him an agent of the government in the service of Sarkozy's multi-cultural project, and wondering how anyone can tolerate the Trotskyist and Maoist propaganda that spews forth every morning on France Culture radio.