Defections From the FN

Four recent posts at Le Salon Beige trace the rapid disintegration of the leadership of the Front National. It seems that within the space of a few weeks there have been numerous defections among those who held important posts both within the national party and in certain regional branches, in particular the region of Ile-de-France, which includes Paris and its environs.

While it is bewildering for me to present this material coherently, since I don't know a great deal about these people, it is obvious that something is going on and it does not bode well for the future of the party, nor does it promise any real hope for Marine Le Pen (photo above), at least not at this time.

I want to say that Le Pen's recent appearance at Dieudonné's stage show was the last straw for some of these personalities, but I have no evidence that this is the case. Moreover, the disintegration process started a long time ago.

Here are the basics, as reported by LSB. French readers might want to read the extensive commentary, since the readers provide more information (often subjective) than the posts themselves.

From January 20:

Myriam Baeckeroot, regional councillor from Ile-de-France since 1992, is no longer a member of the FN, not having renewed her membership in November.

Michel Hubault resigned on January 9, to support Carl Lang in the European elections, and has agreed to be the treasurer of Lang's electoral committee.

Note: Before proceeding any further, I should add that the upcoming EU elections are looming as very important. Since the FN is generally regarded as a leper colony by the EU, some may want to make the break now and try their chances in more favorable conditions, as part of a new right-wing, sovereigntist party, free of the stigma associated with Le Pen. Carl Lang, a prominent leader in the FN broke away a while back.

Jean Verdon will be chairman of Lang's electoral committee.

Jean d'Ogny, secretary of the FN in the department of the Cher, was photographed with Carl Lang when Lang began his European campaign, a fact that seems to limit his days in his current post.

From January 23:

In the region of Ile-de-France, (besides Myriam Baeckeroot), Michel Bayvet and Michel de Rostolan have decided to leave the Regional Council of the FN and to form a new party in the Regional Council.

Note: France is divided into departments, with a general council as governing body of each department. There are also groupings of departments known as regions, with a regional council as governing body. Since 1986, these councils contain blocs of representatives from the various political parties, elected for a period of 6 years by universal suffrage. In the regional council of Ile-de-France (the Paris area), the FN bloc has been headed by Marine Le Pen. She is now going to resign this position, to allow someone else with a better chance of winning to take over and to run in the EU elections as the FN candidate from Ile-de-France. Meanwhile, Marine herself will be running in the EU elections as FN candidate from the large voting district of Nord-Ouest (Note: This includes at least 5 departments and/or regions, including Basse-Normandie, Haute-Normandie, Nord-Pas de Calais and Picardie)

(Information from Novopress)

Another source, National-Hebdo, posted this on January 27:

The assemblage, patiently built and maintained by Jean-Marie Le Pen, of diverse elements of the National Right today is bursting apart. Nothing spectacular, not a massive departure, just a slow disintegration of the apparatus. After the the departures on Friday (January 23) (...), today Martine Lehideux, a founding member of the FN and Martial Bild, a member since 1980, who holds several important posts within the FN, are breaking away from the ideological trend initiated by Marine Le Pen. (...) In less than three months the FN has lost one fifth of its regional councillors, three European deputies and nothing indicates for now that this hemorrhage is coming to an end.

Another post at National-Hebdo indicates that Jean-Michel Dubois has been chosen to run as candidate for the FN from Ile-de-France in the EU elections, NOT Alain Soral, the controversial left-wing philosopher and sociologist whom Marine Le Pen had befriended and whose advice she apparently sought out. Soral's presence in the FN has been a major divisive factor, and cost Marine the confidence of numerous FN members. It was his influence over her that many saw as one of the reasons for her father's failure to do better in the 2007 presidential elections.

From LSB January 27:

Despite a meeting with Marine Le Pen,the regional councillors Martial Bild and Martine Lehideux, have decided to form a new group in the Regional Council under the name "Group of Nationals and Independents".

Jean-François Touzé has also joined this new group. (You can review my posts on Touzé by clicking the label below.)

After these defections, nine persons remain in the Front National's group in the regional council of Ile-de-France.

Also from January 27:

Most of the elected officials mentioned were seen side by side with Carl Lang at Sunday's pro-life demonstrations.

Note: There have been two recent pro-life demonstrations - one in Washington, one in Paris. Both rallies attracted a huge number of participants and much positive commentary from the French Catholic blogs. The abortion issue has been one of several ethical questions that separated Jean-Marie Le Pen from many of his traditional Catholic constituents. Le Pen (and Marine) have shown themselves to be more "liberal" (American sense of the word) on issues of abortion and euthanasia than the Catholics had hoped.

In the photo below Carl Lang is third from left, next to the man in the hat and the woman in red.



If you are totally confused, I would imagine many French people are too, as LSB comments show. It is relatively easy to split from a group, but to assemble a consistent, coherent, meaningful platform, and to win elections is much harder.

Note: How voting districts for the EU parliamentary elections are drawn up is not clear to me. It appears that one region or a group of regions or a group of departments and regions can constitute a voting district - what the French call a "circonscription."

Also, regarding the names of the defectors, it isn't entirely clear if they are all OUT of the FN as a party, or on suspension, or just out of the FN group in Ile-de-France. I believe that, despite everything, Carl Lang is still a member of the FN. It may depend on whether or not he pays dues and on whether or not Jean-Marie Le Pen has him removed definitively.

We all await the next chapter in the vicissitudes of the French Right, as it tries to figure out who it is and what it represents.

Winter of Discontent

Here are a few strike photos culled from Le Figaro. There were large demonstrations throughout France, but little in the way of actual choking of the various systems of ground transport (air transport was more seriously affected). Not surprisingly, schools had low attendance of teachers and the personnel assigned to elementary schools had their hands full, but this was easily predicted. Although this was primarily a Socialist shindig, an unusually large number of the demonstrators were salaried workers from the private sector.

All in all between 1 and 2.5 million people demonstrated on Thursday. Taking just the public sector employees, 25% of functionaries, 33% of teachers, 25% of postal and telephone company employees, and 33% of public utility employees did not go to work.

The main target of the strikers was Nicolas Sarkozy, accused of helping bankers and ignoring workers. "Sarko, Sarko, what a Pinocchio!" shouted angry demonstrators. Others insisted that greater "purchasing power" is the only economic solution.

Among those from the private sector who marched were salaried employees of Crédit Lyonnais, Renault, Michelin, Volvic, FNAC, Galeries Lafayette, Peugeot Citroën, and even notary clerks.

According to Eric de La Chesnais, who blogs at Le Figaro on behalf of agricultural workers, even farmers made the trip to Paris to demonstrate side by side with functionaries. Rural inhabitants of France are concerned over the loss of farms (15,000 disappear each year), and the low standard of living among farmers whose revenue is less than the minimum wage.

Union leaders all said these were the largest demonstrations they had seen in a long time.

A scene in Grenoble:


This is Nice where, according to police, it was the largest demonstration since the anti-Le Pen rallies in 2002:


Three beaming Socialists: Martine Aubry, chairman of the French Socialist Party; Pierre Delanoë, mayor of Paris (right); Jean-Paul Huchon, president of the region of Ile-de-France.


Confrontations broke out a little before 7:00 p.m. at the Place de l'Opera in Paris. The demonstrators were heading for Elysée, faces masked. They harrassed the police and threw projectiles. One overturned car was burned. At least 12 persons were arrested:


You can view a slide show here.

According to Le Figaro a law passed in 2007 allows the SNCF (National Railways) to operate a certain number of commuter trains, subways and buses, thus reducing the chances for a total stoppage of transportation. "Black Thursday" (the feared shutdown of the country) therefore did not happen and the guaranteed minimal service functioned well. The law requires that strikers make themselves known, individually, 48 hours before the strike.

Strike Day in France

Today Thursday, January 29, is a good day not to go to France. All French unions have called for a general strike to express their fears about jobs, salaries, purchasing power and benefits amid the global economic crisis.

According to the IHT:

The strike is expected to seriously disturb traffic on the railways and public transport systems throughout France.

The civil aviation authority official says it is likely to trigger procedures under a French law that requires at least a minimum number of air traffic controllers to show up for work in times of strikes. He demanded anonymity in advance of a formal announcement.

Under the strike procedure, at least 30 percent of flights would have to be guaranteed.

Le Figaro provides details:

The national education system will be operating with greatly reduced personnel: the unions claim that 70% of primary school employees and 50 to 60% of middle and high school employees will be honoring the call to strike. But Education Minister Xavier Darcos cuts those figures almost in half. The strikers are protesting "job cuts, and are demanding higher salaries, and schools that ensure success for all young people." Despite the assurance of minimal services in the elementary schools, the Mayor of Paris is urging parents not to send their children to school, since 90,000 children would need to be looked after.

In the area of public service, the unions are calling on five million public servants, including those in public hospitals, to participate in the strike.

Other areas sure to be affected include the courts, television and radio stations, newspapers, telephones, post offices, gas and electricity, ports and docks, banks and certain industries such as Renault, Peugeot-Citroën, Auchan, helicopters pilots, operators of ski lifts, stock exchange employees, and Virgin stores...

The French press regards the strikes as a test of Nicolas Sarkozy's power. An article from Yahoo gives a resumé of what some regional newspapers are saying. As one example, La République du Centre suggests that:

Nicolas Sarkozy is not entirely alien to the feeling of anxiety and exasperation that France is now experiencing. His style of governing, too willingly provocative, has aroused a desire for revenge, His diatribes against bankers and venture capitalists, have fed, in public opinion, an unsatisfied demand for reparations.

However, Le Conservateur sees the work stoppage among public servants as almost "pornographic" since they will benefit from the effects of the economic crisis, without having been affected by it in the first place:

Astounding, the number of people who were not even touched by the economic crisis, but who will benefit from it, thanks to the reduction of inflation, or major price reductions on certain products, or the reductions of housing costs, and who dare set into motion a day of national strike action. This level of mockery is pornography...

A stony silence about this paradox from the media, of course. They prefer to concentrate on the stock options of big businessmen, that have almost no weight compared to the socialist-unionist circus choking France.

I'm beginning to see around me victims of the crisis: people who have to leave the country with their families to save their job, people who file for bankruptcy of an entrepreneurial effort that took all their savings and years of work. Those folks, on Thursday, will have to march with heads lowered, and be subjected to the idiotic litanies of inebriated strikers, and to the complaints of the powerless citizen who allowed the State to take up too much space in his life.

Frankly, some Molotov cocktails are being wasted...

He received quite a bit flack from readers who feel he is being unfair to public servants. According to these readers not all functionaries fare well, they have difficult jobs to do and Sarkozy belittles them every chance he gets. Le Conservateur responds that they fare better than workers in the private sector. He adds that some like to use his blog as a way of accusing him of being "ultra-liberal" (economically liberal, of course):

(...) when all I am doing is describing the legitimate discontent of many citizens who are always told to be silent and to pay, while others, like capricious children, always want more at others expense (...)

Note: If these strikes are similar to previous strikes under Sarkozy, there will be few repercussions, and Sarkozy will make manifold promises to everyone (with a nod here and there to the need for tightening the belt), in exchange for civil peace. He will then appear to be the victor in the "struggle" between a "right-wing" government and the Left.

P.S. Congratulations to Le Conservateur on his millionth visitor.

House of Lords Bans "Fitna"

I guess everyone heard that the British Parliament cancelled the showing of Geert Wilders' video Fitna, scheduled to be shown today January 29, in the House of Lords. Bivouac-Id reports:

The decision to cancel the showing was made following a meeting with Lord Nazir Ahmed, and the leader of the ruling party in the House of Lords, the leader of the House of Lords, representatives of the Muslim Council of Great Britain, the British Muslim Forum and other representatives of the British Muslim community.

After the decision, all protests and Muslim demonstrations were cancelled and Lord Ahmed called the decision a "victory for the Muslim community."

As a sidelight, Lord Nazir Ahmed killed an innocent man while driving recklessly - he was speeding and sending a text message on a highway. Why was he not convicted? In December 2008, Lord Ahmed pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, normally punishable by two years in prison. Instead of languishing in jail, as he should be, he is trampling on the freedom of speech that is the basis of British democracy.

Read more about the terrible way the man died.

SITA Action for Wilders

SITA is launching a major offensive against the Dutch court of appeals, in an effort to exonerate Geert Wilders.

SITA, in French, stands for "Sensibilsation à l'Islam Tous Azimuts", in English, "Islam Awareness In All Directions". The organization is international, though French based, and uses the methods of Amnesty International to make its point. SITA believes that e-mail petitions are useless, and prefers instead the snail mail method which they say has proved its effectiveness (in fact, the "snowball" effect).

To this end, they have provided (both in French and in English), two form letters, one using the fighting words of Winston Churchill, the other using the cinema of Charles Chaplin, as bases for demonstrating to the Dutch court the gravity of the false charges against Wilders and the foresight of both Churchill and Chaplin with regard to Islam and Nazism.

Having read through the SITA Amnesty site, I really think it is much better if you do the same, rather than for me to reproduce their texts and their numerous (and necessary) links.

However, here is the text of their form letter (which of course you don't have to use - you can make up your own) based on the words of Churchill. I have retained their text, but made a few minor editorial modifications:

Geert “Winston” Wilders, Dutch deputy fighting Islamo-Fascism, is prosecuted by dhimmis because he is warning European people against Islamo-Fascism with his movie Fitna. Dhimmis harassing him obviously have a defective memory.

Let us remember, and let us remember them, that both Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler had the same opinion about Islam : a totalitarian and violent religion. Churchill denounced and warned about that ideology, while Hitler admired it.

Today Winston Churchill, the most stalwart anti-Nazi, would be arrested in Holland for incitement to hate and racism whereas Hitler would be free to promote Islam and recruit muslims into his Nazi party unmolested.

As reported by the BBC Dutch court has ordered prosecutors to put elected politician Geert Wilders on trial for making anti-Islamic statements.

“The Amsterdam appeals court has ordered the prosecution of member of parliament Geert Wilders for inciting hatred and discrimination, based on comments by him in various media on Muslims and their beliefs,” the court said in a statement.

“The court also considers appropriate criminal prosecution for insulting Muslim worshippers because of comparisons between Islam and Nazism made by Wilders,” it added.

The situation has worsened dramatically since Europe defeated Nazism in 1945.


Winston Churchill, the most prominent European fighting Nazi tyranny, had this to say about Islam :

“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries!
Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity.

The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.

No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.

Far from being moribund, Islam is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science - the science against which it had vainly struggled - the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.”

(Sir Winston Churchill)

Nazi leader Himmler had this to say about Islam:

“Muslims responded to the call of Muslim leaders and joined our side because of their hatred of our joint Jewish-English-Bolshevik enemies, and because of their belief and respect for, above all — Our Fuehrer.”

In his memoirs Albert Speer wrote about Hitler’s enamour of Islam, reporting a discussion which captures Hitler’s effusive praise for Islam:

“…a religion that believed in spreading the faith by the sword and subjugating all nations to that faith. Such a creed was perfectly suited to the Germanic temperament.”

Hitler, according to Speer’s account, repeatedly expressed the conviction that:

“The Mohammedan religion…would have been much more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness?”

Churchill likened Islamist terrorism to Nazism:

“In truth though, just as the British stoicism recalls the same from 65 years ago, so too, there is a deep and instructive similarity between the Nazis and the Islamic-fascist forces that attacked then and attack today. The fact of the matter is that even more important than invoking the famous British “stiff upper lip,” to fight this current war to victory requires understanding and accepting the similarities between the Nazis and the Arab-Islamic terrorist armies.”

Geert Wilders, among many others, likened the Koran to Mein Kampf:

Jihad means “personal (supposedly) struggle”.
Mein Kampf means “my struggle”.

During WWII, Muslims themselves, when they were completely free to make their own choice, did choose the Nazi side :

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, as for the Action itself, please read carefully their instructions. Note that they provide links to show that e-mail petitions are not effective, and that snail mail is; they tell you how to print their letter, how to add a cartoon from the Coranix website, what additional pages you can add (for example a chapter from the well-known 1923 book on Islam by André Servier). Then they provide the very important links to the names of the prosecutors (Gerard Spong, for example), the address of the court of appeals (with a warning to use the "postbus" address), and finally the postal address of the Dutch Minister of Justice .

You can send letters to one or to all of the individuals listed. You may even know of some people not listed here. And you can register your action at the Sitathon website to encourage more to do as you have done.

So, if you are interested, please read through these two English-language form letters and the instructions that accompany each:

Winston Churchill form letter

Charles Chaplin form letter

Those of you who prefer the French version have only to go to the above sites, and click the French flag at the top.

French readers can read about the genesis of SITA at this web page. Many of you will recall the very popular website France-Echos that ceased publication sometime in 2007. It did not close down because of discouragement or for want of readership, but from constant hacking that resulted in a total loss of the archives. Many of those who wrote at France-Echos can still be found on the web, in particular at SITA, Coranix, and Bivouac-Id.

I hope I got all of the above information right. SITA has numerous links, both to its own branches and special functions, and to other sites. It is a great resource for those of you who want to find out just about everything there is to know about Islam in France. Some of its texts are in English.

And I certainly hope we can help Wilders.

Mobilizing for Wilders

There is, as you know, an active and growing mobilization in favor of Geert Wilders. Once again here is the URL for the petition which now has over 24,000 signatures.

Riposte Laïque has translated the petition into French:

French readers who linger a while at Riposte Laïque may want to read the current editorial by Cyrano that recapitulates the long list of those who have been persecuted or prosecuted because they dared to speak out against Islam. These are the famous names. The names that made it to the headlines of Le Figaro. We will never know all of the names of the millions of people who, through the centuries, have been terrorized, assaulted, tortured, exiled and murdered as a result of their refusal to become Muslim, or their willingness to fight rather than submit, or their outspoken criticism of the ideology that is both a vindictive religion and a relentless conqueror of "infidel" nations.

In the comment section to my recent post on The Lambeth Walk, a reader has left a sample letter to Ernst Hirsch Ballin, the Dutch Minister of Justice, which you can copy or replace with a letter of your own. Here is the opening paragraph:

Dear Mr Ballin

Amsterdam Court of Appeal vs. Mr Geert Wilders

As you now seek to jail Mr Geert Wilders on charges of discrimination and hate speech I wonder if you will also seek to ban the Qur'an that has page upon page of discrimination and hate speech, calling for death and punishment for a vast range of activities which are perfectly legal in The Netherlands - such as for not being Muslim, particularly for being Jewish, for being an apostate or an adulteress or for a selection of other actions or beliefs that would hardly rank as indiscretions or misdemeanours by any non-Qur'anic terms of reference? (...)

Another reader (or the same one, since they are both "anonymous"), has provided a link to a Free Geert banner for your website (or maybe you can print it out and enlarge it ):

There is more commentary on Wilders at The Lambeth Walk, and Robert Spencer penned this article for Front Page Magazine two days ago. Do a Google and you'll find articles all over the web.

See my next post for the SITA action being launched to free Wilders.

Wake Up Call

The home page of Observatoire de l'Islamisation, administered by Joachim Véliocas, is full of articles of interest on the spread of Islam in France, and some attempts to stop it.

He had previously written two articles on the plans to build a giant mosque in the southwestern city of Bordeaux, a major metropolis. One article focused on the connection between the proposed mosque and the Muslim Brotherhood; the other dealt with the collaboration of the city's mayor Alain Juppé who had purchased the land for the mosque.

His articles formed the basis for my February 2008 post on the future mosque.

Now Véliocas informs us that the Bloc Identitaire of Aquitaine, one of several very patriotic regional movements that seek to preserve and protect the ethnic identities of France, is trying to alert the population of Bordeaux to the realities of having a huge mosque in their midst.

To do this, on January 21, 2009 at 6:00 a.m. they drove around the city in a car equipped with a loud speaker that blared out to the residents of Bordeaux the sounds of the prayer call of the muezzin, a call that the people of Bordeaux will have to get used to hearing five times a day, unless the mosque project is stopped.

The following is a video of the mock prayer call. A most frightening sound. To have to listen to this five times a day is bad enough, but what it symbolizes - the gradual Islamization of Bordeaux - is even worse.

As for Mayor Juppé, he, like all mayors who collaborate with their Muslim population, is merely thinking of votes, not the well-being of his beautiful city. Anyway, he probably feels (or feigns to feel) that to be against the mosque is racist or "Islamophobic." Cover your ears when you listen to this. You don't really need to know French to understand:

Allah Akbar au petit déjeuner à Bordeaux
Uploaded by dudupeu

The photo at the top of the flying buttresses of the St. André Cathedral is from Flickr.

Tempest-Tossed

The weather is always on my mind. I suffer in the summer, and this winter has been uncommonly frigid on the East Coast, causing me all kinds of cold-weather reactions. I will be glad to see the winter end, so that I can begin complaining about the summer.

Europe too has had some fierce weather conditions. But, of course, you have read about it in your local papers. The French speak of a "tempête", or "tempest", which in this case refers to a windstorm, not just rain or snow. Hence, it is comparable to what we call a "hurricane", except that we get them with the regularity and predictability of a clockwork, every year.

Windstorms of this magnitude have not been seen in southwestern France since 1999, and many cities witnessed record wind velocities, well over 100 mph. Over a million people were without electricity, though that number seems to be diminishing as I write this. The "red alert" has been lifted to be replaced by the "orange warning".





This is the latest report from Le Figaro, in greatly condensed form:

Eight deaths in all, including 4 people who died from carbon monoxide poisoning because of personal generators.

On Sunday 800,000 homes were still without electricity. At the height of the storm 1.7 million homes were so affected. Thousands are still deprived of drinking water, and 300,000 are without telephone service. France Telecom hopes to restore service by the end of next week. The president of French National Railways (SNCF) Guillaume Pépy spoke on Sunday of "images of a war" after a quick visit to les Landes. He said that "several days" were needed to restore service on lines to and from Bordeaux.

Nicolas Sarkozy visited the scene on Sunday and announced that he would enlist the aid of the army to bring help to victims of the storm. He insisted that lessons had been learned in 1999, and that this time, there was a "quicker response, fewer victims, and more effective measures."

Minister of Agriculture Michel Barnier is proposing a "global plan" to help the forests and to use timber efficiently as a source of fuel. The plan allows for the replanting of felled trees, a stockpile of timber and a restoration of national forest lands.

The storm destroyed 60% of the forest in the south of the Gironde and les Landes. Barnier said that the government will release "funds necessary for a new anti-storm plan" as they did in 1999.

A brief from Le Figaro announces that 700 soldiers are about to join the 300 others who participated in rescue operations in the southwest of France.

There is a page of not-very-good amateur videos in Le Figaro. The interesting thing is the comments from readers. They feel that the storms are no big deal, that they happen all the time, and one person calls it "cheap sensationalism". Another says that the videos are worthless, and still another complains that the videos don't begin to show the true strength of the storms (this I believe - how can you show the true strength of a storm without getting killed?).

Still, I like talking about the weather. It is relaxing and frivolous. And storms are beautiful sights from a distance, like so many things in life. But for those who suffer losses, for the flora and fauna, for the landscape, and sometimes for works of art (I remember the flood in Florence in 1966) it is Nature's equivalent of a war.

Good Signs, Relatively Speaking...

I was very glad to see this article by Paul Belien at The Brussels Journal because it seems to justify some of the thoughts I've expressed here, either in my comments, or in the texts I translate, on the potential for a shift in European attitudes as a result of the violence that erupts whenever a country (in this case Israel) defends itself against attacks from an Islamic entity (in this case Hamas).

We recall the violence as a result of the Mohammed cartoons. And the violence as a result of the Pope's comments in Ratisbonne.

Possibly some lights are beginning to go on?

The article begins:

A wave of violent protest demonstrations struck Europe in the wake of the recent events in Gaza. Despite efforts of the media to downplay the incidents, ordinary Europeans realize that the vandals who demonstrate against Israel in Europe’s streets are almost exclusively youths of immigrant Muslim origin. The protests have been accompanied by anti-Semitic rants and attacks on Jewish citizens. Leftist Europeans joined in by demanding a boycott of Israeli products and local Jewish businesses. Even mainstream politicians joined the chorus of Israel bashing, hoping to attract the support of the growing Muslim electorate in Western Europe. (...)

Fortunately, however, the media disinformation and the cowardice of the establishment politicians and intellectuals do not seem to greatly affect ordinary Europeans. Last Thursday, Belgium’s supermarkets announced that they have not noticed “any impact so far” of the various calls for a boycott of Israeli products. Some Europeans may even specially buy Jaffa oranges as they bought extra Danish butter cookies during the height of the Muslim boycott of Denmark three years ago.

On the political level, the rioting in Europe’s streets seems to benefit those politicians who for years have been warning that Europe has foolishly brought a Trojan horse into its cities by allowing millions of Muslim immigrants to settle in Europe during the past decades.

It seems as if the Israeli operation in Gaza might have two beneficial effects. It is destroying Hamas’ capability to strike at Israel by firing rockets and it is leading to a healthy and long-overdue polarization in Europe where the political complacency with regard to the radicalizing Muslim population should be broken before it is too late.

Read the whole article.

Turkey's Blackmail?

On January 19, Le Salon Beige posted this short article, using Le Figaro as its source:

The Nabucco Project, a 3300 km gas pipeline (about 2050 miles), is to furnish Europe with gas from the Caspian, even from the Middle East, while avoiding Russian territory. It is expected to pass through Turkey, Bulgaria, Rumania, and Hungary, ending in Austria. The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today threatened to review his position on the Nabucco Project if negotiations on the admission of Turkey to the EU are blocked.

As of now, Turkey has opened 10 of the 35 thematic chapters comprising its negotiations on admission to the EU. Two of them were opened in 2008. Among the chapters not yet opened are those that deal with energy issues, mainly because of strong reservations on the part of Greek Cypriots, who entered the EU in 2004. Erdogan declared, during a conference in Brussels organized by the European Policy Center:

"If we are faced with a situation in which the chapter on energy is blocked, we will re-examine our position. The EU must be equitable in its treatment (and) ought not favor the south of Cyprus, which is far from Europe and which only contains a few hundred thousand inhabitants, (...) over Turkey and its 70 million inhabitants."

At the website of the European Policy Center, a link to the Times of Malta provides more information:

Analysts said Mr Erdogan's comments on Nabucco reflected frustration with the slow rate of progress.

"Sometimes he gets slightly carried away in the heat of the moment," said Amanda Akcakoca of the Brussels-based European Policy Centre. "Maybe he was just letting off a bit of steam over his frustration about the way the talks with Turkey are blocked unnecessarily."

"I think the prime minister wanted to raise awareness about the problems the Cyprus government poses," said Sinan Ulgen, head of the Istanbul-based Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies.

Analysts say Turkey has put EU-required reforms on the back burner and view 2009 as key to rebuild momentum in the talks.

Mr Erdogan, on his first trip to the EU capital in four years, stressed Turkey was determined to boost preparations for EU accession and wanted to achieve full membership.

"Accession to the EU is a top priority," Mr Erdogan said. "I hope there will be a leap in 2009."

Mr Ulgen said Turkey had failed in recent years to put commitments to step up EU reforms into action, and it remained to be seen whether things would be any different this time.

The EU wants Ankara to reform its constitution, improve free speech, grant more rights to minorities and curb the power of the army. Mr Erdogan said Turkey was working hard on many of these reforms, including laws governing trade unions.

Mr Barroso said the EU executive fully backed Turkey's accession preparations and urged Ankara to step up reforms.

He said the launch of a Kurdish-language channel on state television and the appointment of Turkey's first full-time EU negotiator were positive steps. "In that sense the year 2009 started well," he said.

The comments from Le Salon Beige readers include this one that provides food for thought:

- Now that national preference is "contrary to human rights" (...), European preference will soon be considered as infamous.

The comment reveals the direction of the ideological drift that we are witnessing. Once individual and sovereign nations are done away with, then Europe itself must be discredited. To make way for... the Caliphate???

The Lambeth Walk

A reader who calls himself the "Venerable 1st Earl of Cromer" is following GalliaWatch and has sent me a very kind e-mail. His pro-Western, pro-Israel, anti-terrorism, anti-Islam website, called The Lambeth Walk, emanates from England, and has on its homepage (among many other articles of interest), an update on Geert Wilders and the attempt to destroy him politically by prosecuting him for "hate speech":

I don't wish to sound melodramatic, but this is a dark day for Western Civilisation. Since when has it been illegal to express opinions, the vast majority of which happen to be rooted in fact?

Read more. And check the numerous links he provides.

At the end of the article you'll see links for those interested in signing the petition in Wilders' favor, or in donating to help his cause, since indications are that he is facing financial ruin as a result of the lawsuit.

The Venerable Earl also has excellent articles on Israel, on the fighting in Gaza (currently suspended, but not at all decisively ended), on Obama, and a sympathetic, though not uncritical, appraisal of George Bush as well.

Again, I thank him for his kindness, and wish him continued success at The Lambeth Walk. I'm always pleased to hear from royalty!

The Engineer of Diversity

Recently Nicolas Sarkozy announced plans to pursue a vigorous policy of diversity and métissage. Concretely, this means giving preference to minorities in job hiring and prosecuting those who do not comply. In other words, affirmative action as a government policy from which none are exempt.

My recent post entitled "Métissage - Now It's an Obligation" reviews some of the highlights of his address.

In his message Sarkozy insisted that the French people must change, that there will be dire consequences if they don't, and that not to intermarry racially is bad for the survival of the country. Thus he amalgamated the concepts of preference for minorities in job hiring with that of the need for the French to intermarry racially.

These are two separate things. But in the mind of Sarkozy they go together. Last December he chose a highly successful Algerian-born businessman, known as an impassioned advocate of diversity, Yazid Sabeg, to be his "high commissioner on diversity and equal opportunity", and to implement these government orders.

It is well-known that in France ethnic statistics are forbidden by law, so in order to determine how many minorities are employed in any given enterprise, Sabeg will have to use all his resourcefulness, as this article from Le Figaro points out:

Recently named commissioner on diversity and equal opportunity, Yazid Sabeg has political representation (i.e. the number of minorities in politics) as a priority. In a few days he will meet with parliamentarians and party leaders. He intends, he says, "to listen to what they propose to advance the cause of diversity and to break the glass ceiling." But he already states that he will recommend "normative measures". Otherwise, the agreements are worthless."

Note: "Normative" means that the measures adopted will all have to obey the same criteria.

To advance the process, the commissioner will rely on a new study that determines the presence of minorities in political life. The Montaigne Institute, a think tank for entrepreneurs and businessmen, published an article on Wednesday tallying the ethnic composition of Parliament and the city councils of the ten largest cities in France, using an innovative method: photographs. Yazid Sabeg, a longtime pillar of the Institute, is enthusiastic for this method. "It's an interesting possibility to deal with the crucial issue of racial discrimination. I have myself advocated a family photo in the assessing of enterprises," he explains. He had proposed that big companies provide such a photograph as a way of measuring visible minorities for purposes of promoting diversity.

The article goes on to explain how a sociologist. Eric Keslassy, attempted to use photographs to determine the number of minorities in public office. He found in the National Assembly only three deputies belonging to minority groups, and in the Senate, four. Again using photos, he found that Paris had the highest rate of minority elected officials (17%), then Strasbourg (13.84%), Montpellier and Lille (11%), Toulouse (10%), Lyons (8%). Marseilles and Nice fared poorly, and Bordeaux had no minority elected official.

Keslassy says that to renew the political class there are other, better, methods such as ending the practice known as "cumul" where one politician holds several posts, and introducing primary elections.

"All of that will take time," Yazid Sabeg is quick to point out, "since minority candidates cannot aspire to a position without a public profile or a history of accomplishments." The art of the new commissioner will be to navigate between the need to promote people up the social ladder and the uncomfortable fact of counting the numbers of minorities by their facial features.

Eric Besson, the new minister of immigration, who replaces Brice Hortefeux, claims to be skeptical over the use of photographs: "We must come up with trustworthy methods, in keeping with our traditions, without classifying people by race, ethnicity or religion... It's rather complex... I do not want to criticize those who are trying out new experiments, and I fully intend to work hand in hand with Yazid Sabeg."

Note: These men seem to be agonizing for nothing. I have a much better idea. Just count the number of white faces in an enterprise, then shoot them all. That is what they want. Why go through all these contortions?

While they search for the perfect method to use for increasing the number of minorities, the system advocated by the High Council on Integration seems for now to be the most effective. Using family names and given names that were common in France at the end of the 19th century, and names that have recently appeared, a software program can determine persons of North African and sub-Saharan African origin, and persons from Europe, or even from overseas. This program showed that of the 35,000 elected officials in towns of more than 9000 inhabitants, 6.68% were minorities. A low figure but growing since 2001. While France is split from East to West, a reflection of the migratory waves.

Note: The High Council on Integration (HCI) dates back to 1989. It is a government agency, composed of 20 members, dedicated to the study of the integration of minorities.

As for the East-West split, this is news to me. Does it mean that Eastern France has more immigrants, or vice versa? Since Marseilles, Lyons and Strasbourg are in Eastern France, and Paris roughly in the center, it seems reasonable to assume that there are more immigrants in the Eastern half of the country, especially since that is where the borders with other countries lie.

English-language readers can review Sabeg's accomplishments in this article from January 2005 posted at Business Week. There is also some information at MLive. If you do a Google on him you will find numerous English-language references.

French readers can review his CV and get a closer look at his circle of friends in this article, also from January 2005, posted at L'Expansion.

For the record, this millionaire is said to be a bon vivant, warm, with a wide range of cultural and intellectual interests. He is married and the father of three, but I could not find information on his wife. I am almost certain I remember reading that she is of Danish-French origin, but after a time-consuming search I could not find proof of that assertion.

Finally, one of his goals is to introduce diversity as early as possible in the schools:

"It should be an objective of the national education system. (...) You cannot create diversity in schools unless you change the school districting so that the high-schools in the downtown areas can accept students from the disadvantaged middle schools of the ghettoes, without ethnic quotas. (...) As for myself, I feel French and republican, and also Arab-Berber. I speak Arabic, and I am a Muslim. I repeat, I am a Frenchman and in no case will I renounce one single element of my identity."

Source: Le Salon Beige, where French readers can check out the numerous angry responses from readers..

Note: When he says "without quotas", he is not fooling anyone. Of course he will have quotas. They may be tacitly understood, without being put into writing, but they will be there. If a school has 2% minority, that won't be enough. If a school has 50% minority, that will be OK, because in short order the school will be 100% minority. That is the bitter lesson we learned here.

Champagne and Salvation

From the Bondy Blog comes this report of the incredibly surreal celebration that took place at the Paris City Hall (known as the Hôtel-de-Ville) on January 20:

The Hôtel-de-Ville was American last evening. Since he could not be in Washington with his dear comrade Ségolène Royal, who boasts of being an inspiration to the new president of the United States, Mayor Bertrand Delanoë had America come to him, beneath the municipal gilding. What beautiful rooms! What magnificence! He felt he had to do something special on the day of Barack Hussein Obama's inauguration. But his former rival for a less prestigious post - that of head of the Socialist Party - still managed to steal the limelight away from him, even though she was "200 yards" away from Bush's successor. The master of ceremonies spared no expense for his guests: three giant screens transmitted the ceremony at the Capitol, champagne, petits fours, and the Golden Gate Quartet in white tuxedos - a reference to a terrible and majestic journey: from the cotton fields to the White House.

Note: Ségolène Royal insists that when he was still considering running for president, Barack Obama sent a team of researchers to Paris to study her website and to adapt her ideas to his campaign. French readers with time on their hands can read about it at Le Monde. I'm not certain if she is serious, or if this is a publicity stunt of some sort. Recently she lost the election for chairman of the Socialist Party to the mayor of Lille, Martine Aubry, another major figure in the French Socialist Party.

Note: Read about the Golden Gate Quartet at Wikipedia.

Back to the festivities at the Hôtel-de-Ville:

The Mayor's ceremonial rooms were packed. Most of the people were American residents of Paris. VIP's. The Israeli Ambassador to Paris. And many anonymous individuals, as we say when we cannot attach a name to every face. An overheated atmosphere: cries and tears when Obama appeared on the screen. They were living an historic moment. Ecstasy and devotion before this handsome guru. A "holy man", in the words of Judith, a black French-American woman: "Obama is our new prophet, he is the Messiah, he is Jesus, he is going to save America, our country will guide the entire world, he will perform miracles, I am sure that in the Bible, they must be talking about him..."

In this sugary-sacred atmosphere, it is near hysteria. The osmosis is complete. It's a question of who will glorify Obama the most. "Under Bush, my life was sad, I was ashamed to say I was American," confesses a white French-American woman. "Today, I live again, I'm American." In such a devoted gathering there was obviously no criticism. The youngest among them were on cloud nine over their new idol: "Obama is sexy and handsome, we love him," exclaimed a group of young American students.

And the French who were present? Same thing. Total adoration for Obama. Jean, a middle-aged man: "For me, the president of the U.S.A. is the future of the world and our savior, you'll see that thanks to him the financial crisis will be settled, the Arabs and the Jews will make peace, he will give birth to a new era. Normally I don't believe in miracles, but with him, I do."

It is no longer a room in city hall, but a temple, filled with the faithful who have been conquered by this new Evangelist. Brothers and sisters, they listen piously. The special soirée for Obama at the Paris Hôtel-de-Ville ends with music: the American national anthem resounds. The guests are silent and meditative. Some weep, others reflect, and still others smile with relief. They are blessed.

No comment.

H/T: François Desouche, who also provided the illustration.

Hamas Connection

According to this English-language article from Yahoo, Ingrid Mattson, a Muslim scholar with possible ties to Hamas was a speaker at the inaugural prayer service on Wednesday at Washington's National Cathedral:

A Muslim scholar chosen to speak at President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural prayer service Wednesday is the leader of a group that federal prosecutors say has ties to terrorists.

Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America, is one of many religious leaders scheduled to speak at the prayer service at Washington's National Cathedral.

Mattson has been the guest of honor at State Department dinners and has met with senior Pentagon officials during the Bush administration. She also spoke at a prayer service at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Mattson, who was elected president of the society in 2006, is a professor of Islamic studies at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Conn.

But in 2007 and as recently as last July, federal prosecutors in Dallas filed court documents linking the Plainfield, Ind.-based Islamic society to the group Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization.

Neither Mattson nor her organization have been charged. But prosecutors wrote in July that they had "a wide array of testimonial and documentary evidence expressly linking" the group to Hamas and other radical groups. (...)

Read more.

January 21, 1793

As America celebrates what appears to be the inauguration of a king, savior, Messiah, man-for-all-people, deliverer-from-Bush, etc... however you wish to regard this rather ominous event, where a very multi-culturalist, anti-white racist (if he really does believe the things his pastor of twenty years said), possibly pro-Islamic, untried, untested, inexperienced but affable young man, takes the reins of power of the United States, we take a moment to recall the execution of Louis XVI, a true and gallant king, who not only died courageously, but who said just before he died that he hoped his execution would not be visited upon France. How prescient he was, to sense that the deed being done was more than a murder of a man, but the murder of a nation.

Here is an eyewitness account of the execution. I'm sure many of you have read this somewhere, at some time. But it's always worth re-reading. It was indeed a fateful moment in the history of the Western world:

On January 20, 1793, the National Convention condemned Louis XVI to death, his execution scheduled for the next day. Louis spent that evening saying goodbye to his wife and children. The following day dawned cold and wet. Louis arose at five. At eight o'clock a guard of 1,200 horsemen arrived to escort the former king on a two-hour carriage ride to his place of execution. Accompanying Louis, at his invitation, was a priest, Henry Essex Edgeworth, an Englishman living in France. Edgeworth recorded the event and we join his narrative as he and the fated King enter the carriage to begin their journey:

"The King, finding himself seated in the carriage, where he could neither speak to me nor be spoken to without witness, kept a profound silence. I presented him with my breviary, the only book I had with me, and he seemed to accept it with pleasure: he appeared anxious that I should point out to him the psalms that were most suited to his situation, and he recited them attentively with me. The gendarmes, without speaking, seemed astonished and confounded at the tranquil piety of their monarch, to whom they doubtless never had before approached so near.

The procession lasted almost two hours; the streets were lined with citizens, all armed, some with pikes and some with guns, and the carriage was surrounded by a body of troops, formed of the most desperate people of Paris. As another precaution, they had placed before the horses a number of drums, intended to drown any noise or murmur in favour of the King; but how could they be heard? Nobody appeared either at the doors or windows, and in the street nothing was to be seen, but armed citizens - citizens, all rushing towards the commission of a crime, which perhaps they detested in their hearts.

The carriage proceeded thus in silence to the Place de Louis XV, and stopped in the middle of a large space that had been left round the scaffold: this space was surrounded with cannon, and beyond, an armed multitude extended as far as the eye could reach. As soon as the King perceived that the carriage stopped, he turned and whispered to me, 'We are arrived, if I mistake not.' My silence answered that we were. One of the guards came to open the carriage door, and the gendarmes would have jumped out, but the King stopped them, and leaning his arm on my knee, 'Gentlemen,' said he, with the tone of majesty, 'I recommend to you this good man; take care that after my death no insult be offered to him - I charge you to prevent it.'… As soon as the King had left the carriage, three guards surrounded him, and would have taken off his clothes, but he repulsed them with haughtiness- he undressed himself, untied his neckcloth, opened his shirt, and arranged it himself. The guards, whom the determined countenance of the King had for a moment disconcerted, seemed to recover their audacity. They surrounded him again, and would have seized his hands. 'What are you attempting?' said the King, drawing back his hands. 'To bind you,' answered the wretches. 'To bind me,' said the King, with an indignant air. 'No! I shall never consent to that: do what you have been ordered, but you shall never bind me. . .'

The path leading to the scaffold was extremely rough and difficult to pass; the King was obliged to lean on my arm, and from the slowness with which he proceeded, I feared for a moment that his courage might fail; but what was my astonishment, when arrived at the last step, I felt that he suddenly let go my arm, and I saw him cross with a firm foot the breadth of the whole scaffold; silence, by his look alone, fifteen or twenty drums that were placed opposite to me; and in a voice so loud, that it must have been heard it the Pont Tournant, I heard him pronounce distinctly these memorable words: 'I die innocent of all the crimes laid to my charge; I Pardon those who have occasioned my death; and I pray to God that the blood you are going to shed may never be visited on France.'

He was proceeding, when a man on horseback, in the national uniform, and with a ferocious cry, ordered the drums to beat. Many voices were at the same time heard encouraging the executioners. They seemed reanimated themselves, in seizing with violence the most virtuous of Kings, they dragged him under the axe of the guillotine, which with one stroke severed his head from his body. All this passed in a moment. The youngest of the guards, who seemed about eighteen, immediately seized the head, and showed it to the people as he walked round the scaffold; he accompanied this monstrous ceremony with the most atrocious and indecent gestures. At first an awful silence prevailed; at length some cries of 'Vive la Republique!' were heard. By degrees the voices multiplied and in less than ten minutes this cry, a thousand times repeated became the universal shout of the multitude, and every hat was in the air."

Illustration from Hérodote.