"No To Minarets" - A Campaign Gains Ground

As I look over the polls published by Wikipedia on the projected winners in tomorrow's election, and the second round next week, it seems unlikely that any of the more interesting candidates have a chance of winning by respectable margins. Any seats they win will be the result of the proportional system, not the result of massive public support. Right now I'm looking at the voting lists for the region of Lorraine with an easily projected victory in the first round for the Socialists and Sarkozy's coalition (known as the presidential majority), then a victory in the second round for the Socialists. The candidates for the MNR and the Front National could make it to the second round, or they could join one or the other of the winners of the first round, but who would they join with? All the parties are of the Left.

In the region of Alsace only the Front National seems able to win more than 10% of the votes in the first round. The identitarian group Alsace d'Abord is projected to win only about 4%. The final winner could actually be Europe-Ecologie.

The same pattern for Ile-de-France, which includes Paris and surrounding departments. Valérie Pécresse of the UMP will no doubt face off against the Socialists in the second round. There are numerous other parties that will either merge or withdraw. Again Europe-Ecologie looks strong, while the Front National is projected to win anywhere from 5 to 7% of the votes. As you would imagine there are many minorities running in this region.

And so on... The Front National often comes in third, and thus wins some seats on the regional councils. But the other parties of the Right have to settle for what amounts to symbolic representation.

But things can always change...

Apparently a type of minaret madness has swept over some of the parties of the Right. At the top you can see the poster being used by several parties from the regions of Alsace, Lorraine, and Franche-Comté, in Northeastern France. "No To Minarets!" has become the slogan under which these parties are running. They include the MNR (National Republican Movement - the group at one time headed by Bruno Mégret, that split from the Front National in 1998), the NDP (Nouvelle Droite Populaire, headed by Robert Spieler in Alsace, another party that resulted from a split with Le Pen, and the PDF (Parti de France, headed by Carl Lang, who also split from the Front National).

Writing at his blog Robert Spieler describes a meeting held in the city of Metz in Lorraine on March 5:

Friday evening, in Metz, nationalists and identitarians from Lorraine came out in large numbers to support the slate "No To Minarets in Lorraine", headed by Annick Martin. Several personalities, both national and European, came to speak and to urge the people of Lorraine to vote massively for this slate. By turns, Martine Lehideux, vice-president of the Parti de France; Robert Spieler, general delegate of the Nouvelle Droite Populaire; the German Marcus Beisicht, president of Pro-Cologne; the Flemish Hilde De Lobel a member of the Vlaams Belang, and Filip Dewinter, spokesman for the VB and deputy from Antwerp all gave the slate headed by Annick Martin both a new dimension and a European legitimacy.

Note: "No To Minarets" is both a slogan and the name adopted by the candidates to be the title of their slate.

In her concluding address, that was enthusiastically applauded, Annick Martin recalled that the immigration/invasion engendered by the Islamization of our country is forcing the French people into a state of resistance. The slate "No to Minarets" is the beginning of a new European crusade to save our freedoms and our identity.

In the photo below Robert Spieler in the center is surrounded on his right by Hilde De Lobel and Filip Dewinter, and on his left by Annick Martin (in the orange blouse) and Marcus Beisicht.



Back in February when the slogan "No to Minarets" was adopted by the nationalist and identitarian parties of Alsace, Lorraine, and Franche-Comté, Robert Spieler wrote:

I can attest to the tremendous dynamic, most notably in Lorraine and Franche-Comté, regions that I am especially following. (This has happened) thanks to the quality of the teams and the absolute ideological determination of the leaders of the voting slates, and also to the fighting spirit of camaraderie that unites them. (...) I must say I have not seen such militant enthusiasm since the years 85-86 when the emergence of the Front National, that I represented as deputy, fired up our teams.

Our opponents are going to suffer a lot, because we will win our goal - that of constituting a force that assembles together, that resists and that seeks renewal around a non-negotiable ideological base: the unyielding defense of our identities. (...)

The national and European resistance is organizing.

Let's hope he is right. Geert Wilders, the Swiss vote, and in America, the slow awakening of some members of the Republican Party to the true nature of Islam are all positive signs. There may be an awakening. We can only hope it is not too little too late.