No Illusions

The recent relative success of the Front National in the regional elections, the support given to Eric Zemmour by a substantial percentage of television viewers, the Swiss vote on minarets, and other such incidents lead one to ask if these small events will really add up to a major effort to rid Europe of Islam. Or are they so many drops in the bucket, that can never lead to a significant reversal of the process of Islamization?

An item from Novopress, that is also commented upon by the readers of Le Salon Beige, raises the question: Is it worth the effort to work in small ways against the inevitable Islamization of France?


The item deals with the cancellation of a lecture scheduled for April 8 in the Martrou Chapel in the city of Agen. The speaker was to have been Tareq Oubrou (left), the imam of the Bordeaux mosque. The original announcement of the lecture goes back to March 24:

Tareq Oubrou, the imam of Bordeaux, and member of the UOIF (Union of Islamic Organizations of France), whose motto is "The Koran is our constitution", will give a lecture based on his latest book, at the Martrou Chapel in Agen!

Note: What was shocking to Novopress was that he would be speaking inside a Christian chapel, and that he had previously admitted to having been deeply influenced by the Egyptian Hassan al-Bannâ, whose movement is banned in many Muslim countries for "terrorism". Tareq Oubrou is also closely associated with Alain Soral, the Marxist philosopher who was for a while a policy maker at the Front National. Soral's presence in the FN was one of the major reasons why the party fared so poorly in the 2007 presidential elections.

But how could he be speaking inside a Christian chapel?

Last June, Father Richer, the chapel priest, had expressed his delight over the transformation of the Martrou Chapel from a house of worship to a cultural center thus "turning it into a place dedicated to chamber music concerts, art exhibits and lectures." Built in the 4th century, the Martrou Chapel is the cradle of Christianity of Agen and houses a superb collection of 80 liturgical robes of gold and silver brocade. It is located on rue des Martyrs (street of the Martyrs).

Note: The irony of the name of the street did not pass unnoticed by Novopress.

But the lecture was cancelled. There are two conflicting versions as to the reasons for the cancellation:

According to the diocese it was put off because of the need to do repairs on the Chapel. This was confirmed by the Holy Family bookstore, co-organizer of the lecture, that stated that "the Chapel is experiencing recurrent humidity and flooring problems".

But according to Christophe Pacotte, the coordinator of the Aquitaine branch of the Bloc Identitaire, the reason is quite different. The diocese backed off under pressure from the Bloc Identitaire to prevent an imam and member of the UOIF from speaking in a Catholic chapel, even one that had been deconsecrated. "According to our information", explained Pacotte, "it was Tareq Oubrou himself, in communication with the bishopric, who preferred to cancel the lecture, because he knew we would be present. And since we had put pressure on the bishopric, the decision was not long in coming. (...) Let him spread his propaganda and sell his books somewhere else!"

While some Salon Beige readers applaud the action of the Bloc Identitaire, one skeptical reader warns against the illusion of victory:

- (...) We mustn't have illusions over the real effectiveness of apparent victories, especially when they are based only on protests. They do not construct anything religiously, socially, politically, or culturally.

To which another replies:

- We can certainly do everything to limit the damage, by preventing as best we can the progression of Islam, without having illusions over the real effectiveness of these occasional victories. These small victories that add up can, after all, encourage an increased awareness of a greater number of Frenchmen, and they can also stem Islamization a little. And that is important, because despite everything, there are more and more "little streamlets" of conversions among the young and the less young; there are rising generations of committed Catholics. For them, we must do everything to slow down the Islamization process.

No, we have no illusions...

Notice he does not speak of a victory against Islam, only of stemming it "a little", and slowing it down. Thus for this reader Islamization will not be stopped, only delayed. And he has no illusions about this. A comment that is at once encouraging and pessimistic.