ZGram - 4/28/2002 - "A Canadian comments on Le Pen"
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irimland@zundelsite.org
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ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny
April 28, 2002
Good Morning from the Zundelsite:
Your Sunday treat from the Great White North:
[START]
Toronto Sun | April 28, 2002
France's wild ride to choose a president
By ERIC MARGOLIS -- Contributing Foreign Editor
The stunning second-place showing by far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen
in last week's French elections dropped a bombshell on France's fat-cat
political establishment and sent Europe's left into a state of convulsive
hysteria.
Written off as a has-been only months ago, the 72-year old Le Pen and his
National Front Party won more votes than Lionel Jospin's Socialists, who
have long contested or shared power with France's centre right in a cozy
system infused with corruption, chicanery, and cynicism. Many of the 17% of
French who voted for Le Pen's party clearly did so as a protest against the
scandals that have buffeted both President Jacques Chirac's centre-right
coalition and
the united Socialist-Communist left. Le Pen's victory was also due to
surging crime, low voter turnout, and numerous minor protest candidates who
fragmented the leftwing vote.
France's political establishment and Europe's left are loudly damning Le
Pen as a neo-fascist or neo-nazi, conveniently ignoring the fact that
"nazi" is a wartime contraction for the proper name of Hitler's party - the
National Socialists. The right fears him, thunders Le Pen, because he
represents "the little man" and is determined to expose the deep corruption
of France's pampered political elite, notably Chirac's slush funds, freebie
trips, and the truckloads of cash delivered to politicians each month for
their "confidential" use.
In 1990, I spent some time with Le Pen, mostly in his elegant
late-19th-century villa outside Paris, during which he gave me some rare
insights into his personality and thinking. Sitting on his terrace sipping
white wine, speaking in peppery French, Le Pen told me about his life.
He was born to a penniless fishing family in Brittany; his parents did not
even speak French, only the ancient Celtic language, Breton. Le Pen studied
law and served as a elite paratrooper in Indochina and Algeria, two dirty,
disastrous wars that left many French soldiers filled with an abiding
hatred for all politicians, whom, they believed, had betrayed them and
their nation.
Le Pen's politics have not changed a whit since we spoke, though they have
been modulated for the recent election. Witty, charming, and provocative,
Le Pen is a master of one-liners. "Immigration" - his bete noire - "is
invasion" quips Le Pen. "Look at California. The Americans conquered it
from Mexico. Now Mexico is getting it back through immigration."
"Our system of social support encourages the lowest elements of society to
breed like rabbits - why should we spend our tax money to pay for unwed
black mothers to produce more babies who will grow up into illiterates?"
"Immigration from the Third World brings crime and disease," warned Le Pen.
He blames France's surge in violent crimes squarely on emigrants from North
and West Africa. France's colonial past has left it with over 5 million
Muslim and black African inhabitants, almost 10% of the population, third
class citizens who live in squalid conditions and form a restive,
crime-prone underclass.
"Stop immigration totally, stop letting family members in," says Le Pen,
"deport all illegal immigrants." Such language resonates across Europe,
which is being swamped by a flood of Third World immigrants and criminal
elements. Right-wing parties in Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Holland, Austria,
and Switzerland are making similar demands.
Le Pen's calls for slashing government and taxes, a crackdown on crime,
outlawing abortion to reverse population decline, and investigation of
rampant corruption among the political elite find many willing ears in
France and across Europe. So too his dramatic call for France to quit the
European Union, drop the Euro currency, and reassert its sovereignty. Le
Pen calls for a "Europe of nations" in place of a Europe run by a remote,
left-dominated super-bureaucracy in Brussels.
But in his more relaxed moments, Le Pen's views become far more extreme. He
is an equal-opportunity anti-Semite. Le Pen despises both Arabs and Jews.
Le Pen told me, "Jews have conspired to rule the world through their power
over international finance. They are using their influence over government
and media to promote mixture with lesser races and corrupt the purity of
Europe's blood. The Jews created communism and tried to use it as a means
of world domination. Today, 'the Jewish conspiracy' is using race rather
than communism to advance its goals."
France's 600,000 Jews, who are suffering a wave of anti-Semitic attacks,
call Le Pen a latter-day follower of Hitler.
In fact, Le Pen more closely reflects the views of France's Catholic far
right of the 1930s and 40s - which led to the Vichy government - that saw
communism as a vast Jewish conspiracy aimed against the Church and their
class interests.
Runoff elections on May 5 will almost certainly produce a landslide for
conservative Jacques Chirac, who is now being reluctantly backed by
France's demoralized and shell-shocked left.
However odious Le Pen's political philosophy, he has certainly given a big
scare to France's self-serving, imperious politicians. They too long
ignored the growing concerns of the voiceless "little people" over crime,
immigration, unemployment, and Big Europe.
In typically Gallic fashion, French voters have just sent a revolutionary
warning message to the distant political elites in Paris, Strasbourg, and
Brussels.
[END]
Eric can be reached by e-mail at
<margolis@foreigncorrespondent.com>
Letters to the editor should be sent to
<editor@sunpub.com>
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--></style><title>ZGram - 4/28/2002 - "A Canadian comments on Le
Pen"</title></head><body>
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<div><font size="-1" color="#000000"><b><br>
<br>
<br>
ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny<br>
<br>
April 28, 2002<br>
<br>
Good Morning from the Zundelsite:<br>
<br>
Your Sunday treat from the Great White North:<br>
<br>
[START]<br>
<br>
Toronto Sun | April 28, 2002<br>
<br>
France's wild ride to choose a president<br>
<br>
By ERIC MARGOLIS -- Contributing Foreign Editor<br>
<br>
The stunning second-place showing by far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le
Pen<br>
in last week's French elections dropped a bombshell on France's
fat-cat<br>
political establishment and sent Europe's left into a state of
convulsive<br>
hysteria.<br>
<br>
Written off as a has-been only months ago, the 72-year old Le Pen and
his<br>
National Front Party won more votes than Lionel Jospin's Socialists,
who<br>
have long contested or shared power with France's centre right in a
cozy<br>
system infused with corruption, chicanery, and cynicism. Many of the
17% of<br>
French who voted for Le Pen's party clearly did so as a protest
against the<br>
scandals that have buffeted both President Jacques Chirac's
centre-right<br>
coalition and<br>
the united Socialist-Communist left. Le Pen's victory was also due
to<br>
surging crime, low voter turnout, and numerous minor protest
candidates who<br>
fragmented the leftwing vote.<br>
<br>
France's political establishment and Europe's left are loudly damning
Le<br>
Pen as a neo-fascist or neo-nazi, conveniently ignoring the fact
that<br>
"nazi" is a wartime contraction for the proper name of
Hitler's party - the<br>
National Socialists. The right fears him, thunders Le Pen, because
he<br>
represents "the little man" and is determined to expose the
deep corruption<br>
of France's pampered political elite, notably Chirac's slush funds,
freebie<br>
trips, and the truckloads of cash delivered to politicians each month
for<br>
their "confidential" use.<br>
<br>
In 1990, I spent some time with Le Pen, mostly in his elegant<br>
late-19th-century villa outside Paris, during which he gave me some
rare<br>
insights into his personality and thinking. Sitting on his terrace
sipping<br>
white wine, speaking in peppery French, Le Pen told me about his
life.<br>
<br>
He was born to a penniless fishing family in Brittany; his parents did
not<br>
even speak French, only the ancient Celtic language, Breton. Le Pen
studied<br>
law and served as a elite paratrooper in Indochina and Algeria, two
dirty,<br>
disastrous wars that left many French soldiers filled with an
abiding<br>
hatred for all politicians, whom, they believed, had betrayed them
and<br>
their nation.<br>
<br>
Le Pen's politics have not changed a whit since we spoke, though they
have<br>
been modulated for the recent election. Witty, charming, and
provocative,<br>
Le Pen is a master of one-liners. "Immigration" - his bete
noire - "is<br>
invasion" quips Le Pen. "Look at California. The Americans
conquered it<br>
from Mexico. Now Mexico is getting it back through
immigration."<br>
<br>
"Our system of social support encourages the lowest elements of
society to<br>
breed like rabbits - why should we spend our tax money to pay for
unwed<br>
black mothers to produce more babies who will grow up into
illiterates?"<br>
<br>
"Immigration from the Third World brings crime and disease,"
warned Le Pen.<br>
He blames France's surge in violent crimes squarely on emigrants from
North<br>
and West Africa. France's colonial past has left it with over 5
million<br>
Muslim and black African inhabitants, almost 10% of the population,
third<br>
class citizens who live in squalid conditions and form a restive,<br>
crime-prone underclass.<br>
<br>
"Stop immigration totally, stop letting family members in,"
says Le Pen,<br>
"deport all illegal immigrants." Such language resonates
across Europe,<br>
which is being swamped by a flood of Third World immigrants and
criminal<br>
elements. Right-wing parties in Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Holland,
Austria,<br>
and Switzerland are making similar demands.<br>
<br>
Le Pen's calls for slashing government and taxes, a crackdown on
crime,<br>
outlawing abortion to reverse population decline, and investigation
of<br>
rampant corruption among the political elite find many willing ears
in<br>
France and across Europe. So too his dramatic call for France to quit
the</b></font></div>
<div><font size="-1" color="#000000"><b>European Union, drop the Euro
currency, and reassert its sovereignty. Le<br>
Pen calls for a "Europe of nations" in place of a Europe run
by a remote,<br>
left-dominated super-bureaucracy in Brussels.<br>
<br>
But in his more relaxed moments, Le Pen's views become far more
extreme. He<br>
is an equal-opportunity anti-Semite. Le Pen despises both Arabs and
Jews.<br>
<br>
Le Pen told me, "Jews have conspired to rule the world through
their power<br>
over international finance. They are using their influence over
government<br>
and media to promote mixture with lesser races and corrupt the purity
of<br>
Europe's blood. The Jews created communism and tried to use it as a
means<br>
of world domination. Today, 'the Jewish conspiracy' is using race
rather<br>
than communism to advance its goals."<br>
<br>
France's 600,000 Jews, who are suffering a wave of anti-Semitic
attacks,<br>
call Le Pen a latter-day follower of Hitler.<br>
<br>
In fact, Le Pen more closely reflects the views of France's Catholic
far<br>
right of the 1930s and 40s - which led to the Vichy government - that
saw<br>
communism as a vast Jewish conspiracy aimed against the Church and
their<br>
class interests.<br>
<br>
Runoff elections on May 5 will almost certainly produce a landslide
for<br>
conservative Jacques Chirac, who is now being reluctantly backed
by<br>
France's demoralized and shell-shocked left.<br>
<br>
However odious Le Pen's political philosophy, he has certainly given a
big<br>
scare to France's self-serving, imperious politicians. They too
long<br>
ignored the growing concerns of the voiceless "little people"
over crime,<br>
immigration, unemployment, and Big Europe.<br>
<br>
In typically Gallic fashion, French voters have just sent a
revolutionary<br>
warning message to the distant political elites in Paris, Strasbourg,
and<br>
Brussels.<br>
<br>
[END]<br>
<br>
Eric can be reached by e-mail at<br>
<margolis@foreigncorrespondent.com><br>
<br>
Letters to the editor should be sent to<br>
<editor@sunpub.com><br>
<br>
<br>
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