March 29, 1997

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

A few weeks ago I visited with a French liberal Revisionist in transit - and trust me that such politically blended composites exist!

Prior to meeting him, Ernst thought that it might be a good idea to inform myself of this European's opinion on several political topics - among them the role and public perception of France's charismatic Le Pen.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, not exactly a brand name in America - and for good reason, as you will soon discover - is a highly articulate populist of a party called "National Front" who speaks against the vested interests of multi-cult establishments, and whose political star looks more and more like that proverbial comet trekking across a pitch black sky while dragging a tail of disconcerting size and of magnetic properties.

Horrors!

Le Pen, whose party last month won electoral control of a fourth French town - big news in that part of the world! - was quoted in a controversial book as having said that French President Chirac was "in the grasp. . . of Jewish organizations and notably the notorious B'nai Brith,'' a charge Le Pen hotly denies.

He claims he has done no such thing. He insists that he spoke in "moderate terms'' of B'nai Brith and even denies having used the inflammatory designation "Jew'', although the book says he did, too - specifically, he is alleged to have used the term in making derogatory comments about one Jacques Friedmann, a close friend of Chirac's, as well as former minister Michele Barzach, both Jews.

Well, be that as it may - such stories add fuel to the fire. My visitor's response to my question was to the effect that mainstream media both admired and feared Le Pen, since the man was their match - and then some.

Doug Collins, defiant columnist extraordinaire - he of the British Columbia North Shore News who will soon have to face his music before the Human Rights inquisitors for his outspoken criticism of Canada's disastrous immigration policies - can be depended on to turn a phrase until it purrs just like a kitten in the sunshine on your window sill, and he has said that there is news that certain folks may not see fit to print but which is highly desirable to know.

A lot of lapdog media well on the way to turning anti-lapdog media, because they know precisely what is good for them, now that a different wind is blowing. Thus, they have put a lot of sizzling stories on the airwaves about what's happening in France. It now appears that they want YOU to know.

What's happening?

There is this story coming out of Strassburg, France, where Europe's populist is holding magnificent court. Le Pen is heading a powerful Party Congress this weekend - a Congress expected to further expand his already respectable political power base in France.

According to not a few media pundits, Le Pen's party, referred to as the NF, could end up on the second ballot, potentially holding the balance of power, in 150 to 220 of France's 577 constituencies. That would be a respectable showing - this in a country where the Senate, according to reports, already ". . . gave final approval to a controversial bill to clamp down on illegal immigration which had prompted widespread protests by artists, intellectuals and leftist parties."

Lots of media are joining the chorus.

"Paradoxically, Le Pen registered some of his highest scores in Alsatian villages where there are neither immigrants nor unemployment -- his two key issues." writes one who seems to want it be known that it isn't exactly the rabble who is attracted by Le Pen.

"After Le Pen publicly espoused racial inequality last year," hints another while winking from both eyes, "opposition Socialist politician Henri Emmanuelli called for the FN to be outlawed. But his own party disowned the idea and few politicians believe it is feasible now that Le Pen has 15 percent of the national vote and holds seats in the European Parliament, regional assemblies and city councils across France."

"As he basks in (the) publicity (prior to) his National Front party's congress this weekend, mainstream parties, newspapers and broadcasters are anxiously debating how to deal with him." writes a third.

So. Even as we speak.

Sourly described as a "vituperative orator " and "nimble polemicist" by some while hailed by others as a ". . . fiery orator who is taking on the establishment thugs" this highly mediagenic populist seems to be banking on the fact that lots of folks in France are stricken with the Freedom Flu as the liberal dream world is coming to an end by popular demand.

The evidence is certainly convincing. Both supporters and foes started pouring into Strasbourg yesterday to propel his far-right party into mainstream politics - the former by design, the latter by default.

While Pen backs reinstating the death penalty and sending even legal immigrants back home - this to the joy of his supporters - the protesters insist they are mourning the death of democracy while they are shrouding the city in black.

Black bands were wrapped around street signs. A black flag was briefly hoisted on the spire of the towering Gothic cathedral in Strassburg, and black flowers were planted outside the European Parliament while the town's socialist mayor, Catherine Trautmann, rushed to remove a statue of Joan of Arc, the mediaeval heroine who symbolizes French national independence, from its pedestal near the imposing cathedral in Strassburg's centre, to prevent National Front backers from using it as a rallying point.

Shucks! What to do with such a man?

Inquiring media wants to know.

Writes a perplexed Reuters reporter: "Ban him? Prosecute him? Legislate against him? Debate him? Demonstrate against him? Report on him? Ignore him? Fight him in the streets?"

(Sounds almost like the ruckus around Ernst . . .)

Equally at a loss are the Establishment Lieutenants.

Socialist leader Lionel Jospin and Communist chief Robert Hue, in interviews published by the daily Le Parisien on Saturday, denounced the Front as "racist", "xenophobic", "anti-Semitic", and "fascist" - threats that have lost their zest from overuse.

Conservative Gaullist Justice Minister Jacques Toubon has proposed a tougher bill to punish racist statements, but his own coalition shows no inclination to enact the legislation which critics say would make a martyr of Le Pen.

Similarly, Gilles de Robien, the parliamentary leader of the centre-right UDF party, called this week for a ``media boycott'' (translate: the Silent Treatment) of the National Front and Le Pen, an idea that won "thumbs down" by the media.

Media editors reply, making sure they are and will remain politically correct for the time being, claim piously that their ranks are ". . . determined no one should claim later that they did not know Le Pen advocated expelling three million immigrants. . . " this followed by a quote attributed to Adolf Hitler: ". . . 500,000 jobless, 500,000 Jews" -- while making sure that their consumers note the resemblance to Le Pen's NF has said, to wit: ". . . 3 million jobless, 3 million immigrants too many."

Will it hurt or will it help to smear Le Pen with the convenient "Nazi" taint? Time will tell.

Meanwhile, here is a telling summary of all of the above by Charles Trueheart of the Washington Post Foreign Service - and please note that I stay well within the 300 words of "fair use":

"The surging fortunes of France's anti-immigrant National Front party have put mainstream politicians and journalists on the defensive. Arguing about how to handle the menace of intolerance represented by the extreme-right party, they appear tempted to answer it with their own high-minded version of the same thing.

French politicians of the right and left veer daily between condemning the ideas of the National Front and condemning the strategies and blunders of one another in dealing with the threat. But they have done little to stop the spread of the party's appeal from negligible in the early 1980s to potent percentages . . .

The National Front has attracted support from traumatized older people and disaffected younger ones, from workers and the unemployed, by blaming crime and unemployment on immigration from North and Sub-Saharan Africa, and by linking France's economic stagnation to the European Union, globalization and the United States. . .

By default of politicians consumed by the fear of alienating voters drawn to the National Front, or actively seeking to win them over, the burden of managing Le Pen's message of France-firstism, xenophobia and racism has fallen to the French media.

They are in a quandary too. Their self-doubt is evident in the boiling controversy about how to present Le Pen and his ideas to the public -- or whether to give them a place in public discourse at all. A prominent politician this week called for a "wall of silence" to be erected around the National Front, suggesting that coverage is incitement. . ."

(March 29 1997; Page A12)

Haven't we heard that one before?

This morning, on an Easter weekend Saturday in California ". . . that looks like the Lord scrubbed the sky", as my German Oma used to say, I decided that it is highly desirable for you to know that what is happening in France is more than just symbolic.

There's nothing like a California Easter weekend to ponder the amazing: black flowers put at the base of the multicult may pole of France where it all started with the guillotine to usher in the slogan "Liberty! Fraternity! Equality!" more than 200 years ago. The chickens must be coming home to roost.

Ingrid

Thought for the Day:

"Petrograd became Leningrad and is Petrograd again."

(Doug Collins)

Comments? E-Mail: irimland@cts.com

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