November 19, 2005
EASY ON THE SYNONYMS:
Back in Business: The French riots revive rabble-rouser Jean-Marie Le Pen. (MATTHEW KAMINSKI, November 19, 2005, Opinion Journal)
Jean-Marie Le Pen has a twinkle in his right eye. (The left, replaced with glass, was lost in a fight during a political campaign 40 years ago.) And why shouldn't the populist founder of France's National Front be in good spirits? For the past three weeks, young first- and second-generation immigrants, mostly Arabs from North Africa, have torched cars and schools and shops in some 300 towns, forcing the government to declare a state of emergency well into next year. No, there's probably nothing quite like screaming "I told you so!" to the whole world to warm this old bruiser's heart."LE PEN l'avait dit!"--"LE PEN said so!"--is, in fact, the new slogan that his party unveiled when the immigrant ghettos exploded. "People say you can love him or hate him but you must admit that Le Pen was right. Le Pen was clear. He said, 'Voilà, this will happen if we continue down this political path.' And we do continue on, listening to Jacques Chirac's pretty words and not stopping immigration, not cutting the supply pipelines, not reclaiming sovereignty over our frontiers. It can only get worse. The next explosion will be even more violent."
So says Mr. Le Pen about Mr. Le Pen. His habit of speaking in the third person isn't even that jarring; as he knows better than anyone, "Le Pen" is a symbol as much as a politician, the latest incarnation of xenophobic French nationalism.
A tad redundant that last, non? Posted by Orrin Judd at November 19, 2005 12:56 PM
Tinker to Evers to Chance.
Posted by: ghostcat at November 19, 2005 1:41 PMLe Pen is an equivalent of our David Duke.
He says just enough accurate things to prevent the media from writing him off as a lunatic.
Posted by: John J. Coupal at November 19, 2005 6:26 PMThe difference is that French racists were always respectable enough that they never had to wear robes, so there's nothing equivalent to the KKK.
Posted by: Timothy at November 20, 2005 1:18 AMNo they had the Cagoule; the pre Vichy version of
the Citizen's counsels.
David Duke isn't written off as a lunatic? The only reason people know his name, unlike all the other nuts, is that he's mildly telegenic. If not for the gubernatorial bid over a decade ago, no one would know him. As it is, no one speaks about him without vitriol.
The reason extremism thrives in Europe (both left and right) is that official policy is severely constrained within a tiny bloc of opinion. The response to the riots only shows that Chiraq is cut off from the populace. When people feel the mainstream parties are not dealing with their concerns, they go to the extremists. If French conservatives would act conservatively, Le Pen's support would vanish.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at November 21, 2005 11:25 AM