Posted on 11/09/2005 11:16:17 AM PST by Righty_McRight
PARIS
French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen claimed Wednesday his National Front party has been "submerged" with prospective members and supportive e-mail since rioting erupted in heavily immigrant communities near Paris.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Le Pen described the recent violence as "just the start" of conflicts caused by "massive immigration from countries of the Third World that is threatening not just France but the whole continent."
Le Pen said people with immigrant backgrounds who commit crimes should be stripped of their French nationality and sent "back to their country of origin."
Reminded that the vast majority of youths taking part in the arson and rioting are French, born in France to immigrant parents, he said: "What does that mean? Are they French because they have a French identity card?"
French nationality should be given only to those who ask for it and "who are worthy of it," he said. "Those who got nationality automatically, who don't consider themselves French and who even say publicly that they consider France their enemy should not be treated as French."
Le Pen said he is convinced that what he described as a surge in support for his "zero immigration" platform would translate into votes at the ballot box for his National Front party.
French voters "are saying to themselves 'Le Pen was right. We were told that Le Pen is an extremist because he said that immigration problems would lead to disorder. The facts have shown that he was right,'" he said.
"We are receiving thousands of new members, tens of thousands of e- mails. All of our offices are submerged, we don't know how to respond because we don't have the staff to reply to the wave of people who, 95 percent of them, salute and approve our positions," he added.
Le Pen gave no specifics on the number of new members, but the party's top official for new memberships said the figure was closer to 1,000 and that they were requests to join.
Le Pen stunned many in France and shocked Europe by making it through to the second round of the last presidential elections in 2002. But he was soundly defeated in a runoff against President Jacques Chirac.
Le Pen said he is "more than ever" determined to run again in 2007.
"If there were presidential elections now, my chances would be increased tenfold," he said.
While his remarks are opportunistic they are unfortunately accurate.
bump with no comment
A rational Frenchman. Who'da thunk?
This guy sounds like a German that I remember.
Well, he's been saying this for a while.
And for the record, le Pen is very Anti-American (so he's just like the rest of them in that respect), in case anyone was wondering.
I hate to agree with a prick like LePen, but he's right on this issue.
I agree. Vive Le Pen!
If the legitimate Right in France do not assert themselves soon, the procrustean "Right" will certainly step up.
Does the "legitimate right" even have a party over there, or did most of them move here?
Well, when you are right, you are right.
What is the "legitimate right" in France? I believe Chirac is supposedly a conservative.
Le Pen is a flake, all right. But that's more or less inevitable when sensible conservatives are nowhere to be found. That leaves only flakes to speak the truth. The same seems to be true of Haider in Austria, another America hater.
If the French don't want Nazis rising again from the ashes--and who does?--then they need to produce some sort of rational alternative.
Le Pen has been consistently right about the biggest issue facing Europe, its continued existence. Compared to this, all the other controversies about him manufactured by the French Communists and other leftists are quite unimportant.
I'm not a fan of Le Pen either, but if you substituted "America" and "American" for France and French in the above statement, I'd have trouble disagreeing with it.
TOO many Americans and Canadians died to remove Nazi scum from Europe. Reinstating them would be a grave dishonour.
Better a holy war than an unholy war.
Oh. And the Islamic Nazis must sound like Jews. Somehow.
There is such a thing? Probably Monarchists or something.
Soon America will be speaking either Mexican spanish or Eubonics.. or Jerry Springer English.. <<- a mix of eubonics, spanglish and trailer park slang.. and college professors will be required to wear ballcaps on backwards..
That's what the MSM wants people to believe. Anyone who speaks the truth about illegal immigration in France or the US will be portrayed as a racist by politically correct multiculturalists.
For various reasons our political class has blinders on when it comes to addressing the problems of illegal immigration and controlling our borders. In the meantime, the cancer is growing on the body politic. Eventually the day of reckoning will come. We will see Le Pens all over Europe.
Fair enough -- I just think that saying Le Pen is a "Nazi" who will reinstitute the Holocaust or World War III is pretty serious claim. I mean, do you really think he would start shooting Jews or march on Berlin or something?
-- SINCE YOU ASKED:
"Le Pen has been severely criticized both at home and abroad for perceived xenophobia and anti-Semitism. This perception is based on a string of remarks that Le Pen has made over the years, and positions he has taken, as well as Le Pen's acquaintance with former Nazis and Vichy France officials.
As an example:
* On 13 September 1987, he referred to the Nazi gas chambers as "a point of detail of the Second World War." Le Pen once made the infamous pun "Durafour-crématoire" ("crematory oven") about then minister Michel Durafour, a Jew; the corpses of the Nazi gas chambers' victims were incinerated in such ovens. In February 1997, Le Pen accused Chirac of being "in the pay of Jewish organizations, and particularly of the notorious B'nai B'rith".
* In May 1987 he advocated isolating those infected with AIDS from society by placing them in a special "sidatorium."
* On June 21, 1995, he attacked singer Patrick Bruel on his policy of no longer singing in the city of Toulon because the city had just elected a mayor from the National Front. Le Pen said "the city of Toulon will then have to get along without the vocalisations of singer Benguigui." Benguigui, a Jewish name, is Patrick Bruel's real name.
* In 2005, he claimed that the occupation of France by Nazi Germany "was not particularly inhumane." [2] During the Second World War, Nazi Germany occupied France, deported section of its Jewish population to extermination camps, retaliated against Resistance actions by killing civilians, tortured people suspected of being in the Resistance, and took civilians into forced labor."
--does this perchance paint a clearer picture?
Yes, he should rule this mess called Canada before we completely sign over our paycheques to the liberals.
Le Pen is not any smarter than he ever was and this "policy" of expunging people with immigrant parents is, yes, as anti-democratic as it sounds. I understand their feelings about the riots, but the problem is that they allowed themselves to get into this problem in the first place -- now they want to use anti-democratic means to solve it. First they make a mistake, then they want to make another mistake to solve it. As far as I"m concerned, France has been on the wrong side of almost every issue lately.
birds of a feather flock together?
1. Who is the bigger threat to Jews in France -- Muslims or the nativist Right?
The latter. Immigration from France to Israel is at its peak. For several years their have been terror attacks on Jewish schools, synagogues, shops, individuals. These have gone unreported and have escalated because those in power have turned a blind eye. Their rationale is that it is "spillover from the middleast conflict". It's crap, they still hate the Jews more than they hate their arab counterparts. The terrorists have now set their sights a little higher.
2. Do these statements mean that he will actually start engaging in violence against Jews?
He actively encourages anti-semitism, and anti americanism for that matter. I have no faith that this encouragement will not turn into action if he is given the opportunity.
3. What is the alternative?
France should have insisted on assimilation. They need to do what the Israelis would have done if not for world (liberal) pressure to do the opposite - assimilate with zero tolerance for uprising. Maximum penalty for criminal activity and a low threshold for deportation. Keep your faith, practice it but respect our laws.
This is not about jobless youths and mere mischief. It is about a growing minority in France, which has not been assimilated nor does it wish to be. It is estimated that 10% of France is Muslim and they are growing faster than the rest of the population. The flap about Muslim women wearing headscarves had nothing to do with the economy.
France and the rest of Europe have not done a good job of assimilating immigrants. It is no coincidence that the relative small land area of Europe has so many countries and distinct cultures. They are fierce nationalists who are not accustomed to multiethnic societies. You just have to go to a soccer game in the UK and listen to the racial epithets hurled by the spectators. The time is fast approaching when political leaders in Europe will arise who will represent what the majority feels and thinks but is afraid to say.
We had massive unemployment during the Great Depression. We didn't have rioting in 300 cities. Most of Europe has had near or double digit unemployment rates for more than a decade. Their social welare systems is very generous.
One might also note that many terrorists are not poor or part of an underclass. Osama bin Laden for one example. Yassir Arafat for another. Saddam Hussein to name a third.
World War III? We'd better choose sides now. Anyone want to speculate on how the sides will line up?
Le Pen was born at La Trinité-sur-Mer, a small Breton harbour, as the son of a fisherman. Le Pen was orphaned as an adolescent; his father's boat was blown up by a mine. Nowadays he is a wealthy businessman, mostly because of a large inheritance received in 1977 from a political supporter.
Le Pen studied political science and law, and was at one time the president of an association of law students in Paris.
From his first marriage (June 29, 1960 - 1985 or 1986) to Pierrette Lalanne, he has three daughters and nine granddaughters. The youngest of his daughters, Marine Le Pen, is a ranking officer of the National Front.
On May 31, 1991, Le Pen married Jeanne-Marie Paschos ("Jany"). Born in 1933, Paschos was previously married to Belgian businessman Jean Garnier. Paschos' father was a Greek merchant, and her mother is partly of Dutch descent.
decorated veteran of the French paratroops in Indochina (1953), Suez (1956), and Algeria (1957), Le Pen started his political career in Toulouse when he became the head of the students union. In 1953, he called then President of the French Republic Vincent Auriol, and, by using his former status, got approval for a volunteer rescue project to carry out disaster relief after a flood in the Netherlands. Within two days, there were forty volunteers from his university, a group that would go on to help victims of an earthquake in Italy. In Paris, 1956, he became the youngest member of the French National Assembly, with the party of Pierre Poujade.
In 1957, he became the General Secretary of the National Front of Combatants (FNC). The next year, he was re-elected as deputy to the National Assembly and adhered to the parliamentary party National Centre of Independents and Peasants (CNIP), led by Antoine Pinay. During this period, Le Pen actively followed issues of the war and defense budget. In 1965 Le Pen became the director of Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour's presidential campaign.
In 1972, he founded the nationalist, far-right party National Front. The electoral results of the party have been on the rise since the municipal elections of 1983.
In 1984 and 1999, Le Pen won a seat in the European Parliament. He was deprived of his seat by the European Court of Justice on April 10, 2003 (see below). In 1992 and 1998 he was elected to the regional council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. His political career has been most successful in the south of France.
Le Pen ran in the French presidential elections in 1974, 1988, 1995 and 2002. In the presidential elections of 2002, Le Pen obtained 16.86% of the votes in the first round of voting. This was enough to qualify him for the second round, as a result of the poor showing by the Socialist candidate and incumbent prime-minister Lionel Jospin and the scattering of votes among fifteen other candidates. This was a major political event, both nationally and internationally, as it was the first time a far right-wing candidate had qualified for the second round of the French presidential elections. There was a widespread stirring of national public opinion, and more than one million people in France took part in street rallies, in an expression of fierce opposition to Le Pen's ideas. Le Pen was then soundly defeated in the second round when Chirac obtained 82% of the votes.
In the 2004 regional elections, Le Pen intended to run for office in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur région but was prevented from doing so because he did not meet the conditions for being a voter in that region: he neither lived there, nor was registered as a taxpayer there. Le Pen complained of a government plot to prevent him from running. Some argue that this event was merely a scheme of Le Pen's to avoid defeat in the election.
In recent years, Le Pen has tried to soften his image, with mixed success. He has maneuvered his daughter Marine into a prominent position, a move that angered many inside the National Front, concerned with the grip of the Le Pen family on the party.
Le Pen is a controversial figure in France. While he consistently receives about 15%-18% of the vote, he is also disliked by a wide section of the population. Opinions regarding Le Pen tend to be quite strong; a 2002 IPSOS poll showed that while 22% of the electorate have a "good or very good opinion" of him, and 13% a "favorable opinion," 61% have a "very unfavorable opinion [1]." Le Pen and former National Front leader Bruno Mégret top the unfavorable ratings, with 74% and 75% respectively.
As described above, at the 2002 French presidential election, Le Pen reached the second round of balloting. On May 1st, millions of people walked the streets protesting in opposition to Le Pen, in an unprecedented move against a presidential candidate. Le Pen was then soundly defeated at the second round, with voters from the whole political spectrum, aside National Front voters, voting for his opponent, Chirac — including a high proportion of voters who did not support Chirac, and even those who disliked him. Slogans such as "vote for the crook, not the fascist" were heard.
Le Pen himself disagrees with the "far-right" label ascribed to him and his party. Earlier on, Le Pen described his position as "Neither left nor right, but French" (Ni droite, ni gauche, français). He later described his position as right-wing, opposed to the "socialo-communists" (and other right-wing parties, which he deems are not real right-wing parties). Le Pen criticizes the other political parties as the "establishment," and lumped all major parties (PC, PS, UDF, RPR) into the "Gang of Four" (la bande des quatre — an allusion to the Gang of Four during China's Cultural Revolution).
Le Pen has been severely criticized (See CNN comments on political progress in 2002) both at home and abroad for perceived xenophobia and anti-Semitism. This perception is based on a string of remarks that Le Pen has made over the years, and positions he has taken, as well as Le Pen's acquaintance with former Nazis and Vichy France officials.
Some context - I'm a Jew, born to German immigrant parents,and have traveled widely...and I'm married to a Yank - so there...
I've lived among the French and can contrast this to wussy Canada. There is little assimilation among French muslims. Imams have negotiated gov't funding for mosques. Even this multicultural 'Trudeaupia' as Steyn would call it has a better plan to assimilate these immigrants than France.
Their problem comes down to lowering the bar almost exclusively for this ethnic group and then lowering it again and again....people rise to expectations and when you keep them low they tend to not try at all.
Good Points. As for Le Pen being anti-Ameircan, I think it is important to remember that he is pro-French. Just because somebody speaks out against EuroDisney and the faggot policies in the U.S. State Department does not make them anti-American.
Immigration is the issue for French survival and Le Pen is right. "Citizen" rioters who denounce being French should be convicted of not being French and deported.
LePen is a mix of Pat Buchannan and Lyndon LaRouche. These two guys are passionate about one or two issues that I might agree with, but I wouldn't want either of them to lead a country and we'd all be better off if they simply shut-up.
The sudden interest in LePen is typical of European knee-jerk reactions that leads to World Wars.
Sarkozy is a little bit more sane. And he is actually in a position of authority.
"LePen is a mix of Pat Buchannan and Lyndon LaRouche."
I think that's just about a perfect description.
Le Pen has been consistently right about the biggest issue facing Europe, its continued existence. Compared to this, all the other controversies about him manufactured by the French Communists and other leftists are quite unimportant.
France: The Perfect Socialist / Islamofascist Storm!
I thought I'd have to wait another 20 years for the melt-down.
"When they came for the Jews, I wasn't Jewish so I did nothing..."
under Le Pen, when it's your turn, mon ami, bonne chance.
"On December 5, 1997, during a public meeting with ex-Waffen SS Franz Schönhuber in Munich, he reiterated that "the gas chambers constituted a detail in the history of the Second World War." He was sentenced on December 26 by the Large Claim Courts of Nanterre for this affirmation."
Le Pen is somewhat correct that the gas chambers were not the central issue in WWII, just a horrible detail. Over 60 million lost their lives in WWII. The Nazis and Japanese were bent on world domination. They tried to exterminate all kinds of groups and peoples.
FYI: President Reagan placed flowers at a cemetery, which had some Waffen SS interred. It was at Bitburg. I was there. The President received a bum rap for this because the MSM distorted the event. Nevermind that US Commanders of our air base at Bitburg had participated in this annual ceremony for well over a decade or that there is a distinction between the Waffen SS and the SS per se. Or that the Mayor of Bitburg's daughter was married to an American serviceman.
Per my post of #46. Be afraid.
Sakes. This is where the freeps make the DU look rational. Don't bother to reply, I'm signing off here...
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