The Frenchies have been voting and the new backside on the Presidential seat is the right winger Nicolas Sarkozy, the former Interior Minister with the self styled nickname 'le tough cop'.
A blend of brutality and extreme pettiness has dominated France since Sarkozy became Interior Minister in 2002. His first bill introduced prison terms for begging, insulting security guards and loitering in communal areas.
When a fellow minister disagreed Sarkozy's approach to the suburban riots of autumn 2005, he was threatened with a punch by Sarkozy. The riots began in a Parisian suburb following the deaths of two teenagers, victims of the hardliner Sarkozy's police crackdown. Two officers were charged in connection with the deaths.
Worryingly, Sarko has made more crackdowns the cornerstone of his law and order policy.
We can thank our lucky stars that it was Chirac with his hand on the French rudder when Sarkozy's fellow right wingers decided to invade Iraq otherwise the brilliant scenes we saw at the UN as France prevented the US & UK from manipulating the UN to do its bidding, would have been waved through with a Gaelic shrug.
15 comments:
I think you meant Gallic shrug.
Anyway, instead we got a Gallic shrug at French anti-Semitism and rising Islamofascism.
Some trade-off.
I did, i went with the Scottish Gealic instead of the French Gallic.
Anti-semitism is on the rise all across Europe, mostly since the Lebanon thing last summer.
"mostly since the Lebanon thing last summer."
Sorry, Lucy, it is well documented that the resurgence of European anti-Semitism pre-dates the "Lebanon thing".
Nice try at pinning the blame on the Jews, though.
Their has always been sympathy for the Palestinians in Europe and the Israelies seen as the aggressors.
When Ariel Sharon stoked up the infatida in 2000 it took it to another level and the Lebanon thing maintained it.
Anti Israel is not the same as Anti-jew, as much as the Jewish try to say it is.
Many people are anti-English but it doesn't make them anti-Church of England.
"Anti Israel is not the same as Anti-jew"
Then what is the Europeans' excuse for engaging in increased anti-Semitism?
Nice back-peddling technique. I give that a "9.5".
Anti Israel is not the same as Anti-jew
Exactly. No amount of rightwing hysterical shrieking will alter the fact that one can oppose the policies of the Israeli government while at the same time being in no way anti-Semitic.
There are even many Jews who oppose the policies of the Israeli government. Ought we to label these people anti-Semitic? (Oh yeah, that's right--they're "self-hating Jews." The whole No True Scotsman thing.)
That's not the issue, Costanza, the issue is saying that rising anti-Semitism is the fault of the "Lebanon thingie" and then, in the next breath, saying they bare not the same. You can't have it both ways. if you want to criticize Israel, fine, but don't turn around and say it's Israel's fault, or the Jews', that anti-Semitism is on the rise.
Anti-Semitism is on the rise again because a great number of people hate Jews. There was no Israel in 1941. European anti-Semitism has always been there, underground. People's comfort levels are going up and they are using Israel as an excuse.
I might also point out that the "right-wing" bullshit argument is a canard. The vast majority of Jews in the US are Democrats and liberal. Same goes for other countries. And Jewish groups the world over are tracking rising European anti-Semitism.
When Ariel Sharon stoked up the infatida in 2000
Sharon didn't stoke up the intifada. It is just patently incorrect.
Europe managed to start two world wars, spread the slave trade, colonialism and so many other nice things.
I always enjoy reading about their exceptional moral code.
The turn to the right appears to be a general trend. Worrying isn't it?
Cheers.
P.S. The distinction being made between the Israeli government (largely made up of Jews) and its total separateness from Jewishness is total nonsense!
It would be just as silly to claim that the Iran government and Islam are entirely separate!
Anti -semitism is a disease the entire world has been stricken with to some extent or another, with the possible exception of the Eskimos, the Lapps, and some of those pygmy tribes in Africa. We have anti-semites here, and they are in every country in Europe. Blaming the entire continent because some of the people on it are anti-semites doesn't make much sense to me. And if people start to dislike Jews because of what the government of Israel does, it only means that they wanted an excuse to hate Jews and that presented itself. Disagreeing with Israeli policies IS different than hating Jews, and so I would be very suspicious of any argument that the former leads to the latter. If one can't disagree with the policies without hating the people, then I have to wonder how sincere one's opposition to the policies really is.
"Europe managed to start two world wars, spread the slave trade, colonialism and so many other nice things.
I always enjoy reading about their exceptional moral code. "
Is that to say that if people on your continent have done bad things (by today's standards) that no one from that continent can have a moral code? If so, then Americans need to start shutting the fuck up, eh? We've averaged a war every 20 years since this country started, and they weren't ALL unavoidable by a long shot. Slavery flourished here for at least 2 centuries. How about that attemped genocide against several of the native tribes? Blankets teeming with smallpox, THAT was kind and Christian, wasn't it? What would make it okay to judge Europeans on the actions of their forefathers, but not okay for them to judge us by the history that we are powerless to control?
No, I think it's best if we avoid judging other countries by their histories. Ours isn't clean enough to make that stick.
Only Mark could take a post about the French elections and turn it into a rant about anti-semitism.
If someone takes criticism of Israel as being somehow anti-Jewish (as Mark does with regular predictability every time) then they have the same mind-set as someone who takes Israels actions as a reason to hit out at Jews.
They are 2 very seperate things but some people cannot, or don't want to, differentiate between the two.
If a person reads Israel and Jews as the same thing then they are as ignorant as any knuckle scraping dolt who spouts anti-semitic nonsense when Israel does something they don't agree with.
See my e-mail Lucy.
Stalker alert...
I wonder if his email is about the French Election. Probably not.
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