Eveniment

Why the Islamists May Succeed in France
By Jack Kelly

As the French intifada spreads into its second week and across the country, the French government has a dilemma. To whom does it surrender?

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin -- whose name may one day be as synonymous with appeasement as Petain's is with collaboration -- would like to make a deal. His problem is finding Muslim "community leaders" who can stop the rioting. In communities where law and order are absent, it is thugs with guns who are in charge, not the voices of moderation, such as they are.

The rioting began Oct. 27th in the Paris suburb of Clichy sus Bois when two Muslim teenagers sought to hide from police in an electric power substation and accidentally electrocuted themselves. It has since spread to other Paris suburbs, to Paris itself, and now to dozens of other cities. The remarkable thing about the spark that set off the rioting is that there were police in Clichy sus Bois for the youths to flee from.

About ten percent of France's population are Muslims. The overwhelming majority live in concrete ghettoes like Clichy sus Bois, which the police as well as ordinary Frenchmen tend to treat as "no go" areas. The result is these ghettoes are largely under the control of criminal gangs and religious extremists.

The news media have gone to considerable lengths to avoid mentioning the rioters are mostly Muslim, or to report that there is an anti-Western component to the violence. The rioters typically have been described as "French youths" who are upset by high unemployment and racial discrimination. But these youths are French only in the sense that most were born there. Many don't even speak French. Their alienation from the culture and mores of the country in which they live could hardly be greater.

Unemployment is high in France. At ten percent, it is double what it is in the United States, and is especially high among young people with little education who speak French with difficulty. This would seem to suggest that France's welfare state model is less desirable to follow than many American liberals believe.

The discovery Saturday of a large Molotov cocktail factory in a southern suburb far from Clichy sus Bois suggests the violence is not spontaneous. But if it is jobs the rioters are after, it must be as automobile workers, because the principal tactic of the rioters has been to torch cars, along with nursery schools and the occasional police station.

A commenter on the Web log "Belmont Club" thinks this focus is a clever form of brinkmanship. Car burning is spectacular, but not serious enough to provoke lethal force, especially from a French government loathe to use it.

The tactics used by the rioters "bear an eerie resemblance" to those used by Chechen rebels against the Russians in Grozny, said Richard Fernandez, proprietor of the Belmont Club. The French respond slowly and with little force to the hit and run tactics, so the violence spreads wider as contempt for the authorities grows.

Most of the rioters are petty criminals. But others seek de jure recognition of a de facto partition of France that's been under way for some time. "Some are even calling for areas where Muslims form a majority of the population to be reorganized on the basis of the millet system of the Ottoman Empire," wrote Amir Taheri, who lives in Paris. "Each religious community (millet) would enjoy the right to organize its social, cultural and educational life in accordance with its religious beliefs."

A de facto millet system already is in place in parts of France, Taheri noted: "In these areas, all women are obliged to wear the standardized Islamist hijab while most men grow their beards to the lengths prescribed by the sheiks."

Unless the invertebrates in charge can grow spines, France seems poised to become what Spain was before Ferdinand and Isabella, a patchwork of principalities where Moors ruled some communities, Christians others, with constant tension between them. It seems inconceivable that a civilized Western nation would bargain away to a handful of thugs its democratic principles and sovereignty over much of its territory.

But the Islamists may well succeed. For though what the Islamists believe in is vile and reactionary, it is something. The French believe in nothing.

La 2005-11-09 10:02:01, Farimitza Lambru a scris:

> 
> Why the Islamists May Succeed in France
> By Jack Kelly
> 
> As the French intifada spreads into its second week and across the
> country, the French government has a dilemma. To whom does it
> surrender?
> 
> French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin -- whose name may one day
> be as synonymous with appeasement as Petain's is with collaboration
> -- would like to make a deal. His problem is finding Muslim
> "community leaders" who can stop the rioting. In
> communities where law and order are absent, it is thugs with guns who
> are in charge, not the voices of moderation, such as they are.
> 
> The rioting began Oct. 27th in the Paris suburb of Clichy sus Bois
> when two Muslim teenagers sought to hide from police in an electric
> power substation and accidentally electrocuted themselves. It has
> since spread to other Paris suburbs, to Paris itself, and now to
> dozens of other cities. The remarkable thing about the spark that set
> off the rioting is that there were police in Clichy sus Bois for the
> youths to flee from.
> 
> About ten percent of France's population are Muslims. The overwhelming
> majority live in concrete ghettoes like Clichy sus Bois, which the
> police as well as ordinary Frenchmen tend to treat as "no
> go" areas. The result is these ghettoes are largely under the
> control of criminal gangs and religious extremists.
> 
> The news media have gone to considerable lengths to avoid mentioning
> the rioters are mostly Muslim, or to report that there is an
> anti-Western component to the violence. The rioters typically have
> been described as "French youths" who are upset by high
> unemployment and racial discrimination. But these youths are French
> only in the sense that most were born there. Many don't even speak
> French. Their alienation from the culture and mores of the country in
> which they live could hardly be greater.
> 
> Unemployment is high in France. At ten percent, it is double what it
> is in the United States, and is especially high among young people
> with little education who speak French with difficulty. This would
> seem to suggest that France's welfare state model is less desirable
> to follow than many American liberals believe.
> 
> The discovery Saturday of a large Molotov cocktail factory in a
> southern suburb far from Clichy sus Bois suggests the violence is not
> spontaneous. But if it is jobs the rioters are after, it must be as
> automobile workers, because the principal tactic of the rioters has
> been to torch cars, along with nursery schools and the occasional
> police station.
> 
> A commenter on the Web log "Belmont Club" thinks this focus
> is a clever form of brinkmanship. Car burning is spectacular, but not
> serious enough to provoke lethal force, especially from a French
> government loathe to use it.
> 
> The tactics used by the rioters "bear an eerie resemblance"
> to those used by Chechen rebels against the Russians in Grozny, said
> Richard Fernandez, proprietor of the Belmont Club. The French respond
> slowly and with little force to the hit and run tactics, so the
> violence spreads wider as contempt for the authorities grows.
> 
> Most of the rioters are petty criminals. But others seek de jure
> recognition of a de facto partition of France that's been under way
> for some time. "Some are even calling for areas where Muslims
> form a majority of the population to be reorganized on the basis of
> the millet system of the Ottoman Empire," wrote Amir Taheri, who
> lives in Paris. "Each religious community (millet) would enjoy
> the right to organize its social, cultural and educational life in
> accordance with its religious beliefs."
> 
> A de facto millet system already is in place in parts of France,
> Taheri noted: "In these areas, all women are obliged to wear the
> standardized Islamist hijab while most men grow their beards to the
> lengths prescribed by the sheiks."
> 
> Unless the invertebrates in charge can grow spines, France seems
> poised to become what Spain was before Ferdinand and Isabella, a
> patchwork of principalities where Moors ruled some communities,
> Christians others, with constant tension between them. It seems
> inconceivable that a civilized Western nation would bargain away to a
> handful of thugs its democratic principles and sovereignty over much
> of its territory.
> 
> But the Islamists may well succeed. For though what the Islamists
> believe in is vile and reactionary, it is something. The French
> believe in nothing.
> 

Sau nu ai nici o opinie proprie si personala ?! Traiesti in Franta ? Ma indoiesc, altfel nu ai afirma ca francezii nu cred in nimic. Sau ai preluat ultima propozitie "The French believe in nothing" ? Oricum, daca nu stii, te informez ca francezii cred in foarte multe lucruri, spre deosebire de romani, care CHIAR nu mai cred in nimeni si in nimic. Toti nu fac decat sa promita, iar atunci cand pun mana pe ciolan au o amnezie ciudata si nu mai fac nimic din pomelnicul cu care defilau in campanie.

When, seven months ago, I finished writing my book, "The West's Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations?" (Regnery Publishing, Washington, D.C., Sept.11, 2005), London had not been attacked by Islamist terrorists, the Tate Museum in London had not removed an art exhibit because it offended radical Muslim sensitivities, and France had not yet experienced the explosion of violence from elements of its Muslim population in its "no-go zone" communities.

The fact that I predicted all those events in my book was not the result of clairvoyance. It was merely the result of a normally intelligent person looking at the facts, and their rather obvious implications, without the blinding effect of a politically correct mentality.

After studying what the radical Islamists were saying and doing in Europe, I opened my book with a scenario of a London Islamist terrorist attack and an Islamist demand for removing offensive European artwork from museums. Then I wrote: "Muslim parts of Paris, Rotterdam and other European cities are already labeled no-go zones for ethnic Europeans, including armed policemen. As the Muslim populations -- and their level of cultural and religious assertiveness -- expand, European geography will be 'reclaimed' for Islam. Europe will become pockmarked with increasing numbers of little Fallujahs that will be effectively impenetrable by anything much short of a U.S. Marine division."

"Thus, as the … fundamentalism expands into European (and perhaps to a lesser extent American) Muslim communities, not only will Islamic cultural aggression against a seemingly passive and apologetic indigenous population increase, but the zone of safety and support for the actual terrorists will expand as well." ("The West's Last Chance," pp 55-56).

Now, two weeks into the appalling explosion of violence in Europe (and the equally appalling French governmental passivity in the face of such violence), most of the world's media treats this huge event as the third or fourth story on the evening news. From the BBC and CNN to the major newspapers of the world, the story is underreported and mis-reported. On Monday, the Washington Post was still not reporting the story on the front page.

The big networks have consistently given only headline coverage to the story. I was in Russia last week (lecturing and doing media on my book) and actually timed the BBC coverage of the French Muslim violence story at about a minute and a half, while in the same broadcast the post-Pakistani earthquake relief story was given over 15 minutes. CNN International proportioned their coverage similarly.

Soon, the violence of the last two weeks will be seen as the opening of an event of world-historic significance.

Even when the current violence subsides -- even when the French government attempts to placate their radical Muslim population by offering more welfare benefits and programs -- it will not be the end of the story. A new benchmark of the possible will have been established. The flaccid and timorous response of the French government will only increase the radicalizing Muslim elements' contempt for Western cultural weakness.

As Paul Belien, writing from Brussels this weekend observed: "It is not anger that is driving the insurgents to take it out on the secularized welfare states of Old Europe. It is hatred. Hatred caused not by injustice suffered, but stemming from a sense of superiority. The "youths" do not blame the French, they despise them."

As Mr. Belien reports, look what a typical radical Muslim leader, Dyab Abou Jahjah, the leader of the Brussels-based Arab European League says: "We reject integration when it leads to assimilation. I don't believe in a host country. We are at home here and whatever we consider our culture to be also belongs to our chosen country. I'm in my country, not the country of the Westerners."

Or consider the statement of a German radical Islamist that I recounted in my book (based on a National Public Radio news story broadcast): "Germany is an Islamic country. Islam is in the home, in schools. Germans will be outnumbered. We [Muslims] will say what we want. We'll live how we want. It's outrageous that Germans demand we speak their language. Our children will have our language, our laws, our culture ("The West's Last Chance," page 75).

This is not about Muslim poverty (the Islamist terrorists who hit London all had good jobs. Mohammed Atta, who struck us in New York, was well-born and came from a prosperous family). It is about radical Islamist self-confidence and contempt for the West. And, it is about Western weakness.

We should not sneer at French weakness, but rather should encourage them to re-find their strength. It is a strength we will need to find in ourselves, as well. Vive la France!

am remarcat.

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La 2005-11-09 10:24:52, Raquel a scris:
"The French believe in nothing" ? Oricum, daca nu stii, te informez ca francezii cred in foarte multe lucruri,
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Insa, fie vorba intre noi, nu face placere sa vezi ce se intampla in Franta - ma refer la institutii - prea mormoloci, data gravitatea situatiei.
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spre deosebire de romani, care CHIAR nu mai cred in nimeni si in nimic.

Toti nu fac decat sa promita, iar atunci cand pun mana pe ciolan au o amnezie ciudata si nu mai fac nimic din pomelnicul cu care defilau in campanie.
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daca asta te poate, intr-un fel, consola, peste tot e la fel - si nu pt. ca nu ar fi vointa, intervin pe parcurs alti factori, printre care imbecili din coalitia cu care s-au invins alegerile, care tot pun betze-n roate... si dau cazul Italiei, valabil si pt alte guverne europene. Ai vazut Schröder, de ex., la fel si Merkel, etc etc

daca se face o analiza onesta a atentatelor din Europa, se constata, fara nici o dificultate, ca in spatele celor care fomenteza si pun in act, tot ce s-a vazut, sunt bani garla, seihi cu precise obiective - numai un orb nu le vede, or numai un obtuz mai poate justifica si cauta "etichete" sociale si alte bancuri rasuflate.

Sunt pline librariile de carti explicite, de analize impecabile... e de-ajuns sa se puna mana pe carte, nu de dat din cleampa, de sanki - asta e.
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La 2005-11-09 10:30:34, Farimitza Lambru a scris:

When, seven months ago, I finished writing my book, "The West's Last Chance:
Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations?" (Regnery Publishing, Washington, D.C., Sept.11, 2005)

"The West's Last Chance," page 75).
 
This is not about Muslim poverty (the Islamist terrorists who hit London all had good jobs.
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YES, FII DE BANI - GATA, CU MERCEDES LA POARTA
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Mohammed Atta, who struck us in New York, was well-born and came from a prosperous family).
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ATTA ERA FIUL UNUI AFERMAT AVOCAT EGIPTEAN - EL STUDIASE ARHITECTURA; ABIA-SI DADUSE SI DOCTORATUL... asa ca, mitul "saraciei" e un bluff ! MOSCHEEA UNDE MERGEA, I-A SUCIT MINTILE:
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It is about radical Islamist self-confidence and contempt for the West. And, it is about Western weakness.

Vive la France!
> 

Oriana, asta nu ne cosoleaza cu nimic, ca si altii fac promisiuni desarte. La noi situatia e mai dramatica decat in tarile pe care le-ai citat, pentru ca suntem mult mai saraci. Daca ai vedea si tu zilnic cohortele de batrani si copii cu ochii sticlind de foame si zgribuliti de frig, ai avea acelasi impuls criminal de a pune mana pe o mitraliera si a dobori toti politicienii mincinosi.

stiu tot, cu lux de amanunte, primesc in continuu telefoane de la lume care ma roaga sa intervin pt. probleme, ce mie mi se par infime, dar care acolo sunt insormontabile si de fiecare data nici nu stau pe ganduri, ii ajut cu placere si nici nu vreau sa-mi multumeasca.
Cit ma indigneaza, o tara bogata, cu de toate si cu atatia saraci - umiliti, demnitatea lor calcata in picioare - crezi ca nu stiu ?. De asta ma lasa perplexa aroganta unora, ce se dau Gatsby de provincie, nici nu-mi mai vine sa mai rid de ei - tare as vrea sa stiu si eu, cati din cei plecati, ajuta efectiv pe careva din Ro, napastuit de soarta.
Ultima oara cand am fost in Ro, am dat de o fosta prof. de matematica, era la rand la o patisserie, cu mana-ntinsa... credeam ca ma prabusesc, atat de mult m-a impresionat. Am luat un pachet anumea pt. ea, nici nu m-a recunoscut si eu n-am vrut s-o umilesc ulterior. Apoi... am vazut atatia batrani pe jos, la orice colt de strada... nu se poate, nu se poate.
Din 89 aud povesti din astea si uite nu s-au mai terminat. O mana de privilegiati si restul, turma de oi - asta este.
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La 2005-11-09 11:12:58, Raquel a scris:

> Oriana, asta nu ne cosoleaza cu nimic, ca si altii fac promisiuni
> desarte. La noi situatia e mai dramatica decat in tarile pe care
> le-ai citat, pentru ca suntem mult mai saraci. Daca ai vedea si tu
> zilnic cohortele de batrani si copii cu ochii sticlind de foame si
> zgribuliti de frig, ai avea acelasi impuls criminal de a pune mana pe
> o mitraliera si a dobori toti politicienii mincinosi.
>