Garbanzo Toons

France's Problem

In times like this, we in the West, who are facing a vicious, determined, immoral enemy, need leaders who are strong, bold, and willing to stand up to assults from the quislings in their midst. I'm hoping we do, but I'm not convinced we have leaders who are up to the job. That is especially true in France. They need a leader with strong convictions, someone intelligent and perceptive. But they have Jacques Chirac. According to the Associated Press:

President Jacques Chirac directly addressed for the first time the inequalities and discrimination that have fueled two weeks of rioting across France, saying Thursday that the country has "undeniable problems" in its poor neighborhoods.

Violence continued to slow under state-of-emergency measures and heavy policing, with far fewer skirmishes and fewer cars burned. And eight police officers were suspended, two of them suspected of beating a man held during the riots.

Chirac had spoken publicly about the unrest only once in a brief address focused on security measures. But on Thursday, he said that once order is restored, France will have to "draw the consequences of this crisis, and do so with a lot of courage and lucidity."

"There is a need to respond strongly and rapidly to the undeniable problems faced by many residents of underprivileged neighborhoods around our cities," he said.

"Whatever our origins, we are all the children of the republic, and we can all expect the same rights," Chirac said.

I was wondering; is he truly that afraid to face the facts or is he still sleepwalking? And then I read this analysis
of the "death of France" over at Right Wing Nut House

This can only mean trouble for French citizens as radical Islam spreads its message of hate and murder among the more impressionable and uneducated masses of Muslims who make up the bulk of rioters.

What can the French do about it? Not too damn much. One might be tempted to say “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” but the fact is, France has lost the will to defend itself and the western values represented by more than 1000 years of French civilization. Ever since the grandsons of Charlemagne divvied up his kingdom creating what became France and Germany, the French have been something of a self-appointed guardian of what we loosely term “western values.’ While these values have undergone enormous changes over the centuries, France has been at the forefront of redefining both human liberty and the individual’s relationship with the state.

That is, until World War I.

[. . .]

This latest challenge to the French nationalistic idea is being met with similar defeatism and timidity. And there is apparently nothing in the French soul to combat the threat. France is, after all, the birthplace of Deconstructionism, a movement that began as a new way to critique literature but ended up destroying the faith of the European left in western superiority. It should come as no surprise then, that the French are desperately seeking a way to accommodate the rioters rather than engage them on an intellectual level that would integrate them into French society.

The nation that was the home to some of the most articulate defenders of individual liberty has become a tired shadow of its former self. And for those who are saying that the riots are evidence of the death of France, I would say that it simply isn’t possible.

France has been dead for more than 80 years.

Agree or disagree with the conclusion, it's an interesting post.

Labels: France, French riots, Jacques Chirac, Muslims

posted by Harry @ 6:46 PM