A Burning Issue
A Burning Issue
February 22–24, 2011
Readers were astonished to see me prominently feature, on my website, links to videos with various speakers, including figures from the far right, under the title
"« Without Comment »
I removed the link to this video when it was accompanied by a propaganda link for the National Front candidate, which directed to her website.
My goal is to provide information, not political propaganda.
I had also included a link to a second video:
****["Did You Know?"](Title: A Burning Issue)
Readers were astonished to see me prominently feature, on my website, links to videos with various speakers, including figures from the far right, all under the title "Without Comment." I hasten to clarify that this inclusion in no way implies my endorsement of the political or journalistic positions of these individuals, nor does it mean I blindly trust the images presented, which could have been selected for manipulative purposes. Let's say it's a way of addressing a subject that is as urgent as it is undeniable, and that deserves reflection. Let's begin by presenting two typical reactions, drawn from the various messages I've received recently, representing viewpoints that could be considered opposing, expressed, it seems, with sincerity:
Reader 1:
Hello, I carefully watched the video about Muslims in France.
First point: Eric Zemmour, a controversial commentator who frequently appears on Ruquier's show—of course, Jewish by origin—was recently convicted a few days ago for inciting racial hatred, having stated live on television that most prison inmates were either Black or Arab. Whether he was right or not is irrelevant; the court convicted him. (See: http://www.letelegramme.com/ig/generales/france-monde/france/provocation-a-la-haine-raciale-eric-zemmour-a-nouveau-condamne-19-02-2011-1211961.php)
Next, the editing of this video is clearly designed to instill fear. Of course, we cannot deny that problems and excesses exist—but attention: what is the real situation? Could we not also be manipulated? What do the actual statistics say?
It's interesting to consult the Wikipedia page: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_en_France
For example, we learn that approximately 3,600 people convert to Islam in France each year, a figure that has remained fairly stable for several years.
So, let's say around 4,000 people per year, meaning that in ten years there would be about 40,000 more converts to Islam in France, and in a century, 400,000 to 500,000, assuming the same demographic base for a population of 80 to 100 million—this isn't enormous.
But if we also look at the number of people converting to Catholicism in France, we find figures between 2,500 and 3,000 per year.
Thus, the net gain for Muslim converts is only about 1,000 per year.
Moreover, many French Muslim women convert to Catholicism every year—a fact I didn't know.
In short, we are still far from a massive conversion of French people to Islam.
In France, the Muslim population is estimated at around 3 million people, but Marine Le Pen and other politicians often speak of 8 or even 10 million people, claiming this represents 10% of the French population.
If we split the difference, maybe it's at most 5 million—so perhaps in a century, it could reach 10 or 15% of the population.
But remember, among the 3 million Muslims, not all are practicing, and among practicing Muslims, only a small percentage are extremists.
Given that the population will grow over the next century, if France has 100 million people and 10 to 15 million Muslims, that’s not negligible—but it’s still not a majority, and by then…
Regarding mosques, there’s also an important point: mosques have existed in France for hundreds, even thousands of years.
For many years, however, they operated clandestinely—basements of buildings, underground parking lots, gyms, or abandoned factories, etc. The construction of mosques merely brings to light a de facto situation that had previously remained invisible.
It would be interesting, though, to see whether Saudi Arabia shows the same tolerance toward the construction of churches.
We might also wonder whether granting building permits for such establishments—something that, in a way, frightens the French—might ultimately serve the interests of the right wing, and thus the far right.
It’s curious that many mosques have been built since Sarkozy’s arrival, isn’t it?
Finally, we must not forget that without immigration from North Africa, France’s birth rate would be deficient, and we’d have an aging population. Yet France actually has one of the highest birth rates in Europe.
The real issue is inequality and the distribution of wealth, since we know that Islamists often recruit from the poorest communities.
I therefore fear we’re quickly heading toward a North-South conflict: the poor, with nothing left to lose or eat, versus the fat, Western elites—set against a backdrop of religious wars.
Reader 2 _____________________________
Hello, I agree there is a serious risk in sharing such a video. I’d say a double risk:
- becoming a target of extremists
- facing a lawsuit? Although you’re merely relaying a video.
Regarding the comments from the other reader, I’d say this:
1/ Eric Zemmour was wrongly convicted. He merely stated a truth, and his trial provoked widespread outrage among journalists, who rightly believe we can no longer speak truths if they aren’t "politically correct." We rushed to convict him, while Dieudonné, who regularly attacks Jews, has always escaped punishment when facing our justice system.
2/ The conversion rate isn’t the real issue—the real problem is the indoctrination and instrumentalization of Islam. Do we know what happens inside mosques?
Are we going to accept that streets are blocked multiple times a day for prayer?
3/ Your correspondent is mistaken. The real statistics aren’t disclosed to avoid frightening the public. There may be 8 to 10 million Muslims in France, including all origins—North Africa, Middle East, Africa.
4/ Bringing in illiterate immigrants or potentially extremist Muslims won’t help ensure population renewal. Instead, we clearly see how cultural standards are declining and our values deteriorating.
5/ The Muslim population doubles on average every ten years!
In Algeria, there were 8 million Muslims in 1962; in 2010, there are over 40 million!
In Egypt, in the 1970s, there were only about 20 million; today, over 80 million!
Consequences: French income will keep decreasing, and taxes and employer charges will keep rising, as we must finance family allowances, healthcare, housing aid, unemployment, etc. Consider the problem of "beurs" and their refusal to integrate. They want France to become Islamic so that Sharia can be applied.
Can we rely on immigration to create new wealth, develop industries, or raise our population’s intellectual level? I don’t think so.
Moreover, the descendants of immigrants lack clear values. No need to remind you of the fires, stone-throwing at buses and fire trucks, uprisings, etc.
How can we explain that 70% of the prison population is Black or Muslim, while they represent only 10% of the population?
This is primarily a cultural issue.
We’ve never had such problems with immigrants from Europe or Asia, have we?
I’ll stop here, as I don’t want to appear racist.
There’s enough material here for books. I’m just sharing my opinion on a burning topic.
It seems the first step should be an accurate assessment. Among other things:
- The figures cited are strikingly different. Can we obtain reliable data?
- We speak of public prayers in the streets. Is this a systematic, weekly, or occasional behavior?
- What behaviors legally violate the French republican law and constitution?
- Is there a real rise of Islam in France?
February 24, 2011
I removed the video that incited voting for Marine Le Pen and was constructed around selected, carefully chosen clips—whose selection could have been manipulative. I searched, which required considerable effort, for the original source videos. One of them was an investigation conducted by the group
Investigation led by the group’s leader, John Paul Lepers, who does not, at first glance, appear to be a spokesperson for French far-right politics. He investigated all forms of extremism, striving to reaffirm France’s status as a fundamentally secular state.
- This is a tricky subject to discuss: religion
Part 1/4
Part 2/4
Part 3/4
Part 4/4
Soon after, a reader provided me with the links to the four parts of John Paul Lepers’ investigation, which I found honest and well-conducted. It reveals diametrically opposed tendencies. There are the deeply alarming words spoken by Rashid Ghassen, far from an ordinary figure—he is the treasurer of the Abu Baber Mosque in Roubaix—early in the investigation, contrasting sharply with those of Imam Tarek Obrouk, who presents Islam as a religion that has successfully adapted to every country it has entered and must therefore respect French laws. He himself insists on identifying first and foremost as French.
John Paul Lepers’ investigation:
Here is the segment filmed inside the Roubaix mosque. Lepers is facing Rachid Ghassen, the mosque’s treasurer.
John Paul Lepers facing Rachid Ghassen, treasurer of the Roubaix mosque
Another view of a room on the first floor of the Roubaix mosque
His interlocutor, Rachid Ghassen, treasurer of the mosque, begins by saying: "You haven’t read the Quran correctly; otherwise, you’d already be Muslim. It’s impossible otherwise." Later, he says:
Rachid Ghassen, treasurer of the Roubaix mosque
- Stoning? In a Muslim country, I would say "yes." It’s a divine law.
Same for amputating the hands and feet of a thief, which also corresponds to this divine law.
When Lepers tells Ghassen that Muslims are already a majority in Roubaix, a struggling industrial town, and adds, "Suppose one day the French population becomes overwhelmingly Muslim—would France then become a Muslim country, where Sharia would have to be applied?"—the other immediately agrees. Lepers responds: "You scare me." And Ghassen replies with a big smile: "You shouldn’t!"
There are laws condemning incitement to racial hatred. Couldn’t such statements fall under a law condemning advocacy for practices we might label "anti-humanist" or simply "inhuman"? But for such a person, stoning, as well as amputating hands and feet, falls within what he perceives as "Islamic humanity."
Thus, there are places of gathering—places of worship—in France where such statements are made calmly, with intense proselytizing. Islam is not merely a spiritual journey. It is also a social model, with its own law, Sharia. It is difficult to claim to be Muslim while immediately rejecting one of the pillars of this faith.
The investigation covers many aspects. In one mosque, Lepers is told the Quran is only intelligible in Arabic, and that to even comment on it, one must first learn Arabic. Elsewhere, he visits a large annual fair dedicated to Islam, where he interviews a visitor wearing a full veil.
She tells him that, according to her interpretation of the Prophet’s words—“let women lower their veils”—she is simply obeying this command. At the end of the report, Imam Tarek Obrouk, questioned on this, replies that this woman is wrong. Lepers then offers his hand, saying he’d like to shake hands with a French citizen. She immediately refuses.
In one of the four parts, Lepers visits the Christian fundamentalists known as "Lefèvristes," referencing Bishop Lefèvre, who defied Vatican decrees by deciding that priests he ordained would continue wearing cassocks and celebrating Mass in Latin. For years, they were excluded from the Roman Catholic Church. But the current Pope, Benedict XVI, recently reintegrated them. This time, however, he is received violently by the Lefèvriste militants.
The priest (in cassock): "Get in your car and get out of here!"
I have not yet reported on my brief stay in Egypt (during the time of the protests in Cairo), from which I can only offer very fragmented impressions, preventing me from producing an analysis of Egypt, which is heavily manipulated by Western powers like the United States and France. Before focusing on fleeting images, one should revisit Egypt’s history and analyze its current situation, centering on its economy: Who owns what? Who supports whom, and why? How does Egypt function? On this point, the recent statement by Michèle Alliot-Marie in the National Assembly, proposing to send French security units—long known for their professionalism and effectiveness—to Ben Ali, is quite revealing.
That said, it still feels odd to find an Arabic version of Mein Kampf for sale by a street bookseller in downtown Cairo. We stayed just a few kilometers from the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut, where in 1997, Egyptian extremists cold-bloodedly massacred 60 French and Swiss tourists—first with bullets, then with knives, after exhausting their ammunition.
In Egypt, one learns that female genital mutilation (removal of the clitoris from girls aged 6–7) remains a common practice, even though it has recently been made illegal. Another investigation needed. However, this practice, established in these countries long before Islam’s arrival, is not linked to Islam but serves other purposes. See the link. You’ll read:
Countries where the vast majority of women are circumcised—over 85%: Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan.
Readers send me document after document, going in opposite directions. One sent me quotes from de Gaulle. Of course, upon receiving such a message, one is immediately tempted to think it’s a fake or a montage designed to stir up trouble. But a search for the authenticity of such statements—left to you to discover—is available at:
http://fr.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_de_Gaulle#Citations_rapport.C3.A9es
To be continued