The Fall of France

Three weeks ago blogger The New Neo suggested that it looked like France was lost. I registered the thought for further consideration. I would rather not think that France is lost, but the evidence is piling up on the New Neo’s side.

The problem is Islamic radicalism, a separate culture produced by France’s large Islamic population-- around 9% of the nation. This population has its own laws and makes its own rules. It has its own neighborhoods, where civil authorities do not dare to enter. Occasionally, it attacks outside of its precincts, as it did a few years ago with Charlie Hebdo, a Kosher supermarket and the Bataclan massacre.

Now, a group of French military officers has written an open letter suggesting that the armed forces should enter France’s No Go zones and impose French customs on people who are hellbent on imposing their culture on France.

Obviously, the military officers are up in arms, so to speak, against multiculturalism, the suggestion that different peoples from different cultures need not assimilate into the French nation. And they are appalled by identity politics and other forms of wokeness that are being imported from the United States. Heck, even President Macron has denounced these American tendencies.

Yet, most French people agree with the officers that something needs to be done about Islam. Zero Hedge reports:

A new poll has found that a majority of French people support the sentiments expressed in a letter signed by active duty and retired members of the military warning that the country is heading towards a “civil war” caused by failed multiculturalism and attacks on French identity.

Around 1,000 servicemembers signed the letter, including 20 retired generals, warning President Emmanuel Macron of “several deadly dangers” threatening France, including “Islamism and the hordes of the banlieue,” a reference to the fractured suburbs around major cities with high crime and immigrant populations.

The signatories also blame the “anti-racism” movement for seeking to create a “racial war” by attacking symbols of French cultural cohesion and identity, including statues.

The letter blames “fanatic partisans” for seeking to create divisions within communities that have created a vacuum for Islamists to assert their control.

Beware of people tearing down statues. They are showing that they have no interest in being part of the country.

The generals predicted a civil war, a rising up of French people against the nation's Muslim minority. The Macron government and the French media denounced the letter, but the French public largely supports it:

Despite the letter being condemned by the government and the media, a new poll has found that a majority of the French people agree with its substance.

A survey by Harris Interactive found that 58% of respondents “support the words of the soldiers,” reports Valeurs.

A clear majority – 84% – said violence was increasing in society and 73% thought the country was disintegrating.

Almost three quarters think the “anti-racism” movement is having the opposite impact and making race relations worse.

Almost half (49%) also think that the military should be sent in to occupy problem areas, “which would act on its own to restore order.”

Only one in three respondents said the signatories should be punished, despite the minister in charge of the armed forces, Florence Parly, indicating that active duty members would face sanction.