If it was the far left who were responsible, it was another reminder that Islamic terrorism is not the only threat to France
Trains are again running normally in France today after engineers worked over the weekend to repair the damage caused by Friday’s coordinated attack on the network. Also working overtime are fifty specialists from the national crime unit, who have pored over the three sites where saboteurs struck.
On Sept 5-6, 1972, over the course of 20 hours during the Munich Olympic Games, 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were tortured and murdered by the terrorist group, Black September, an affiliate of the Palestine Liberation Organization. For 49 years, this darkest of episodes received no official Olympic commemoration. The victims were eventually honoured for the first time at the opening ceremonies of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
The reenactment of the famous painting, that shows Jesus’s last meal with his disciples, was the centre of a backlash with Christians expressing their anger at the organisers of the Games.
What an embarrassment for the French #Rupaul #Olympics #Olympics2024Paris
— WeGotitBack 🏴🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@NotFarLeftAtAll) July 26, 2024
Let France burn. Vichy bastards.
An Australian citizen was raped by “five African-type individuals” during her vacation in Paris, with the woman taking refuge in a restaurant after the ordeal on the night of Saturday into Sunday.
At 5:00 a.m., the 25-year-old woman, who was under the influence of alcohol, entered a kebab shop in the 18th arrondissement, located on Boulevard de Clichy. She told staff there that she had just been raped by five individuals.
More at Fdesouche
France has been plunged into turmoil. This time not by the actions of protesters, rioters or striking workers, but by the president of the French Republic himself.
In the aftermath of the European elections last month, Emmanuel Macron was facing the success of Marine Le Pen’s right-populist National Rally (RN) and the plummeting popularity of his own Ensemble coalition. As a result, he immediately dissolved the National Assembly and called snap legislative elections – despite the constitution in no way compelling him to do so. For the past two years, his party and his government have been struggling along without an absolute majority. The result at the weekend, after two rounds of voting, is a well and truly hung parliament.
France’s recent election shows a nation in turmoil. Many French citizens are afraid that “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” will give way to “Allahu akbar.”
The U.S. media report the election as a surprise victory for the left and a defeat for Marine Le Pen’s “far-right” National Rally party.
It’s a bit more complicated than that.
Le Pen’s loss is far from the republican’s victory
Contrary to those punching the air and heaving enormous sighs of relief, it is difficult to draw any definitive conclusions about the recent legislative election in France. The ecstasy felt by many at seeing the National Rally (RN) fall far short of winning a majority had little to do with reality and much to do with wishful thinking and media hype.
The Left-wing coalition victory in France is a triumph for Pax Americana. But for how long?
Though routinely mentioned in the same breath as the Nazi collaborationist Vichy government, in policy terms the Rassemblement National (RN) is more accurately understood less as “fascist” than as a group of anti-universalist social democrats. For instance, Marine Le Pen’s party doesn’t question the legitimacy of social welfare as such. Rather, the RN has sought to entrench in French law the principle of “national preference”, with welfare and social housing prioritised for French citizens over foreign nationals.
France is like a man falling from a building who, floor by floor, says to himself “so far so good.”
After the announcement of the first exit polls in France, both professional and social media were very soon flooded with the message: “France is being saved from fascism.” I would add “again,” because in recent years it seems that even when Jean Marie Le Pen was president of the then Front National, France has done nothing but save itself from the extreme Right. On the other hand, many on the Right have spoken of the fall of France, not for the first time either, and the apparent triumph of chaos. Some have mentioned Michel Houllebecq’s novel Submission, a ‘fictional’ story in which all parties support an Islamist candidate to prevent the victory of the FN candidate. The Islamist becomes president of the Republic and France moves steadily and smoothly towards Islamisation. Today, that story doesn’t seem very fictional; after all, Islam is increasingly present in France.
France preparing for Sharia Law legislation. pic.twitter.com/eQIAqFLY4j
— Imtiaz Mahmood (@ImtiazMadmood) July 8, 2024
Macron’s snap election fuels existing anti-establishment sentiment, leaving France with no clear leadership.
The French Parliamentary second round elections on July 7 have delivered unexpected results with the left’s New Popular Front winning a relative majority with 172-192 of the 577 seats, followed by Macron’s Presidential Majority with 150-170 seats and National Rally with 132-152 seats. Since no party garnered an absolute majority, the future of France’s political leadership remains undecided.
Marine Le Pen celebrated the “rising tide” of populism in France, declaring that victory for her National Rally is “only postponed” after winning the most seats in the National Assembly in the history of her anti-mass migration party on Sunday.
Barring a surprise, which is still possible, today France may have its first elected ultra-right government led by Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (formerly National Front). The only other time that that brand of politics emerged as government in France was in the 1940s under Marshal Petain during the German occupation.
At a broader level, this would be the second time since the general election in the Weimar Republic in Germany in 1932 that an ultra-right party wins a straight parliamentary majority in a major European democracy.
Should we rush to join those on the ultra-left who are crying wolf about “fascism” seizing control of France?
PARIS—A coalition of leftist parties won the most seats in France’s parliamentary elections, according to projections based on early ballot counts, in a stunning come-from-behind victory fueled by a groundswell of opposition to Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigrant forces.
A projection by polling firm Elabe estimated that the New Popular Front—a coalition of parties that includes socialists, greens and far-left France Unbowed—is expected to garner between 175 and 205 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly. The party of President Emmanuel Macron and its allies won between 150 and 175, according to Elabe, while Le Pen’s National Rally and its allies finished between 115 and 150 seats.
h/t DS
The Cher department in central France used to be a stronghold of the left.
During World War II, it was one of the heartlands of the French resistance fighters known as maquisards. France was at the time partly occupied by Nazi Germany, while the rest of the country was under the rule of French general Philippe Petain, whose Vichy government was collaborating with the Nazis.
Since the 1950s, several provincial towns of the Cher, such as Vierzon, even voted in the Communist Party.
Shops have been boarded up in cities across France as the country braces for possible violence in the aftermath of election results tonight.
In Paris, police warned local businesses along the busy retail strip of rue de Rivoli to secure their windows as anti-fascist protesters are expected to protest sweeping gains for Marine Le Pen’s party.
Polls opened today and results are expected late this evening, with reliable exit polls to be published at 7pm UK time.
Guardian Live Feed – French election 2024 live: Voting under way in seismic poll as far right aims to become dominant force in national assembly
BBC Live Feed – Turnout high in French election as far right seeks majority
