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Europe
Frankistan Intifada: more
2005-11-05
EFL to the new stuff.
AUBERVILLIERS, France (AP) - Marauding youths set fire to cars, warehouses and a nursery school and pelted rescuers with rocks early Saturday, as the worst rioting in a decade spread from Paris to other French cities. The U.S. warned Americans against taking trains to the airport via strife-torn areas.

Rioters burned more than 500 vehicles Friday as the unrest grew beyond the French capital for the first time. Unrest returned to the streets in the evening and early Saturday, the ninth night in a row. Police said troublemakers fired bullets into a vandalized bus and burned 85 more cars in Paris and Suresnes, just to the west. In Meaux, east of Paris, officials said youths stoned rescuers aiding someone who had fallen ill.

Meanwhile, warehouses in Suresnes and Aubervilliers, on the northern edge of Paris, were set ablaze. Officials said other fires raged outside the capital in Lille, Toulouse, and Rouen, while an incendiary device was tossed at the wall outside a synagogue in Pierrefitte, northwest of Paris.

Some 30 mayors from the Seine-Saint-Denis region where the unrest started Oct. 27 met Friday to make a joint call for calm. Claude Pernes, mayor of Rosny-sous-Bois, denounced a "veritable guerrilla situation, urban insurrection" that has taken hold.
You might ask the Israelis what it looks like, I think they know.
A national police spokesman, Patrick Hamon, said there appeared to be no coordination among gangs in different areas. But he said youths in individual neighborhoods were communicating by cell phone text messages or e-mails - arranging meetings and warning each other about police operations.

The commuter train line linking Paris to Charles de Gaulle airport ran limited service Friday after two trains were targeted Wednesday night. The U.S. Embassy called the protests "extremely violent" and warned travelers against taking trains to the airport because they pass through the troubled area. Russia, meanwhile, warned citizens against visiting the suburbs.

The Foreign Ministry said it was concerned that foreign media coverage was exaggerating the situation. "I don't have the feeling that foreign tourists in Paris are in any way placed in danger by these events," ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said, adding that officials were "sometimes a bit surprised" by the foreign coverage.
We're used to it, we watched the MSM cover New Orleans.
Late Friday in Meaux, east of Paris, youths prevented firefighters from evacuating a sick person from an apartment in a housing project, pelting them with stones and torching the awaiting ambulance, the Interior Ministry officer said.

Dozens of residents and community leaders were stepping in to defuse tensions, with some walking between rioters and police to urge youths to back down. Abderrhamane Bouhout, head of the Bilal mosque in Clichy-sous-Bois, said he had enlisted 50 youths to try stop the violence. "We've had positive results," he said.
"We got 'em on their heels, boyz, so calm down a bit and let me see what I can squeeze from them."
"Okay, boss!"
Posted by:Steve White

#47  Raming a McDonalds....
When do you go with hot rounds?
This is just a joke at this point. If this government is not thrown out...my goodness this is a complete government failure...

What compares to this in modern democracy's? Anything?
Posted by: Long Hair Republican   2005-11-05 23:29  

#46  My heart, it pumps piss.
Posted by: Zenster   2005-11-05 23:16  

#45  sorry
Try again

no-pasaran

FLAMETHROWER?
Even in the heart of Paris, four cars were targeted Saturday evening by nothing less than a flame thrower at Ruet Dupuis, in the 3rd arrondissement, close to Place de la République, noted one journalist of the AFP.
Posted by: 3dc   2005-11-05 22:50  

#44  
Posted by: 2b   2005-11-05 22:00  

#41  OK, since no one else will stoop this low...

"What's happening?"

"Sir, the moslems are revolting!"

"Yes, I know, but what's happening?"
Posted by: Jackal   2005-11-05 21:07  

#40  Mous 5089 - as much as I love to bust on the French Government, they can be too easy a target, I agree this fight is not about helping France. We paid back our debt to France in the 40's. This is all about western civilization's survival as we know it. If called, we will come, bitching and complaining all the while, but we will come. Hell, we are in that Goat smelling Saudi Arabia, at least France has good food and great women! I was in Northern France ten years ago and in the small towns I visited the people were extreemly understanding of my non-french speaking ass. When they realized I was a soldier I could not buy a beer and the glasses were lined up full and cold. Outside of Paris I found our bonds are still there. Lets pray that cooler heads prevail and contain this, then go in and clean out the scum. Best of luck.
Posted by: 49 pan   2005-11-05 18:45  

#39  I don't really see what the USA could do to help us. This is an internal problem, a self-inflicted one, an immunatory system disease, there's nothing you can do, except pay attention and avoid the same mistakes.

Like I see it happening, theses events will stop sooner or later (it's cold on november night, add a week of raining and everybody's back at home playing with playstation or watching dvds), and the reaction of the gvt will be appeasement... it already calls for "dialog", has delegated its sovereignty to obviously islamic "mediators", and there is now a judicial procedure ("non-assistance to endagered person")against the police officers involved in the initial "incident" (that is the excuse of all this) that sparked this whole mess, they may end up prosecuted for letting the two teens electrocutate themselves... this is insane, insane.
There might be a "Marshall plan" for the suburbs in the making, with more money thrown at it, a policy of entitlement, a relaince on the islamic orgs to pacify theses resteless territories,..

Sarkozy, whom I don't like, but who at least passes for "rightwing" in France (he's free-market oriented & atlantist), is now villified by the left and the msm (pleonasm) for having "inflamed" the situation and "provoked" the youths by calling the perps "scum" and "thugs", Galouzeau "de Villepin" and Shiraq will use that to kill him politically (his tough stance may prove popular with fed-up public, though), they already sided with Azouz Begag the underminister of "equality of chances", who excused and justified the unrest, against Sarko (note : we've got a "minister of social cohesion", too. Remind yourself this is supposed to be a *conservative* gvt).

Next presidential elections are in 2007. I frankly don't know what will happen then.

It might be a remake of 2002, with a rightwing candidate at the second turn (De Villiers or pépé Le Pen), in which case you can expect an hysterical and utterly undemocratic frenzy against him (in 2002, I was so disguted by the *unbelievable*, *irrational* reaction of the media-political-academical-religious-... elite that I almost voted for Le Pen, even if I don't like him... but I don't bother to vote since quite a few years already), and if by a remote struck of luck he won, there would be a quasi civil-war, the public sector controlled by the left would simply paralyze France, and this would turn ugly.
Or it will be business as usual, perhaps a "conservative" candidate (Sarko? He might do some reform, but he's pro-islam), or more likely a socialist.
A really funny result would be a duel between say Le Pen and a trotskyst (this could happen, I'm not joking!), this would be the very last shred of seriousness, the whole world would laugh (and it would be right, too).

My gut instinct is France is going to keep its suicide run until it runs out of gas, all the while lecturing the whoel world : Argentina-like State bankruptcy.
We're already almost there, we ARE bankrupt, this year France borrowed 139 billions euros to balance her budget, we're borrowing money to pay our expenses, the gvt spends 25% than it earns, 1200 billions euros debt (2000+ with social debt), the social security system is bankrupot too, and won't withstand the coming demography (we're already there too),...
As soon as the money dries, then the fun starts.
Posted by: anonymous5089   2005-11-05 16:32  

#38  On another tack, I'd love it if our political leadership would take the opportunity of this "teaching moment" (as the lefties like to say) and point out that neither France's opposition to Iraq Freedom nor the vaunted "social model" saved them from this barbarism.

Not that this will happen , of course.
Posted by: dushan   2005-11-05 15:52  

#37  unless it threatens to burn down your own home in the process.

I understand your point, but I prefer to look at this from a cold eyed cost/benefit perspective.

I certainly don't want the jihadis to be in control of France's nukes in the future, but would help to France at this point prevent that day from coming or merely delay it?

Do we actually protect our interests if we jump in to rescue the current French system, or do we simply buy ourselves more problems in the future?

I think France needs to go through a lot more of this before they draw the lesson that whatever "tutelage" they were hoping to exercise over the Arabs is a pipedream.

As Chirac's behavior demonstrates, they are a long way from that point.(Maybe the average French citoyen is ahead of their elites on this issue, but I suspect that they have more false info about what happened in New Orleans than true info about what is happening in Paris)
Posted by: dushan   2005-11-05 15:47  

#36  Send me a set of orders, I'd go to France. Maybe that is what it will take to repair the damage done by the diplo-dinks and politicians over the past few years.
Posted by: Besoeker   2005-11-05 15:23  

#35  good points, lotp. Freedom loving westerners need to unite and fight together against these 7th century barbarians. To hell with our past differences. Times have changed.
Posted by: 2b   2005-11-05 15:17  

#34  One other comment: I know some French military officers. Y'all are mistaken if you think Chirac and Dominique d' Wormtongue speak for all of France.
Posted by: lotp   2005-11-05 14:59  

#33  You're right, 2b: this isn't a ballgame. It's a war for the survival of the West, for all that we hold dear.

Believe me, I hold NO love for the French I've personally worked with or met while travelling. They managed to combine an astonishing degree of arrogance with equal ignorance of actual life in the US. They refused to work beyond set hours each week but complained when the Brit and American employees got bonuses. And on and on ...

But frankly this is much bigger stuff at stake than how unwarranted the famous French arrogance is - or how much of what they face is of their own making.

Badanov said it and people are ignoring it: France is a nuclear armed state -- and those arms are NOT co-located with, co-commanded or co-controlled by NATO.

Repeat after me: failed nuclear states are a Bad Thing for US

I'm not at all sure we can do a damn thing to help France at this point -- other than to assert the values we do hold in common and to encourage them not to give in to short-term appeasement.

What is happening in France and Denmark is not rioting: it is the opening salvos of an intentional urban insurgency. All of the markers are there: destruction of symbols of state authority, claiming areas for their own control, imposing control on frightened civilians in those locales, and so on. If you think fighting insurgency in Iraq is hard, consider what it takes to fight one against your own citizens, in your own country.

And yes, it would help if French citizens were able to be armed and to defend themselves.

-- signed, gun owner and NRA member in good standing
Posted by: lotp   2005-11-05 14:53  

#32  Sometimes, the best thing to do with a fire is let it burn itself out.

unless it threatens to burn down your own home in the process.

Personally, I've always preferred the concept of a back-fire, myself. I guess these stupid jihadis don't realize thay are lighting them for us - guess they don't understand the concept of blow-back.

This is a turning point for the French. They are now forced to fight or capitulate. I have no clue how this will turn out, but other than in the rotted media, there will be no more snide "my child would never do that" BS coming from France. This, like 911, is a world-changing event. This isn't a ballgame. I'm cheering for the average Frenchman.
Posted by: 2b   2005-11-05 14:16  

#31  27 Even if I was so inclined as to help France(wich I am most certainly not)we can not do much to help them if they have no will to defend themselves.I ask agin what would you have us do?

Exactly. After all, we've helped before, with the effect of facilitating the rise of the statist multiculturism that is eating France alive now. If we step in too soon to help out, we'll simply be rescuing the same system that is the cause of France's problems--and does anyone really believe we'll more gratitude than resentment on this go-around?

Hell, I'm still pissed that we sent any aid to the Paks.

Sometimes, the best thing to do with a fire is let it burn itself out.
Posted by: dushan   2005-11-05 14:04  

#30  France is in deep sh*t at the moment, we have to at least show some sympathies to the good folks in France.
Posted by: badanov


Want some sympathy? Look in dictionary between sh!t and syphalis.
Posted by: AlmostStupid5839   2005-11-05 13:43  

#29  It's a Zarkboy type payback.
The fucker really needs to be killed ASAP.

Must....resist.....the...urge....
oh heck...He's already dead. He died in the middle of last year. He's just an icon now.
Posted by: 2b   2005-11-05 13:10  

#28  I think the way to help them is to help more terrorist into hell. Up Tempo...

Then France can save themselve or not but... we do what we are good at.

Posted by: 3dc   2005-11-05 13:04  

#27  Even if I was so inclined as to help France(wich I am most certainly not)we can not do much to help them if they have no will to defend themselves.I ask agin what would you have us do?
Posted by: raptor   2005-11-05 12:56  

#26  schadenfreude tastes pretty flat.

FoxNews just showed a clip the native French who live in those suburbs marching in protest past the projects. The marchers were older whites. The people looking out the project windows appeared Arab. The streets were covered with gutted wrecks of buses and cars.

All I could think with the government constraints on the police were that the police should make sure if there was a fire in a neighborhood why then the mosque in the neighborhood should somehow catch on fire too.

Also in the report - first words from the government that perhaps Islamic Militants were behind it....

So...

Back off a bit and ask why now?

Was that not answered in Zark and AlQ's recent complaint where they accused the US and France of running the anti-terror HQ out of Paris?

It's a Zarkboy type payback.
The fucker really needs to be killed ASAP.
If he's burning cities in France and hiding in small burbs in Iraq.... perhaps a few small burbs in Iraq need to disappear from some maps...
Sort of filter all the people in the burb looking for zark. (they can stand in the desert till done) If found raze the town. IF not found... they get the message.
Posted by: 3dc   2005-11-05 12:25  

#25  raptor: True, politically the Frogs did stab us in the back with regards to Iraq ( and we know why ), just like the left does at every turn. Doesn't mean they should have to face the threat of Islamic culture.

People who believe and will fight for freedom must be more grownup than those who fight against their own personal interests.

And besides: France is a nuclear armed nation. Whether you like it or not, this is our problem. I would hate to see what the First Islamic Republic prime minister Abu WhooDu does with a nuke and I don't wanna find out.

France is in deep sh*t at the moment, we have to at least show some sympathies to the good folks in France.
Posted by: badanov   2005-11-05 12:20  

#24  And just what would you have us do,US.Do you want us say"Ah,poor France(snif).All is forgiven,how can we help.
Something you have not considered(you sound Euorpean)with your"gringo and gringas"comment we gringo and gringas are heavly armed,know how to use those arms,and are not afraid defending ourselves.Can you say the same for France(and the rest of Western Euorpe).
Posted by: raptor   2005-11-05 12:02  

#23  MUST.NOT.RANT.... Uh, what Kirk said. But damnit WHY do we always end up having to save their asses? (Not that I think we can in this case)
Posted by: Jim   2005-11-05 12:00  

#22  Its easy to rant that the frogs have it coming, but wars make for strange bedfellows. There is a war against western values and culture. We are not idiots. We all know that despite having the best thing going globally, that we have problems from within and from out. The frogs have been bashed over and over bit it don't croak yet. They are still part of the west. before we stomp the frog even harder and with zeal while they deal with their own disaffected and defranchised ethnic groups, let us not forget what is brewing right here at home in America. The children of illegal immigrants will probably face a whole different set of issues than that of their fathers and mothers. Who is to say that these young folk don't turn into chollos & chollitos? There are groups right here in America just drooling over thoughts of tearing down the system and sending the gringo and gringas packing. Take for instance the Atzlan movement. It may be more concept than action, but the mind-set behind it is just one step from transformation to reality. It only takes a spark to start a fire. Two kids in France get electrocuted while fleeing police and we witness the aftermath. We have seen what a PCP-laced crackhead can spark when fighting arrest by doubly-determined law enforcement officers in Las Angeles. Before criticizing whats happening in the neighbors backyard, lets take a look at the mess brewing beneath our feet. The liberals and extremists want to distract us and color the issues right here at home in a different shade for their own personal agendas. But... we as common folk are going to be left dealing with the mess in the long run.
Posted by: Uawl Snyflures   2005-11-05 11:39  

#21  Multicultural societies have no glue to hold them together. There needs to be a national identity, based on a core sense of values or the society will fragment.

France is a runaway train going down the grade. The first thing that you do to slow down is not to stoke the firebox. If the government cannot stop the rioting and turn things around, well the French citizens better step in. The government is divided and paralyzed against the threat of anarchy. This stuff has been building for years through the policies of the French govt. I am concerned about French nuke and reactor security for all of our sakes, but it is up to the French to save their country, if they feel that it is worth saving.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2005-11-05 11:32  

#20  I don't get this desire to kick France when it's down. Had the Gore/Kerry moonbats managed to lie/cheat steal their way into office that we too would deserve such a fate.

I'll stand with anyone who wants to fight for freedom and justice. I don't care where they are from.

A toast to our French freinds who stand for freedom. I wish you well.
Posted by: 2b   2005-11-05 11:27  

#19  A5089,

Please don't be to hard on us. After all, as you say, "France" is actually the statist/jacobinist, socialist, "progressist" oligarchy".

So, knocking France is a whole lot easier to type than "the statist/jacobinist, socialist, "progressist" oligarchy".

Plus being a democracy we sort of assume that the majority of the people agree since they were voted in.

Personally I doubt that there is absolutely anything that the US can do to help. The French must solve this mess on their own. I sure hope that their solution is not surrender.
Posted by: AlanC   2005-11-05 11:17  

#18  Kirk,lotp,bad,5089
When we called on France(several times)they stabbed US in the back.
France built they're pig pin,France populated it,France let turn septic.
What do you expect US to do send the 1st I.D.,bullshit been there done that.Until the Frogs grow a pair,send in the an armored infantry brigade and muck that pig stye of French construction you all and France can kiss my red ass.
Posted by: raptor   2005-11-05 11:16  

#17  Anon, the reason we're hostile to France -- OK, the French government -- is the way it stabbed us in the back over Iraq. Before that, the US attitude towards France wasn't much different than the attitudes Americans have towards other states.

You want to convince us France is on our side? Toss out the government and put in one that acts like it. France still has elections, right?
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2005-11-05 11:12  

#16  anonymous5089, Sorry that your country is going down the tubes and fast. Yes I respect the fact that if it hadn’t been for Louis XVIII the USA might have remained a British Colony or at least had a longer war of independence. I hope you appreciate the some of the glee I feel when I see the Socialists getting their due with respect to immigrants, their warped economics, and Anti-American tantrums. The modern world would be a much better place if France hadn’t always held the stand “Other then American” in their foreign policy. Their decision to not support the Iraq war was based partly on this foreign policy and partly as appeasement to the Arab masses that they corralled into ghettos and left to fester. I guess they are learning that appeasement only goes so far.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2005-11-05 11:01  

#15  and also don't forget that it is our own media who hyped NO and is ignoring the riots.
Posted by: 2b   2005-11-05 10:28  

#14  I'm sorry for all of the French who have had their culture destroyed by bad leadership.

There would be no America without the French and no France without America.

Those of you enjoying the shadenfreude, stop and consider for just a moment how easily the the 2000 or 2004 election could have gone the other way. John Kerry would now be in charge. Then read this (from LGF) and remember how easily it could have been us.
The World Can't Wait

Probably more communist moonbats in the greater SF area than in all of France combined.
Posted by: 2b   2005-11-05 10:23  

#13  Ou béchamel, peut être.
Posted by: anonymous5089   2005-11-05 08:50  

#12  Sauce béarnaise?
Posted by: anonymous5089   2005-11-05 08:49  

#11  I look forward to MSM reports of cannibalism and unburied, half-eaten bodies lying around, like in the Superdome. It being France, I wonder what sauce they would use?
Posted by: Anonymoose   2005-11-05 08:35  

#10  Ok : rant mode ON.

Well, I have no sense of class (if I had, I wouldn't be a bum like I am), and I'm not honorable (more like a whining immature oversheltered brat), but I don't like what's happening in my country.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm pretty used to anglo-saxon prejudice against froggies (basically you see us like we see the italians, lol, and anyway we've got our own prejudices about the USA : americans are cowards who can't fight except by overhelming technology, they're totally materialistical, they're coarse and childish,... this is bullsh*t, of course, but so are your own preconceptions), so this won't even p*sses me off anymore, except when this borders on racism, and it sometimes does or is patently false (that's usually when JFM steps in with his historical knowledge).

I'm not concerned by french-bashers who indulge in shadenfreude, I'm more concerned by the slow-motion death of western Europe. If you bypass traditional rivalry between countries, IMHO what you call "France" is actually the statist/jacobinist, socialist, "progressist" oligarchy which has seized power a long time ago and is responsible for selling out France to its own interests (dubbed "national interest"). Theses are theses people, our own "Enlightened Elite", who are lying to the french people (for example feeding him anti-americanism as a diversion from his own problems), who are leading him to economical suicide, who crushed his spirit and killed his soul... all this was done willingly, thinked about and enforced through social engeneering. They are not "gallic", they are "tranzis" to use a word you understand.

They are "the other side" of the culture war that is still raging in the USA. In a large part of western Europe (can't really talk about other countries, though), that culture war has long been long by western civilization. True, there is european History, but the USA are also to blame, the whole new left of the 60's came from you (through it originated in Europe pre WWII, and was ultimately born from european marxism and gramscism), exactly as fascism was a progressist, leftist idea born in Europe, refined in the USA, and adopted in Europe.

I'm sorry, ok, the USA are turning themselves to Asia, becoming less european through immigration,... but we're still all part of western civilization; as lotp remarked, we're all together in this; the USA are the "third djihad"'s opponent, but Europe is the prize. If/when it falls, you'll be in deep, deep trouble, and the next to go.

Schadenfreude is ok when you're not involved. Look at Europe, and see the USA's future if you do not take the adequate measures and succumb to cultural suicide : you're not off the hook, there is *no* guarantee you'll win this war, and that's especially true if Europe is islamized.

Rant mode OFF.
Posted by: anonymous5089   2005-11-05 08:30  

#9  Thanks, lotp, for saying what needed to be said. Do we have to be reminded that an Islamic France means an Islamic nuclear France?

It appears at the moment, France is in deep sh*t. We may hate the French for their lying and cheating, and their insane PC culture, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to help in some fashion.

I hope the CIA is taking advantage of this situation. This is the perfect time to insert spooks in a confusing situation, and getting them to work up the chain of command of the terrorists.
Posted by: badanov   2005-11-05 08:24  

#8  Well exactly what can we learn from this? Is it that France is a unique, one of a kind country and this sort of thing can never happen here or in the UK (see Chinese Spy story), or is it time for everyone to re-examine immigration, foreign visitors, and cultural and decide just what type of country we wish to be? I believe we may be at a crossroads. The mulitculutral myth has finally been seen for what it is. I just about lost my cookies the first time I heard 'W' talk about the "wonderful faith of Islam." There should be no doubt about it's "wonder."
Posted by: Besoeker   2005-11-05 08:05  

#7  So the real question is: what do we all want mid- and long-term.

Yes, the French have backed themselves into this situation and have been insufferably smug and hypocritical. And the riots are an opportunity for schadenfreude - especially since there is little sign that they admit how their choices have get them into this mess.

BUT ..... if Europe goes Islamacist it WILL mean that our future is much more restricted and threatened. I'm with Kirk and Condi Rice on this: it is in OUR best interests to hope and work to help the French solve this problem.

I'm not at all sure that they will be able to do so ... I fear Europe is on a serious decline with few chances of reversal. And the intent of Zapatero in Spain to forge a "Mediterranean civilization" with the Arabs is most likely the final nail in the coffin.

Nonetheless, insofar as we can help to slow that decline, it serves US well - economically and politically.
Posted by: lotp   2005-11-05 07:53  

#6  Well good for you,Kirk.Personally I'm laughing my ass off.Serves the duplicitus Frogs right for being the the lying traitorus dogs they are.
My appolagies to you,JFM.Your one of the good guys,and remind me that some French still have a sense of class and are Honorable.
Posted by: raptor   2005-11-05 05:35  

#5  Rather than a picture of Nero, I suggest Marie Antionette of "Let them eat cake." fame might be more appropriate.
Posted by: phil_b   2005-11-05 05:29  

#4  ROFL, DMFD!
Posted by: .com   2005-11-05 05:24  

#3  ... to realize that our very civilization, that of Charles Martel, Charlemagne, Joan of Arc, Rene Descartes, Victor Hugo, Louis Pasteur, and Madame Curie, is in peril

You can't even begin to comprehend the degree to which I just don't give a damn.
Posted by: DMFD   2005-11-05 04:33  

#2  "I don't have the feeling that foreign tourists in Paris are in any way placed in danger by these events," ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said, adding that officials were "sometimes a bit surprised" by the foreign coverage.

I won't have a feeling Jean-Baptiste, when you meet Mr. Cluebat.

Some 30 mayors from the Seine-Saint-Denis region where the unrest started Oct. 27 met Friday to make a joint call for calm

fu*kin brilliant...
goshems, why havent the Israeles ever thought of this?
Posted by: Red Dog   2005-11-05 01:27  

#1  Apologies for the length of this comment, but the recent abominations in France have awakened some memories in me ...

I visited Marseille on a daytrip from Avignon in 1982, walking from the railway station in broad daylight through the "North African" section of town to my destination, the Vieux Port. I imagined, somewhat embarrassingly, the idle young toughs who lined the streets to be sizing up the thickness of my wallet, wondering if it was worth their bother to liberate it from the young tourist in their midst. I pressed on, walking calmly, but purposefully, and proceeded uneventfully to my destination.

A few hours later I sat down at a bistro to eagerly devour a lunch of genuine Marseille bouillbaise, striking up a conversation with a friendly 60ish local couple. Our chitchat was quite amicable until they mentioned "les arabes". Although my youthful liberal sentiments prevented me from joining the condemnation of their newly arrived countrymen, my politeness dissuaded me from objecting. They persisted in their denunciations for several minutes, my own unsettling, albeit brief, experience springing to mind as they spoke.

I've often thought of that old couple, fiercely proud of a France they feared slipping away, even as we chatted so many years ago, bitterly resentful of the ungrateful, usurping foreigners, perhaps shamed by the knowledge they were powerless against them. I am reminded now again of their fears, fears many native French have doubtlessly come to share.

The cheap laughs I've enjoyed mocking the French the past few years are over for me now. They are fellow members of western civilization, and I will no sooner abandon them, nor even the fools among them, in this hour than I would the 47% of Americans who foolishly supported John Kerry.

I pray that France, and Belgium, and the Netherlands, and Spain, and, yes, America, have not become so blinded by self-loathing, post-modern, multicultural idiocy as to realize that our very civilization, that of Charles Martel, Charlemagne, Joan of Arc, Rene Descartes, Victor Hugo, Louis Pasteur, and Madame Curie, is in peril.

We are all in this together.

Vivre la France!
Posted by: Kirk   2005-11-05 01:25  

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