NEWS JUNKIE POST
Mar 11, 2010 at 1:43 amEU: Far-Right Parties Are Running Campaigns On “No To Islamism”
Last November it was in Switzerland with an extreme right wing Nationalist party running a campaign on an anti-Islam message, now it is the turn of the French far right party the Front National to play the same cards of racism and xenophobia. The Front National, which gained ground in recent elections due to its strong anti-immigration agenda, is now targeting what European’s far right parties at large are framing as:”The threat of Islam taking over Europe”.
The poster for the Front National electoral campaign, which is already approved by the French electoral commission, is creating some diplomatic problem with one of France former colonies: Algeria. The North-African country has now filled an official protest arguing that the campaign poster represent an “abuse of the Algerian flag”.
The poster at the center of the controversy represents a woman wearing a Burka next to a map of France that is covered with an Algerian flag. Minarets are shown as missiles over France’s map, above a caption read ” Non A L’Islamism” ( No To Islamism). The Front National’s poster resembles very closely to a poster that a Swiss far right Nationalist party (see photo) used in last November referendum to freeze Minaret construction in Switzerland. The Swiss advertisement agency that designed the poster says that it will sue the Front National party for plagiarism.
The Algerian government was quick to react to the provocative poster.
“We need to respect the symbols of one another. This is the position of our country, and we will ensure that it will be respected,” said Mourad Medelci, Algeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister on Monday.
On Tuesday, the French Foreign Ministry stated that Algeria’s official complaint was “legitimate”. Meanwhile, a Marseille court has dismissed an attempt by the anti-racist group Licra, to have the poster banned. Two more anti-racism organizations, MRAP and SOS Racism have also launched legal actions to get the controversial poster banned. The Front National reacted on Tuesday by stating:”Paris is on its knees before Algiers”.
The Front National core political traction and appeal is its stand against immigration, and even in favor of expelling foreigners out of France. The Front National needs to be called for what it is: A neo-fascist movement.
It was founded in 1972 by Francois Duprat and Francois Brigneau, and led beginning later that year by Jean-Marie Le Pen. After 10 years on the margins of French politics, the FN began a period of spectacular growth in 1981, campaigning on the slogan “France For French”, as had French fascists done in the 1930s, and linking high unemployment and crimes to the presence of immigrants. By using such arguments against immigrants, the Front National and its founder Jean-Marie Le Pen have been stirring up racism and xenophobia for years. In the 1930s the party aligned with the fascist ideology of the current FN was the Action Francaise. The Action Francaise was then blaming France’s problem on Jews just like Adolf Hitler was in Germany. The FN attention is focused against Muslims and North-African immigrants.
Touareg/Algeria Photo By Miguel Valle de Figueiredo
Algeria won its independence from France in 1962 after a nasty war spanning on 8 years. France had almost 500,000 troops in Algeria at the darkest days of the conflict. Some of the torture exacted by the French forces in Algeria on the insurgents of the FNL were so brutal that they still defy imagination.
An important turning point for Algeria’s war of independence, which started in 1954, was the massacre of civilians by the FNl insurgency near the town of Philippeville in August 1955. Before this operation, the FLN policy was to only attack military and government targets. The killing by the FLN of 123 people, including elderly women and babies, shocked Jacques Soustelle, the French Governor General, and made him called for massive retaliation against the rebels. At the time Soustelle claimed it killed 1,273 guerrillas fighters in retaliation, but according to the FLN more than 12,000 Muslims were slaughtered by the armed forces, the police and colon gangs. After the grave incident in Philippeville an all-out war broke out in Algeria.
Editor’s Note: Please follow The News Junkie Post on Twitter.
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by NewsJunkiePost: Please RT: EU Far Right Parties Are Running Campaigns On “No To Islamism” http://bit.ly/9FnHQH...
By writing: “Last November it was in Switzerland with an extreme right wing Nationalist party running a campaign on an anti-Islam message”, you show that you don’t know much about swiss politics. To claim that it was an “extreme right wing Nationalis party* who ran the campaign on an anti.-Islam message is false.
The Swiss Peoples Party is a conservative party but not at all a nationalistic one. This party stands for less government and more freedom, condems any sort of totalitarianism. It was the only party who strongly and openly opposed Nazi-Germany during WW II (with success)
The majority of the people has nothing against minorities at all. Switzerland has a long tradition of a “live and let live”-philosophy (this is also the reason why Switzerland is neutral). What the Swiss don’t like are people who abuse the system and impose their way of living on others!
Almost 25 % (!) of Switzerlands population are foreigners, no other country in the world has a higher ratio. The problem is that almost 80 % of all people on social wellfare are non-swiss-citizens and 90 % of the prison population as well.
Extreme muslims cause trouble in public schools they don’t accept female teachers or don’t allow their girls to attend classes. Muslim youth gangs terrorize other kids etc etc
An ultraliberal society (and Switzerland is the most liberal country in the world) can only survive, if their members have a minimal respect for their fellow citizens. If a minority does not respect the customs of their host country, it neeeds to be put in place.
There are no criminal violant acts in Switzerland against minorities and ultra-nationalist parties never had a chance (neither did communists), why? Because it’s the people and not the government who have always the last word (Switzerland is the only country in the world who has a real direct democracy). The people have much more common sense than some powerhungry politicans.
What is wrong about opposing a philosophy (or religion) that discriminates women and gays, who does not allow any other way of thinking, who advocates the beating of women, is against the freedom of speech…? You don’t need to be a racist or a nationalist to do so, all it needs is bit of common sense…
Before you condemn the swiss people you should get off your your high (moral) horse and inform yourself correctly…
Sounds to me like those guys got too much spare time on their hands.
Jes
http://www.fbi-logfiles.int.tc