Reflections On The Revolution In France (Daniel Pipes' Backhand Nod To Edmund Burke Alert)

Frontpagemag.com ^ | 11/08/05 | Daniel Pipes

[goldstategop]

The rioting by Muslim youth that began Oct. 27 in France to calls of “Allahu Akbar” may be a turning point in European history.

What started in Clichy-sous-Bois, on the outskirts of Paris, by its eleventh night had spread to 300 French cities and towns, as well as to Belgium and Germany. The violence, which has already been called some evocative names – intifada, jihad, guerilla war, insurrection, rebellion, and civil war – prompts several reflections:

End of an era: The time of cultural innocence and political naïveté, when the French could blunder without seeing or feeling the consequences, is closing. As in other European countries (notably Denmark and Spain), a bundle of related issues, all touching on the Muslim presence, has now moved to the top of the policy agenda in France, where it will likely remain for decades.

These issues include a decline of Christian faith and the attendant demographic collapse; a cradle-to-grave welfare system that lures immigrants even as it saps long-term economic viability; an alienation from historic customs in favor of lifestyle experimentation and vapid multiculturalism; an inability to control borders or assimilate immigrants; a pattern of criminality that finds European cities far more violent than American ones; and a surge in Islam and radical Islam.

Not a first: The French insurrection are by no means the first instance of a semi-organized Muslim insurgency in Europe – it was preceded days earlier by one riot in Birmingham, England and was accompanied by another one in Århus, Denmark. France itself has a history of Muslim violence going back to 1979. What is different in the current round is its duration, magnitude, planning, and ferocity.

Media denial: The French press delicately refers to the “urban violence” and presents the rioters as victims of the system. Mainstream media deny that it has to do with Islam and ignore the permeating Islamist ideology, with its vicious anti-French attitudes and its raw ambition to dominate the country and replace its civilization with Islam’s.

Another method of jihad: Indigenous Muslims of northwestern Europe have in the past year deployed three distinct forms of jihad: the crude variety deployed in the United Kingdom, killing random passengers moving around London; the targeted variety in the Netherlands, where individual political and cultural leaders are singled out, threatened, and in some cases attacked; and now the more diffuse violence in France, less specifically murderous but also politically less dismissible. Which of these or other methods will prove most efficacious is yet unclear, but the British variant is clearly counterproductive, so the Dutch and French strategies will probably recur.

Sarkozy vs. Villepin: Two leading French politicians and probable candidates for president in 2007, Nicholas Sarkozy and Dominique de Villepin, have responded to the riots in starkly contrasting ways, with the former adopting a hard line (proclaiming “tolérance zéro” for urban crime) and the latter a soft one (promising an “action plan” to improve urban conditions).

Anti-state: The riots started eight days after Sarkozy declared a new policy of “war without mercy” on urban violence and two days after he called violent youth “scum.” Many rioters see themselves in a power struggle with the state and so focus their attacks on its symbols. A typical report quotes Mohamed, 20, the son of a Moroccan immigrant, asserting that a “Sarko has declared war…so it’s war he’s going to get.” Representatives of the rioters have demanded that the French police leave the “occupied territories”; in turn, Sarkozy partially blamed the riots on “fundamentalists.”

The French can respond in three ways. They can feel guilty and appease the rioters with prerogatives and the “massive investment plan” some are demanding. Or they can heave a sigh of relief when it ends and, as they did after earlier crises, return to business as usual. Or they can understand this as the opening salvo in a would-be revolution and take the difficult steps to undo the negligence and indulgence of past decades.

I expect a blend of the first two reactions and that, despite Sarkozy’s surge in the polls, Villepin’s appeasing approach will prevail. France must await something larger and more awful to awake it from its somnolence. The long-term prognosis, however, is inescapable: “the sweet dream of universal cultural compatibility has been replaced,” as Theodore Dalrymple puts it, “by the nightmare of permanent conflict.”

[goldstategop]

The nightmare of permanent disorder. Daniel Pipes' grim description of the convulsions besetting France is reflected in his backhand nod to the title of Edmund's Burke's famous work, the ancestor of modern conservative thought. We witnessing a new and more dangerous fervor at work in France one that is far more threatening than the overthrow of the ancien regime two centuries ago. The demise of the French monarchy threatened the privileges and power of absolute monarchs in Europe; the new revolution threatens to call into question the very existence of Western civilization itself. Like it or not, France today is a bellweather for how the West will deal with the greatest challenge of our time. The omens are none too promising.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[vimto]

Here in UK - just across the water from France, no lesson is being sought, nothing learned. It is just a French curiosity. It is due to their insensitive policing. Thats the dominant theme. We show no signs of waking up. Europe is in a stupor. What say other European FReeper?

[carumba]

... a cradle-to-grave welfare system that lures immigrants even as it saps long-term economic viability; an alienation from historic customs in favor of lifestyle experimentation and vapid multiculturalism; an inability to control borders or assimilate immigrants; a pattern of criminality that finds European cities far more violent than American ones; and a surge in Islam and radical Islam.

Except for the violent city stuff, I don't see much difference between them and us. Ironically the Euros have got to believe there is more violence in the USA with our right to bear arms and gangs armed to the hilt and NFL highlights (tongue in cheek).

[Bogolyubski]

Mr. Pipe's commentary sums it up fairly well. What we've seen in France, Britain, and Holland is actually quite consistent with the history of jihad. This is nothing less than a "razzia" - a testing of the enemy's defenses (tradtionally through raids and kidnapping for slaves). Muslims have correctly asessed the spiritual and moral rot of Western Europe. The response of the French, British, and Dutch governments all have proved that the place is ripe for a gradual conquest via fear and intimidation. I disagree with his take on the effectiveness of the method employed in the UK, though.

While the bombings in London horrified many Brits, what have we heard from the Blair regime? Endless lies about Islam's being a peaceful, tolerant religion (despite 1400 years of history to the contrary) and how jihad has only recently been perverted by a few extremists. Western ruling elites like Blair have created this mythical "moderate Islam" in order to prop up multiculturalism's collapsing house of cards.

[familyop]

None of the possible actions mentioned by Daniel will work.

In the 1800s, Susan B. Anthony and other feminists complained loudly about the misery of women having more than a couple of children. Feminists (women feminists and the back door male feminists--the philandering Henry Beecher, for example--who accompanied them since Charles Fourier) have complained about it ever since.

About three decades ago, employers saw the short term cost savings of putting more mothers into the labor market. More recently, bosses like Ted Turner and others stated their desire to shrink our population--some said to about 18% of what it was in the late 1990s.

Without increasing the number of people in our culture, Islam with its "Jihad of Polygamy" (or often simply Jihad of having many children for the purpose of eventual warfare) will conquer western civilization.

Undo feminism, or it has undone us.

[goldstategop]

The welfare state is snuffing the Left out of existence. Its one of those projects that worked too well and ended up backfiring on its creators. Europe is spiritually exhausted and materially decadent, does not have the will to free itself from its death spiral. A century from now the world will be a very different place.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[cricket]

[These issues include a decline of Christian faith and the attendant demographic collapse; a cradle-to-grave welfare system that lures immigrants even as it saps long-term economic viability; an alienation from historic customs in favor of lifestyle experimentation and vapid multiculturalism. . .]

Like it or not, France today is a bellweather for how the West will deal with the greatest challenge of our time. The omens are none too promising.............................

Indeed; and we can see as well that the omens - are the goals - of every dedicated Left-Lib in our Country. We are saved so far. . .by our own Capitalism. . .but even that; they are doing their best to destroy.

If we consider the possibilities. . .a Liberal President . . .a 'Leftie'; and without a correspondence of feeling absolute horror; then we already share in the blame for that 'bellweather' forecast being 'right on'. . .

[G.Mason]

"The French can respond in three ways.

They can feel guilty and appease the rioters with prerogatives and the “massive investment plan” some are demanding.

Or they can heave a sigh of relief when it ends and, as they did after earlier crises, return to business as usual.

Or they can understand this as the opening salvo in a would-be revolution and take the difficult steps to undo the negligence and indulgence of past decades."

Okay, you FR geniuses ... Let's hear you define exactly what Pearl's third response is suppose to mean, and just how it differs from his first.

[manwiththehands]

... Islamist ideology, with its vicious anti-French attitudes and its raw ambition to dominate the country and replace its civilization with Islam’s.

"Religion of peace" alert.

[ARepublicanForAllReasons]

I think it means something like "The Franco-Muslims are suffering from the soft bigotry of low expectations." Or some such gibberish.

[libertylover]

Without increasing the number of people in our culture, Islam with its "Jihad of Polygamy" (or often simply Jihad of having many children for the purpose of eventual warfare) will conquer western civilization.

I remember years ago a friend told me that, "All hope is lost because they are outbreeding us." His "they" was Mexicans who don't assimilate, but it's pretty much the same for the Islamofacists.

Also, I believe this is the theme of one of Pat Buchanan's book, The Death of the West.

[libertylover]

End of an era: The time of cultural innocence and political naïveté, when the French could blunder without seeing or feeling the consequences, is closing...

I expect a blend of the first two reactions and that, despite Sarkozy’s surge in the polls, Villepin’s appeasing approach will prevail.

Well, which is it? End of an era or continued appeasement. From the top of the arcticle to the bottome the writer seems to change his take on the whole situation.

[backhoe]

Is Paris Burning? ( Religion of Peace® Alert )
Click the picture:

Islam, The Alleged Religion of Peace® ( TARP™ )? Click this picture:

No, I am not exaggerating. Click the pic, go to "last," and read backwards.
If you are not informed about this stuff, you will be made sick. If you are informed, you will be made mad, all over again.

---

Kindly note tagline...

Is Paris Burning? ( Religion of Peace® Alert )
Click the picture:

Islam, The Alleged Religion of Peace® ( TARP™ )? Click this picture:

No, I am not exaggerating. Click the pic, go to "last," and read backwards.
If you are not informed about this stuff, you will be made sick. If you are informed, you will be made mad, all over again.

---

Kindly note tagline...

[pgyanke]

The first is capitulation. The last is a return to sanity and a reversal of the premise:

These issues include a decline of Christian faith and the attendant demographic collapse; a cradle-to-grave welfare system that lures immigrants even as it saps long-term economic viability; an alienation from historic customs in favor of lifestyle experimentation and vapid multiculturalism; an inability to control borders or assimilate immigrants; a pattern of criminality that finds European cities far more violent than American ones; and a surge in Islam and radical Islam.

[crazycat]

Agreed the UK just like every other European country, is taking nothing, because this was never supposed to happen. It is beyond their comprehension.

After all we banned Piggy banks, to keep e'm happy, so the UK will be safe.

Dear Old Enoch, has a ruefull smile today.

[Jimmy Valentine]

They can call in the Foreign Legion from Alsace, put the country under martial law, expel any rioter caught to what ever African crap hole they or their parents (expel the parents too) came from, and restrict immigration.

they can also cut social spending and cut taxes, revitalizing their economy.

Keep an eye out for "tyhe man on a white horse"; France is about ready.

[bvw]

"We show no signs of waking up."

That's because you never fell quite asleep. Englanders have always keep a rational view of the situation, if unspoken, I have have still seen it in every Englander I've met, in more subtle forms.

[Kenton]

Or they can heave a sigh of relief when it ends and, as they did after earlier crises, return to business as usual.

Now, we just know that that's their plan... it's how the French deal with crises.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

[RaceBannon]

expelling a rioter is more expensive than a bullet and a communal fire of the dead to bury later.

This is one thing that must BE stopped, not allowed to stop.