Ignoring revisionists

European Jewish Press ^ | 1 feb 06 | Shirli Sitbon

[white trash redneck]

In an exclusive interview with EJP, Marine Le Pen, vice-president of the French  extreme-rightist Front National party talks about revisionism, anti-Semitism in France, Middle Eastern politics and French immigration policy.

The 37-year-old daughter of extreme-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen was elected a member of the European Parliament in June 2004. She joined the European Parliament France-Israel study group and is planning her first visit to Israel.

European Jewish Press : You are planning a visit to Israel. This seems new for the Front National. Has any important member of the party been on such a mission before?

Marine Le Pen: No, this is a first. We have never been invited. My own trip is planned as part of a larger visit organised for the EP’s Israel delegation, of which I am a member.

I think this is an important step but I must stress that this is in no way an attempt to take sides for one party or the other. We are just trying to get all the information we need so that we can get a better view of things.

EJP : The Middle East has gone through massive changes recently, culminating in the victory of Hamas in the Palestinian parliamentary elections. In your view, how should France and the international community respond to Hamas’ accession to power?

M LP: At the Front National we are quite worried by the latest developments in the Middle East. We consider, as we always have, that Israel must have safe borders and its people should have the right to live in security, just as we believe the Palestinians are entitled to their own state with its secure boundaries.

There is no magic solution. We hope that this radical Palestinian party will temper its positions when entering the democratic arena. I believe that [Hamas’ victory] is not necessarily a bad thing. When excluding parties from democracy we push them into extremism. We hope that a way to get out of this crisis will be found. Both nations want this.

France should have played a bigger role in the Middle East but it failed to do so, letting the US play mediators. However, Palestinians said, “the US is not a mediator” in this conflict so there is a place for a true balanced actor. Unfortunately, France didn’t seize the chance. We just hope the nations will put an end to this war.

EJP: France and Israel have improved their relations in the past two, three years. Does the Front National approve of this policy?

I believe that [Hamas’ victory] is not necessarily a bad thing. When excluding parties from democracy we push them into extremism

M LP: It’s not up to me to judge this policy. If Jean-Marie Le Pen is elected president it will be up to him to decide on the country’s main foreign policy issues. We are a political movement and it’s entirely up to the leader to decide on these matters. Establishing this policy is much more subtle and complex than meets the eye. That’s why I’m going to the Middle East to meet Members of the Israeli Parliament to have new elements. Because I’m far from certain that the French media is giving a genuine report on what is happening over there. I hope to go there soon and bring back to my party new and interesting elements that will enable it to position itself on this issue.

EJP: Do you have contacts there prior to your visit?

M LP: No, I don’t and that’s precisely the reason I’m going there, to meet people and listen to what they have to say, what their problems are.

EJP: Jacques Chirac announced that the article on the positive aspect of the French presence overseas will be removed from the law of the 23d of February 2005. Do you think this is a wise decision? Did you approve the article in the first place?

M LP: I think this law shouldn’t have entered our legislation. This is a general principle.
 

We are heading towards a wall. The November riots sprang from the same problem. We must fight against this

I think that schoolbooks present the colonies and their consequences in an exclusively negative and very critical way. History books should have been more moderate and should have shown the negative and positive aspects. This could have been simply requested by the education ministry, rather than being imposed by a law.

I have the impression that our legislation is evolving today around various “communities”. It isn’t surprising that those who did not get any special attention and benefit from the law should now ask for one. I think this policy is fundamentally dangerous because it’s creating rights on the simple basis of social and ethnic back-grounds or even sexual orientation. I think this is hurting our national identity which is dissolving itself. It generates tensions between communities. I think the government shouldn’t have initiated this law on history. It isn’t the legislators’ role.

It is mixing everything up. The situation in Algeria and the Caribbean is very different. This is an attempt to put together different things and to give an exclusive racial and ethnic criteria to French society. It pushes people to create associations such as the CRAN, the council of black associations, which pushes others to create the CRAB, the council of white associations.

We should respond to revisionists by ignoring them

We are heading towards a wall. The November riots [in the Paris suburbs, EJP] sprang from the same problem. We must fight against this.

EJP: This applies to the laws on history? Are you opposed to the laws against revisionists for example?

We must cancel social benefits. We must give the priority to French citizens when they’re looking for jobs

M LP: Yes it applies to this to. The world has known terrible periods. We can’t have laws on everything. That doesn’t mean we should forget the transgressions against such and such. But we should stop the policy of the open wound. Wounds have to heal.

EJP: But how can one protect communities from revisionism?

M LP: We should respond to revisionists by ignoring them. In some countries, like the US, people have the right to say whatever they want. That’s freedom of speech. It doesn’t mean they can act on it.

Do we really have to put frames on everything? Once we launch this process it never ends! First there’s revisionism, then homophobia and today we have laws against everything and this goes on to women etc.

EJP: You say a single law for everything is enough?

M LP: Yes. And courtrooms can then decide whether to be harsher depending on the circumstances.

Related Articles

	Historian: removing anti-revisionist laws is arrogant
	The danger is the 'relativisation' of the Shoah"
	Row over anti-revisionist laws
	Le Pen to be sued over gas chamber statements
	EXCLUSIVE - Israeli MK: Israel sees Europe as neutral
	EXCLUSIVE - Belgian FM: Hamas must renounce violence

Why do we need a law saying that slavery is a crime against humanity? People know that! Reminding people that our first principal is equality, “egalite”, is enough. In many countries and religions around the world equality is not guaranteed. But in Europe, everyone agrees that [the slave trade was horrible]. Do you really think the French overseas don’t have any other major issues to deal with? Do you really think slavery is still a threat over there? No! It’s an identity issue. The French identity failed, and people feel they need to cling to an identity that is other than national. It can be religious, linked to their colour or anything, but it’s not an answer.

Regarding the Armenian genocide, it’s a Turkish problem, not a French one.

EJP: The number of anti-Semitic and racist acts decreased this year. How do you explain this?

M LP: For years these acts were extremely rare. We

We must build prisons, because we don’t have enough room today for convicts, so we liberate them from jail

did see these acts multiply in recent years with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but these anti-Semitic attacks are extremely rare compared to assaults in general, of which there were more than 16 million in 2002. This shows the phenomenon is limited.

However, it is true that the situation in certain suburbs has changed, that there are assaults the media does not mention and that in some schools some topics can’t be taught from Judaism to Catholicism to periods in history. We can’t accept that as we can’t accept changing exam periods to suit certain communities. This is a secular state. The anti-discrimination policy is becoming a dictatorship with new types of discrimination.

EJP: What is the Front National planning on doing to change this situation?

M LP: This is due to an immigration problem. French governments failed to address uncontrolled and illegal immigration. Massive arrival of immigrants who were promised a roof, food, schooling for their children. The government lied.

The FN must work on several levels. Work with African countries for their economical growth and development. France must protect itself from uncontrolled immigration it can’t absorb.

I don’t think Dieudonne is a danger to anything

We must build prisons, because we don’t have enough room today for convicts, so we liberate them from jail.

I think we must abolish the double nationality system, because you must choose, and I think people shouldn’t become French just because they live here.

We must cancel social benefits. We must give the priority to French citizens when they’re looking for jobs.

EJP: Do you consider the comic Dieudonne is a new kind of anti-Semite? Do you think he is dangerous? And if this is the case what should be done, according to you?

M PL: No, I don’t think Dieudonne is a danger to anything. We have to stop saying such things. Polls often ask “do you think the FN is a danger to democracy?” this doesn’t mean anything.

EJP: Dieudonne addresses young crowds and boos Jewish people in his shows etc...

M LP: I didn’t study his actions and declarations in detail. Dieudonne isn’t a friend of ours, he fought us politically, but I think his action is a reaction to community policies and polling. But he fights community gatherings by the absurd, and his actions led to the creation of the CRAN. He uses the community sensitivity.

Is his method appropriate? I don’t think so. This is simply clumsiness. We must have faith in the French who will not follow just any type of speech and reasoning, they can think by themselves. He is the result of community thinking, everything I fight against. If the French were united, Dieudonne wouldn’t have emerged.

EJP: So you genuinely consider he is clumsy and not calculating his repeated attacks?

M LP: All I see is that he was acquitted 19 times. Nineteen! When Jean-Marie Le Pen was condemned for an [act that was] 100 times less [offensive]. My conclusion is that there is no equality in our justice system. Those who are discriminated against are rather Jean-Marie Le Pen and his supporters, more than anyone else. I don’t focus on Dieudonne.

Let him do what he wants. I accept dialogue with anyone. I would consider eventually discussing with him.

[white trash redneck]

Looks like even the French are getting fed up with their murderous Muslim immigrant. Hopefully the scales will fall from the EUropeons' eyes before the continent is completely Islamicized.

[PeterFinn]

If the majority parties in France fail to respond to the clear and present danger the muslims present then I expect Le Pen to take control of France in the next few years.