I read this years ago and I did not think it could ever come to pass. Now I think Raspail is prescient.
I read this years ago and I did not think it could ever come to pass. Now I think Raspail is prescient.
The Camp of the Saints (Le Camp des saints) is a 1973 French apocalyptic novel by Jean Raspail. The novel depicts a hypothetical setting whereby Third World mass immigration to France and the West led to the destruction of Western civilization. It sparked controversial reactions ranging from prophetic to discriminatory. Almost forty years after publication the book which influenced Ronald Reagan and François Mitterrand returned to the bestseller list in 2011
From National Review:
The book is full of historical allusions. The title of the novel comes from the Book of Revelation. A character who opposes the armada — portrayed in the French press as a villain — bears the name of the last Byzantine emperor.
Raspail was ahead of his time in demonstrating that Western civilization had lost its sense of purpose and history — its “exceptionalism.” If the loss of self-confidence on the part of Western liberal society was apparent in 1973, it is much more so today. The pious nonsense spouted in the novel by apologists for the overwhelming onslaught against France merely adumbrates what has become mainstream today.
Of course, Raspail was denounced as a racist, and his emphasis on the white race can indeed be off-putting. But the central issue of the novel is not race but culture and political principles. The United States has always welcomed immigrants, but until recently, it has expected them to assimilate — in other words, to become “Americans.” The traditional focus of American society has been the individual. Instead, multiculturalism has spawned a balkanized society of resentful members of various groups that seek favors for themselves, often at the expense of other groups — identity politics at its worst.
And that is the real danger today — that the American political system will be swamped by people who seek material goods but who disdain the American achievement in creating a government that protects the individual rights of all, without regard to membership in a favored group.