The French Solidarity rally on the 11th of January, following the terrorist attacks, brought out some very strange political bedfellows .... allegedly all at the invite of President François Hollande of France.
Now at face value of it, all this solidarity is all very laudable, except that many of those leaders who attended, have regimes with no 'freedom of speech'.
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| Paris March Hijacked By Politician Hypocrites |
Now at face value of it, all this solidarity is all very laudable, except that many of those leaders who attended, have regimes with no 'freedom of speech'.
In fact, amongst the invitees were a veritable rogues gallery of those
who have as little respect for free speech as any Islamic terrorists.
Amongst the hypocrites on parade were:
Of course there are criticisms over the commitments to free speech, that can also be lodged against other attendees: The EU sent no less than 3 Presidents (European Commission - President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Parliament - President Martin Schulz, European Union - President Donald Tusk) ... all representing a union that now forces Google to hide web links to criminals, paedophiles and fraudsters, even when on newspapers websites. More than half of these requests to be hidden pertain to criminal convictions.
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ~ ranked 148 out of 180 in Press Freedom Index (PFI)
- Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu ~ Turkey imprisons anyone who insults Islam or Turkey ~ ranked 154 out of 180 in PFI
- Jordan's King Abdullah II and Queen Rania ~ imprisons anyone who insults Islam ~ ranked 141 out of 180 in PFI
- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas ~ imprisons anyone who insults Islam ~ ranked 138 out of 180 in PFI
- Algeria - Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra ~ ranked 121 out of 180 in PFI
- Mali - President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita ~ ranked 122 out of 180 in PFI
- Tunisia - Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa ~ ranked 133 out of 180 in PFI
- United Arab Emirates - Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan ~ ranked 118 out of 180 in PFI
Of course there are criticisms over the commitments to free speech, that can also be lodged against other attendees: The EU sent no less than 3 Presidents (European Commission - President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Parliament - President Martin Schulz, European Union - President Donald Tusk) ... all representing a union that now forces Google to hide web links to criminals, paedophiles and fraudsters, even when on newspapers websites. More than half of these requests to be hidden pertain to criminal convictions.
Even Britain, for whom David Cameron was there, is now suspect in this area as it has no firm legal right to freedom of speech, and is bringing in legislation limiting a fully free press. These restrictions so concerned the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, that it issued a warning that the phone hacking scandal should not be used as an excuse to rein in all print media, and urged Britain not to abandon a tradition of press self-regulation regarded around the world as best practice. Even the Kremlin-funded broadcaster 'Russia Today' described the new UK guidelines as a “threat to press freedom”.
President François Hollande has been forced to defend his invitations, as being to 'partners in the fight against terrorism', and that all these people were therefore welcome to attend. However he excluded inviting representatives of the French far right National Front. It's leader (and likely Presidential candidate) Marine Le Pen was not invited, which prompted former centre-right Prime Minister François Fillon to say that he found the decision not to invite the FN as "hateful [and] dangerous” and added that it was “in line with what the terrorists want”.
However as the march was largely a social media inspired event, which was not called to affirm the 'fight against terrorism', but rather by people wanting to defend 'freedom of expression', then either the march was hijacked by Hollande and his political advisors for their own agenda, or the politicians have once again missed the point, and abused a peoples march and wishes.
Meanwhile, while we were all hugging ourselves for holding pens in the air, or linking arms in defiance, Islamist's arson attacked the editorial offices of the 'Hamburger Morgenpost' on Saturday night, apparently for daring to reprint a Charlie Hebdo cover depicting cartoons of the prophet Mohammed ....
Someone else set up a "Je ne suis pas Charlie" (I am not Charlie) Facebook page, which has received more than 21,000 'likes'. The mainly Muslim people who have apparently given it a thumbs-up may not support terror, but they also don't support 'free speech' either, except where it allows them to say they don't support 'free speech' ... if you know what I mean ... Hell, there was even a "Je suis Kouachi" hashtag on social media, which briefly trended on Saturday at the height of the trouble ... before being withdrawn. Its these people who you are never going to get to accept western 'freedom of speech', except maybe their right to preach about how superior their backward beliefs are over ours.
However, all this lets you know that all is not well under the surface .... and that there are men and women in France (and elsewhere in Europe), carrying French passports, who feel their primary attachment is to Islam, not to the Enlightenment values of post-18th Century Europe.
However, we shouldn't be too comfortable on this side of the channel, our 'Multiculturalism' approach has simply alienated the native from the immigrant to a very large degree. So that just as in France, the 40% of Muslims in the UK, who in 2006 supported Sharia Law for the UK (a figure that's likely to have gone up not down by the way), are people who are not reconciled to a free society, even though its that very freedom that allows then to practice their alien creed safely in Europe.
I fear that this is all going to end very badly for one of the two groups, with the violent rejection and expulsion of Islam from parts of Europe a real possibility. It would take very little to light the fuses in many lands ...... the FN (National Front) in France may not ever win an national assembly vote, but they may just come close enough to the French Presidency to light that fuse.
President François Hollande has been forced to defend his invitations, as being to 'partners in the fight against terrorism', and that all these people were therefore welcome to attend. However he excluded inviting representatives of the French far right National Front. It's leader (and likely Presidential candidate) Marine Le Pen was not invited, which prompted former centre-right Prime Minister François Fillon to say that he found the decision not to invite the FN as "hateful [and] dangerous” and added that it was “in line with what the terrorists want”.
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| Paris Free Speech - Solidarity Rally |
However as the march was largely a social media inspired event, which was not called to affirm the 'fight against terrorism', but rather by people wanting to defend 'freedom of expression', then either the march was hijacked by Hollande and his political advisors for their own agenda, or the politicians have once again missed the point, and abused a peoples march and wishes.
Meanwhile, while we were all hugging ourselves for holding pens in the air, or linking arms in defiance, Islamist's arson attacked the editorial offices of the 'Hamburger Morgenpost' on Saturday night, apparently for daring to reprint a Charlie Hebdo cover depicting cartoons of the prophet Mohammed ....
Someone else set up a "Je ne suis pas Charlie" (I am not Charlie) Facebook page, which has received more than 21,000 'likes'. The mainly Muslim people who have apparently given it a thumbs-up may not support terror, but they also don't support 'free speech' either, except where it allows them to say they don't support 'free speech' ... if you know what I mean ... Hell, there was even a "Je suis Kouachi" hashtag on social media, which briefly trended on Saturday at the height of the trouble ... before being withdrawn. Its these people who you are never going to get to accept western 'freedom of speech', except maybe their right to preach about how superior their backward beliefs are over ours.
However, all this lets you know that all is not well under the surface .... and that there are men and women in France (and elsewhere in Europe), carrying French passports, who feel their primary attachment is to Islam, not to the Enlightenment values of post-18th Century Europe.
However, we shouldn't be too comfortable on this side of the channel, our 'Multiculturalism' approach has simply alienated the native from the immigrant to a very large degree. So that just as in France, the 40% of Muslims in the UK, who in 2006 supported Sharia Law for the UK (a figure that's likely to have gone up not down by the way), are people who are not reconciled to a free society, even though its that very freedom that allows then to practice their alien creed safely in Europe.
I fear that this is all going to end very badly for one of the two groups, with the violent rejection and expulsion of Islam from parts of Europe a real possibility. It would take very little to light the fuses in many lands ...... the FN (National Front) in France may not ever win an national assembly vote, but they may just come close enough to the French Presidency to light that fuse.
'expulsion of Islam from parts of Europe' .... the sooner the better in many people's opinions.
ReplyDeleteWell each to their own I guess. I sort of agree but I know that there are Muslims who like living here but who are religious. who knows how this will end.
ReplyDelete