True confession. I had never heard of Zemmour before reading this article. It was my general understanding that Le Pen was a far right candidate, but not as far right has her father, and she had moved her coalition somewhat closer to center right by disavowing some of her father's more inflammatory positions. Yet, her party remained out of power. And, that is about what I know of the right wing of the French political landscape. So, I am very pleased that Persuasion published this article. It expanded my knowledge of something that was happening in a large, important country that is not my own. Although I appreciate the other commenters' takes on Zemmour and opinions on what the author may have got wrong in this article, in contrast to the other commenters I say "keep articles like this one coming". It is good to learn about people, places, and things happening in this big, complicated world.
The writer of this article is gaslighting readers. What are the demographic changes in France as indicated by actual statistics?
But even more important, Aren't French Jews leaving the country because the French government can no longer protect their safety? (I believe France has the largest population of Jews in Europe, although small.) And isn't that threat to safety is coming largely, not exclusively, from its Islamist citizens?
This article is beneath Persuasion, honestly. It follows the familiar pattern of mainstream sources which seek to place the question of demographic change outside of the bounds of acceptible discussion. There is a bit of quibbling with his numbers, but the author clearly has no interest in the question of what demographic path France is on and whether the French people should have any say in the matter. Just label people bigots for even asking. That is exactly what creates the opening for figures like Zemmour.
"He has also tried to defend the Second World War collaborationist regime in Vichy, which he claims protected French Jews during the Nazi occupation, while handing over foreign Jews.." Here it is important to note that French Jews were denied citizenship before WW 2. Very few Jews were actually citizens at this time. In addition there were more German soldiers stationed in the Netherlands, where the resistance was strong, than in France where the resistance was weak.
True confession. I had never heard of Zemmour before reading this article. It was my general understanding that Le Pen was a far right candidate, but not as far right has her father, and she had moved her coalition somewhat closer to center right by disavowing some of her father's more inflammatory positions. Yet, her party remained out of power. And, that is about what I know of the right wing of the French political landscape. So, I am very pleased that Persuasion published this article. It expanded my knowledge of something that was happening in a large, important country that is not my own. Although I appreciate the other commenters' takes on Zemmour and opinions on what the author may have got wrong in this article, in contrast to the other commenters I say "keep articles like this one coming". It is good to learn about people, places, and things happening in this big, complicated world.
The writer of this article is gaslighting readers. What are the demographic changes in France as indicated by actual statistics?
But even more important, Aren't French Jews leaving the country because the French government can no longer protect their safety? (I believe France has the largest population of Jews in Europe, although small.) And isn't that threat to safety is coming largely, not exclusively, from its Islamist citizens?
This article is beneath Persuasion, honestly. It follows the familiar pattern of mainstream sources which seek to place the question of demographic change outside of the bounds of acceptible discussion. There is a bit of quibbling with his numbers, but the author clearly has no interest in the question of what demographic path France is on and whether the French people should have any say in the matter. Just label people bigots for even asking. That is exactly what creates the opening for figures like Zemmour.
"He has also tried to defend the Second World War collaborationist regime in Vichy, which he claims protected French Jews during the Nazi occupation, while handing over foreign Jews.." Here it is important to note that French Jews were denied citizenship before WW 2. Very few Jews were actually citizens at this time. In addition there were more German soldiers stationed in the Netherlands, where the resistance was strong, than in France where the resistance was weak.