From Wine To Grape Juice

The organizers of the Ap'ero decided to obey the courts and to move their party from the Barb`es quarter to the Arc de Triomphe, at 7:00 p.m. (so it's over as I write this). They have also agreed to dispense with the wine and drink grape juice instead. Shucks. Without wine it's no fun, but the Facebook group has now grown to over 10,000 members, showing at least that resistance is growing.

The amount of material on this is impossible for one person to handle. I believe that many of you are getting information from other sites, which is good. Here is the best I can do for now. Since the information is posted at multiple websites, to make it easier for me, I will concentrate on one or two:

From Le Salon Beige comes this rundown of political reactions to the Ap'ero, from leaders of various right-wing (or supposed right-wing) groups:

- Philippe de Villiers: "I do not approve of these initiatives and the members of the MPF who are inclined to participate will be immediately excluded. None of this is serious."

- Nicolas Dupont-Aignan: "I am hostile to the Ap'ero as I am to prayers in the street. The Ap'ero is oil thrown onto the fire of prayers in the streets. Any member of DLR who participates in the demonstration will be excluded from the movement."

Note: The above comments are quite amazing. Both men have in the past attempted to distinguish themselves from the mainstream political parties. Both have voiced concern over the loss of sovereignty, loss of nationhood, loss of national pride, loss of family values, both have opposed massive immigration, etc... Both founded parties of their own. Neither one had great success, and Philippe de Villiers, amidst a great deal of publicity and commentary, returned to Sarkozy's camp, whence (they say) he originally came. But to EXCLUDE members for merely participating in this rally is not only surprising, I find it bizarre. What do they care what their members do, especially since it is out of patriotism and opposition to the Islamization of France that they are doing it? One suggestion from a reader of LSB is that both men have been promised jobs in the Sarkozy administration. But this is speculation for now.

They threw the ball to Marine Le Pen who knew what to do with it:

- Marine Le Pen: "In response to the troubling statements issued by 'patriots' Philippe de Villiers and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan threatening any of their followers with expulsion if they go to the Ap'ero, Marine Le Pen would like these Frenchmen attached to France and to the Republic to know that they are welcome in the Front National."

- Bruno Gollnisch (Vice-President of the FN): "'To vanquish the Catholic omnipresence on French territory' is quite obviously one objective of Riposte La"ique (...) Nonetheless, this affair has one great merit - it brings to light once again the fracture lines within the nebulous anti-national pro-la"icit'e movement, but also more broadly within the parties of the Establishment, on the essential question of the development of Islamic communitarianism. Here is a phenomenon that will impel many Frenchmen to make wrenching political revisions, but one that also demonstrates that the members of the Front National, be they Christian, agnostic or atheist, are still the most lucid on these matters.

Note: Gollnisch's comments are loaded. They demand further explanation. See note at the end.

- The MNR: "Despite the desire on the part of the organizers of the Ap'ero not to turn this into a political demonstration, the MNR sincerely supports this initiative that is both friendly and symbolic."

Note: A reminder that the MNR was formed in 1998 by Bruno M'egret who broke from the Front National due to problems with Jean-Marie Le Pen. He would not be the last leading figure of the FN to leave the party in frustration over the tactics of the party chairman.

- The PdF of Carl Lang: "By banning the Ap'ero in the

Goutte d'Or neighborhood, the prefect of Paris imposes the Islamic right of occupation. This ban is an anti-French discriminatory and oppressive act by the administration that violates the freedoms and rights of Parisians."

Note: Another reminder that Carl Lang also broke with the FN to form his own group, the Parti de la France.

Note: Regarding the comments by Bruno Gollnisch. He has brought up the major bone of contention between some French Catholics and the group known as Riposte La"ique that spearheaded the Ap'ero movement, namely, that RL, being fanatically pro-la"icit'e is seeking the eradication of Catholicism from French soil. In other words, RL is finishing the job begun by the most violent revolutionaries in 1789. However, the Islamization of the country has forced some members of RL to reconsider their whole position. They have perceived that even though they hate Catholicism, and mock the Pope with impunity, there is a much worse enemy - Islam - that has to be dealt with. This in turn has forced them to acknowledge, as one of their editors recently did, that there are only two camps: those that want to save France and those that want to destroy her. In the latter are the parties and ideologies of the LEFT as well as the Establishment Right, i.e., the UMP of Sarkozy.

RL is admittedly left-wing, feminist, and socialist. To renounce the LEFT for its pro-Islamic positions is indeed a wrenching decision for them. They have to cease being anti-racist, and start being concerned about the preservation of a nation - their own. But the biggest ordeal lies ahead: RL is going to have to admit that without Catholicism, without a Christian moral code, without religious freedom for Christians, there can never be a restored France. They are going to have to adopt a saner and more authentic view of la"icit'e itself, which they have deformed into a type of neo-Stalinist ideology, based largely on the sexual freedom of women. La"icit'e simply means the separation of Church and State. It cannot mean freedom FROM religion. It cannot allow for Islam which is a subversive political ideology, bent on ruling the entire world. Christianity is by nature in tune with la"icit'e: 'Render under Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's.'"

More wrenching decisions lie ahead. I do not agree with Gollnisch's rosy view of the Front National. If numerous defections, losses in elections, and general mistrust of Le Pen's motives and values were not enough to destroy the party, it was only because the other options were too weak. The French people never recognized the splinter parties as offering an alternative (if indeed they even knew these parties existed), but now with Marine Le Pen running the party, we can only hope that the Front National will be seen as the party of traditional France and traditional Christian values. It will mean wrenching decisions for Marine Le Pen as she attempts to turn the party into a worthy and indispensable, but not politically correct, entity; as she strives to espouse the original reason for the party's existence: to be the party of France, and to prevent the 'Arabisation of France', as Jean-Pierre Stirbois, one of the early leaders of the Front National, said, before his untimely death in an automobile accident. She will have to decide just how far into centralized politics, just how far into regionalism, how far into protectionism, how far into free-market policies she can lead the nation, should she ever be called upon to do so. She will have to rid French soil of Islam, rebuild Christian values throughout the population, even among those who claim to be "agnostic", and redefine la"icit'e so that it becomes what it was meant to be - a line of demarcation, not an ideology in itself. In short, she will have to totally re-educate the people, and wean them off of the toxic ideas they have been fed over many decades. Can she do this? Of course not. Nobody can. But somehow it will have to be done through the evolution of mind-sets and the unfolding of events themselves.

Everybody is going to have to swallow some bitter pills. It seems unlikely this will happen, but life is very unpredictable.

Now, back to today's events.

Below, a video showing a few scenes from the rally, which, according to the police attracted 800 people - a fairly decent turnout. The video was posted by a gay rights advocate, who exclaims: "How shameful that we French are racist to such a degree!"

Below, another video of today's rally, this one posted by someone called Mr. Goodnightwhitepride, but who misspells his own name on the video. He says at the beginning that there were only 300 people there, despite the 10,000 members of the Facebook group, but the police reported 800. The figure of 10,000 refers to people from all over France and the world, not just Parisians.

Below, my favorite video of the three.

On November 11, 1940, there was another rally at Place de l'Etoile, under the Arc de Triomphe, this one took place despite a ban from both the German occupiers and the police. Several thousand courageous high-school students, protesting the Occupation, converged at the site and were brutally repressed. There were many wounded, and about a hundred students were arrested and jailed. The date of November 11, 1940 came to symbolize Parisian resistance. In the following video, a wonderful "old-timer", a man in many ways younger than today's leaders of France, tells of how he and some friends went to the rally, after school, how they took the subway, but got off before the stop to avoid detection, how filled with people the area was, and how on the rooftops one could see the machine guns pointed at the crowd. You will see true Frenchmen carrying wreaths and honoring those who died for France. A wonderful video, even if you don't know French.

French readers will find a wealth of material at Francois Desouche - assuming you can load the homepage. There are over 6000 comments.