Islam versus Europe

Things are really hotting up in France as the cantonal elections approach.

There are too many stories to cover in depth so I'll just give a brief round-up:

Anti-racist organisations are preparing to file a legal complaint against Josaine Plataret, the UMP candidate who posted "racist" material, including jokes, on her web page.

The photographs of her Facebook page show that she was also concerned about halal slaughter and the Islamic takeover of Lille. All in all, I'd say she was too good for the UMP. She should consider joining Marine Le Pen's Front National instead.

I posted one of her jokes yesterday. Here's another:

What's the difference between an Arab who got knocked down by a car and a dog that got knocked down by a car?

There will be brake marks in front of the dog.

The Muslim Council of France has announced that it will refuse to participate in the Debate on Secularism that has been announced by the UMP, claiming it stigmatises Muslims.

The UMP are partially backing down under Muslim pressure. Previously they had been talking about banning the preaching of sermons in Arabic; now they're talking about only banning the use of Arabic in the the pre-sermon talk. Ludicrous!

Multiple opinion polls have Marine Le Pen duking it out with prospective Socialist candidate Dominique Strauss-Kahn for the presidency, with Sarkozy being knocked out in the preliminary round. Marine Le Pen has an overall public satisfaction level of 33%, a level never before achieved by a "far-right" politician, while Sarkozy languishes on a satisfaction level of 28%.

In more of the Jews for Hitler mould, Richard Prasquier, president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions and the League against Racism and Anti-semitism, has denounced Marine Le Pen strongly in Le Monde. It's the usual drivel:

Thus the Muslim has taken the place formerly occupied by the Jew, the Arab or the immigrant in the Frontist dialectic. Make no mistake: those who speak of the islamisation of France are guided by the same xenophobic obsession as those who denounced the judaisation of our country in the 1930s. For the far right, the foreigner, whatever his face, remains responsible for all the ills of our society.

France's National Assembly has adopted a new law on immigration which makes France a little less welcoming to the immigrants. Some provisions, such as one to deprive malefactors of immigrant origin of their French nationality, were watered down as the new law was debated. Others are certainly promising, however. For example, one provision requires a child born in France to two immigrant parents to apply for French nationality rather than receive it automatically, as has been the case previously.