An extremist takes over the opposition -
A virulently anti-Semitic group is behind the January 17 demonstration
in Paris
Blandine Grosjean and Olivier Vogel
Translation by Douglas
French original: "Main basse extrémiste sur l'opposition"
(Blandine Grosjean and Olivier Voge, Libération, 2004/01/03)Strasbourg
It’s not just you; the next one really is coming up soon: the date was fixed during the December 21 rally that brought together several thousand veiled women in Paris. The next demonstration “against a law excluding veiled Muslim women” is set for January 17 in Paris, with the following order of the day: “no to secular Islamophobia, yes to the secularism of freedom,” in order to react “against the policy of hatred against the practitioners of France’s second largest religion.” It aims to gather all those opposed to the passage of such a law. The several Muslim Web sites promoting this event are keeping some distance. This is because the group behind it is the controversial Parti musulman de France [French Muslim Party] (PMF), a Franco-Algerian collective whose leader, Mohammed Ennacer Latrèche, is considered to be an avowed anti-Semite.
Incidents. The son of an Algerian Imam from Strasbourg, Latrèche founded his party in 1997, after studies in Syria. His ambition was then to “liberate Muslims from the influence of the Socialist Party, the Zionist party.” He regularly drew attention to himself at the local level. Elected officials and the police have accused him of “overheating” the young on housing estates. In 2000, during the trial of a policeman who had killed a youth, Latrèche denounced “racist” jurors and a “partisan” justice, and led fifty demonstrators in prayer before the Strasbourg courthouse. However, it is the repeated incidents during many demonstrations that would make it impossible to associate with him. As recently as 2000, Licra [The International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism], filed a complaint against him following the anti-Semitic slogans shouted during an event in support of the Palestinians. In 2001, he took aim at the philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy and the journalist Alexandre Adler. In 2002, he distributed pamphlets including maps from which Israel had been excised. The start of the war in Iraq gave him his 15 minutes of fame. He organized and participated in an operation of human-shields in Baghdad with several youths from Strasbourg neighborhoods. He also appears publicly with the Holocaust denier Serge Thion and co-edits “the Judeo-Nazi manifesto of Ariel Sharon” with Ginette Skandrani, the militant pro-Palestinian. Those close to him explain the silence of the local media regarding Latrèche by claiming that the former are “controlled by the Jews.”
Following the demonstration of December 21, “spontaneously” organized by two young “sisters” from Seine-Saint-Denis, the best known representatives of Islam in France once again found themselves outdone. This time, it was by the Parti musulman de France, from which they have chosen not to dissociate themselves without having ever associated themselves to it in the first place. “We prefer to establish contacts with the representatives of civil society but if people want to demonstrate, so much the better,” Lhaj Thami Brez, president of the Union des organisations Islamiques de France [The Union of France’s Islamic Organizations UOIF] told Journal du Dimanche in an interview. In an interview given to Oumma.com, Yamin Makri, spokesman for the Collectif des musulmans de France [French Muslims Collective], linked with Tariq Ramadan, wants the “the demonstration, organized at the behest of a single organization,” to be a success. “All initiatives are welcome, but they will only benefit the cause they are supposed to defend if they are part of a coherent vision.” For the event, Oumma.com is giving more space to announcements from associations close to Ramadan and UOIF announcing a day of reflection planned for... January 17.
Calculated Risk. By leaving the PMF to do as it sees fit, these organizations are taking the calculated risk of seeing the debate on the veil radicalize. Much to the dismay of the Union pour la cohésion national [Union for National Cohesion] (formerly Génération républicaine [Republican Generation]), which had already planned a nation-wide rally for February 7, on the less radical theme of “Liberté, égalité, fraternité, no to Islamophobia!” On December 20, Latrèche called together a thousand veiled girls in Strasbourg. “Fear must change sides. It must go from the veiled women to politicians who will vote in favor of this law,” was his threat.
[Posted 2004/01/10]
Copyright © Watch 2001-2006.
Copyrights of quoted materials belong to their respective owners.
"When
people accept futility and the absurd as normal, the culture is decadent.
The term is not a slur; it is a technical label."
Articles
of the week
"Losing the Enlightenment" (Victor Davis Hanson, OpinionJournal, 2006/11/29)
"Allah’s England?" (Daniel Johnson, Commentary. November 2006)
"'Sex in the Park': The latest doings of the Danish imams" (Henrik Bering, The Weekly Standard, 2006/11/18)
"Narcissism on Stilts" (Harold Evans, New York Sun, 2006/11/16)
"Terrorists are recruiting in our schools, says MI5 boss" (Philip Johnston, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/11/10)
›
AOTW Archive
From the archives
Oriana Fallaci, R.I.P.
"The Rage, the Pride and the Doubt" (Oriana Fallaci, The Wall Street Journal, 2003/03/13)
"How the West Was Won and How It Will Be Lost" (Oriana Fallaci, The American Enterprise, from the January/February 2003 issue)
"On Jew-hatred in Europe" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2002/04/13)
"Anger and Pride" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2001/12/19)
Weekly archive
2006/12/04
- 2006/12/10
2006/11/27 - 2006/12/03
2006/11/20 - 2006/11/26
2006/11/13
- 2006/11/19
2006/11/06
- 2006/11/12
2006/10/30
- 2006/11/05
›
From
2001/09/11 -
Monthly
index
December
2006
November
2006
October
2006
September
2006
August
2006
July
2006
›
From
September 2001 -
Author index
›
Ajami,
Fouad - Johnson, Paul
›
Kagan,
Robert - Ye'or, Bat
Support
Watch
Please
feel free to donate if you enjoy the daily content and links Watch provides:
Contact Watch
Email:
watch-at-windsofchange.net
