Sarkozy supports Swiss minaret ban

Writing in Le Monde, French president Sarkozy contradicted his foreign minister Bernard Kouchner and expressed sympathy for Switzerland’s referendum banning the building of Muslim minarets. He called on religious groups to avoid “ostentation” and “provocation” for fear of upsetting others. The story appears in the Guardian.

My interpretation: Sarkozy’s real goal is the ongoing Islamization of Europe, and he fears that too aggressive a Muslim presence will lead to a backlash against Islam. There is no question in my mind that the reason he is telling Muslims to lower their profile and be less ostentatious is that he wants to reduce anti-Islamic feeling and thus smooth the way for the steady increase of Islamic power in the continent. Meanwhile the left are accusing him of stoking “xenophobia,” which will make the right (or what passes for the “right” in France) rush to his side and make them imagine that this declared enemy of the white West is its champion.

However, the minaret ban may have released forces that Sarkozy will not be able to manage. As Jeremy G., who sent the item, points out,

The Swiss vote on the symbolic issue of minarets may have lasting consequences for Europe as it moves concerns about Islam into the mainstream.

The last paragraph of the Guardian article is also interesting: “newspaper opinion polls in Spain, France and Germany since last week’s referendum have shown large majorities supporting a ban on minarets”

- end of initial entry -

December 25

Philip P. writes:

I used to read VFR pretty frequently, but lately I’ve been slacking. I must have missed something: Why in God’s name do you think Sarkozy’s “real goal is the ongoing Islamization of Europe”? You offer a lot of sharp insight, Lawrence, but sometimes I just have to scratch my head. Please, enlighten me.

LA replies:

You’re right, I should had added evidence for that comment instead of assuming the reader would know what I was talking about. I was referring to (1) his on-again, off-again support for admitting Turkey into the EU; (2) his support for a Mediterranean Union which would join the EU with the North African and Near Eastern Muslim states in a super EU; and (3) his vocal support for “metissage,” sexual intermingling and interbreeding between the races to create a new French nation and a new global humanity. I’ve written about all these at VFR.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 21, 2009 04:17 PM | Send