PoliticsTop StoryWorld

French candidate makes taboo term his mantra

French

“Great replacement” are two words deemed by the left leaning world press to be associated with far-right politics in France, but it is not just people hoping to win political office who think this way, many French citizens agree with the mantra, and recent violent events by immigrants point to proof.  The “great replacement” is the claim that the native populations of France and other Western countries are being overrun by non-white immigrants — notably Muslims — who will one day will erase, Christian civilization and its values. As reported by the AP:

French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, has made the term the underpinning of his political campaign

PARIS (AP) — Two words, taboo for many in France because they evoke a conspiracy theory embraced by white supremacists, have been haunting the French presidential campaign.

FILE – Far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour reacts after his speech at a campaign rally, Feb. 5, 2022 in Lille, northern France. The words “great replacement” roll off the tongue of candidate Eric Zemmour, an outsider whose views are to the right of the far-right, has made the term “great replacement” the underpinning of his campaign. The “great replacement” is the false claim that the native population of France and other western countries is bit by bit being overrun by Muslims who are allegedly supplanting, and one day will erase, Christian civilization and its values and replace them with an Islamic way of life. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler, File)

“Great replacement” rolls off the tongue of presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, an outsider with views to the right of the far-right who has made the term the underpinning of his campaign. But when mainstream conservative presidential candidate Valerie Pecresse pronounced them at her first major rally last weekend, politicians and pundits screamed foul, saying she had crossed a red line.

The “great replacement” is the false claim that the native populations of France and other Western countries are being overrun by non-white immigrants — notably Muslims — who are allegedly supplanting, and one day will erase, Christian civilization and its values. The claim, popularized by a French author, has inspired deadly attacks in recent years from New Zealand to El Paso, Texas.

Critics said Pecresse was normalizing a dangerous falsehood that immigration figures in France do not corroborate.

FILE – French far-tight leader Marine Le Pen delivers a speech during a campaign rally, Feb. 5, 2022 in Reims, eastern France. Marine Le Pen, once best known for her anti-immigration portrayals of a France with minarets dotting the countryside where church steeples once stood, has over time softened her image in a bid to broaden her voter base. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

Pecresse later denied she was venturing into Zemmour’s far-right territory, contending that her brief remark was misconstrued. Still, the flap focused attention on Zemmour’s campaign mantra and underscored the threat he represents to mainstream conservatives.

“If I’m a candidate in the presidential election, it is firstly and above all to stop the ‘great replacement’ and to fight immigration,” Zemmour — whose upstart party is named Reconquest — told France 2 TV.

Numerous polls place Zemmour fourth among a bevy of candidates for France’s April 10 presidential vote behind poll leader President Emmanuel Macron — who has yet to formally declare his candidacy — and slightly behind far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and Pecresse. A presidential runoff will be held among the top two candidates on April 24 if no one wins outright.

FILE – Far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour delivers a speech at a campaign rally, Feb. 5, 2022 in Lille, northern France. The words “great replacement” roll off the tongue of candidate Eric Zemmour, an outsider whose views are to the right of the far-right, has made the term “great replacement” the underpinning of his campaign. The “great replacement” is the false claim that the native population of France and other western countries is bit by bit being overrun by Muslims who are allegedly supplanting, and one day will erase, Christian civilization and its values and replace them with an Islamic way of life. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler, File)

Zemmour, 63, controversial talk show pundit before entering the presidential race, has been convicted multiple times of inciting racist or religious hatred.

He has, for instance, drawn ire for falsely stating that Marshall Philippe Petain, who headed France’s collaborationist World War II Vichy government, saved Jews from deportation to Nazi death camps. Under Petain’s regime, some 76,000 French Jews were sent to camps; very few survived.

The “great replacement” theory was formulated in 2011 by Renaud Camus, a writer, and social media fan. But the notion dates back to writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, according to Jean-Yves Camus, a French expert on the far right who is not related to Renaud.

FILE – French far-right leader Marine Le Pen reacts after her speech during a campaign rally, Feb. 5, 2022 in Reims, eastern France. Le Pen, once best known for her anti-immigration portrayals of a France with minarets dotting the countryside where church steeples once stood, has over time softened her image in a bid to broaden her voter base. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

Both Renaud Camus and Zemmour base their unfounded claims that Muslims are already supplanting native French on visual indicators like Islamic headscarves. Yet less than 10% of France’s population is Muslim.

“Every day when I go to work, I say, ‘Hey, this is France,’ said Jean-Yves Camus, the far-right expert. “When Zemmour goes out from his flat … he says, ‘Wow, this is not France anymore.'”

Polls suggest that between Le Pen and Zemmour, the far-right has gained traction in France since the 2017 presidential race, when the centrist Macron beat Le Pen in a landslide in the presidential runoff. Together, the two far-right candidates represent 30% of potential French voters, the polls show, compared to up to 25% for Macron.

FILE – Conservative presidential candidate Valerie Pecresse delivers her speech during a campaign rally, Feb. 13, 2022 in Paris. Mainstream right candidate Valerie Pecresse pronounced the words “great replacement” at her first major rally last weekend, politicians and pundits screamed foul, saying she had crossed a red line. The “great replacement” is the false claim that the native population of France and other western countries is bit by bit being overrun by Muslims who are allegedly supplanting, and one day will erase, Christian civilization and its values and replace them with an Islamic way of life. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

One reason for the ground gained by far-right ideology is France’s “difficulty adjusting to a multicultural society,” Jean-Yves Camus said.

In France, where the melting pot is based on assimilation and officials are banned from counting people by origin, “we are supposed to be equal but only if we are identical,” he said.

“There is certainly some kind of mainstreaming of many issues that were only fringe topics, let’s say 10 or 15 years ago,” Jean-Yves Camus said. “It’s not only about the great replacement … (it’s) anything that has to do with immigration, and French identity, and the roots of the French nation.”

Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron gestures during a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin following their talks in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Feb. 7, 2022. Macron traveled to Moscow in a bid to help defuse tensions amid a Russian troop buildup near Ukraine that fueled fears of an invasion. (Sergei Guneyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

He also cites an amorphous fear of Muslims, viewed by some as “the enemy from within,” due to several terrorist attacks carried out by French Muslim citizens. That is devastating for the nation’s Muslim population, estimated at 5 million, which is overwhelmingly peaceful but often unfairly stigmatized.

The rector of the Paris mosque urged Muslim citizens to vote, asking them to “sanction the apostles of racism and those who look down on French of the Muslim faith.”

FILE – Renaud Camus, who formulated the term, “the great replacement,” sits in his house during an interview with The Associated Press, April 4, 2019 in Plieux, southwestern France. The “great replacement” is the false claim that the native population of France and other western countries is bit by bit being overrun by Muslims who are allegedly supplanting, and one day will erase, Christian civilization and its values and replace them with an Islamic way of life. (AP Photo/Oleg Cetinic, File)

Without naming names, rector Chems-Eddine Hafiz denounced the far-right in a commentary in the Le Monde newspaper, saying their “extremist speech” must be disavowed just like Islamist extremists.

Le Pen, once best known for her anti-immigration portrayals of a France with minarets dotting the countryside where church steeples once stood, has softened her image to broaden her voter base. She has not pronounced the taboo words that are Zemmour’s mantra. Several figures in her far-right National Rally party have complained, saying that Le Pen has gone off message, and have defected to Zemmour’s camp.

FILE – Conservative presidential candidate Valerie Pecresse delivers her speech during a campaign rally, Feb. 13, 2022 in Paris. Mainstream right candidate Valerie Pecresse pronounced the words “great replacement” at her first major rally last weekend, politicians and pundits screamed foul, saying she had crossed a red line. The “great replacement” is the false claim that the native population of France and other western countries is bit by bit being overrun by Muslims who are allegedly supplanting, and one day will erase, Christian civilization and its values and replace them with an Islamic way of life. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

Zemmour’s latest far-right achievement was a phone conversation Monday evening with former U.S. President Donald Trump. Zemmour, who reportedly requested the chat, told reporters the two discussed the “destiny and perspectives” of the United States and France, which he claimed are both “in the torment of a war of civilizations.”

Le Pen was philosophical. She had hoped, but failed, to meet with Trump during her 2017 campaign.

“I hope that Donald Trump is doing well,” she told reporters in Villers-Cotterets, where she was promoting the French language against an Anglo-Saxon “invasion.”

By ELAINE GANLEY

For more world political news

Previous Article
Zimbabwe grapples with pandemic substance abuse
Next Article
U.S. jobless claims rise for the first time since January

How useful was this article?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 0 / 5. Vote count: 0

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this article.

Latest News

Menu