IVAN RIOUFOL, a columnist at Le Figaro, is one of the most acute French commentators on the menace of Islam and its supporters on the Left in France. Naturally he is, as a consequence, despised by all right-thinking people. In the piece below, Rioufol reports on:
1) the attacks, physical and verbal, on the famed member of the French Academy Alain Finkielkraut, who, like Rioufol, speaks truth about Islam and its alliance with the Left and Far Left, and is especially hated by the “palestino-worshippers”;
2) the antisemitism and totalitarianism of the Far Left (exemplified by the far left group Nuit Debout), which is supported by the broader, slightly less extreme Left, as represented by the Socialists now in power;
3) the exclusion of white heterosexual men from the so-called public debates held by this left fringe group;
4) the refusal of Nuit Debout, which advertises itself as an equal-opportunity revolt against everything, to condemn Islam and the Koranic ideology; and finally,
5) Rioufol criticizes Pope Francis for his “refusal to contemplate a clash between the West and the Muslim world,” his ill-conceived attempt to win Muslim favor by misstating Islamic doctrine, in confusing the Christian God of Love with the Vengeful Muslim God, and his criticizing the West for being insufficiently indulgent towards Islam.
“Progressivism snuggles up to totalitarian thought,” translated from “Bloc-notes : le progressisme cajole la pensée totalitaire,” by Ivan Rioufol, April 22, 2016:
The masks come off, and, as if it were needed, the incompetence of the Left in power is revealed. Unveiled, in particular, is the Left’s attraction to sectarianism, and the sheer violence of the Party of Goodness (Leftists) when in full rout. On Monday, a poll conducted by Figaro-RTL-LCI after François Hollande’s television appearance four days before confirmed the precipitous loss of confidence in Hollande: he got only 15% of the intended votes for 2017, that is, almost the same as the far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon. As for “Nuit Debout” (Up All Night), this fringe protest so overestimated by the System [i.e., the media-political establishment], let itself be rapidly subverted by a fanatical and racist extreme left. On Saturday evening, the philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, who had come as a spectator, was kicked out of the Place de la République, after being insulted and spat upon. In January on France 2 [TV channel], he had already been confronted with the same hatred from a woman who was identified simply as a Muslim teacher and who attacked by name “pseudo-intellectuals,” all of them Jews.
An anti-Semitic and totalitarian ideology oozes from these “Nuits d’égout” [sewer nights], nevertheless promoted by the copycat press. The rejection of capitalism and the defense of the Palestinian cause – formalized by the recent creation of a commission called “Palestine toujours debout” (Palestine still standing) – are transforming the Jew, yet again, into the caricature of Banker and Colonizer. Thus anti-Zionism exposes its Judeophobia even more, as that hatred is the bedrock of an islamo-left that is concerned, these days, with highlighting its links with the banlieues [the heavily Muslim suburbs]. As for totalitarianism, it is visible in the incapacity of this movement to accept contradiction or even difference. The Young Communists were proud to have thrown the academician [Finkielkraut] out. The Figaro newspaper described, last weekend, how white and heterosexual men had been excluded from some “debates” that flourished in this place of Intolerance. Thankfully, one “antiracism” association, LICRA, expressed its indignation at this robespierrism.
Nuit Debout shows what the Extreme Left really is, protected by the Center Left, and by numerous journalists deemed sensitive to “nauseating” ideas: a disgrace and an insult to the Republic.
This discovery isn’t new for those who, such as yours truly, have had to endure for ages the seemingly soft dictatorship of a clan which protects itself and condemns in others its own perversions. Behind the demonstration of a humanitarianism brandished like a special privilege, the Far Left often tries to hide its disdain for liberal and pluralistic democracy. Those who continue to make Nuit Debout an example of revolt deny at the same time the dangers of the Koranic ideology, liberticidal and sexist. It is because he brought attention to this risk that Finkielkraut made his situation worse in the eyes of the palestino-worshippers.
This radicalism is a trap from which the desperate Left, which points to the FN [National Front, headed by Marine Le Pen] as the danger, needs to get out of before it sinks. Not all the participants in the Nuit Debout, a curious experiment in societal expression, are in the image of the militia who want to preserve their “entre-soi” (staying among themselves) and to purify the place. But it is up to the democrats [on the left] to clean things up. And yet that is not the path that has been taken. Not at the CGT [the leftist General Confederation of Labor] either; it too shows signs of the same ideological stiffening in the face of its loss of audience. Philippe Martinez, the secretary general, chose to back, on Tuesday, a poster from the Info’com federation of the CGT which accuses the CRS [French riot-control forces] of “striking” citizens instead of “protecting” them, against a backdrop of a puddle of blood. Must Martinez, who seems to have already forgotten the Salafist attacks of 2015, be reminded of who is causing bloodshed in France? In reality, Marxism and Islamism are destined to get along.
The weakness of the Pope
The goodwill towards totalitarian ideology, an intellectual laziness regularly denounced here, has reached the somnolent progressive elites. They want to convince themselves of the false evidence of a happy identity and a dialogue of civilizations. For them, the prospect of a civil war is in the realm of fantasy. This head-in-the-sand approach is a godsend for the Salafists, left in peace in their undertaking to conquer and re-Islamize the Muslim community. Contrary to what Hollande announced the other night, the Sunna mosque of the Salafist imam of Brest, Rachid Abou Houdeyfa, was never closed. This is the enlightened one who teaches children that listening to music turns one into a monkey or a pig. For his part, the Belgian Interior Minister, the Flemish Jan Jambon, created a scandal on Monday when he said that “a significant part of the Muslim community” had celebrated the Brussels attacks “with dancing.” A fact confirmed by the head of the government, Charles Michel, who was careful to avoid “generalization.”
It bears repeating: nothing is more obvious than the complete incompatibility between political Islam, an all-encompassing ideology, and democracy. It is nevertheless this very incompatibility that Pope Francis dismisses in turn, caught up in his refusal to contemplate a clash between the West and the Muslim world, despite history and despite the facts. His decision to bring back from the Greek island Lesbos, on Saturday, three Syrian families taken into the care of the Vatican, is of course a good illustration of Catholic humanism. His apparent forgetting of the Christians of the East, persecuted by ISIS, nevertheless leads us to fear a lack of interest when it comes to his own religion. For him, all refugees are “children of God.” But the Muslim Vengeful God is not the Christian God of Love. On Tuesday, the Holy Father accused western societies of closing themselves off, “out of fear of a change in mentality and in life” that, according to him, the arrival of the immigrants would entail. He mentioned, in addressing them, “our merciful and forgiving God,” using the expression in the Koran. Nevertheless, hoping for the indulgence of Islam by submitting to Allah is a weakness which puts into doubt the credibility of Francis.
Merkel capitulates before Erdogan
Angela Merkel shows the same surrender when, in order to calm the wrath of the sultan Erdogan, she authorizes the criminal proceedings demanded by the Turkish president against a German comedian considered too impertinent. This renunciation to defend freedom of expression is the final humiliation.
Promotion of the veil at Sciences Po
And then this: a “Hijab Day” at Sciences Po Paris, launched Wednesday by students to promote the Islamic veil. When will we see a women’s submission day?”

Angemon says
The left is the left is the left is the left, whether in Europe or the US.
Marty says
The left always have to have a victim of choice, preferably anti Western.
Muslims fit the profile perfectly, constantly whining about the oxymoronic
“islamophobia”, while wielding great political power.
In the UK a Labour muslim politician a Bradford councillor, Cllr Istiaq Ahmed posted a link to the Nazi film “The Eternal Jew”, which was commissioned by Joseph Goebbels. It was originally uploaded to YouTube by the “HitlerMyFührer” channel. He has also posted a conspiracy theory video alleging that Israel is behind ISIS.
When Labour introduced postal voting on demand they knew that the UK’s three million (and the rest)
mohammedans would vote many times individually & that most mohammedans hate Jews
for their courage, as much as they despise Christians for their gutlessness in the face of the colonisation of both Europe & the UK by civilisation’s Oldest Enemy.
mortimer says
It is stunningly sad when a French journalist must teach the pope theology!
The cultural Marxists continue to deny the viciousness of jihad and pretend that all will be well if we show Muslims how tolerant we are.
The reverse will be true, because Muslims will see our accommodation as stupidity and submission to their implacable supremacism.
The cultural Marxists (including Pope Francis) cannot see that a supremacist is HAS NO INTEREST in equality.
A supremacist wants to be supreme.
jewdog says
Glad to hear that the loony left is declining, though it’s never fast enough.
Since when have Judeo-Christian values become synonymous with cultural suicide? If that’s what they are, then I’ll have to start worshipping my cat.
Custos Custodum says
Thanks to Hugh Fitzgerald for bringing this important piece to us.
Clearly, there are important insights to be had in various other languages.
In particular, one would assume that the Russians have learned a thing or two about dealing with their Muslim subjects in the past and at present, but we rarely seem to hear about the lessons they have to offer.
Larry says
Chechnya!
NonWishfulThinker says
Get serious, Russians quietly do what they need to do, not losing time debating with the “liberal” West.
Custos Custodum says
Certainly true for Russia collectively, but there must be THOUSANDS of Russians (e.g. retired FSB officers, military, etc.) with deep knowledge and operational experience that could be useful, even in small doses.
Remember that Russia has been dealing with Islam in one form or another for hundreds of years.
Angemon says
They’re in a state of ongoing insubordination.
Fessitude says
“Salafists, left in peace in their undertaking to conquer and re-Islamize the Muslim community.”
Interesting; that seems to presuppose that an uncountable (or has he counted them?) number of Muslims roiling & boiling around us are “not Islamized”. I wonder what data would lead someone to believe that? The only data I can think of would be either the negative evidence of a lack of blowing up (or lack of stabbing, shooting, beheading, along with a lack of uttering various permutations of “I weel keel you”); or the positive visible evidence of wiles & smiles from seemingly un-“Islamized” Muslims. Put that revolver down, Monsieur Rioufol, s’il vous plaît … Je ne veux pas jouer à la roulette russe…
HaDaR says
Anti-Zionism and the historical alliance bewteen Islam and Marxism have deep historical roots…NOT JUST in the writings of Ali Shariati.
Since the beginning of the XX Cent. V.E. the Marxists have been VERY anti-Zionist, and also allied themselves with the Mohammedans since the times of Zinoviev and Radek, in Baku, September 1920, at the Congress of the Eastern Peoples of the Communist International, where the Bolshevik leaders Radek and Zinoviev were inciting to JIHAD…
[Re]Watch, in this regard, the very beautiful movie “Reds” [Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson], where, around the end, there is a historically exact scene, in which the Bolshevik leaders distort John Reed’s speech, by translating his “revolution” with “JIHAD” into the local languages!! … (historians notice these precious details in movies).
Demsci says
“Rioufol://It bears repeating: nothing is more obvious than the complete incompatibility between political Islam, an all-encompassing ideology, and democracy.”//
What I would like to see more and more is the rational thorough follow-up for this terrible truth, or idea, or whatever. Now? everybody stops when this terrible judgement is said. But the implications are HUGE, making a compromise between Muslims and democratic loyalists completely impossible.
This means that only very “tepid”, Ignorant Muslims genuinely will ever lean towards true loyalty to the democratic system and nations, in preference to, and trumping any loyalty to Totalitarian states and enemies of that system and those nations, espect, the nations of America-Canada-ANZ and Europe, Israel.
Every genuine Muslim is then supposed to be ANTI that system and those nations. In favor of hostile nations with totalitarian systems, like their motherlands or Iran. Traitors-in-waiting.
And the only viable way out seems to be to figure out a way to convert really big masses of Muslims already living in Democratic Nations or giving entry in those nations on condition of apostasy of Muslims; meaning discrimination based on religion.
We might dive into what Robert Spencer, Tom Holland and Jay Smith etc have unearthed; the origines of Islam.
In the history of Islam there has been a time AFTER Quran-Sira-many Hadiths already existed but Tafsir, starting with Al-Tabari, had not yet surfaced
and in that early period It MIGHT have been possible that Islam would have developed itself differently and more compatible with Democratic values, laws, Tenets.
But it seems nobody believes such an approach has any chance whatsoever, I know.
Demsci says
And remember; one of the greatest sins, that will never be forgiven, by a very majority of Western citizens, presspeople, governmentpeople, why the very essence of “Islamophobia” that is
“Painting all Muslims with the same brush”. Generalization!!! Stereotyping!!!
Not only have I read that in hundreds of artikel and posts, I must have heard it from the vast majority of people I ever spoke about the danger of Islam, ever since 9/11 (2001)!
But, the implication that Islam is completely incompatible with Democratic system, must be this very “Generalization”. Because the tepidity and ignorance of Muslims should not count. Such Muslims can become hot and knowledgeable at any stage.
But it seems to me that some of the “generalizing side still harbors some political correct. hence illogical thoughts, as Fessitude älways reminds us.
While those that insist that Muslims are to be divided in radicals and moderates still admit that “Islam is not compatible with democracy”.
The logical next conclusions might be: that even those moderates are traitors-in-waiting or that
the non-Muslims who exonerate the moderate Muslims in this way DO NOT CARE about loyalty to the democratic system and the nations having it!!! In other words they consider Peaceful but of necessity Totalitarian Muslims as GOOD (enough)! Only they never say it! Like the Pope may be thinking like this, but is never saying it!
Demsci says
And so;
How meaningless the limited phrase “Islam is incompatible with Democracy” now sounds to me. When not accompanied by the assurance: But, I, the writer, speaker, my group, we …..
ARE in favor of the full Democratic System and most loyal to the 34 or so core-nations that practice it, and this is trumping any loyalty to other political systems and nations that have them.
For those who say “Islam is incompatible with Democracy” MIGHT be in favor of some other totalitarian ideology or anti-democratic Tenets, values, laws,
or might be themselves very TEPID and ignorant about the full democratic system with no loyalty to it”s nations whatoever. As in that “they do not care shit for them”.
herb planter says
Man this suxs, ppl have been tellin France for years now about what’s happening and they didn’t listen. History will repeat itself and France will burn. Lord have mercy 🙁
Marcel Berube says
To understand the Finkielkraut incident , one must know a certain number of things.
Finkielkraut was born in Paris , France from a jewish polish father and mother. His father, Daniel , was the only survivor of his family at Auschwitz. Her mother was the only survivor or her family in a poland camp.
Alain Finkielkraut was a giftted young man who did brilliant studies in France and , as a philosopher, in his books , in the medias, was always against fascism , totalitarian movements and thinkings.
Last week , as a simple citizen , he went on Place de la République , in Paris , where he was kick out by youngters, seen as a reac, as a fascist .
In the last year , Finkielkraut , was made « éternel» ( i.e. member) in L’Académie Française( the French Academy ) , an institution looking over the french language to maintain its integrity and development by giving advises on grammar , new words to be accepted , methods to be teached in french schools and universities.
So , globally , youngsters in downtown Paris show their inacurate reading of the world by kicking Finkielkraut out of the square.
Custos Custodum says
Sadly, these “youngsters’ ” “reading of the world” and its current political climate is accurate and canny.
The “youngsters” instinctively understand that that when it comes right down to it, France’s official culture will knuckle under and kowtow to their violence every time. They have Islam, and official France has post-modern diffidence and sophistication. As the old American adage has it: “You cannot fight something with nothing.”
Adieu, France.
dumbledoresarmy says
Stop feeding the Dementors.
Stop promoting Despair and Defeatism, not to mention Fatalism.
There are *other* French youngsters who are NOT knuckling under.
Some of them are going to Mass, yes, they are. You don’t hear much about them, but they *are*.
http://theweek.com/articles/531469/there-christianrevival-starting-france
Is there a Christian revival starting in France?
And some young French have formed Bloc Identitaire. It isn’t just elderly folks who are voting for Marine Le Pen.
Instead of hammering relentlessly on the ‘all is lost’ theme you – IF you are a sincere non-Muslim counter-jihadist – should be looking, looking for the places where the grass is coming up through the cement…and then you should *water* it to make it grow, with words of encouragement and good advice.
UNCLE VLADDI says
Now that France has a fully “Socialist” (fascist) government once more, they’ve driven the Jews out of France and are converting synagogues into mosques. They are also supporting the UN’s latest “resolution” that the Temple Mount isn’t Jewish and is only a muslim site – which is madness!
The Temple Mount’s “Wailing Wall” (Kotel) is a physical FACT. The muslims’ “claim” to it is that Muhammad had a dream about the place, once! A DREAM! He never even visited it!
;-(
UNCLE VLADDI says
Proof?
http://unclevladdi.blogspot.ca/2016/04/anti-semite-socialist-france-backs-uns.html
TheBuffster says
At root, the thing that’s been renounced is reason. The dedication to seeking the whole truth and nothing but the truth through objective, conscientious means has been completely rejected by a large portion of the intelligentsia. Which means they have renounced their intelligence.
So we need to find another name for them.
vcragain says
Just want to say – there is now a very serious mix-up in ‘who is what’ – Extreme Left is Communism and if you keep going in that direction you find yourself full circle back at Extreme Right or – Dictatorship with no rights – it really is one and the same at that point. Now we find ourselves all arguing over who is Left & who is Right !
As far as I am concerned I am a ‘Leftie’ – that means to me I support the concept of fair-play, fair wages & control of capitalism to prevent extremes. Now I make myself enemies all over the place who are actually Extreme Righties – they think that I should be ‘controlled’ so that my Leftie views don’t force Communism on them – but I don’t want THAT either – nobody wants total control by ANY extreme power. everybody wants freedom of choice unless it infringes on other freedoms, and it should be a balance of these competing freedoms. So – we are all getting side-lined into stupid arguments over labels, when if you ask any normal working person, they generally all want the same things in life. The labelling of people into Left & Right is used for political argument & scaremongering. To me ‘Right’ means Fascism or control of everything by a Dictator in the name of whatever-is-the-latest-thing (eg Hitler – he called it “National Socialism”, but it was Dictatorship pure & simple ie Fascism).
Hence those of us who call ourselves ‘Lefties’ value a social construct, those who call themselves ‘Righties’ value independent rights, ie the right to ‘live their life as they see fit’ – dump their factory’s swill into the river because it’s their ‘freedom’ that is at stake – ah but most people do not want that do they- so we need ‘social controls’ after all – here we go again on the circle of left-right. So my point is we are not enemies, it is a balance of rights that is needed, and that generally is achieved in the US as long as the Government is working things out as a balanced representation of everybody, and are TALKING TO EACH OTHER. Things are falling apart because that conversation is no longer happening, the extremists are taking over, and whoever wins the White House will need to realize they cannot JUST DICTATE policy, but have to discuss it and come to an agreed consensus – ie both political sides are wrong in thinking they can just issue edicts and it will happen !