Hollande opposed the [burqa] ban, and following the court ruling insisted that Islam could co-exist with Christianity and Judaism in France.
But privately he mused that in the future, a burka-clad woman could become the new symbol of France, saying: “The veiled woman of today will be the Marianne of tomorrow.”
The comment has prompted widespread alarm, with many publicly wondering whether Hollande is calling for Marianne to be veiled.
Hollande indeed is erratic in his comments, and also swinging from opposing the burqa ban to now commenting that France has a problem with Islam, and wildly “questioning the patriotism of football stars” of Middle Eastern descent, if indeed the accusation is true.
Yet Hollande’s seemingly bizarre fluctuations perhaps exposes the real confusion within, and among, politicians as they bounce from soliciting Muslim votes and being politically correct to confronting the real dilemma of dealing with public safety, accountability, and most of all, the specter of public reprisals for their failures. It has become a gambling match for politicians, trying to place their bet on which group they gauge might earn them more popularity, and it’s neither a simple nor a static calculation: is it the growing diverse Muslim population or is it the diverse masses, growing fed up with incompetent public servants who are willing to sacrifice their safety for votes?
France has been in turmoil over the role of Islam in the country in the last few months, with a number of French mayors implementing bans on burkinis in their region, a ban which was overturned by the French High Court.
The ban was overturned as a result of the media frenzy that copiously covered a helpless, targeted Muslim woman on the beach being bullied and humiliated by four policemen who “forced” her to remove her burkini right there on the beach, but Jihad Watch immediately questioned the authenticity of this woman and whether the whole incident was a staged opportunity for stealth jihadists. As it turns out, she was indeed a fake after all. The whole scene was a set-up by Muslim activists, with help from a TV station.
Notice that when the hoax was revealed, the revelation did not receive nearly the mass media attention that was lavished upon this woman when it was originally “believed” that she was a victim of Western racism.
The truth is that not only France, but the world, has a problem with Islam. It is also the truth that not every Muslim agrees with the human rights abuses under Sharia law in Islamic states; nor does every Muslim want to see Islamic law enshrined in the West; nor does every Muslim think that homosexuals should be murdered; nor does every Muslim want to see unindicted co-conspirators to jihad terrorism function in Western society right under our noses; nor does every Muslim want to see Muslim Brotherhood organizations spew hatred against Jews on campus; nor does every Muslim want to see mosques, Islamic centers and madrassas propagate Islamic doctrine. But Hollande is absolutely correct in his comment that France has a problem with Islam.
Few politicians (and media outlets) are willing to express correctness (contrasted with political correctness) about the threat of the jihad doctrine to Western civilization. Those who do are immediately taken to the woodshed by mainstream Muslim lobbies, and are then made out by the leftist media to be crackpots, racists, Islamophobes, divisive, enemies of diversity, threats to peace, and whatever propagandist narrative is in fashion at the moment. Never mind the jihad doctrines preached in mosques to spread dawah and Sharia, or the teachings about how Muslims must despise and kill gays, kill Jews, rape and assault women, persecute Christians and minorities, and also kill other Muslims who are not Muslim enough.
“France DOES Have a Problem With Islam, President Hollande Confirms”, by Donna Rachel Edmunds, Breitbart News, October 12, 2016:
France’s President Hollande has admitted that his country has a problem with Islam and has warned that France’s national symbol could one day be a woman in a burka. He has also questioned the patriotism of French football stars of Middle Eastern descent.
His comments have been revealed via a new book titled A President Should Not Say That… The book details 61 private conversations Hollande held with Le Monde journalists Gerard Davet and Fabrice Lhomme between 2012, shortly after the President’s election, and this year.
The comments reveal that Hollande has changed his mind on mass migration into France during his tenure, admitting “I think there are too many arrivals,” the Daily Mail has reported.
And on France’s Muslim population, one of the largest in Europe, the President is said to have commented: “It’s true there’s a problem with Islam, it’s true. It’s not in doubt.”
France has been in turmoil over the role of Islam in the country in the last few months, with a number of French mayors implementing bans on burkinis in their region, a ban which was overturned by the French High Court.
During the row which ensued, the Prime Minister Manuel Valls was slammed for pointing out that Marianne, a symbol of the Republic of France, was often depicted with a bare breast.
Hollande opposed the ban, and following the court ruling insisted that Islam could co-exist with Christianity and Judaism in France.
But privately he mused that in the future, a burka-clad woman could become the new symbol of France, saying: “The veiled woman of today will be the Marianne of tomorrow.”
The comment has prompted widespread alarm, with many publicly wondering whether Hollande is calling for Marianne to be veiled.
The Republican mayor of the 17th arrondissement of Paris, Brigitte Kuster, called on Hollande to clarify his remarks, saying “They are open to being misread! What is this indecent provocation? François Hollande would do well to explain his thoughts on the matter. His comments undermine the Republic he is supposed to be a guarantor of.”
But Le Monde has clarified that Hollande has explained his remarks, reporting that the full quote is that a veiled woman will become the Marianne of tomorrow “Because, somehow, if we can provide the conditions for social development, the veiled woman will shed her veil and become French while retaining her religion, capable of wearing her values.
“Finally, what is the bet we made? It’s that women prefer freedom to bondage. [Now she may feel] the veil is for her own protection, but tomorrow she will not need to be reassured about her place in society.”
Meanwhile much ire has been directed at his comments on French ethnic minority football stars, who he called “guys from the estates, without references, without values, who leave France too early”.
He insisted the footballers, many of whom have moved abroad when their careers were in the ascendency, are symptomatic of a “fragmentation, an ethnicisation” which is taking place in France, adding that the “facts were terrible.”….