Emmanuel Macron, President of France, caused a stir some time ago during his three-day visit to Denmark and Finland. In Copenhagen on August 29, he declared that there is no such thing as “a true Dane,” no such thing as a “true Frenchman.” He was widely criticized for this remark at home. What could he possibly have meant?
But let’s back up. Macron began last February by talking grandly about his intention to create an “Islam of France.” He promised he would roll out his plans after Ramadan ended in mid-June. In early July, in the pages of Le Monde, the plan drawn up by Macron’s collaborator Hakim El Karaoui, was published. It provides for the creation of an association managed by French Muslims that will train and pay the imams in France (no longer would they be trained abroad or paid by foreign Muslim groups or states), pay for the building and maintenance of mosques (thus replacing foreign governments), and manage communication between organized Islam and the state.
The most important part of Macron’s plan was the proviso that the mosques and the imams’ salaries would be paid from taxes both on halal food products, and on pilgrimages to Mecca. This plan was hailed by a few Muslims, but denounced by many others as an unacceptable interference by the Infidel state in the practice of Islam. Several months later, the plan has still not been implemented in the slightest way. What is Macron waiting for, or has he simply gotten cold feet? Or have very deep-pocketed Muslim states, with tens of billions of dollars in properties and investments all over France, such as Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, and Qatar, managed to get to Macron and explain that they might sell off some of those investments if the French state arrogates to itself the training of imams, and the financing of mosques? Whatever has been said behind the curtains, it appears that Macron has put his ballyhooed plans on hold. Islam in France is not yet becoming an “Islam of France.”
There are as yet no taxes on halal products, nor on pilgrimages from France to Mecca. Macron’s sleight-of-word has so far led to exactly nothing, except furious outbursts from French Muslims who declared Macron had no business interfering in the foreign funding of French mosques and imams.
In late August, Macron began to show his frustration. On a trip to Denmark and Finland, he roundly declared in Copenhagen that “there is no such thing as a ‘true Dane,’” there is no such thing as a “true Frenchman.” It’s difficult to know what he meant. When asked by a Danish student about the future of national identities in Europe, Macron added a bit more to his original remark, that “the ‘true Dane’ does not exist — he is a European.”
“Even your language is not just Danish — it is European. The same is true for the French,” he added.
What does this mean? Does it mean that the Danes speak their own language and then the lingua franca of the European Union, English? And is that what he means “for the French” as well — that they speak French but also the EU’s recognized common tongue, which happens to be the language of a country that won’t be in the EU much longer? And doesn’t a supra-national identity — i.e., that of being “European” — come only after, and builds upon, one’s national identity, i.e., being “French”?
Macron also praised Denmark as a nation which is “completely open to the rest of the world” compared with a France, whose people, he said, showed a “Gaulish stubborn resistance to change.” Possibly Macron is unaware that the Danes have been less “completely open to the world” recently, but have shown a distinct displeasure toward Muslims. Even the liberal and tolerant Danes have been mugged by Muslim reality. Denmark recently banned the niqab. Furthermore, the government has introduced new laws mandating that children living in “ghetto” neighborhoods (i.e., where Muslims predominate) must spend 25 hours apart from their parents every week. During this time, they’ll be taught “Danish values,” including Christmas and Easter traditions, and receive Danish language classes.
By regulating life in these neighborhoods, the government hopes to “Westernize” these children and immerse them in Denmark’s secular culture and society. They see it as protection of the many at the expense of the few. The penalties for non-compliance suggest that the Danes are fed up with Muslims who refuse to make any attempt to integrate into Danish society. Hence the children will be required to spend 25 hours each week outside their Muslim neighborhoods, learning the Danish language and “Danish values.”
Parents who refuse to cooperate will be fined and their welfare payments halted. The fact that these new rules target low-income, predominantly Muslim enclaves reflects the Danish government’s fear that the existence of insular Muslim communities will facilitate the development of extremist ideologies.
Even liberal, tolerant Denmark has been changing, faced with the reality of Muslim behavior, Muslim demands, Muslim crime, Muslim “extremism.” Macron’s praise of Denmark being “open to the world” shows he’s not been keeping up with the latest Danish response to its Muslim problem. And what business is it anyway of young Emmanuel Macron to lecture the Danes, insisting that there is “no such thing as a true Dane”? What chutzpah! What gall!
As for his comments on the French, he criticized his own people for the very thing many of us find most admirable: a “Gaulish stubborn resistance to change.” If France is able to save itself from the march of Islam, it will be precisely because of that “stubborn resistance to change,” based on a deep sense of national identity and pride, that Macron deplores..
What does Macron mean when he says there is “no such thing as a true Frenchman”? I think he is groping for a way to deny the very strong sense of national identity in France, so as to make it easier for Muslims, who will then not have to integrate into that strongly-held identity, but rather, into something approaching, Macron clearly hopes, a kind of all-embracing multicultural mush.
Zander says
Islam of France, no such thing as a frenchman? Wowzers. Good work Jihad Watch!
mortimer says
Agree. There is ONLY *ISLAM* … the Islam of MOHAMMED.
Muslims practice the *ISLAM* of Mohammed or they are LAX Muslims.
vlad says
Please don’t worry about the French.
They will always be there when they need you…
FED UP says
God needs to call this lunatic home—but whats the end game—i think a POLICE STATE run by these idiots
Jay says
Macron had a lobotomy and no one told him. This is complete insanity. Omg !!
How was this man ever elected as PM of France when he clearly has no loyalty
to France, to French citizens or French sovereignty!! The world has gone mad.
Tony Holland says
This psycopath,the new Bonaparte (35000euros on personal makeup,the setting up of a new ‘Presidential Hunt’ etc,etc) was ‘installed’ by Brussels at the behest of the new world order and,the multinationals to add weight to mad Merkels open border policy and the destruction of the Europe we know,(no such thing as a Dane or a Frenchman),he is loathed by the French but too late,they gave him the nod over the ‘saviour’ of France, Le Pen, still its up to us living here to keep pushing for change as we must in the UK as well if things are EVER to CHANGE,get rid of the Con/Lab liars cheats and appeasers for ever!!.
Rufolino says
Macron’s loony speech in Washington a few months ago isn’t mentioned: he stated that France needed more and more immigrants for “the economic advantages”.
For the what ???
The immigrants in Europe are now costing the European nations BILLIONS in social benefit handouts.
Insanity reigns.
Anne Smith says
He was installed by the EU. He is their man and represents everything ghastly about the EU. He seems to behave like a little Napoleon. No doubt in time the French will kick him out but at present he is busy putting his political opponents in jail on trumped up charges.
Michael Copeland says
By claiming there is no such person as a “true Frenchman” Macron lets himself off the hook. He need not, after all, develop an “Islam of France”: people-living-in-France are now “Europeans”.
Guy Forester says
Jokes and negative remarks are frequently made regarding French soldiers and how they fought, especially regarding WW2 and early on in Viet Nam. If you read about how well certain units fought in WW1, WW2, VN, and Korea, it is obvious that it was not the average soldier that was the problem, it was their leadership. Millions of valiant French soldiers were thrown into battle foolishly and wasted. In WWI, these men mutinied. Instead of cashiering the idiot generals for wasting the lives of these men, the units involved were instead decimated by executions.
The Brits left thousands of good French soldiers behind at Dunkirk, who had literally sacrificed their lives to keep the Nazis at bay while the Brits and some French and Belgian units were evacuated. The French Maquis were notable for their anti Nazi activities. Yet it was the Vichy leadership that fought the maquis and rounded up Jews.
It is the French leadership, a la Macron, that is the problem. The French people need to wake up and realize that socialist leaders and leadership end in disaster, just as badly as do fascist leaders. Being a nationalist and for less government does not make one a Nazi. WAKE UP FRANCE!
Lavéritétriomphera says
We always had difficulties to reach agreement in due course. We need a leader worthy of the name.
11B40 says
Greetings:
Currently, this is my favorite President Macron anecdote.
I still get some of my TV news from the France24 English language broadcasts. Several months back. Monsieur Le President was preparing to come to Washington D.C. for an unprecedented and historical three-day visit with our President Trump. The France24 shilling for their President included presenting him as “The Trump Whisperer” who would come to America, whisper some sweet Euro-Borg nothings in the American’s ear and envelope him in the joy of the progressive Euro-Borg.
Obviously, the France24 types hadn’t really met very many New Yorky New Yorkers. If they had, they would have realized that New Yorkers don’t get “whispered” easily, often or well.
And then, as if to put a cherry on his Euro-Borg Sundae, President Trump sent Frau Chancellor Merkel packing a couple of days later.
Benedict says
Knowing Denmark and the Danes very well I can assure JW readers that the main problem in Denmark is not Islam – yet or multiculturalism. The main problem in Denmark (and Sweden) is feminism. Men and manliness has virtually been expunged from public and private life here.
But what you repress returns in caricatured and distorted forms, as Freud has taught us, and that’s exactly what’s happening. Denmark has a fast growing problem with criminal gangs and Muslim ghettos, where women have no say, and the head of the Ministry of Justice, who incidentally is a homosexual, demands no respect in these circles. Increasing the proportion of women in the police force and the military, which seems to bee the solution – especially to the feminists – only aggravates the tension.
So when Macron during his visit to Denmark declared that there is no such thing as “a true Dane” he might be unto something: Half the population of Danes has dissolved into sickly, sweet pastry in the hands of the feminist ideology that’s castrating men all over the world to its demise and to the benefit of Islam.
gravenimage says
Benedict’s solution is to put Western women in Niqabs and Burqas:
“…I will delight in seeing Muslim women wearing niqab and will even defend their right to do so and also encourage other women to wear niqab…”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/10/un-human-rights-committee-says-france-violated-human-rights-of-two-muslimas-by-fining-them-for-wearing-niqab#comment-2004234
“I fully sympathizes with a fight against the burqa and niqab in the Muslim world. In the West, however, I suggest they are a justified “divine design” or nemesis designed to expose the hypocrisy in condemning a full-body cloak for women while promoting and allowing vulgar, public nudity for both sexes.”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/10/algeria-mp-calls-burqa-ban-in-public-sector-a-declared-war-on-islam#comment-2004807
Of course, he is not demanding that men wear Burqas.
He has also come out for veiling little girls.
Benedict says
G: “Benedict has claimed that public nudity is legal in San Francisco–when the very opposite is the case:” (https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/10/hugh-fitzgerald-mind-the-gap-or-signs-of-sanity-in-france#comment-2005179)
Have you found the comment where I claim that, G?
You are a very dishonest person that has specialized in straw men and groundless constructions when you find someone you don’t agree with and your false claim above proves it!
Benedict says
PS:
And with respect to girls wearing hijab have I posed a question you and others should try to answer:
Signs of insanity in France?
What is more insane to you: A Muslim women or girl in hijab or nude customers in a restaurant and naked visitors in museums? :
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/paris-first-nude-restaurant-onaturel-naturist-association-a8037151.html
https://www.traveller24.com/Explore/International-Getaways/nsfw-stripped-back-art-experience-at-palais-du-tokyo-museum-in-paris-20180507
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/10/hugh-fitzgerald-mind-the-gap-or-signs-of-sanity-in-france#comment-2005685
Guy Forester says
Both Macron and Denmark do not get it. Instead of limiting or stopping welfare, invasive and divisive migrants, and deporting the one that fail to make even a minimal attempt at assimilation or commit crimes, what do they plan?
ANOTHER STUPID GOVERNMENT PROGRAM. Gee, just what is needed. Another bunch of bureaucrats that will NEVER achieve what the program claims. Why should they succeed? Have you ever heard any bureaucrat claim that his/her job is to complete the mission and dissolve that office and bureau? And be skewered by the Unions and Socialists?
By the way, if Macron can tax the Muslims, then he can tax the Catholics and Jews. Just what everyone needed, a new, special tax for a new, special bureaucracy that will demand ever more money, authority, rules, and workers. Yet, the problems they are supposed to solve get worse.
Gee, where have we seen this before? Think war on drugs, war on poverty, and endless wars trying to make people that hate the west become just like us. Have a nice day folks. Meanwhile, Marine Le Pen is fighting to stay out of the Looney Bin, not Macron.
Nautikos says
Time for another French Revolution? But remember – this man was ELECTED!
And ‘Benedict’ certainly makes an excellent point, one that few people rarely if ever dare to talk about: Militant feminism is certainly one of the ingredients in that amalgam of problems facing Western civilization…
dan christenen says
“And what business is it anyway of young Emmanuel Macron to lecture the Danes, insisting that there is “no such thing as a true Dane”? What chutzpah! What gall!”
Macron and Merkel, the pathetic duo, has divided EU between them. Macron has no right to lecture the Danes on anything, because Denmark is Merkel’s turf by agreement.
The Danish Prime Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, is Merkel’s pet underdog – “Løkke” by the way translates to “noose” in English. Løkke Rasmussen never moves unless permitted to do so by his master, Angela Merkel.
The true Danes abhor everything German, because the Germans conquered and has occupied southern Jutland (Schleswig) since 1864.
The French are no better – the french king Louis XIV arbitrarily donated the eastern Danish region Scania to the Swedish kingdom. Scania is the most islamized part of Sweden today.
So Denmark has been kicked around by German and French politicians for hundreds of years. The Danish people has absolutely nothing for which to thank Germany & France, much less the EU mob.
EU is a new emerging imperialist German/French conglomerate and that is the ugly reality.
No Muzzies Here says
He is suffering from a delusion. He seems to think there can be a kinder, gentler Islam, designed for France.
What that will lead to is the elimination of the French, as we know them, and their replacement by the you-know-who.
Myshkin Levine says
The French public would do well to throw Emmanuel Macron out of office and elect Marine Le Pen as their next president. I am certain that she believes there are “true Frenchmen” and “true Frenchwomen” and that she would be willing to defend the French people and their culture.
Anne Smith says
Unfortunately they were too stupid to vote for her.
gravenimage says
Hugh Fitzgerald: Emmanuel Macron, “true Frenchmen,” and the “Islam of France” (Part One)
…………………..
What a traitor to the French people and French values.
FYI says
Didn’t macron once refer to himself as Jupiter and said “I will govern like a Roman god”.
He certainly has a high opinion of himself as we can see from the photo:it appears the Sun is shining out of his a..
Dr. Strangelove says
Maybe he’s right. My family stayed in France for about a hundred years before we moved to Englande in 1066.
Lavéritétriomphera says
The veil is a symbol of prostitution sanctioned by a religion some 7000 years back http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/68303.
Terra Nova says
It must be the M&M& together, Merkel. Macron, and May.
With Macron you knew already from the beginning, how he would develop. He walked as a king trough Versaille, I saw, how he loved that. I had hoped that his wife would have been worser and advised him, of about, what it is to be a leader. And Mr Macron, we always used to go to France very year, as the weather was mostly nice, the French were always quite chauvinistic and why not, they did not do any harm, but they were funny and I totally enjoyed their little get togethers, in a cafe or playing jeu de Boules, that had much charm. That was LA FRANCE !. And now the Frenchman does not exist. You really have put down your citizens and on top you betrayed them.
I watched the video’s you Tube : Paris today, and The metro in Paris and the enormous mess their on the streets , and almost every western government is guilty and a traitor of its citizens.
Richard Courtemanche says
Trudeau’s brother, essentially.
Endlesspath says
Welcome to the Socialist Republic of the France. Remember these quotes (taken from elsewhere) so you can be a good S.R.F. citizen:
1) Freedom is slavery.
2) Ignorance is strength.
3) Free speech is anarchy.
4) Silence is golden.
5) Groupthink is truth.
6) Tolerance is acceptance.
7) Acceptance is happiness.
8) All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
TrueFreeThinker says
And people think that Western & Northern Europe isn’t totally done!?! Imagine if someone said that an islamist is not a real muslime in France….. could you imagine the carnage and attacks from peaceful trucks? Obviously the person would be arrested and placed in prison to be set up to be murdered. Why Can’t Enough People Wake Up!!!