A school fair has been cancelled on the French island of Corsica after parents reportedly threatened teachers who planned to have their pupils sing John Lennon‘s ‘Imagine’ in Arabic.
Lennon’s anthem to peace, contains some of the most famous lyrics of all time:
“Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…”
Despite the peace-loving nature of the song, The Local reports that it has provoked a storm of controversy at the Prunelli-di-Fiumorbu primary school.
The battle is not over the song itself, described by Breitbart’s Kurt Schlichter as “the worst song of all time…a cloying, boggy, sonic swamp of numb-skulled sentiments that sound like they were recycled from a bong-fueled, 2 a.m. bull session between a couple of pampered, credulous UC Berkeley lit majors…the national anthem of the hopey/changey crowd — all at once pretentious, smug, tiresome and intellectually bankrupt.”
Problems arose when it became apparent that pupils were going to perform the song in five languages at the school’s fair on 26 June, and some parents intervened after hearing that one of the languages would be Arabic. It was also to be sung in French, Corsican, English and Spanish.
“They made it clear to us they didn’t want their children singing in Arabic. We were ready to listen to them, except some parents said they didn’t even want to come to the school,” said teacher Annelyse Hallard.
Some parents even threatened teachers, according to French channel BFM TV, with one saying they’d “make sure the fair didn’t go well”.
A formal report has been lodged with education inspectors. Police, and prosecutors have also opened an investigation into allegations made by teachers saying they received “racist threats.” One parent admitted that he believed singing in Arabic would be the beginning of the end, but said he “never threatened anyone.” He continued:
“We already have veiled women picking up their children from the school… and now they want to sing in Arabic? What will it be tomorrow – an entire poem in Arabic? And then what will it be ten years from now?”
Other parents did not oppose the planned performance and even set up social media pages in favour of it. Pauline Peraldi, head of one parent’s group said: “The hatred has to stop, the children have suffered too much.”
The pupils have indeed suffered, no doubt they would have been rehearsing Lennon’s unholy dirge for months.
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