Donald Trump’s populist pitch just got an indirect shout-out from a very famous French intellectual and author, Michel Houellebecq.
Houellebecq wrote an Nov. 20 op-ed in the New York Times about the latest Islamic expression of vibrant diversity that left more than 120 Parisians and Europeans dead on Nov. 13. The take-away from his article is that France can be saved if the French people use their votes to impose their decent and reasonable priorities on their corrupt establishment leadership.
That leadership is the post-national, globalist, French, and European Union political elite which has wounded France (and Europe) by inviting in a huge migrant population of several million Muslims—many of whom can’t or don’t want to integrate into France’s civilized, educated, live-and-let-live society. Several of those diversely vibrant Muslims did the killing in downtown Paris on Nov. 13. Other vibrant and diverse Muslims machine-gunned the journalists of Charlie Hebdo magazine in January 2015.
Houellebecq—which is pronounced “WELL-beck”—wrote:
…There are people, political people, who are responsible for the unfortunate situation we find ourselves in today, and sooner or later their responsibility will have to be examined. It’s unlikely that the insignificant opportunist who passes for our head of state, or the congenital moron who plays the part of our prime minister, or even the “stars of the opposition” (LOL) will emerge from the test looking any brighter.
Who exactly weakened the capacities of the police forces until they were totally on edge and almost incapable of fulfilling their mission? Who exactly drilled into our heads for years the notion that borders were a quaint absurdity, and evidence of a foul and rancid nationalism?
The blame, as one can see, is widely shared.
Which political leaders committed France to ridiculous and costly [military] operations whose main result has been to plunge Iraq, and then Libya, into chaos? And which political leaders were, until recently, on the verge of doing the same thing in Syria?
The obvious conclusion is scathing, unfortunately. For 10 (20? 30?) years, our successive governments have pathetically, systematically, deplorably failed in their essential mission: to protect the population under their responsibility.
As for the population, it hasn’t failed at all. It’s unclear, at bottom, exactly what the population thinks, since our successive governments have taken great care not to hold referendums…
The discredit that applies to all political parties today isn’t just huge; it is legitimate. And it seems to me, it really seems to me, that the only solution still available to us now is to move gently toward the only form of real democracy: I mean, direct democracy.
For Houellebecq, “direct democracy” means France should be ruled by the French people, not by the bureaucratic elite in Paris, or by the European Union’s army of regulators, lawyers, judges and super-national politicians. It also requires a restoration of national borders so that the German government’s fateful diktat to import many millions of unskilled but presumptuous Muslim migrants doesn’t also wreck neighboring civilizations.
Houellebecq has been a leading French novelist for years. But he’s in the news these days because his most recent satirical book, titled “Submission: A Novel,” suddenly seems to be coming true.
The novel begins as polls show that the nationalist, left-of-center National Front party is about the win France’s national election. In response, France’s quarreling political, academic, and media establishments unite to give the country—and then all of Europe—over to a quasi-modern Islamist leader, who promptly suppresses French resistance and then invites all of North Africa to migrate into Europe to create a new Islamic version of the Roman Empire.
The establishment submits to the Islamists because they hate the ordinary French people who refuse to do what their social betters want. Besides, the powerful and clever people get four wives! All at the same time! One to cook, one to take care of the kids, one for—nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more!
Too bad for ordinary French people and their evolved civilization. But, according to the book, the French economy grows once the factories fill up with compliant Muslim workers from North Africa, and young Muslim men stop using machine guns to demonstrate their diverse vibrancy, so everything’s OK, right?
That nightmarish novel is looking more and more like a history book.
Just recently, an establishment leader suggested that all the French political parties should unite agains the increasingly popular nationalist party, the National Front, led by Marine Le Pen.
A report in Liberation [a left-wing newspaper] suggests all options are on the table… as the traditional French political landscape fractures. The newspaper reports the prime minister is already hearing privately from his advisers that a new “republican front” – or merger of the left and centre is necessary to block Ms. Le Pen’s insurgent anti-Europe, anti mass immigration push.
An insider close to the prime minister is quoted: “You have to consider all hypotheses… We must do everything to prevent the National Front.”
For the equivalent establishment-revolt to happen in the United States, the GOP establishment, the media and academia, Wall Street, and the Democratic party would all have to unite against some common enemy, perhaps some populist and nationalist politician with a slogan like “Make America Great Again.”
Houellebecq had to write his brutal criticism of France’s establishment as a satirical novel because he can’t legally criticize Islam in France.
Like many other European countries, France’s establishment has imposed laws that bar criticism of Islam, mostly because they’re afraid that unhappy Muslims might try to implement various parts of the Koran. Commandments 5:33 or 47:4, for example.
In fact, Houellebecq survived one of those legal trials, and the leader of the main nationalist party, Le Pen, is now being tried for criticizing Islam under a so-called “hate speech” law.