By: Dr Andreja Valič Zver
French President Emmanuel Macron managed to prevent, through machinations, the right-wing National Front from forming a government before the second round of parliamentary elections, which he would certainly have opposed as president until the end of his term. Perhaps it is better this way, but after 2027, everything will be different. The unequivocal shift to the right will sweep Macron, who has currently aligned himself with the communists, into the dustbin of history.
Whoever has read my columns in recent years has probably noticed that I have often touched upon France and the increasing tensions in French society, especially due to the sharply rising number of illegal migrants and the consequent problems these unwanted “visitors” cause. The French still vividly remember numerous terrorist attacks, such as the Bataclan attack in 2015. In 2016, Islamist terrorists struck in Nice, and before Christmas in 2018, there was an attack in Strasbourg.
We participants of the Dr Jože Pučnik Academy also have anxious memories of those times of terror and fear, as we visited Strasbourg and the seat of the European Parliament in the capital of Alsace in December 2018. Divided into two buses, we visited Tübingen on the way to Strasbourg, where our great compatriot Primož Trubar worked, as well as other famous German cities along the way. Everywhere, despite the cold weather, there was a bustling crowd in the festive pre-Christmas atmosphere. But criminal minds were devising hellish plans for Europeans at this time.
The first day of the visit went smoothly. A tour of the parliament with a presentation of its functioning, an interesting lecture by a European MP, and lunch in the packed parliamentary canteen put most people in a good mood. Therefore, the anticipation of the Strasbourg tour, known for having the world’s most beautiful Christmas market, was even greater. The solemn grandeur of the main cathedral reinforced our festive mood upon the arrival of Christmas, and the colourful stalls around convinced us of the importance of the traditional “pre-holiday frenzy”. Here, you will not find trivial commercial products for sale but hand-painted glass Christmas ornaments. Everywhere you find hand-embroidered Alsatian tablecloths, artistically designed wine glasses, and their symbol – storks, which no longer bring enough babies to the French. Babies are the domain of a new kind of people to whom French taxpayers pay social transfers, housing, kindergartens, healthcare, and much more under the label “welfare state”. Doubting Thomas can see for himself in Strasbourg, which has the largest Islamic population in France, that the state has spent a lot of money over fifteen years building apartment blocks on the right bank of the Rhine, which now separates France from Germany. The apartments are mostly allocated to so-called social cases, which is synonymous with immigrants, legal and illegal. And in one of these “ghettos”, an extreme Islamic cell was born, a member of which embarked on a murderous spree in downtown pre-Christmas Strasbourg in December 2018.
“ASK NOT FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS. IT TOLLS FOR THEE.”
The second group of Pučnik Academy participants thankfully managed to avoid the massacre on the streets near the main cathedral. But they, their relatives, and all of us connected to the Academy experienced a great deal of fear. The drive across the French-German border to the hotel on the German side, which usually takes a quarter of an hour, took up to seven hours. Heavily armed police, along with the army, thoroughly searched all passengers.
Why this story? Dear readers, we do not need to repeat that traditionally democratic Western Europe has faced a serious existential threat in recent years. “Willkommen Politik” has shown its teeth. In its most extreme form, it manifested as the evil of terrorism. No one is safe anymore. Never and nowhere. Train and airport passengers, street and beach walkers, beer and coffee drinkers, curious Christmas market strollers. I could list endlessly, but everything is supported by the cruel facts of terrorist attacks. France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Sweden. And so on. If anyone naively believes that “free” Slovenia, with the increasing influx of illegal and legal migrants, which the current government, in collusion with its institutions, NGOs, and media, hides like a snake hides its legs, will avoid such brutal marches, they are out of touch with time and space.
This spring, I commented on the poster for the Paris Olympic Games, which starts in a few weeks. It disturbed that part of Europe that respects European values, largely based on Christianity. Then I wondered where Europe is heading. To whom is it bowing? Wrong moves are being made, and the outcome will not be good for Europe. I added that erasing symbols of the Christian faith erases our European values, rooted in Jewish, Greco-Roman, Christian, Enlightenment, and other common foundations. The fundamental European historical memory, largely built on the symbol of the Christian cross, is being obscured, no matter how much modern “awakened” people pretend otherwise.
Let this brief (and necessarily incomplete) excursion into one of the main reasons for the traditional libertarian France’s turn to the right – while allowing the possibility that elections will temporarily be stolen with Macron to form an extreme left government – serve as a warning to John Donne’s cry from the 17th century: “Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.” Yes, dusty, but very relevant.