Just one of the startling posters of the National Fronts' present campaign for the coming Euro elections. "Neither Left or Right" the poster states. So, if it's not left or right then where is it exactly ? Marine le Pen is claiming the party is now 'centrist'. which is a good marketing ploy if nowt else !
Not too much has changed over the years regarding policies so statements from former leader J-M le Pen which denounces the holocaust and gas chambers etc make this particular poster quite distasteful in my book.
This is not to say the party will reduce it's popularity ratings especially as abandoning the Euro, leaving the EU and the zero tolerance on crime etc along with the other protectionist policies appear to be more and more appealing to the french electorate.
Are the french public so gullible or do they know something I don't ?
Essentially yes Jane, it means that those of us who work front line with children and youth must allow them to have absolute freedom of speech and say what they like and then if we are using their words verbatim must censor certain words and put in lots of asterisks. Just an example of how misrepresentation of other people's truth is badly disguised.
On the other hand, when it is an overt political message hiding behind a façade of respectability, change and tolerance that is obvious to all but those who are politically blind to the insidiousness of that way of saying things then it is intolerable. The Liga Norte in Italy once said the German speakers in northeast Italy should be sent back where they came from, now they are keeping quiet and recruiting them as members having 'changed' their hero worship of Mr Schicklgruber's vision of the world into something not quite as uniquely Italian and calling non-white MPs some nasty names, then the EU election came along and butter will no longer melt in their leaderships' mouths. It is that kind of disingenuous political behaviour that makes ridicule of excessive political correctness and exploits it. FN are becoming masters of that fine art.
Carol, Peter was using his example to show the ludicrous claims that are being made by some political parties which go against all they have previously stated.
It was not a joke and to take it as that is to be hyper sensitive.
I find this attitude where no one can make a criticism without being accused of racism, anti-semitism or any other form of political correctness to be a threat to the freedom of speech.
Not a joke Carol as i'm sure you are well aware, it was an attempt to give a parallel so take the comment in the spirit and meaning it was intended and LIGHTEN UP
Promises are promises , or not ! It struck me the poster was trying to say the equivalent of... "ok, this is the Catholic Church - by the way, the Pope is a muslim" !
I got your point and my response is actually in line with what you say. I think a lot of parties should face those charges. The word 'promises' is generic, could be claims, false presentation of intent, contrived ideology and just about anything else and as for the position, well FN and UKIP have that in common presenting themselves as 'libertarians' who want to ban or stop a long list of things which makes 'libertarian' either a contradiction or oxymoron but not a statement of fact. The marketing is disingenuous at best.
Hi Brian, with respect I don't think you grasp my point. I know all about false promises from all parties, that goes with the job i'm afraid and the elecorate know about all that. My problem is that a well known far right organisation is trying to pass itself as a centrist or neutral party all of a sudden. It's like a company which misrepresnts a product. The marketing seems a bit OTT and the party should face charges of misrepresenting the electorate.
Name a party in the history of politics who have not made promises, then have not kept most or even any other them? Indeed, two years after the 1789 'revolution' the Girondists (liberal republicans) and Jacobins (radical revolutionaries) were doing their version of Nick Clegg type 'we will never' and 'what we shall do' within the constitutional monarchy. The 1792 to 1815 period is politically one of the most contradictory and bloody periods ever in any political history until the African wars of the twentieth century to the present.
I suppose such an event (non-event ?) as the Euro elections is a great way to vent the spleen. A bit like Local Elections in the Uk where parties other than the 'big two' sometimes command much bigger percentages of the vote than at a General Election. Voters probably feel 'safe' knowing not too much harm is done by their recklessness tho' does it actually affect the way the government runs the country ? probably yes and no...
Some of the FN policies are probably admirable and could quite easily be attributed to the Social Democrat/Liberal way of thinking maybe but surely the french voter isn't gong to be taken in by this hyperbole ?
Griffin, feel ill at the very mention Jane...
People are gullible at the moment, especially here in France where the economic indicators are getting worse rather than better.
Monsieur Normal has failed to provide the socialist heaven he promised and Sarko is still remembered for his excesses.
I can only imagine that in the UK people have not woken up to the fact that Farage's words of wisdom over a pint and a fag in the pub will not run an economy.
As for Nick griffin the man is a bankrupt, would you trust him the nation's finances, never mind its soul?
Look at the voters in England and Wales swallowing the UKIP medicine! There are Dutch, Danish, German, Swedish and Italian parties of a similar cloth. Nobody wants that kind of aggressive nationalism but then who did in the 1920s/30s? Not just the obvious Germany and Italy with the likes of Mosley and various others around the world spouting propaganda not so distant from what we hear today.
Quite agree with all that Brian but the problem seems to be that many french voters are fed up with the blue/red 'traintrain' politics and are seeking another way of doing things. Could they possibly so taken in by these shifty shenanigans by Marine and her crew ? I'm counting on the french people to uncover this particular wolf in sheeps clothing.
Peter, Peter are you falling for that well worn political ploy? Have a look at all of the rightwing groups in Europe in the run up to the election in two weeks time. All are claiming to be democratic people's parties. All are led by people with quite exclusive professions few people even aspire to follow and usually have a lot of money, funded by people with a lot more and thus the question arises what they have to do with the mass of voters? Not that there is a leftwing group that is any better. All are now led with very few exceptions by members of a social, economic and political elite.
It is simply that they develop policies that declare manifestos of moderation and change for the electorate that will, flick of the fingers and all that, reduce and eventually eradicate unemployment, close the growing gap between rich and poor, preserve culture, language and traditions and kick out all the people who are blamed for everything that people want to blame them for. So there we go; immigrants, Roma, people 'too lazy' to work, people who demand too many benefits of the state, working women (except politicians) and so on are to blame for everything like stealing jobs and high crime rates. It is well known, following their points of view that non-Europeans and layabouts are to blame for rape, robbery, murder and all other major crimes, that being European excludes some people such as Bulgarians and Romanians, Poles are considered dubious and there is no way Turks are anyway. So they are very vocal in telling people all of these things and that if they are voted into office it will all change. Oh yes? I also believe in fairies at the bottom of the garden, Santa coming down the chimney, the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy if I believe their propagandist moderation.