I recently put up a blog under the title 'High Treason!' because I had been trying to find Italian wine locally to go with Italian food. Now I find a story that was in a UK paper a few days ago commenting on something related.
'French police investigate suspected bomb attack by militant winegrowers
Attack on Socialist party office in Carcassonne follows guerrilla actions by wine producers angry at low prices and foreign imports.'
As if that is not enough, today I found this. Another topic but worrying nonetheless:
'French MP accused of saying Hitler 'didn't kill enough' Travellers
An MP and mayor of the town of Cholet, faces expulsion from his party and legal action by the state. Gilles Bourdouleix, MP and mayor of Cholet in the Maine and Loire region of western France, was reported to have made the comments on Sunday during an encounter with a group of Roma travellers who had parked over 100 caravans in a field owned by the local authority.'
Then we have the always racially divisive Moslem women's facial covering issue.
Then we have rioting breaking out in Paris last weekend, now the row over Moslem head wear has erupted again. Will that lead to a new law against women wearing head scarves? Would such a ban fan the flames of a French identity crisis? France's present niqab and burqa ban was defended by the minister, despite riots in Trappes; Manuel Valls, declaring the ban on full-face Muslim veils to be in women's interests.
Much of what is coming through with such stories is that prejudices are being fed. As we should know from history, many positions people adopt about things that are 'different' are presented to them as phenomena that affect their country and indeed them personally in many cases - whether that is true or not. At present it appears that enough is being all but presented to Ms le Pen on a silver platter and with the present government being anything but convincing that is not exactly encouraging. We are members of Survive France Network with that first word, survive, in mind and perhaps need to carefully watch as prejudices grow that may affect some or many of us. It is with that in mind these stories have drawn my attention. My common sense tells me these are one off events thus far but we should keep an open mind and an eye on events.