France: An "Inverted Colonization"

by Guy Millière • November 15, 2019 at 5:00 am

Soon after, Muslim organizations that had asked for students to have the right to wear the veil in schools also asked for a change in the school curriculum -- in history, so that Muslim civilization would be presented in a more "correct" and "positive" way.
"If the way I dress disturbs you, leave my country". — Signs at a demonstration, October 27, 2019.
"Any criticism of Islam is now blasphemy." — Ivan Rioufol, columnist, Le Figaro, November 4, 2019.
Details lead one to see that the anti-Christian acts were mostly acts of church vandalism, the anti-Semitic acts were very often violent attacks against Jews or cemetery desecrations, and that the anti-Muslim acts were almost only anti-Muslim graffiti or the laying of slices of bacon the entrance to a mosque or in the mailbox of a Muslim organization. No Muslims were physically attacked.
"We are not in a project of assimilation." — Yassine Belattar, former advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron, October 27, 2019.
Éric Zemmour has suggested that France is threatened not by a risk of "partition", but by an inverted "colonization".

(Image source: iStock)

On October 12, 2019, a meeting of the Regional Council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté was held in Dijon, a quiet town in central France. A woman wearing a long black veil was in the audience, apparently accompanying a group of students. All at once, the head of the National Rally party group at the Regional Council, Julien Odoul, rose and said that the presence of a woman wearing an Islamic headscarf in a public building was incompatible with the values of the French Republic:

"We are in a public building, we are in a democratic enclosure. Madame has all the time to keep her veil at home, in the street, but not here, not today. It's the Republic, it's secularism. It's the law of the Republic, no ostentatious signs."

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The 92nd Street Y Engages in McCarthyite Censorship and Lies About It

by Alan M. Dershowitz • November 15, 2019 at 4:00 am

The representative of the 92nd Street Y acknowledged that the accusation [a disproved and defamatory accusation of sexual relations with an underaged girl] was unfounded, but said it didn't matter: "We don't want protests or trouble." So suddenly I found myself blacklisted — or as it's now called, "de-platformed"....
It reminded me of my days at Brooklyn College, when professors were blacklisted based on accusations that they had been Communists or fellow travelers. Institutions that had blacklisted them often claimed that they didn't believe or support the accusations, but they too didn't want protests or trouble. So the easy way is to censor, de-platform, or disinvite instead of standing up for principle, due process, and truth.
The public, particularly those who support the Y and participate in its programs, have the right to know the truth. They have the right to express their views as to whether a long-time speaker should be denied a platform at the Y based on false and disproved accusations. I would be happy to debate this issue at the Y. I have just written a new book — Guilt by Accusation: The Challenge of Proving Innocence in the Age of #MeToo — in which I discuss how false accusations can destroy a career. I challenge the Y to have a public discussion on this important issue.
I will not allow my life's work — on behalf of Israel, the Jewish community, Soviet Jewry, human rights, civil liberties, teaching students, writing books, and defending the accused — to be "cancelled" by a totally false accusation by a woman I never met and by the cowardly McCarthyism of the 92nd Street Y.... I will continue to fight for truth and justice as I have during my entire life. I will not remain silent even if the 92nd Street Y tries to silence me.

Pictured: The 92nd Street Y in New York City. (Image source: Ajay Suresh/Wikimedia Commons)

The storied 92nd Street Y, which presents itself as a liberal paragon of free speech dialogue and openness, is engaging in McCarthyite censorship — and trying to hide it.

For the last quarter-century or more, I have been one of its featured speakers. The director told me that second only to the late Elie Wiesel, I have been the most frequently invited participant in its events. I have lectured, dialogued, participated in panels, and moderated on dozens of occasions about a range of subjects that have been video-conferenced around the world. I debuted my bestselling books about Israel, Jewish life, and issues of concern to all Americans — Chutzpah, The Case for Israel, and others — at the Y. It became something of a tradition.

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