Marine Le Pen offended at being called a Nazi?

Marine Le Pen wants it both ways. Last year she was denying any French involvement in the holocaust and this year she objects to being called a Nazi. It is no more a slur to call Le Pen a Nazi than it is to call Turnbull a Liberal.

A year ago, The Irish Times said the following:

Ms Le Pen cast doubt on French responsibility in the deportation of Jews during the Second World War, undermining years of her own efforts to dissociate the extreme right-wing Front National (FN) from second World War revisionism.

“I don’t think that France is responsible for the Vél d’Hiv,” Ms Le Pen, who is tied for first place in polls with the centrist Emmanuel Macron, said on April 9th.



Some 13,000 Jewish men, women and children were rounded up by French police on July 16th, 1942, and taken to the Vélodrome d’Hiver cycling race track, for deportation to Nazi death camps.

Socialist Reviews 

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The media and Labour leaders

When Harold Wilson was Labour leader the gutter press purported to believe that he was a dangerous radical and probably a Russian spy. They had no evidence for either assertion but that scarcely slowed them down.

Even the inoffensive Miliband was labelled “Red Ed” by the Sun. I think most Socialists considered that if that was what they thought of as “a red”, heaven help them if they ever come across a real Marxist.

This infamous tradition has been continued with Jeremy Corbyn being accused of being everything from a Trot to a Stalinist with a ludicrous accusation of anti-semitism resulting for his principled support for the Palestinian cause.

To watch the TV or read the papers you would imagine that there was no problem of racism in the Tory Party, UKIP or the DUP. Again the facts don’t impinge.

The latest piece of nonsense is the slandering of the left Labour group Momentum by Sajid Javid who referred to them as ‘neo-fascists’.Did he have any evidence for this? None was presented. He proved it by asserting it.

Do the Daily Mail really genuinely believe this to be true? Surely if they did they would follow their traditional attitude towards fascism and support Momentum. That would be a sight to see. “Hurrah for Momentum – the heirs of Oswald Mosley”.

I think voters might conclude that a Labour Party which does not earn the hatred of the gutter press is probably doing something wrong. The consistently ludicrous nature of the claims, the fact that the TV and the press produce nothing which could be called evidence, means that this hate campaign is doomed to failure.

Socialists fight for the many, not the few. The millionaire press will never support that objective.

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The Armed Man

The Sandgate Singers’ performance of ‘The Armed Man’ in Arundel Cathedral on 3rd March was a dramatic event to witness. The audience reacted to the opening in which the black-clad choir were marching on the spot for all the world like a tide of death. This was in tune with the opening theme, “The armed man must be feared.”

The work, by Karl Jenkins, is described as “a mass for peace” and it includes the traditional elements of the Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei and Benedictus. These are interspersed with movements which convey the futility and horror of war. Even the Sanctus, which praises the “Lord God of Hosts” has a distinctly martial air.

I think no less a place than a cathedral can do justice to this powerful work. It is unfortunate that one of the most distinctive pieces of the work – the Muslim call to prayer – was excluded by the powers that be. The words of the call to prayer, “God is great, prayer is better than sleep.” are not out of place in a Cathedral and now would be a good time to remind people that Muslims worship the same God.

The event was in aid of the “Love your hospital” charity. A pity a fraction of the billions squandered on war can’t be used for a better purpose. Carl Jenkins drew attention to the human cost of war and the voices of the choir became positively demonic in the sixth movement “Charge!” 

It was an evening the audience will not forget.