Month: March 2018

French Intellectuals: “Stop the Islamization, Save the Republic!”

Screen Shot 2018-03-22 at 10.43.56One hundred French intellectuals published a tribune in the daily ‘Le Figaro’ on March 20 denouncing what they call “the Islamization of France.” They write that there is a “new totalitarianism” which “threatens freedom in general.” The French media chose to ignore it.

They are writers, historians, scientists and university professors. They come from both the right and the left. The one thing they have in common is their attachment to the secular nature of an inclusive French Republic which they fear is in grave danger of ethnic and religious seccession.

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France – Mayotte: An ‘Uncle Tom’ Rebellion

 

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Mayotte is not easy to find on the map.

By S.G. Kazolias. They are Black. They are African. They are serious practicing Muslims. They are French citizens. And they vote for extreme right wing anti-immigrant candidates. The “natives” of the French Indian Ocean “Department” of Mayotte launched a general strike February 22, barricading roads, occupying public facilities and shutting down the island. Basically, they want more generous French subsidies to Mayotte, more police, more infrastructure development and an end to lawlessness which they blame on massive illegal immigration.

The Maore demand the French President, or the Prime Minister, come to talk to them or they will take law into their own hands and, yes, get violent.

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Europe -Labor: Macron Wins a First Round.

by S.G. Kazolias:  President Emmanuel Macron campaigned to put an end to what he called “Social Dumping” —- the practice of temporarily hiring workers from poorer EU countries at the minimum wage and paying their much lower social security in their home country.  On March 1, EU delegates in Brussels agreed to revise the 1996 accord allowing this. But getting all EU countries to agree may be harder.

When the then 12 EU members approved the 1996 ‘Posted Workers’ directive, labor costs between the different countries was one to three. As the EU enlarged to 28 with the former Soviet Block countries, that differential became one to ten and employers took advantage of it. Skilled labor was brought in from countries like Bulgaria, Romania and Poland at a fraction of the cost.

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