Paris, Oct. 8, 2025. By Socrates George Kazolias

France is in crisis. But France is not alone. The French (possibly the British too) will probably go to the polls within a year. The chaos may grow violent when, as predicted, the hard right anti-immigrant and EU sceptics come to power. After Marx’s The Civil War in France, the new version of the book could well be written from the other side of the aisle this time.

There are many causes for France’s deepening crisis: an untenable debt due to decades of government overspending and mismanagement; corruption, deindustrialization, stubborn unemployment, a perceived inequality in the distribution of wealth, and so forth. But none stands out today as much as a deeply felt ‘clash of civilizations’ between French of recent, non-European immigration, and those who believe they have a national identity born of over 2,000 years of Greco-Roman civilization and a Judeo-Christian culture and history.

Because Europeans have very identifiable roots, history, heritage and culture, Wokeism never really got beyond the far left, student movements and minority grievances.

Wokeisme, born in American universities where (better off) students found it easier to make race the primary subject, rather than class which would question their elite status, says a caucasian should bow his head because he was born white which gave him certain advantages in regards to those who were not born white.

They claim to put forth ‘progressive values’ aimed at “correcting” systemic injustices tied to race, gender and other “marginalized” traits. They deny the importance of ‘national identity’ and even question whether there is one.

The Wokeists may be about to get a terrible blowback.

Creolization v. National Identity

French leftist leader Jean-Luc Melanchon went as far as to say he is in favor of the “creolization of France” which is supposed to replace the historic ‘identity’ of France with something new.¹ But when he took a knee in an ‘anti-racist’ demonstration with Muslim activists chanting “Allah O’Akhbar!,” for most French that “creolization” looked more like a form of reverse colonization and “replacement”—  a hostile takeover bid.

The Germans flat out refused what they call “Multi Kulti.” If you come to Germany, the political class agrees, you respect its culture (some would say cultures), laws and traditions. But since 2015, this too is being put to the test.

The question posed to many Europeans today, where large communities from different, often hostile, cultures, have installed themselves in foreign cultural enclaves, separate from the indigenous majority, in a very short period of time historically (40 years), is whether there is a ‘national identity’ to protect and save, or whether that is a non-entity and should be replaced by something new?

“There is nothing artificial about language, race, ethnicity, religion or culture,” says retired US Army Colonel, Douglas Macgregor. “ Those are real things. Those things define us as human beings.” Colonel Macgregor is among observers who see Europe heading into serious social upheaval in large part due to “uncontrolled immigration.”

“I am worried about the disappearance of the people I belong to,” said Philippe de Villiers, a fervent French Catholic, sovereigntist, and potential presidential candidate. “When you kill a man it is homicide. When you kill a people, it is a populicide.” (Populicide is the title of de Villiers’ new book).

The backlash by the majority of ‘ethnic’ or indigenous Europeans to both Wokeism and the perceived imposition of foreign, very different, imported cultures these past few decades, has led many European scholars, politicians, and military and security officials to warn of impending civil confrontation, even civil war. The question of “identity” is first and foremost behind the rapid rise of hard, rightwing, sovereigntist political parties. Opposition to immigration, especially non-European immigration, is the cornerstone of their campaigns.

It is no mistake that, in France for nearly 20 years, even center left parties (socialists, social democrats) are saying things about immigrants that got Jean Marie Le Pen condemned in court for saying in the 1980s. The conservative right is competing with the far right on who can take a tougher stand on immigration.

Those who back the hard left say that France, Britain, Belgium, Holland, are paying the price today for their “cruel” colonialism yesterday. One could say Greece, Italy and a few other ‘frontline’ countries, are suffering the collateral damage, especially since 2015 when German Chancellor Angela Merkel told want-to-be immigrants to come on in and they did… by the millions.

Rarely, since the ‘barbarian invasions’ of Rome in the late fourth century AD, have there been such massive influxes of different peoples into Europe in such a short period of time. Infrastructure is overwhelmed. Social welfare systems are crumbling under the extra weight. Insecurity and criminality have risen. Prisons are grossly overcrowded. And a large part of the population says they no longer feel at home in their own country. 

They blame Merkel. They blame ‘globalist’ and “bankster” EU leaders. They blame greedy and rich capitalists looking for cheap labor. They blame immigration.

There will be a wave of elections and snap elections in Europe and it is probable that hard, rightwing parties will sweep these elections. It seems France is set to be one of the first major countries to go that way. The reaction to the certain crackdown on illegal immigration and an attempt at forced ‘assimilation’ of the French with recent African, Arab, Muslim, migrant background may prove the doomsayers right. Civil war will have become a self-fulfilled prophecy and a self-inflicted wound.²

Don’t forget: Please leave a comment. A cup of coffee or a slice of pie would be nice too: paypal.me/SocratesGeorge

1. This was a major break with the widely accepted idea that immigrants to France ‘assimilate’ and become French in all things. France has always rejected the British example of multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism. Melanchon’s statement fed waves of minority demands their right to be different, and encouraged Salafist and more radical Islamic movements to become more vocal. ↩︎
2. I know this is very incomplete but I try to keep my posts focused on a single topic and under 800 words. I welcome any and all contributions in the comments section below. ↩︎