The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

The New York Times Smears French Author Who Predicted Our Current Crisis

Posted on | June 25, 2020 | Comments Off on The New York Times Smears French Author Who Predicted Our Current Crisis

Twenty-five years ago, when a friend sent me a copy of Jean Raspail’s The Camp of the Saints, it was a book so taboo that you were considered racist merely for knowing of its existence. The 1973 novel, which imagines France invaded by a flotilla of refugees from the Indian subcontinent, pointed out how Western civilization had lost its will to survive, having become decadent, full of self-loathing and racial guilt.

Five years ago, however, when the Syrian civil war produced an influx of “refugees” into the European Union, suddenly Raspail’s novel was recognized as prophetic; even many liberals said the scenes in Europe were reminiscent of The Camp of the Saints. The election of Donald Trump and other politicial events indicative of a “nationalist” mood in the electorate seemed to validate much of Raspail’s critique.

Jean Raspail died at age 94 earlier this month, and his obituary in the New York Times was an act of deliberate character assassination.

Phyllis Chesler describes the crude smear:

A photo of Raspail’s book is accompanied by a caption: “Mr. Raspail dehumanized immigrants in his 1973 book.” The piece describes Raspail’s followers as “white supremacists, far-right political figures;” worse yet, as one “member of the Trump administration.” In addition, “many conservatives” attended his funeral; his readers were “far right,” his book spawned or influenced today’s “white supremacists” — and led to the shootings at two mosques, one in New Zealand, one in Texas. . . .
In case you still don’t know what Raspail represents, the obituary goes on to describe Raspail as one of the “last members of the old reactionary right” in France. One of President Trumps advisers had “written approvingly of the novel in an email (!) to an editor at the right wing website Breitbart.” Can’t be clearer than this.
But, in case you are still unsure of whose reputation must be shamed, cancelled, and toppled, his novel has been called a “racist novel.” Raspail insisted that he was not a “racist,” but he also said that he would not change a single line in The Camp of the Saints, and “described himself as ‘right wing, even right-right-wing.’” The Obituary continues along in this vein. The novel is a “racist diatribe.”

Never mind, of course, that Raspail’s novel accurately predicted the future in which we are now living. The fact that Raspail was correct in his assessment of the West’s cowardice doesn’t matter; what matters, to the New York Times, is that Raspail was against surrendering to foreign invasion. You’re not allowed to be against surrender. It’s “racist” to think French people have a right to defend France against foreigners.

You’d better buy the book now, before they ban it.




 

Category: France, New York Times, Racism

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