Rick

A full-size soldier, knitted together as a touching tribute ahead of Remembrance Day. Designed by the very talented Peggy Moore. RESPECT X

France is burning and I have to say, watching some of the footage coming out of there today, the hypocrisy is absolutely staggering. Paris. Marseille. Lyon. Rennes. Toulouse. Angers. Buildings attacked, cars burning, shops smashed and looted, police and security forces attacked. Marseille City Hall built in 1653 has been stormed and vandalised, priceless artefacts smashed into pieces. A municipal police station attacked. Lyon’s tourist office set on fire. A fire outside the doors of Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure. And they are firing firework mortars at police in Paris, Marseille and Lyon. Over 270 have been arrested. Yet it’s people like me who are routinely called “far right” for having an opinion. Question immigration. Far right. Talk about borders. Far right. Raise concerns about integration. Far right. Say something the left doesn’t like. Far right. Apparently that is extremism. But cover your face, dress in black, attack police, smash up public buildings, loot shops and fire mortars at officers and suddenly everyone becomes terribly careful about labels. Well, here’s the problem. The French authorities themselves are calling out the ultra-left. Not me. France’s Interior Ministry says there has been a “very strong mobilisation” of the ultra-left and has described what is happening in parts of the country as “violent and targeted operations”. So let’s stop dancing around it. There is far-left violence on the streets of France. There are Palestinian flags throughout some of these demonstrations too. And before anyone tells me that’s something somebody has made up on X, AFP journalists are providing live video and photographic evidence that Palestinian flags are being carried by these violent thugs who are destroying their towns and cities and attacking police and security services. This doesn’t mean that everyone protesting today is far left. There are ordinary French people out protesting about the cost of living, wages, schools and public services. They have been protesting peacefully in other areas of these towns but their cause has been hijacked by the far-left. We can’t pretend this isn’t happening just because it makes for an uncomfortable picture. Then there is the chant from the far-left: “Louis XVI, Louis XVI, we beheaded him. Macron, Macron, we can do it again.” They are literally invoking the beheading of Louis XVI and saying they can do it again to the President of France. That chant isn’t new either. It has been heard at radical-left demonstrations in France before. Now tell me something. If this were the far right, would anyone be struggling to find the words? Masked far-right groups attacking police across several major cities. Far-right extremists firing mortars at officers. Buildings on fire. Shops looted. A town hall stormed. A police station attacked. And crowds chanting about doing to the President what was done to Louis XVI. It would be called far-right extremism from morning until night. Every newspaper would have it in the headline. Every television studio would be discussing radicalisation. Politicians would be lining up to condemn it. And rightly so. That’s the bit that matters. I am not asking for the far right to be excused. I’m asking why the far left should be. Because I am sick to the back teeth of watching “far right” thrown around at ordinary people who have never burned a building, never attacked a police officer, never fired anything at anybody and never threatened anyone’s life. Our words are apparently dangerous. Our concerns are apparently dangerous. Question government policy and you’re an extremist. Question immigration and somebody will eventually call you far right. But actual political extremists put masks over their faces, attack police and burn their way through cities and we’re treated to endless discussion about their “grievances”. It’s just a ‘clash’ with police, nothing more. No. You don’t get to have it both ways.