Nidra, is a superb journalist and novelist and dear friend who lives in the belly of the beast known as Paris. We usually agree on all critical issues so This is her take…… I said:
“The Parisian show of shows will accomplish no more than a five minute “warm feeling”…..rsk
Nidra’s response
I don’t think so, amiga. And I am certainly not gushing.The Arab” spring” showed its face immediately. There was no mystery, just mystification. This unprecedented show of hands and feet in Paris yesterday shows a face that was not visible over the past fourteen years.
When you witness an event like this, an expression of collective opinion and determination on a scale never seen in the nation’s history, you can’t simply dismiss it. Of course you can, you are free to dismiss it. But I don’t. And that’s based on what I saw and heard.
The Je Suis Charlie slogan is not a simple trendy message. It’s the slogan around which the movement developed, so people expressed it in those terms. If they held up posters saying “Je suis contre le jihad” it might have been closer to the truth of what sent them into the streets. For 14 years I have been puzzling over what seemed like passive or willing acceptance of Islamization. For 14 years I have been wondering how a nation could resist if there were no press freedom, no reliable reporting.
The answer was given yesterday. There would be a tipping point. Now the cards are on the table.
In the early hours of the Charlie massacre, journalists and commentators were saying that Marine Le Pen would reap the benefits. As it turns out, she didn’t. The most unpopular François Hollande pulled off something that switched attention from a major security failure to a spectacular popular demonstration of force.It can go either way. But it can’t go the same way it has been going.
I’m following it in detail, in all its nuance. I’ll report as always honestly and carefully.
Nidra