12.701 FYI France Resource List: "The Front National"

by Jack Kessler, kessler@well.sf.ca.us

! New since Jan 15:

• Français d'abord -- new entry
• Le Monde -- "Front National" -- entry revised & updated
• France Politique : FN -- new entry
• Wikipedia, on the Front National, in (nearly) 8 languages -- new entry

! New since Nov 15:

• entire page updated and revised...

The entries which follow are presented, simplistically and deliberately, in three groups: "Pro" indicates those who appear to favor the Front National, "Anti" indicates those who appear to be opposed, "Neutral" indicates those who pretend -- usually are forced by their professional status to pretend -- to be neither "Pro" nor "Anti".

As readers here may see -- from the Comment made on the Main Index page, at FYI France Resource List: The Front National -- I do not believe, myself, that "neutrality" is a requirement of professionalism, certainly not on an issue such as this. Sympathies shift, furthermore, as they are shifting with regard to the FN rapidly now in France, sometimes happily and sometimes sadly depending on your own particular point of view. So please take these three categorizations -- "Pro", "Anti", and particularly "Neutral" -- with the grain of salt with which they are intended.

Pro (avowedly)

* Front National -- the FN's own W3 site

• W3: http://www.frontnational.com/

• "Loin de la censure et du boycott médiatique le site Web du Front National est un outil d'information pour tous ceux qui veulent découvrir, mieux connaître ou simplement communiquer avec le mouvement de Jean-Marie Le Pen."

* Français d'abord

• J-M Le Pen's magazine: title translation into English, The French First : the newsletter of Jean-Marie Le Pen.
• http://www.francaisdabord.info/accueil.php

• The site offers no online edition or archive, only a subscription blank and masthead. Archives are maintained at large French libraries, however: the two Bibliothèque nationale de France entries read as follows --

  • Titre(s) : La Lettre de Jean-Marie Le Pen [Texte imprimé]
    Publication : Paris : Société d'études et de relations publiques, 1985-1995
    Titre(s) en liaison :
    - Devient : Français d'abord ! (Saint-Cloud) = ISSN 1267-9283
    - A comme supplément(s) :
    - Agir pour faire front = ISSN 1267-6578
    Indice(s) Dewey : 324.244 083 (21e éd.)
    ISSN 0754-7757
    Titre-clé abrégé : Lett. Jean-Marie Le Pen
    Notice n° : FRBNF34386916

  -- and --

  • Auteur(s) : Front national (France ; 1972-....)
    Titre clé : Français d'abord ! (Saint-Cloud)
    Titre(s) : Français d'abord ! [Texte imprimé] : la lettre de Jean-Marie Le Pen / [Front national] ; [dir. publ. J. Tauran]
    Numérotation : N . 223 (1995, oct.)-
    Publication : Saint-Cloud (BP 290, 92212 Cedex) : Front national, 1995-
    Description matérielle : 30 cm
    Autre(s) forme(s) du titre : - Autre forme du titre (figurant sur le document) : FDA
    Titre(s) en liaison :
    - Suite de : La Lettre de Jean-Marie Le Pen = ISSN 0754-7757
    - A comme supplément(s) :
    - FDA 75 = ISSN 1763-4458
    Indice(s) Dewey : 324.244 083 (21e éd.)
    ISSN 1267-9283
    Notice n° : FRBNF34529268

Anti (avowedly)

* "Contre l'extrême-droite" --

• W3: http://www.mygale.org/09/las/ -- site now discontinued -- always an unnamed site, still offered here as an example of the extreme emotions, both pro and con, which the Front National evokes in France...

• A stirring site: headings like "LIBERTE-EGALITE-FRATERNITE" coupled with quotations from Voltaire on bright cloudy-blue backgrounds..."Intolérance, Extrémisme, Racisme, Non!", etc....

• Stirring photos, as well, but mostly alarmist --

-- in European minds, which have long memories, the above photo evokes all sorts of 1930's images of Nazi / Fascist "Brown Shirt" / "Falangist" rallies -- although the Nazi guards would have been a little more tidy and erect (the guy on the left looks like he's falling asleep) -- to an irreverent and short-memoried 1990's American it looks more like a rock concert, but then a lot of Americans just laughed at Hitler during the 1930s, too...

-- or the photos are just ad hominem anti-Le Pen --

-- this last carries the caption, on the W3 site, of "ah quel air viril avec ces lunettes..." / "Ah, what an air of virility with those glasses..."

• One of the greatest dangers in dealing with extremists is that the opposition will feel itself forced to go to the same extremes -- called "lowering yourself to their level", in one language, or "chinning yourself on their gutter". This has happened now to the Front National opposition in France: responsible journalists and politicians there already are decrying the "diabolization" of the FN, which gives the group far more credit than it deserves.

* Conference: The Extreme Right in France from 1880 to the Present Day

• Date: 26-8 March 1998,
• Place: Trinity College, Dublin "in association with The Faculty of Arts (Letters) TCD, and The French Embassy, Dublin"
• W3: http://www2.tcd.ie/French/conf98.htm (site discontinued)

• Contact : Edward J. Arnold, French Department/Centre for European Studies, AB 4106, Trinity College, Dublin 2. Telephone : (00 353 1) 608 1836 (voice mail); Facsimile : (00 353 1) 671 7118; E-mail : ejarnold@tcd.ie
• Sponsored by the Faculty of Arts and Letters: Departments of French, History, and Political Science and the Centre for European Studies

• Keynote lecture: Maitre Serge Klarsfeld

• Speakers: Edward Arnold, Philippe Burrin, Ariane Chebel d'Appollonia, Roger Griffin, Julian Jackson, Jeremy Jennings, Roland Lewin, Pierre Milza, Kevin Passmore, Pascal Perrineau, Christophe Prochasson, Shlomo Sand, Jeannine Verdes-Leroux, Michel Winock

* Contre le Front national -- Manifeste anti-FN.

• W3: http://pages.pratique.fr/~rmaniak/ (site discontinued)

• "quand Le Pen cède à la démence..." / "When Le Pen lets the demons out, lets the dementia show, etc." (?)
• starts off with the truly wonderful photo, taken from the election campaign during Spring 1997, of the leader of the FN and bodyguards / goons chewing out, pretty nearly physically, a member of the opposition: the French are a little more emotive than northern Europeans and North Americans, but this one is over even their line --

* Français ont la Memoire Courte, Les -- La technique politique FN & NAZI, les points communs

• W3: http://www.chez.com/mypage/fnnase.htm (site discontinued)

• Another virulently anti-FN W3 site, again equipped with an unforgettable image,
  

  -- memorializing a political incident which landed M. Le Pen in trouble with legal authorities, in France -- but the problem so often being, politically, "diabolisation"...

* "France -- National Front on the Offensive"

• W3: http://www.gn.apc.org/labournet/so/nfonoff.html (site discontinued)

• This was a short online essay / advertisement, in English, with links to things called "The 4th International Page" and "The Socialist Outlook Web Index", and solicitations for periodicals with titles "International Viewpoint", "Socialist Challenge", "Outlook International", addresses in several countries.

• The slogans and hyperbole in this essay / advertisement -- "neo-fascists", "Workers' frustration", "the FN's ideologue boasts...", etc. -- were as extreme as any used by the FN themselves. But they were interesting both as as examples of the "diabolization" of the FN now being decried by some in the major French press, and of the presence of ideology and obfuscation on both sides of the FN issue. Good reading for someone wanting the "flavor" of the debate. One of Hitler's earliest -- and easiest -- fights was waged with the German "left".

* The Front National -- Its Rise and Permanency in France

• W3: http://www.wiesenthal.com/resource/Front.htm (the site still operates, but no longer shows its "Front National" essay)

• an online essay, sponsored by one of the leading US-based organizations devoted to "global events affecting the Jewish people".

* "Néofascisme", by Ignacio Ramonet

• W3: http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/md/1998/04/RAMONET/

• Excellent article in Le Monde Diplomatique for April, 1998, presenting and analyzing the results of the March regional elections, results for both the FN and the other parties:

  "EN acceptant, le 20 mars, les voix des élus néofascistes du Front national (FN) pour se faire élire à la présidence de cinq régions de France, des dirigeants de l'Union pour la démocratie française (UDF) ont révélé, de manière spectaculaire, l'état de décomposition profonde de l'ensemble de la droite, Rassemblement pour la République (RPR) compris..."

  "Dans ce contexte économique et sur ce terreau social, fait de peurs et de désarroi, les partis issus du courant fasciste connaissent un important essor. En Autriche, le Parti libéral de M. Joerg Haider a obtenu 22 % des voix et dispose de 41 députés ; en Norvège, le Parti du progrès de M. Carl Igar Hagen est devenu la deuxième force politique avec 15 % des voix et a 25 représentants à l'Assemblée ; en Italie, l'Alliance nationale de M. Gianfranco Fini obtient 15, 7 % des voix et a 53 députés ; en Flandre (Belgique), le Vlaams Blok de M. Filip Dewinter a obtenu 12,3 % des voix et a 11 députés au Parlement fédéral..."

  "Ce raisonnement avait conduit, dans l'Allemagne du début des années 30, les partis de la droite traditionnelle à accueillir comme un allié le parti national-socialiste qui se présentait sous ses plus séduisants habits (5). On sait ce qu'il en advint des partis de droite. Et de la démocratie..."

* Peuple AM

• W3: http://www.col.fr/communautes/montpellier/am/9612_fn.html (site discontinued)

• A short opinion-piece by a fairly rabidly-contra anti-FN commentator. Affiliated with the magazine "Le Peuple AM: le Magazine du Judaisme et de la Culture Juive de Montpellier et du Languedoc-Roussillon".

• Shown here primarily for its yet-another emotive picture:
  

  which is described, on the "Peuple AM" site, "Everywhere, they are everywhere... it looks like a remake of 'Fuhrer' during the 1930s..."

• Why from my naive US standpoint does the FN / Judaism confrontation appear to be distracting the French, who certainly have at least residual anti-Semitism in their country, from some even more critical dangers of the FN? While French voters are agonizing over the very complex and difficult "Semitism" issues, won't the FN thus be making electoral "hay" in other simpler issue-areas where the electorate is more clearly opposed? In US politics this is called "faking it and doing an end-run" -- there must be some linguistic equivalent in French for this...

* Ras l'front -- Contre le Fascisme

• W3: http://www.globenet.org/RLF/
• apparently a very well-organized group -- journals, local committees throughout France

Neutral

* Wikipedia, on the Front National, in (nearly) 8 languages

• w3 (French): http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_national_pour_l%27unit%C3%A9_fran%C3%A7aise
• w3 (English): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Front_%28France%29
• w3 (German): http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_National_%28Frankreich%29
• w3 (Spanish): http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frente_Nacional_%28Francia%29
• w3 (Hebrew): http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%94%D7%97%D7%96%D7%99%D7%AA_%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%90%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%AA_%D7%9C%D7%90%D7%97%D7%93%D7%95%D7%AA_%D7%A6%D7%A8%D7%A4%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%AA
• w3 (Dutch): http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_National_%28Frankrijk%29
• w3 (Polish -- Wikip. is just beginning, on this one): http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_Narodowy
• w3 (Swedish): http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationella_fronten

• And a general note about Wikipedia, by a recent convert: One great advantage derived from consulting Wikipedia, among its very many (i.e. it's online), is the "NPOV / Neutral Point Of View" which it rigorously maintains as its avowed fundamental principal -- also that it declares this, openly, and that it struggles with it mightily & constantly -- which others don't do, and do but don't always admit. These days one has a better chance of reaching objectivity, or at least open debate, by consulting a reference online at Wikipedia, than in just about any other media arena.

  This said, another fundamental principal of Wikipedia needs remembering while you consult the thing -- the Wikipedia "rough beast" offers an already-monstrous 954,000+ "articles" and should hit its million-mark early in 2006 -- and particularly if you decide to cite it or quote it: what the group warns contributors is,

  "If you don't want your writing to be edited mercilessly or redistributed by others, do not submit it."

  -- so what this means in practical terms to users / readers is, Wikipedia is changeable, amorphous, unpredictable -- aka "unreliable", if by that you mean frozen-in-time, immutable, an established canon which always will stay the same... Wikipedia isn't that... If you quote it, to someone, it probably will have changed by the time that other person reads what you quoted.

  But Wikipedia is becoming one of the very best places to obtain information, and "objectivity" or whatever remains of that post-Deconstruction, particularly on rapidly-changing controversial topics. And it's a rapidly-changing and controversial world.

* France Politique : FN

• w3: http://francepolitique.free.fr/PFN.htm
• w3: http://francepolitique.free.fr

• A very useful and comprehensive site on French politics, offering well-standardized descriptions of the major parties -- including "chronology", "organigram', and "links" -- in addition to general overviews of political events and the French political process. Objectivity!... in a highly- and increasingly-subjective world...

* Le Monde -- "Front National"

• W3 (recent article): http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3224,36-721146,0.html
• W3 (subscriptions): http://www.lemonde.fr/web/teaser/1,22-0,1-0,0.html?url_zop=http:%2f%2fabonnes.lemonde.fr%2fweb%2ftld%2f0,3-0,14-0,0.html

• articles and news from Le Monde about the FN -- well-organized and well-presented, and up to date -- in French. Subscribers can access very good online "Dossiers", on the FN and on various other French politics topics.

* Libération

• W3: http://www.liberation.com

• Libération is one of France's major news publications. Rather than simply cite all of them -- Le Monde, Figaro, and so on -- here, as they all are carrying extensive electoral / Front National coverage now, I will include only tidbits which are brought to my attention by readers and which seem to be particularly poignant.

• This article originally cited here, about the 1997 elections, is one of these: the FN's Le Pen apparently was calling modern-day France "Chirassicpark". Now that is what his / their opposition needs: good writers! As Messrs. Hoffman and De Niro demonstrated beautifully to the US public on-screen -- their "Wag the Dog", and Hoffman / Costa-Gavras' "Mad City" -- the proper soundbyte is everything in politics, these days.

• Libération, not-so-incidentally is reputed to have been one of the "leftist" journals removed from shelves in southern towns by the newly-minted FN mayors there. Not that this would influence Libération's "neutrality" and journalistic fairness in reporting the FN phenomenon: US readers will recall the Ben Bradlee / Watergate problem -- how to be "fair" during "Scoundrel Time"?...

* Yahoo -- France

• W3: http://fr.dir.yahoo.com/Exploration_geographique/Pays/France/Institutions_et_politique/Politique/Partis_politiques/Front_national__FN_/

• Like the "Yahoo" service elsewhere, the one in France does an excellent job: periodic checking at the URL shown above will keep you up to date on most of the newest FN Websites, pro- anti- and "neutral". They don't have everything: France only, and they are in French -- but if it's in French and in France, "Yahoo -- France" will have it.

• Altho if it's latest news you want, don't use their Yahoo Actualités link at the above: instead try,

  http://fr.search.yahoo.com/search/news?ei=ISO-8859-1&fr=nhp&p=le+pen&c=0
  http://fr.search.yahoo.com/search/news?p=front+national&ei=UTF-8&fr=nhp&fl=0&x=wrt

Versions of what is shown here have appeared online regularly, since 1992, as a feature of the FYI France ejournal, ISSN 1071-5916, which is distributed for free via email every month except August. Ejournal subscriptions may be obtained via email request to: kessler@well.sf.ca.us . The lists contain a selection only: new books and periodicals, and additional online digital information resources, develop in France every week, on the Minitel and the Internet -- one can be sure only that there are more, not fewer, than what is shown here online in France now.

Here this file is one of a number made available -- hopefully attractively, all in one place, and relevant to libraries and online digital information work in France and Europe -- as part of FYI France (sm)(tm), an online service to which anyone can subscribe by postal mailing a check for US $45 payable to Jack Kessler, to PO Box 460668, San Francisco, California, USA 94146 (site licenses also are available): please write your email address on the front of your check. Please email suggestions for improvements to me at kessler@well.sf.ca.us