Eric Zemmour
Eric Zemmour is a former journalist and commentator-turned-unsuccessful presidential candidate in France. Zemmour is outspoken in his criticism of mass Muslim migration into France in particular and Europe in general. His enemies maintain that he is an "Islamophobe" and hate-monger. Zemmour was convicted by a French court for words he made in 2016 "provoking discrimination and hate against the Muslim community". The European Court of Human Rights has just denied his appeal.
Western Europe (and the EU as a whole) does not guarantee the same rights of speech as we have in the US under the First Amendment. What some call hate speech can be a criminal offense in Europe, particularly when it comes to Muslims and immigration. In the Netherlands, Dutch politician Geert Wilders has been targeted more than once in the courts. for his anti-Islam remarks and criticism of immigration-in particular, the Moroccan community. In Austria, housewife turned activist, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolf, has also been prosecuted for her criticism, of Muslim migrations and resultant crime. Worse still, in the UK, anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson has actually been imprisoned for his activism.
In the US, even hate speech (however you define it) is considered protected speech. The line is not clear, but if you are inciting direct violent action against someone (based on that person's origin or otherwise) the line can be crossed-especially if there is a direct and immediate act of violence based on one's words. Incitement? Look at the legal debate we are having about whether former President Trump was guilty of inciting the assault on the Capitol in his January 6, 2021 speech.
Eric Zemmour is only facing a 3,000 euro fine for what he said. He will pay it and move on. But the implications are obvious. People in Europe who are angry and fed up with the uncontrolled immigration of mostly young Muslim men and the increasing crime and Islamization of their societies are fearful of saying what people like Zemmour and Wilder say. I have Swedish contacts who tell me that if they criticize the government's immigration policies, they can lose their jobs and actually be blacklisted for future employment.
The problems of uncontrolled immigration, violent crime, the murders, the rapes, the riots, and the terrorist attacks are what we can term the elephant in the room in Europe. No decent person would advocate violence against Muslim immigrants or any other group of people. Just this week, a 69-year-old Frenchman took a gun and went into a heavily Kurdish neighborhood in Paris and shot three people to death. By his own admission, he was furious at immigrants. (He was already facing previous charges for attacking a migrant camp with a sword.) This cannot be justified, but Europe's leaders have created a monster that threatens to tear their societies apart. As a result, they are facing an angry indigenous populace that feels powerless. More attacks like this one will surely come, regrettably.
I cannot judge the merits or demerits of everything Eric Zemmour has stated. From what I know, his criticisms of Islam and the flood of Islamic migration with the resulting problems I mentioned above, should be considered protected speech. At least in the US.........
for now.
The below article from the conservative French site, Marianne, is translated by Fousesquawk.
Justice
"Choice between Islam and France": The CEDH refuses to annul the conviction of Zemmour
By Marianne, with Agence France Press
Posted December 20, 2022 at 11:27
The European Court of Human Rights (CEDH) ruled against the controversial commentator Eric Zemmour on Tuesday and validated his conviction under French justice for provocation to discrimination and religious hate against the Muslim community after his remarks on France 5 in 2016.
Bad times for Eric Zemmour. On Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights (CEDH) ruled against the president of the Reconquest party and validated his conviction by French justice for provocation to discrimination against the Muslim community after his remarks made on France 5 in 2016. (The Court) held that the French courts had not violated the freedom of expression of the candidate in the last presidential election. The former journalist had made the referenced remarks on September 16, 2016 on the program, C a vous, broadcast live at 7 pm on France 5 as part of the promotion of his book entitled, "Five years for nothing".
In particular, he had stated that Muslims must be given,"the choice between Islam and France," and that France was living, "for the last 30 years under an invasion," affirming that, "in countless French suburbs where numerous young girls are veiled," there is being played out, "a fight to Islamicize a territory, a jihad". He had been initially sentenced by the Paris Criminal Court to a 5,000 fine for "provocation to discrimination, to hatred or violence against a group of people for reason of their origin or adherence to a religion". The sentence had been reduced to 3,000 euros on appeal. The Court of Cassation had then rejected his appeal.
Discriminatory Intention
The CEDH, the judicial arm of the Council of Europe, "holds that these remarks were not limited to a critique of Islam, but contained, given the context of terrorist attacks in which they were made, a discriminatory intention of a nature to call on the listeners to the rejection and exclusion of the Muslim community. Note that in 2020, Eric Zemmour himself had labeled the CEDH as "the source of evil," in the fight against immigration. On the CNews program, he then declared, "Not all of the unaccompanied minors are rapists, thieves, murderers, but since there are many who become so, the French people must be protected." What would (be good), according to him, would be "to leave the European Court of Human Rights". "It is the CEDH and the European Convention on the Rights of Children that (keeps) us from deporting anyone." It is not sure whether the Court's decision will improve the esteem of the polemicist for this institution.
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