The next French presidential election is scheduled to be held in April and a runoff in May 2017. It’s an eternity from now, and enough time for Hollande to change his security policy—or disappear from politics. Indeed, when IFOP positioned centrists Francois Bayrou and Nicolas Sarkozy in a race against Le Pen, the fiercely anti-Muslim candidate came in first with 28% of the votes, ahead of Sarkozy with 23%, and Hollande with only 21%.
Marine Le Pen stands to gain more than any other European politicians from Friday’s barbaric attack. And as the polls will likely continue to swing in her favor, other French politicians will have to keep up with her aggressive, anti-Mulsim message, or suffer the electoral consequences.
On Saturday afternoon, Le Pen tweeted: “France has been rendered vulnerable. She undergoes a collapse of its defense capabilities. It must rearm.” And, “The enemies of France are the countries that have links with Islam.”
Also on Saturday: “We must deprive terrorists of their French nationality and prohibit them from entering our territory.” And: “The Islamic fundamentalism must be annihilated, radical mosques are to be closed, radical imams expelled.”
President Hollande announced the closing down of France’s borders, as an emergency measure. France, like the rest of the EU members, is a signatory to the Schengen agreement, which permits transiting from one country to another within the Schengen area without border controls. The Schengen visa makes it possible to visit all the countries in the Schengen area and to cross internal borders without further formalities.
Speaking to Al Jazeera earlier this year, Le Pen stated: “The first priority is the immediate removal of Schengen, because you can’t have security and control in a country without having any powers over our borders. It’s impossible to stop illegal arms trade.”
Then she declared: “We have to go into fundamentalist mosques. We have to stop foreign financing of Islamist groups. We have to review our foreign policy and stop rolling out the red carpet for countries we know to be funding fundamentalism, countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar.” And, “Mosques where sharia law prevails. They exist in France. Refusing to see that means that we do equate Islam with Islamic fundamentalism. We have to denounce and eradicate it.”
“My hostess makes up some extra beds for the night,” wrote Pamela Druckerman late Friday night in Paris. “The couple from the dinner party are trying to figure out whether they can drive home, west of Paris. Their kids are fine, but now they’re home alone. My husband is still inside the stadium.”
Then she noted: “The French president … says France’s borders are closed. Apparently schools will be closed too. I learn the French word for curfew: couvre-feu. On the news they’re reporting that many people have died inside Le Bataclan. The numbers are unfathomable.”
We may have reached the point in our history where the Western giant awakens from his slumber.