President Emmanuel Macron is an emphatic protector of French culture, language and values. First, he handled Islamist extremism in order to protect French freedom, and now he is pushing back against the ‘woke’ derangement coming directly from the United States of America. And with the far-left puppet Joe Biden in power in the Oval Office, Macron is bluntly telling the White House – Paris is not going to let the ‘woke’ culture infiltrate into France.
France’s Education Ministry issued a ruling last week, which has banned schools in the country from using ‘gender neutral’ spellings. Macron’s France believes that such spellings are a threat to the French language and must be weeded out. This again is a message to the American ‘woke’ propaganda. France will not fall for left-extremism that promotes gender activism at the cost of destroying culture and language.
In French language grammar, nouns take on the gender’s subject but preference is given to masculine references over feminine references. This, of course, enraged left-extremists who take inspiration from American propaganda. So, they introduce midpoints in written language to include both male and female references. This has however made French hard to learn, with differences in written and spoken words.
French authorities were worried that such gender-neutrality in the French language would have driven people to learn English that doesn’t gender its nouns. But Macron has torpedoed such attempts to hurt the French language.
Macron’s attempt to protect the French language is a part of his battle against Islamo-leftism coming from American University campuses. French politicians categorically point out how American university campuses propagate ideas that blur the line between leftist propaganda and radical Islamism.
Macron understands how far-left ideologues in American universities try to legitimise radical Islamist practices and extremist-orthodox practices, in the garb of leftist propaganda. The Macron administration has rejected such American Islamo-leftism.
Macron is really a beacon of hope for Europe and not just France. For the last one year, he has been fighting both radical Islamism and wokeism tooth and nail. He started by supporting free speech icons like Charlie Hebdo and Samuel Paty, both of whom became victims of radical Islamism in the recent past.
Last year, the Macron administration took actions like expelling 231 foreigners who were on a government watch list over suspicions of extremist religious beliefs. A slew of actions to curb Islamist radicalism has continued.
Last year, Macron introduced a bill to combat “Islamist separatism.” The bill calls for intervention in mosques and the associations in charge of their management, as well as financial oversight of Muslim-owned associations and non-governmental organisations. It also makes “secularism education” mandatory for all elected officials and forbids patients from selecting doctors based on gender for religious or other purposes.
There are other provisions too – like prohibiting minors from wearing hijab in public, forbidding “clandestine” schools that embrace Islamist ideology and enforcing the polygamy ban by rejecting polygamous applicants for residency.
Most recently, the police in France banned a pro-Palestine demonstration which was proposed to be held in Paris amidst the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict.
A French court on Friday also upheld the ban. Macron administration’s agenda was clear – demonstrations during the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict had led to antisemitism with protesters targeting synagogues and other Jewish targets. But the incumbent French government is simply not ready to permit the 2014 tumult all over again.
Meanwhile, France keeps fighting the American leftist ideology in order to guard the French culture. On the bicentennial death anniversary of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, for instance, Macron refused to succumb to “cancel culture”- a reference to the American-leftist movement that ‘cancels’ historical and iconic figures from public memory due to ideological differences.
American leaders like Abraham Lincoln are becoming a victim of the “cancel culture” because American leftists tend to judge the actions of past centuries by the standards and benchmarks of the 21st century. French Emperor Napoleon too was becoming a victim of the “cancel culture”. But by laying a wreath at the tomb of Napoleon, the French President sent across a big message – France will not cancel its historical icons.
Macron is rejecting radical Islamism, American wokeism and Islamo-leftism. He is waging an epic ideological battle against radicalism and other external threats to French culture, regardless of the criticism coming his way. And he is actually succeeding in his plans, every single time.