Lyon attack: French demographer says Great Replacement is ‘credible’

For the majority in the mainstream media and politicians in France, the notion that citizens are witnessing a “large replacement” population, is a fantasy of the “extreme right” based on an irrational fear of the “Other”.

It is a “sinister farce” according to French demographer and historian Hervé Le Bras, that originated in the nationalism of the late nineteenth century. The idea of France relies in the “old imaginary purification of the society of its allogeneic elements” says Nicolas Bancel.

The demographer Pascale Breuil, interviewed by Le Monde on this subject in January 2014, wanted to know “how far must we go back to be considered as part of the French people?”

Breuil concluded that it was “very difficult to define who is or is not of French origin” despite the fact that most native French citizens never struggle with this existential question.

The real gap between the people and their elites largely explains the difference of perception of immigration: the first still sees itself as belonging to a people united by an mores, customs and beliefs, despite their origins, when the seconds are no longer attached to the legal character of the nationality. To put it more bluntly: A third generation veiled Muslim immigrant is also French.

On the occasion of the publication of Jean-Paul Gourévitch’s latest book Le Grand Remplacement, reality or intox? [Editions Pierre-Guillaume de Roux] the author told Boulevard Voltaire: “The change of population is indisputable. I took the latest official figures – those of the French Office of Immigration and Integration. In France, there is 11 percent immigrants in the sense of the word immigrant, that is to say, born abroad in a foreign country from foreign parents. If we add the direct descendants, whether they come from two foreign parents or a mixed couple, we arrive at 24 percent.

“This is a much larger proportion than the proportion that existed in the past,” Gourévitch explained.

“I would not talk about conspiracy. Renaud Camus says it too. There is not a puppet showman pulling all the strings or ten people who meet in a corner to destabilize [the country]. On the other hand, if there is no connivance, there are convergences. It may be more serious.”

He said the UN itself was openly using the term “replacement migration”. Gourévitch’s added: “The one that is much less known and that I studied a lot is the action of ISESCO. It is the equivalent for Islam of UNESCO. This organisation is based for the moment in Morocco. It claims to be peaceful and brings together 54 countries.

“ISESCO claims a Franco-Arab bilingual education for the French, not only for those who have an immigrant background, but also for those who are actually native descendants. They tell them that this will allow them to better understand their [Arab] classmates.”

He said it was the convergence between ultra-liberal capitalism and the borderlessness of part of the left. “We must not forget that in France, the proportion of migrants who come to work is relatively low. This is between 10 and 15 percent. Although some students may be expected to find work, OFII and OECD surveys show that these migrants do not find work.”

After three years, less than a quarter of migrants had found employment in the formal sector. “We all focused on the reception. We made promises that we can not keep,” Gourévitch concluded. To him, growing Islamic violence is linked to mass immigration.

🔴 #Lyon : vidéo de l’interpellation du suspect par des passants (devant l’ascenseur) #Villeurbanne pic.twitter.com/GQRAtEQHha

— Damien Rieu (@DamienRieu) August 31, 2019

The judicial police of Lyon has meanwhile opened an investigation for “assassination” and “attempted assassination” after an Afghan migrant attacked passers-by with a knife, on Saturday, August 31, reported Lyon Mag.

According to an initial assessment, one person died and nine other people were injured, three of them seriously. According to Le Parisien, the assailant was armed with a roasting skewer.

The attack occurred at Laurent Bonnevay metro station, in the east of the capital of Gaul. Subway line A was stopped to prevent the escape of the perpetrator. One was arrested. “Two men were involved in the attack at around 4.30. One carried a kitchen knife and the other a roasting skewer,” a police source said. “They targeted a 19-year-old man, who died at the scene, while nine others were also hurt, three very seriously.”

The judicial police of Lyon as well as large police reinforcements were being deployed on site to secure the area. According to Lyon Mag, “the scale of the attack and the modus operandi” could evoke a terrorist attack, but at this stage of the investigation there is no evidence to support it.

Le Point also announced that the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office has not yet taken over the case. For now, only the judicial police of Lyon has opened an investigation. Born in 1986 in Afghanistan according to his statements, Sultan Marmed Niazi made confused remarks when questioned by the investigators.

Asked shortly thereafter, the mayor of Lyon Gerard Collomb said it was necessary to “wait for the conclusions of the investigation”. Collomb said: “As long as we do not have them, we can not say anything, we must remain cautious.” The attack did not appear to be terrorism-related, two French officials told The Associated Press.

Collomb also explained that “the person was caught when he was trying to escape.” On Twitter, he said he was “extremely shocked by the attack that had just occurred.”

Marine Le Pen singled out “the naivety and laxity of our migration policy” which “seriously threaten the safety of the French”.

The president of Debout France, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan wanted to know “how long will the French have to support the migratory laxity of the government”.

The Turkish association Milli Görüs is currently busy building a Muslim school near Bordeaux. The project highlights the growing influence of Turkish political Islam, suggesting the convergence which Gourévitch had pointed out.

In La Gardette business park, the economic heart of the municipality of Lormont, in the north of the Bordeaux area, is the plot of industrial land of more than 3 000 square meters on which a Koranic school will be built.

The project is discreet and the association only appeals to the piety of its sympathizers. Contacted by French magazine Valeurs Actuelles, officials of Milli Görüs remained unreachable, and those from Bordeaux were evasive, not wishing to answer any questions. “We do not wish to communicate our project. Unfortunately in the current context , Islam, religion … the slightest thing is misinterpreted. […] You only write what suits you.”

Emre Durmuş, young president of the Bordeaux CIMG however repeated quotes from Necmettin Erbakan, former Turkish Prime Minister, a notorious Islamist and founder of the association. He explained the school on Facebook as a tool for promoting a rigorous political Islam.