Live from Saddam and Gomorrah

The cover of Le Nouvel Observateur, last week, caught my attention. Upon reading the articles related to the two subjects that made the headlines, I had the impression of being in another dimension in which everything was upside down. That'll teach me to read that rag.

The two subjects of importance that week were the "secret story of Bertrand Delanoë", the socialist mayor of Paris, and "the evangelists - the sect that wants to conquer the world", this one coming, of course, with a picture of George W. Bush in a praying posture.

On the website, one could find this cover:

The evangelists - The sect that wants to conquer the world

The sodomites, er, saddamites, are afraid of being converted by force to... evangelical Christianity. Apparently, the worse that could happen to them. And indeed, you can almost feel the fear between the lines when they insist that

"the evangelical doctrine, whose home remains America, is today the religious trend that is gaining more ground in the world since WWII. At the expense of the Catholic Church, historical Protestant churches (Baptist, Methodist) and even Islam".

What? Even Islam?? Evangelicalism is gaining ground at the expense of Islam?!?

Not only Le Nouvel Obs seems to be discovering America, it is also discovering the practice of religious proselytism.

For there is worse. According to the magazine,

"the evangelical wave, that gathers 70 million Americans already, that is one out of every four Americans, exports itself as easily as fast-food, Coke or rap, and is taking root everywhere, from Latin America to Japan, to Africa, Europe, Russia, India, China... It's even plucking up the courage to invest in the Islamic universe, ultimate zone of mission".

L'horreur !!! Well, the last time I've been to Sarcelles, there was a McDonald's but the words on the t-shirts didn't exactly said "Repent, Judgment Day is coming", or "Jesus loves you".

And last time I checked, it was in France that muslim girls were banned from wearing a headscarf in public schools, and this, in the name of secularism, not in order to spread "sectarian" Evangelicalism in France.

Of course, needless to mention what part Bush is playing according to the author of the "article" titled The crusaders of the Apocalypse.

But let's stop here the translation of this semblance of journalism in which America is described as the Mecca of Evangelicalism because Washington, DC is supposed to be the New Jerusalem.

What I found more interesting is the real cover of this issue:

Evangelists - The sect that wants to conquer the world / Delanoë - The secret story

Bertrand Delanoë is described as "the Conqueror". The magazine published excerpts of a yet-to-be-published biography of the mayor of Paris, in which we "learn" that Delanoë was a close friend of the singer Dalida, a follower of Mitterrand, once a freemason, had his period spent in the wilderness (no bad play on words intended) before becoming mayor and is compared to Interior Minister Sarkozy. Oh, and the mayor is also a presidential hopeful.

Bertrand Delanoë, Président de la République française.

Is the perspective filling Le Nouvel Obs with enthusiasm? Certainly more than Evangelicalism. And for some good reasons.

May I add that Delanoë is behind the greatest of ideas to block the streets of Paris (Who cares about the people who want to work in this country, anyway?) to create an artificial beach on the banks of the Seine during 3 weeks and has promised that next year, Parisians will be able to have a swim (in the Seine???) too. The idea of closing the banks to traffic for good (the banks are greatly facilitating the traffic in Paris) has certainly not been excluded. The idea of closing the entire Place de la Concorde to traffic also popped up some time ago. And he also wants to change Paris a little bit more.

Like the dog peeing to define its territory, Delanoë wants to leave his mark too. (Don't forget, everything must go)

But Bertrand Delanoë, it's also Mumia Abu Jamal made honorary citizen of the city of Paris (Mumia is a Parisian!), the renaming of part of the quai du Louvre and the quai des Tuileries, quai François-Mitterrand (the occasion for a family picture: Mitterrand's widow, Mitterrand's son Jean-Christophe "Mr. Africa" Mitterrand and Mitterrand's official illegitimate daughter), a trip to Ramallah to hug Arafat (who has talked about Delanoë as a "dear friend"), and his support to Saddam opposition to the liberation of Iraq, of course (heh, he's against death penalty, after all!).

Could it get any worse? I'm afraid it could. I'm thinking Président de la République française...

Damn! If the evangelists want to conquer the world, I say so be it! What the hell is taking them so long to conquer and convert Paris!?!
Could we envisage George W. Bush running for office in France after his second term in office in the US? Pretty please.

Posted by Carine at March 8, 2004 09:46 PM