In the following appearance on Figaro Live, the popular French commentator Eric Zemmour discusses the ban on Génération Identitaire and the double standard applied by the government when dealing with left-wing groups.
Many thanks to MissPiggy for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes and RAIR Foundation for the subtitling:
Video transcript:
| 00:00 | Hello, Eric Zemmour. You have returned to comment on the announcement | |
| 00:03 | of the dissolution of the Génération Identitaire movement, and these people, in your opinion, | |
| 00:07 | are also victims. —Yes, listen, really, | |
| 00:11 | the situation at the moment is like an invasive weed. It’s everywhere; | |
| 00:15 | it destroys everything on the Macronian territory. It has become systematic. | |
| 00:20 | We saw it when Gerald Arman dissolved Baraka City, the CCF and two Islamist associations, | |
| 00:28 | and he obviously had to strike a balance, because the progressive Macronians | |
| 00:33 | were afraid of this so-called Islamophobic backlash. | |
| 00:37 | And so, for sure, that’s why the Génération Identitaire movement had to fall. That’s it. | |
| 00:41 | I don’t see any other reason. So now obviously it will be seized by the justice system; | |
| 00:45 | the administration will provide an amazing file. | |
| 00:48 | We’ve already started to see it coming out here and there from the prefect of Saint Gaudens. | |
| 00:53 | I think the committee against genocide, war crimes, | |
| 00:59 | crimes against humanity has even seized the case, | |
| 01:04 | to investigate the Génération Identitaire movement. It’s completely disproportionate. | |
| 01:08 | It’s like taking a hammer to swat a fly. —But there is still the legal matter of dissolution? | |
| 01:13 | But you know, last year they were already sued for a similar operation and they were released. | |
| 01:20 | What do they do? They went to the Alps, last year or to the Pyrenees, this year, | |
| 01:25 | to show that the borders are absolutely not protected, contrary to governmental declarations | |
| 01:31 | and contrary to the declarations of the prefect, etc. They had banners. | |
| 01:35 | They didn’t stop anybody. They didn’t bother policemen or customs officers. | |
| 01:40 | There was no violence. Simply, as you know, they carry out media operations. | |
| 01:45 | These are agit-prop protests, which are common for the Left, | |
| 01:49 | but when the Left does it, it’s magnificent, | |
| 01:53 | it’s inventive and spontaneous operations. | |
| 01:56 | When it’s not the Left, and it’s about defending borders, | |
| 02:00 | the identity of France, to fight against immigration, | |
| 02:03 | then it’s horrible. There you have it. That’s it. | |
| 02:06 | There’s no violence. There are no calls for hatred, | |
| 02:10 | as they say today in a ridiculous way. No, it is all pretexts. | |
| 02:15 | Wait, are you saying that they are heroes? | |
| 02:18 | Heroes of the people who practice denunciation to the police? | |
| 02:21 | Listen, I think it is very patriotic to defend one’s borders. | |
| 02:25 | For centuries those who defended the borders were heroes. We decorated them. | |
| 02:32 | Today they are criminalized and sent to court. The double standards are unbearable. | |
| 02:39 | What did we do with the people of Utopia 56 who occupy churches | |
| 02:44 | and the Hotel-Dieu to protect their “undocumented”, | |
| 02:48 | as they call them, who are in fact illegal immigrants. They don’t respect French law. | |
| 02:53 | Nothing has been done against them. Nothing is said or done. What is being done | |
| 02:56 | against Femen women, who brutally disrupt many events? | |
| 03:01 | What do we do against the boss of the Black African Defense League, | |
| 03:05 | who treat the French soldiers who died in Mali like terrorists? | |
| 03:08 | All these people are completely on the loose and | |
| 03:11 | are free from any sanction, in the name of freedom of expression. | |
| 03:16 | I think it absolutely scandalous that people, | |
| 03:19 | young activists from the Génération Identitaire movement, | |
| 03:22 | don’t have the same protection that every democracy owes them, | |
| 03:27 | this famous freedom of expression. — Thank you, Eric Zemmour. |