France, Europe, Islam and the West , Islam and the West, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and the West

France, Europe, Islam and the West

by Tariq Ramadan

The campaign now raging in the second round, pitting Sarkozy against the socialist candidate François Hollande, reveals with every passing day the phenomenal upsurge of the Front National. Not only did the right-wing party’s candidate win more than 17% of the votes in the first round, making it the country’s third political force, but its ideas are omnipresent, and color the political calculations of both major parties. Nicolas Sarkozy, fighting for political survival, has swerved even farther to the right, while François Hollande, to block any massive shift at the ballot box, attempts to reassure a section of the Front National’s electorate that their voices have been heard. The Front National is not in the run-off, but its ideas have emerged as the key to victory or defeat. Promises are flying thick and fast ; mudslinging, half-truths and outright lies abound. France is in crisis. Little is heard of the country’s moribund economy, of its social policies or of its international role ; much is said about closing borders, arming and reinforcing the police, about blocking the Islamization of society. A sorry spectacle indeed.

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