Jean-Marie Le Pen in His Own Words

One of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s most appealing characteristics is his frankness. He says what he believes and — unlike so many other public figures — sticks to it. His unwillingness to back down makes him a hero to his supporters and infuriates lefty mediacrats accustomed to terrifying grown men by accusing them of “racism.”

From his public statements it is clear that Mr. Le Pen is primarily a French and European nationalist —

I am more concerned with the destiny of France and of Europe than with other regions of the world

— but he clearly understands the biological basis of nationhood. In his view, the identity of France

is indissolubly linked to blood, soil and memory . . . It is composed of a homogeneous people living on a territory inherited from its forefathers according to tradition.

He denounces

perils that endanger the essence of France . . . its biological substance. ‘It is wrong,’ he concludes ‘to make France a country of immigration and its people a half-breed.’

He realizes full well what is at stake:

The issue of the battle is clear: France will be destroyed or resurrected.

In a speech delivered before an estimated six to eight thousand people in Paris on May 1, 1996, he reiterated these themes, denouncing at length

this tidal wave of immigration that will smother us after it impoverishes us.

On that same occasion he even spoke of the prospect of civil war should “massive immigration” continue to pit aliens against the French.

Our goal is to reawaken France, he concluded.

Mr. Le Pen is a devout Catholic and has been bitterly criticized by liberal one-world clerics. To Those who claim that Christianity cannot be nationalist he replies,

Christ tells us to love our neighbors, not the people on the other side of the world.

In the United States, Mr. Le Pen may be best known for his remarks about Germany and Jews. Last December, he was actually fined the equivalent of $17,000 for calling the gas chambers a mere “detail of history of the Second World War.”

In France, his 1996 comments on racial differences in sports may have made a bigger splash:

In the Olympic Games there is an obvious inequality between black and white races in sport, running in particular. This is a fact . . . I observe that the races are unequal.

When he was later questioned about this he said,

Yes, there is a race disparity in the same manner as there are unequal civilizations. Without inequality, France would not be French.

The lefties jumped for joy. A popular French electronic magazine Scarabee wrote:

Le Pen finally admits explicitly he is a racist! This is a great day! . . . Now everything is clear: People who vote for the National Front are all racists for sure.

The voters appear to have been unmoved. A week after Mr. Le Pen’s “explicit admission” his party won 29.6 percent of the vote in a by-election in the south French town of Gardanne.

Mr. Le Pen has been called a “racist” so many times he treats it as a joke. We he was asked recently about accusations of racism he replied,

What must I do in order not to be racist? Marry a black woman? One sick with AIDS, if possible.