To Le Pen’s right: Éric Zemmour, the French anti-Islam and anti-LGTB polemicist rising like foam in the polls

Months before the presidential elections to be held France In April 2022, a surprising figure has broken into the protagonists. With an anti-Islamic, ultra-nationalist speech against groups such as the LGTB, Éric Zemmour becomes over the days the new representative of the extreme right gala, a place that until recently was exclusive to Marine Le Pen.

Son of Algerian Jewish emigrants, Eric Justin Léon Zemmour was born in 1958 in Montreuil, very close to Paris. He attended the Institute of Political Studies in Paris and began writing for the Le Quotidien newspaper in Paris.

Later he was an editor at InfoMatin and a contributor to the Globe Hebdo. In 1996 he came to Le Figaro as a political journalist and it was there that he built much of his public name.

In 2009 he was fired from the newspaper after issuing statements on television where he claimed that “French descendants of immigrants are more closely watched by the police than the rest because most of the traffickers are black and Arab … it is a fact”.

However, he would remain as a columnist for the medium and would return to the newsroom in 2013.

POLEMIC CHARACTER

In 2014, he published El suicidio Francés, a book in which he would dispatch all his criticisms against immigration, “gay power and matriarchy”. According to him, the great causes of all the ills that France suffers.

Already in 2006 he had launched a controversial publication entitled El primer sexo, where he said that “Today, young women, always on the verge of anorexia, make a boy’s body to please homosexual designers, who do not like women, as they consider them simple ‘hangers’ and terrorize them for a few grams of plus, a few ounces of roundness, softness, femininity that they don’t want to see. The mimetic snobbery of men – having the woman who will prove other successful men, as if it were a beautiful sports car – pushes them to desire those women. And so the battle of the elites is won. Instead, as Lagerfeld (ba) observes, always so sharp, the man in the street resists. He continues to desire the ‘good ass’ of Jennifer López, the roundness of Sophie Marceau or Mónica Belluci”, according to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

In 2019, in addition, he was convicted of incitement to racial hatred for statements made three years earlier on television where he said that Muslims should have “the choice between Islam and France”. In addition, he assured that the country passed through “an invasion for 30 years”, Quotes an article from Radio France International (RFI).

The conviction led to a fine of 30,000 euros, details Le Monde.

A few months ago, the Superior Audiovisual Council sanctioned the CNews chain, where Zemmour was one of its figures, after the journalist described the migrant minors as “thieves, murderers, rapists.”

This week, Zemmour said during an interview with radio Europe1 that in France “we must stop submitting to the abominable mandates of LGBT activists (…) They have nothing to do at school and Mr. (Jean Michel) Blanquer (Minister of Education) is accommodating to them!”, Reviews El Mundo de España.

But Zemmour’s position not only points to migrants and sexual minorities, but he went so far as to say that Vichy France – the regime established by Marshal Phillippe Pétain during World War II – sacrificed foreign Jews to “save Jews French ”. For this reason, he was sued for “challenging a crime against humanity”, a process that is still in the appeal stage according to RFI.

CANDIDATURE AIRES

Since the beginning of the year, the name of Zemmour began to appear among possible candidates for the French presidency despite the fact that he has not made it official. However, actions such as suspending his collaborations with Le Figaro and the various rallies in which he has appeared seem to confirm his intentions.

One of these meetings with his followers took place on October 4 in Paris, where he debated with the leftist philosopher Michel Onfray and held a book signing.

In France, associations such as Los Amigos de Éric Zemmour have already appeared, which began to collect donations and signatures for their registration. In addition, posters with the phrase “Zemmour president” have been seen in 86 French cities, according to RFI.

His figure is presented as one of the most polarizing in the French political spectrum. According to a survey by Odoxa-LCP-Public Sénat, 59% of French people reject it.

However, another October 1 poll by PrésiTrack OpinionWay gives it a 10% vote intention, only below current president Emmanuel Macron (24%), far-right Marine Le Pen (20%) and right-wing Xavier Bertrand. (fifteen%).

The Harris Institute’s October 7 poll, meanwhile, shows Zemmour as the second favorite with 17-18% voting intention, surpassed only by Macron (24-27%).

Zemmour’s meteoric growth has led the right wing to view him with suspicion as well, signaling him to subtract votes from Le Pen, famous for her strong right-wing stance but who has sought to moderate his speech since the last election.

This, precisely, has been criticized by Zemmour who reproaches him for the distinction that French politics makes between Islam and Islamic terrorism.

According to RFI, the bulk of Zemmour’s electorate is found among merchants, executives and small entrepreneurs, little identified with Le Pen and his speech directed at the most popular sectors.