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| Europe |
| France To Run Anti-Antisemitism Ads |
| 2004-10-22 |
| A new advertising campaign in the fight against anti-Semitism in France aims to shock. The campaign, to be launched Tuesday, features serene images of Jesus and Mary with the slur "Dirty Jew" scrawled across them as if in graffiti. Underneath the picture appears the slogan: "Anti-Semitism: And if it were everyone's problem?" The advertisements, which will run in French newspapers over a period of about 10 days, were created by the Union of Jewish Students of France, or UEJF. The UEJF said it recognizes the startling nature of the images but says the goal is to grab people's attention. "It's a way to wake people up and make them aware," said Yonathan Arfi, the group's president, in a telephone interview. "That's what is important. Today, it is difficult to wake people up without running the risk of shocking them a bit." He stressed that no disrespect for Catholic images or Catholicism was intended. "On the contrary, we are, more or less, paying homage to Jesus and Mary as the first to protest racism, the first who took it upon themselves to defend others," Arfi said. The Conference of Bishops of France declined Friday to comment on the campaign. The UEJF cited rising anti-Semitism in France as the impetus behind the campaign. The French Interior Ministry said this week that the number of anti-Semitic acts appears to be rebounding, with 166 counted in the first nine months of 2004, compared to 127 for all of last year. In 2002, the Interior Ministry counted 195 such acts. France has the largest populations of Jews and Muslims in Western Europe and has suffered a rising tide of anti-Semitic crime since 2000, when tensions between Israelis and Palestinians worsened in the Middle East. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #9 No, Sockpuppet, I've reluctantly come to the conclusion that Europe will happily give away Israel, at no charge. I'm really sorry about that, Aris, because I loved the years we lived over there and the friends that we made (Santorini in August -- what beauty, what fun! and Athens, with the Germans singing oom pa pa music in the restaurant on the terrace below, while above the lights play on the Acropolis), and the relatives who remade their lives their after the war. And I do know that there are many who are not antisemites, who are not anti-American, who are thoughtful and delightful and charming. But unfortunately, they are not the majority. More importantly, the elites in government and the media have allowed themselves to voice their most vicious thoughts, over and over again until the unthinking masses recite them on cue. I do understand why you appreciate the EU, Aris. Greece has greatly benefitted from her membership: not just the vast amounts of money that flow in, but the safety of being within a larger 'nation', the stronger rule of law necessary to function within the larger polity, and the ego rewards of being acknowledged as the inventor of the democracy that all of Europe now benefits from - to a greater or lesser extent -- and the heirs of the oldest civilization in Europe. But Europe as a whole is becoming ever more hate-ridden and venal. At the moment there is no way in hell my husband could drag me back, even for a visit. I wouldn't be able to keep silent, you see. This is a great change for me: even less than a year ago, I was careful to make comments to his managers about how I could be ready to move with only a few days notice, to almost anywhere (Geneva, Frankfurt or Hong Kong, for choice, but pretty much anywhere except the Muslim Middle East). |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2004-10-23 12:23:48 AM |
| #8 Blah, blah, blah. When you actually object to something *real* instead of to your own imaginings about either me or the EU, feel free to initiate a fact-based discussion. And your usage of "EUrope" still doesn't make sense, the word meaning to obfuscate rather than clarify. How are "EUropean media" different in identity that "EU media" or more antisemetic than "European media", for example? |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-10-23 12:16:41 AM |
| #7 No matter how many advertisements are run they will be countered by the propaganda of the the EU media and EUrocrat elite jew haters you love to grovel to Aris. Not Europe the place Aris the EUrope a artifical construct. The EU that will willingly sell out Israel to the Arabs to stave of their own destruction for a day. The EU that says "peace at any cost." |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-10-22 11:50:22 PM |
| #6 You are a unwitting parody of every hatemonger that has ever existed, Sockpuppet. Your posts are so emetic that I can't even stand to wade through their sewage any more. I hardly ever remember this happening to me ever before. But (your sick ideology aside), for Chrissakes, unless you are *intentionally* seeking the destruction of meanings espoused by Newspeak, either use EU or use Europe. The meaningless amalgamation "EUrope" reveals your mental kinship to the nice people of Ingsoc Oceania. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-10-22 10:35:19 PM |
| #5 Aris you never were funny to begin with. Your neo-communist controled prevaricating anti US, antisemite EUropean media make heros out of terrorists and vilians out of liberators. You like your EUropean masters are almost 100% against everything my country does. So Why should anyone care what you think? If I had one I would defecate on your personally sacred blue flag with the ring of stars. Right in it's center wrap it up and mail it to Belgium. EUrope is finished. The Muslims will rule over you. EUrope will pay danegeld to them to keep their atomic tiped missles from falling on you. It is you there who need a healthy dose of paranoia. If anything I am depressed to see what has happen to you all. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-10-22 10:19:25 PM |
| #4 And we are also in alliance with the Green and Gray aliens in a massive conspiracy aiming to steal socks from your laundry. Get a fucking grip, Sockpuppet. Your bigotry and paranoia is so off the scale that it's not even funny anymore. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-10-22 10:01:04 PM |
| #3 Alot of good it will do. To be EUropean means to be antisemite. EUropeans see Israel and jews hated reminders of europes failed repeated progroms and genocides. The be a EUropean means the hate of jews and the United States. The Blue flag with a ring of stars must rule over all. The world must be centered on Belgium. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-10-22 8:15:23 PM |
| #2 DB-With the same slur written across the faces of some holy Islamic couple? I'm lovin it. It's all in the translation :) Wouldn't be surprised to see France limit the ad to appear exclusively in the midst of maudlin programs about the poor, poor Palestinians, though, to dilute any effect. They are always so careful you see, to never never never offend any Muslim! The Palestinians must always rise to the top of the pile of abused humans, as far as France is concerned. |
| Posted by: Jules 187 2004-10-22 5:31:04 PM |
| #1 Maybe they should translate the ad into Arabic? |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2004-10-22 4:20:03 PM |