Éric Zemmour

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Éric Zemmour (born August 31, 1958) is a French political journalist and author, employed by the daily newspaper Le Figaro.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Éric Zemmour was born in Montreuil-sous-Bois, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. After graduating from the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris, Zemmour made two unsuccessful attempts to gain admission to the École nationale d'administration.[1] He took a job instead with Le Quotidien de Paris, under the leadership of its founder Philippe Tesson. He served as political journalist from 1986 until 1994, when the newspaper folded.[citation needed] His next position was as editorialist at Info-Matin, a newly-founded French daily. He was also a contributor to Globe Hebdo, a weekly newsmagazine, before joining Le Figaro as a political columnist in 1996. He has remained with the paper since, although he has also contributed to Marianne and Le Spectacle du Monde.[citation needed]

He has written biographies of Jacques Chirac (L'homme qui ne s'aimait pas) and Édouard Balladur (Balladur, immobile à grands pas) as well as numerous political essays. Notably, in 2006 he published Le premier sexe, an essay on what he considers the feminization of society, and co-wrote the award-winning 2006 film Dans la peau de Jacques Chirac. He is a weekly panelist on Ça se dispute, a current affairs show appearing on I-Télé. Beginning in September of 2006, he appeared on the Saturday evening France 2 show On n'est pas couché, hosted by Laurent Ruquier. He also appeared on Canal+'s Vendredi pétantes until June 2006.[citation needed]

In 2006, he was a member of the admissions committee of the École nationale d'administration[2], which had twice rejected him for admission.[3]

[edit] Political views

[edit] Antiliberalism

Zemmour is considered to be to the right of the French political spectrum.[citation needed] As a French conservative, he expressed sympathy with the views of Jean-Pierre Chevènement's Citizen and Republican Movement in the 2002 presidential election.[citation needed] He considers himself Gaullist and Bonapartist, and places himself in a profoundly anti-liberal (economically and socially) portion of the French right. He also considers himself to be a reactionary, in that he considers his views to be a reaction to a society that dismantles the social order, especially family and tradition, in the pursuit of a false goal: liberating the individual, who only finds himself isolated and reduced to the status of consumer. He claims subversiveness for the right-wing, claiming that the progressives now dominant in French culture and media can no longer claim to be critics of the established order, because they have become the established order.[4]

His antiliberalism also causes him to oppose European federalism.[5] He considers Europe to be profoundly liberal and out of step with the French social order. He also believes that within a European community, the political right and left are forced to advocate "the same economic policy, social liberalism or liberal socialism",[6] since, in the words of Philippe Séguin, "right and left are outlets of the same wholesaler, Europe."[7]

[edit] Anti-human rightsism

Zemmour regularly takes positions that he describes as "anti-human rightsism", placing him in opposition to many politicians (including Bernard Kouchner), intellectuals (including Bernard-Henri Lévy), and organizations advocating humanitarian intervention, which Zemmour considers to be a form of neo-colonialism.{{Fact}

[edit] Immigration

Zemmour is an advocate of traditional French assimilationism, and is staunchly opposed to "mass" immigration brought on by family reunification and to the current process of integrating immigrants which he considers too lenient towards them. He has frequently declared that he is in favour of assimilation, even if this makes him "neurotic". He is also in favour of the Thierry Mariani amendment, which would require people wishing to immigrate to France on the basis of family reunification to prove their relationship via DNA testing.[8] He is frequently criticized for his pronouncements on immigration and his attacks on certain organizations (including SOS Racisme).[9]

[edit] Anti-feminism

In Le Premier sexe, he accuses modern feminists of wanting to "castrate" men and accuses their movement of bringing negative consequences upon society (including the loss of the notion of authority). Declaring that the role of fathers is very different of that of mothers, he has alienated, besides feminists, men disputing his vision (including actor Francis Huster). He accuses these opponents of being demagogues obsessed with political correctness and ignoring the history of French society and the works of Sigmund Freud. Others, including author Franz-Olivier Giesbert, have lauded his views.[10].

[edit] Books authored

[edit] References

  1. ^ « Interview d'Éric Zemmour (seconde partie) », Le ring.
  2. ^ ENA 2006 on Science Po Bordeaux website
  3. ^ Zemmour's interview on Maurice G. Dantec's website
  4. ^ « Immigration : le réel interdit » in Le Monde, October 12, 2007
  5. ^ interview with François Bayrou on On n'est pas couché, December 1, 2007
  6. ^ Ça se dispute, September 2007
  7. ^ Interview with François Bayrou on On n'est pas couché, December 1, 2007
  8. ^ Ripostes, September 23, 2007
  9. ^ SOS Racisme : « D’une époque à l’autre » in Le Monde, September 29, 2007
  10. ^ Tout le monde en parle, March 18, 2006
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