We all know the stereotype of the ‘aggrieved Frenchman’, who expostulates and acts out in the extreme over what many other folks would call ‘small things’. The French call it ‘passion’. But recent protests by militant vegans targeting French butchers have crossed the line into ‘insane’ territory…
“MURDERERS!” A rather fuzzy phone cam pic of a French butcher shop targeted by the
activist group Animal Liberation Front (ALF) in it’s recent campaign of
‘domestic terror’ against French meat vendors.
Here’s how bad it’s gotten…
A French vegan who posted online support for an Islamist extremist who killed a French butcher has been handed a suspended sentence on a charge of condoning terrorism, which carries a maximum sentence of up to 7 years in jail and a maximum fine of (E)100,000 / (US)$116,708.
A vegan activist identified by local media only as ‘Myriam’ had posted, on her Facebook account: “So then, you are shocked that a murderer is killed by a terrorist. Not me. I’ve got zero compassion for him, there’s justice in it.”
A lawyer close to the victim’s family, Franck Alberti, told the Le Parisienne newspaper, of ‘Myriam’, what a lot of people may have been thinking: “I can understand that you can love and defend animals, but not to the point where you hate humans.”
But that’s just the pinnacle of the iceberg…
There have been other incidents of violence – though none have gone as far as terrorism – against French butchers in recent months. In fact, the Confederation Française de la Boucherie, Boucherie-Charcuterie, Traiteurs (CFBCT) – a union representing artisan butchers – has called on the French government to provide protection to members of their profession. In an open letter to French Home Minister Gerard Collom, the CFBCT said: ”
“For the past few months, the 18,000 artisan butchers in our country are worried about the consequences of the increased media exposure of the vegan lifestyle. Although respectful about our compatriots’ food choices, we are deeply shocked that a part of the population wants to impose its lifestyle to the vast majority, not to say its ideology.”
Since early this year, dozens of French butcher shops have had rocks thrown through their windows and fake blood spattered on their storefronts. Militant vegans have taken responsibility.
What’s at stake?
Nothing less than a major component of French history and culture, according to CFBCT President, Jean-François Guihard: “It’s [home grown] terror that these few individuals and organizations seek to sow, with one goal in mind: to quite simply make disappear an entire part of French culture. Please let French people eat what they want!”
My take…
I agree. Let us all eat what we want. Remember the PETA animal rights activists whose Christmas Dinner poster campaign on the London Buses was rejected by the bus authority? And their Super Bowl ad, depicting a Meat Industry executive asking for absolution from his priest and being turned down? Both ‘campaigns’ generated a lot of negative feedback for PETA and I suspect that, because we haven’t heard anything inflammatory from them since, the PETA brain trust has been stepping back from public pleas, giving the uproar time to die down.
But… Did they think that making outrageous statements and and leveraging religious themes was going to make them friends? The backlash said, “No!”
Do the French vegans who have claimed responsibility for the recent attacks on French butchers think such actions will win them friends and influence people to their cause? I say they are, ultimately, doing themselves no favours. In fact, they may be alienating fringe members of their group and increasing animosity to veganism among meat eater who deplore such attacks.
~ Maggie J.