In a clip from French TV we posted a couple of weeks ago, Béziers Mayor Robert Ménard took issue with the “Borloo* Plan”, a government proposal for renewing the neighborhoods and suburbs where “youths” riot and murder and rape and otherwise engage in youthful hijinks. Mr. Ménard criticized the fact that the word “Islam” was not mentioned in the plan, even though the Religion of Peace is the real source of all the problems plaguing the banlieues.

The video below is made up of two parts. The first is an irritating animated propaganda clip promoting the Borloo Plan. In it the no-go slums ruled by violent and indolent migrants are obfuscated by the use of smarmy euphemisms and circumlocutions — which were difficult to translate, since English lacks the capability for baroque euphemism that the French language has so fastidiously refined.

The second part of the video is a brief reaction to the Borloo Plan by Marine Le Pen, the leader of the Front National.

Many thanks to Ava Lon for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Video transcript (timed from two separate original clips):

00:00 On May 22nd the President of the Republic will be presenting his program for 00:04 the sensitive neighborhoods, and the six millions of inhabitants of those districts. 00:08 During the Grigny call [where citizens asked Macron to implement Borloo Plan] elected officials, 00:12 the associations and the citizens raised the alarm about the situation of the 00:16 priority neighborhoods. Emmanuel Macron then assigned Jean-Louis Borloo 00:21 the task of making proposals. Presented on April 26th, this battle plan 00:25 is the result of the teamwork of all those men and women 00:29 concerned about the subject, who mobilized after the Grigny call and followed 00:33 the States-General of the town on a “tour de France” of the local solutions. 00:37 The plan presented by Jean-Louis Borloo 00:42 is composed of nineteen measures in numerous fields in order to bring 00:46 Republican law and order to all the slums. 00:50 It’s an opportunity to relaunch urban renewal, act against 00:54 illiteracy, invest in early childhood, 00:58 cultural growth. It foresees the means 01:02 to develop training and employment, to fight against discrimination, 01:07 to act for security and justice, 01:11 to create a court in order to guarantee equity among the sensitive zones, 01:15 not only for the neighborhoods, but also for rural areas and [French territories] overseas. 01:19 All those measures are all the more indispensable in that the suburbs are far from 01:23 being the beneficiaries of preferential treatment. The opposite is true. 01:27 The communes of the priority districts have thirty percent less financial capacity, 01:32 while their tax rate is twice as high; at the same time their needs 01:36 are thirty percent greater. Just like in the schools those sensitive towns where 01:40 accept more children without financial compensation. 01:44 Therefore, yes, those measures are just; they will need money, but not additional means; 01:48 because the sums of money necessary to finance those measures already exist. 01:52 Take two examples: every year thirty-two billion euros are 01:57 collected for professional training. The Borloo Report proposes that 02:01 out of this sum, only six hundred million euros be appropriated to finance 02:05 more training for the youth of our neighborhoods. Another example: 02:09 An extra 1.3 billion euros is forecast in 2018 for the National Office 02:13 for Family Allocations. The report suggests giving three hundred million euros 02:18 in order to finance an ambitious program of socialization and education 02:22 for the youngest people in our sensitive areas. Those measures therefore don’t cause 02:26 additional expense for the taxpayer. This battle plan 02:30 is an investment in the future of our youth, and in finally reconstructing society 02:34 and bringing the Republic back to all the neighborhoods. 02:38 Mr. President, there’s no plan B, but the Borloo Plan. So do tell us 02:43 straight to our face, will we together implement this good plan for the Republic?



00:00 Islamism: Marine Le Pen is denouncing the government putting their heads in the sand. 00:08 We have the feeling that 00:12 French government is using the strategy of 00:16 the ostrich. They put their heads in the sand 00:20 in order to not see the immensity of the danger that is 00:25 not longer at our door, but inside 00:29 the house. There isn’t a single instance, in the Borloo Plan, 00:33 where the word “Islamist fundamentalism” appears. 00:37 Not a single instance! Therefore the Borloo Plan is symbolic: 00:41 symbolic of the incompetence, of the blindness, 00:46 of the cowardice and of the dangerousness 00:50 of our French elites in this domain 00:54 over the last thirty years.

